Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7677861)

In the past 2 weeks, 2 catchers have been injured (Posey and Doumit). In the last 2 years, two young, promising catchers have been injured (Posey and Carlos Santana). 4 catchers have been injured in the past two years (Posey, Doumit, Santana, Francisco Cervelli) -- very frequent, given that a catcher only gets plowed a few times a year.

Any baseball fan should hate the alternative. Oakland is telling their catcher to stay away from the plate, making throwouts at home extraordinarily difficult. The Nationals moved Bryce Harper to Left Field and I bet the Indians and Giants will consider moving Posey. Parents are telling their kids to stop playing catcher. I hope you all enjoy watching .200 avg, 2 HR hitters, baseball fans. In the NL, you'll pretty much have .200 hitters hitting back-to-back. Awesome for the game, really.

And the solution isn't that hard. Nobody is saying get rid of collisions. I'm saying it's ridiculous that the MLB use the same rules as the NFL in terms of hitting a defenseless receiver--don't let runners "launch" into the catcher. And I think there's also something to be said for, like running to first base, forcing players to take the outside line on 3rd base.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7677861)

In the past 2 weeks, 2 catchers have been injured (Posey and Doumit). In the last 2 years, two young, promising catchers have been injured (Posey and Carlos Santana). 4 catchers have been injured in the past two years (Posey, Doumit, Santana, Francisco Cervelli) -- very frequent, given that a catcher only gets plowed a few times a year.

Any baseball fan should hate the alternative. Oakland is telling their catcher to stay away from the plate, making throwouts at home extraordinarily difficult. The Nationals moved Bryce Harper to Left Field and I bet the Indians and Giants will consider moving Posey. Parents are telling their kids to stop playing catcher. I hope you all enjoy watching .200 avg, 2 HR hitters, baseball fans. In the NL, you'll pretty much have .200 hitters hitting back-to-back. Awesome for the game, really.

And the solution isn't that hard. Nobody is saying get rid of collisions. I'm saying it's ridiculous that the MLB use the same rules as the NFL in terms of hitting a defenseless receiver--don't let runners "launch" into the catcher. And I think there's also something to be said for, like running to first base, forcing players to take the outside line on 3rd base.

Originally Posted by Bowser (Post 7677876)

30 teams x 162 games for each = 4860 total games, 9720 games in two years, and 4 guys got injured. Sorry, but that's not enough to institute a rules change, imo. Injuries happen, it's a part of the game, and anybody that thinks that there should be some type of rules change has likely had a layer from their team get hurt in this manner. These guys knew the risks.

I will agree that the whole launching into a catcher thing is probably unnecessary. Carlos Beltran used to have that slide where he would come around the catcher and tag the plate with his left hand. You would think that we'd be seeing more of that.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7677881)

You're acting like a collision happens every game. Not even close.

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7677879)

Link? With convincing statistical evidence to prove this claim?

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7677887)

No, I don't. And I don't see why I'd have to. I think it's pretty much common sense. And it's not just parents. It's minor league teams too. It's absolutely stupid that teams have to start forcing catchers to play different positions because they happen to be great hitters. Bryce Harper could have been the Michael Jordan of baseball. Now he's probably going to be an amazing hitter and an average fielder.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7677887)

No, I don't. And I don't see why I'd have to. I think it's pretty much common sense. And it's not just parents. It's minor league teams too. It's absolutely stupid that teams have to start forcing catchers to play different positions because they happen to be great hitters. Bryce Harper could have been the Michael Jordan of baseball. Now he's probably going to be an amazing hitter and an average fielder.

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7677897)

In the interest of safety, we should eliminate all catchers and outfield walls.

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7677892)

Because parents are no more worried about their kids playing catcher today than they were 10 years ago. Until proven otherwise, this seems to be common sense from my perspective.

And there has always been talk about moving elite hitting catchers. Not because of collisions at the plate but rather because of the wear and tear on the knees and legs. Not to mention that it is the most physically fatiguing position on the field, and thus it begins negatively to affect one's hitting late in the year.

None of the above has anything to do with what happened to Posey.

Originally Posted by tk13 (Post 7677900)

Catcher has always been a relatively poor offensive position. There aren't that many great offensive catchers, not sure there really ever has been. People have been moved away from the catcher position for years because even without collisions, the strain of playing the position is significant. The Royals did it for Mike Sweeney... and Mitch Maier, and I'm sure others I'm not thinking of at the moment.

Originally Posted by DeezNutz (Post 7677892)

Because parents are no more worried about their kids playing catcher today than they were 10 years ago. Until proven otherwise, this seems to be common sense from my perspective.

And there has always been talk about moving elite hitting catchers. Not because of collisions at the plate but rather because of the wear and tear on the knees and legs. Not to mention that it is the most physically fatiguing position on the field, and thus it begins negatively to affect one's hitting late in the year.

None of the above has anything to do with what happened to Posey.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501 (Post 7677861)

In the past 2 weeks, 2 catchers have been injured (Posey and Doumit). In the last 2 years, two young, promising catchers have been injured (Posey and Carlos Santana). 4 catchers have been injured in the past two years (Posey, Doumit, Santana, Francisco Cervelli) -- very frequent, given that a catcher only gets plowed a few times a year.

Any baseball fan should hate the alternative. Oakland is telling their catcher to stay away from the plate, making throwouts at home extraordinarily difficult. The Nationals moved Bryce Harper to Left Field and I bet the Indians and Giants will consider moving Posey. Parents are telling their kids to stop playing catcher. I hope you all enjoy watching .200 avg, 2 HR hitters, baseball fans. In the NL, you'll pretty much have .200 hitters hitting back-to-back. Awesome for the game, really.

And the solution isn't that hard. Nobody is saying get rid of collisions. I'm saying it's ridiculous that the MLB use the same rules as the NFL in terms of hitting a defenseless receiver--don't let runners "launch" into the catcher. And I think there's also something to be said for, like running to first base, forcing players to take the outside line on 3rd base.