Tag plays have highest injury rate in professional baseball

Tag plays at home plate are associated with a higher injury rate than other plays in professional baseball, according to research published in the online edition of International Journal of Sports Medicine.

“The current Major League Baseball (MLB) rules have a loophole that allows catchers to stand in the baseline and block the plate if the ball is being thrown home, which allows for collisions,” Daryl Rosenbaum, MD, the lead author of the study and a sports medicine physician at Wake Forest Baptist, stated in a press release from Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center. “Over the years, whether intentional or not, this oversight has permitted a different standard of play at home plate than other bases.”

According to the release, Rosenbaum and colleagues analyzed three types of MLB plays from 2002 to 2011:

non-force putouts by a catcher at home plate (catcher tag out);
groundball force outs at second base in plays with less than two outs; and
outfield-assisted non-force putouts of runners trying to get to second or third base.

The investigators cross-referenced the data to see if any player involved went on the disabled list the day of or the day after the play. An online search for each match determined whether the play attributed to the injury.

Overall, researchers found the rate of injury for catcher tag out plays was 4.3 times higher than the other plays. They also discovered nearly three players per year who were injured in tag plays at the plate were put on the 15-day disabled list. Injuries from home plate collisions cost teams an average of approximately $2.3 million annually.

Rosenbaum suggested that major leagues adopt the collegiate rule, which prohibits defensive players and catchers from blocking bases and home plate.

“Making this change would protect both catchers and base runners,” Rosenbaum stated. “The runner wouldn’t be able to run into the catcher to knock the ball loose and be called safe, and the catcher would have to stand behind or next to the baseline rather than in it to tag the runner out.”

Reference:

www.wakehealth.edu

Disclosure: Support for the research was provided by the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist.