Life as an MLB catcher: Violet bruises, swollen ankles — and now, a broken arm

Catching is a family tradition, so when Red Sox backstop Reese McGuire was 8 or 9 years old, he recalls spending Christmas in the backyard testing out his new catching gear. As he crouched on the grass, baseball rolling off his forearm, his grandfather told him, “It takes a tough kid to be a catcher. You’ve got to enjoy the bruises.”

“I think we were all a little crazy to get back out there,” said Diamondbacks catcher Tucker Barnhart, who has spent the past 11 seasons hunkering down behind home plate as a target.

Catching a ball is not for the faint of heart—nor the thighs, wrists, toes, hips, knees, hands, or shoulders.

Across the league, most receivers are injured and always hovering on the edge of the injured list.

Late last month, Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe suffered a bruise on his shoulder and could barely lift his arm after catching a foul ball. His replacement, Matt Thaiss, injured his hand after catching a 98-mph dropkick from José Soriano. Then Ohope left a game last week after picking up a foul on his hand. Giants receiver Patrick Bailey was fouled last month on an exposed area of ​​his toes that cannot be reached by foot guards. Three days later, he was placed on the concussion list after a foul ball hit his mask. Red Sox catcher Connor Wong also recently dealt with a bruise under his toenail. Huang went on to describe a teardrop-shaped bruise on his quadriceps that made squatting painful, a key part of the job.

“Our responsibility is to be the tank in the rear and respond calmly,” Huang said.

For more than a century, they have come to terms with the scars and strains of this long-established territory. But as the game progresses, the demands of the job become more dangerous.The catcher has moved closer to the plate to help frame the pitch, but as Athletic team Katie Woo wrote last week that this has led to increased calls for receiver interference and resulted in more penalties for receivers.

Cardinals catcher Wilson Contreras suffered a broken left arm after being hit by a swing from New York Mets player J.D. Martinez last week.

“There’s always risk as a receiver,” Contreras said after the injury. “It could be different things. It could be a fall from my knee, it could be a concussion. There’s always that risk.

Contreras is expected to miss six to eight weeks with a fractured forearm. (AP Photo/Jeff Robertson)

Add it to the list. On the first day of spring training every year, the voices of Barnhart and other veterans, including Cleveland bench coach Craig Albernaz, who speaks with a thick Boston accent, can be heard delivering a familiar message: From here, it’s all downhill.

“It was so exciting,” Barnhart said of the new season, “and, ‘Man, I feel great’ — and then the next day it started.”

It’s not until the depths of winter, when they’ve recovered from every stain, every muscle ache, every nick and bruise in every corner of their body, that they’re back to 100 percent. The work is relentless and unforgiving; pain and danger are always present.

However, for a team to be successful, there’s bound to be a lot of responsibility placed on the catcher’s sore shoulders. They develop a rapport with each pitcher. They know their tendencies and what’s popular. They know how to attack certain hitters in the past. They see scouting reports for every member of the opposing roster. It’s a pretty big learning curve for any reliever, and Barnhart said that’s why receivers are so aggressive in avoiding rest.

“You have to have a ‘fuck it,’ for lack of a better word,” Barnhart said.

“If you cut my arm off,” Guardians catcher Austin Hedges said, “if I can play, I’m going to fucking play.”

Well, as long as it’s his left Arms, he clarified. He still needs to get the ball back to shooters 150 times per game, a tall order if his hands are limited.

One day last week, Hedges scrolled through thousands of photos on his phone, looking for evidence of the gnarliest bruises he could find. He found something that took up nearly the entire length of his right thigh, one that was rich in indigo, plum, and mulberry. He shook his head and smiled. The culprit? A foul tip.

Austin Hedges suffers a bruised thigh. (Courtesy of Austin Hedges)

“Foulballs always seem to hit you where you have no equipment or least equipment,” Barnhart said.

In 2022, Hedges sprained his ankle while rushing to first base. Two weeks into his recovery, he fell into the dugout while trying to surround a pop-up and suffered a high ankle sprain. His heels turned a dark purple and his ankles grew larger. He works hard on spin at bat. He couldn’t easily position himself behind the plate and push off from behind, which resulted in him skipping the ball to second while trying to catch a base stealer.

“You’re in pain, but you can never turn it off,” Hedges said. “If you can hit the ball, you hit the ball. No hesitation. You can see how people react when they get hit by pitches. Getting a dirty tip out of your flesh doesn’t feel any better. Then you have to come back and act like it’s This is not the same thing at all.

