07-09-2019, 03:59 AM
I don't know how to read that play. It looks awful, but he does look genuinely surprised at the collision. You rarely see someone go inside, but it's possible he thought the ball would beat him, Lucroy would swipe back and so he'd go in and around with a headfirst slide, swiping the plate with his his right hand. Lucroy also moves up the line to get the throw, so they collide sooner than expected.
A suspension is OK with me, it sends a message, and it simply looks too reckless. But it's possible it was an ill-advised attempt to do some sort of creative Javy-style slide around the tag that ended horribly. I say that mainly because it's not year 1 of this, guys know they're going to be out if they're judged to have attempted to blow up the catcher (lowering shoulder or altering path into the catcher). It sucks to be the catcher in this situation, but it sucks to be the runner too, the catcher isn't supposed to block the plate until he has the ball, but they all do, at least with a foot/leg, which makes getting to a flat plate basically the width of the catcher's foot very difficult. Unless they add a running lane, these will still happen, the rule isn't super clear and the plate is too easy to block/too hard to get to.
A suspension is OK with me, it sends a message, and it simply looks too reckless. But it's possible it was an ill-advised attempt to do some sort of creative Javy-style slide around the tag that ended horribly. I say that mainly because it's not year 1 of this, guys know they're going to be out if they're judged to have attempted to blow up the catcher (lowering shoulder or altering path into the catcher). It sucks to be the catcher in this situation, but it sucks to be the runner too, the catcher isn't supposed to block the plate until he has the ball, but they all do, at least with a foot/leg, which makes getting to a flat plate basically the width of the catcher's foot very difficult. Unless they add a running lane, these will still happen, the rule isn't super clear and the plate is too easy to block/too hard to get to.