Austin Hedges has a swollen ankle. (Courtesy of Austin Hedges)

In June 2011, Chris Gimenez was scheduled to catch Mariners ace Felix Hernandez one afternoon, but during batting practice the day before, Jimenez strained his left slant. muscle. Seattle’s starting catcher Miguel Olivo suffered leg cramps that night, so Jimenez, who could barely breathe, had to sit out the final six innings.

For Jimenez, the pain in his sides was inevitable, especially when he tried to stop Michael Pineda’s 90s heat and hit the ball at the plate off an assist from Ichiro hour. Jimenez tried to bunt as he was at bat, as his swing proved unbearable. Chipper Jones yelled at him at third base, asking why he bunt with two outs, but Mariners manager Eric Wedge instructed Jimenez to do whatever would cause him the least amount of suffering. Seattle just wants Gimenez to be physically able to crouch behind the plate. He went on the disabled list the next day.

Albernaz was 5-foot-8 and 185 pounds as a player, which was on the small side for a catcher.

“I was very overwhelmed,” he said.

He also knows he can’t sit idly by when he gets his chance to play because he was an undrafted free agent who waited nine years for a major league opportunity.

At one point, he thought his career was over prematurely when a loose body in his knee got stuck in the joint, preventing him from squatting.

Albernaz’s coaching colleague in Cleveland, Sandy Alomar Jr., spent 20 years as a major league catcher. He has the battle scars to prove it. He underwent six surgeries on his left knee and three surgeries on his right knee.

“If you want to be a receiver,” Alomar said, “you’re never going to be 100 percent. Ever.

Even now, he still has bone spurs in his left foot from years of absorbing fouls.

Despite all the odds Alomar’s generation of catchers faced, they were rarely hit by a hitter’s backswing. This has become a growing problem for modern receivers, and Contreras’ injury highlights that.

Tigers head coach AJ Hinch said the team is trying to find a balance between asking catchers to take snaps by pitching closer to home plate and putting them in dangerous situations by getting a little too close.

“We do want our guys to be close enough to have an impact with low strikes but not put themselves in danger,” Hinch said. “It’s a difficult balance when the motivations for doing so are real and the risks are extremely high.”

deeper

Catcher interference numbers are skyrocketing in Major League Baseball (MLB).This puts players at risk

Even as the risks become more severe, there are still teams and individuals trying to find ways to reduce the burden of infection on the body. Hinch noted that the team is looking for ways to take some of the physical load off of catching, whether it’s changing their stance or adding bullpen catchers to ease their to-do list. Giants manager Bob Melvin said everyday catchers like JT Realmuto are an endangered species.

With that in mind, some catchers will kneel on one knee to reduce wear and tear on their knees, but some catchers and coaches stress that it’s not a panacea. Hedges said that puts more stress on his ankle and makes his inner thigh more susceptible to fouls.

“There’s no place where it can miss you,” said Angels receivers coach Jerry Nallen, who suggested receivers need a “football mentality.”

“There always seems to be something hurting us,” Barnhart said.

“You feel like if you play a two-thirds person,” Melvin said, “that’s the limit of what you can do.”

Then-Braves catcher Stephen Vogt blocks a ball in the dirt and twists his body after hitting a two-run homer against the Nationals on Sept. 9, 2021 , and attempted to throw the ball to third base while off-balance, as Juan Soto attempted to throw the ball to third base. During his throwing motion, Vogt felt a pop in his hip. He couldn’t squat. He had two torn muscles in his pelvis and suffered a sports hernia. He needed season-ending surgery, causing him to consider retirement after the team won the World Series.

“As a catcher, you get beat up every night,” said Vogt, who now manages the Guardians. “It’s just part of the job.”

When Vogt visited the mound during a recent series in Houston, he told catcher Bo Naylor: “Man, your ass is going to get kicked tonight.”

Naylor said there’s nothing more annoying than a foul ball in your hands. He added that he would occasionally experience sudden onset of severe pain while completing his pregame workouts on the foam roller. At that point he would cycle through all the possible pain triggers from the night before.

“Wait, why does it hurt? Oh, yeah, I caught a foul ball there last night,” he said.

McGuire said he wakes up “every day” with mysterious bruises or pain. On April 30, his thumb hit his glove at an awkward angle due to a foul. Adrenaline fueled him for the rest of the race, but he woke up the next day feeling stiff; he didn’t realize how tight he’d jammed it.

“Most of us have had some kind of thumb injury,” said Cubs catcher Jan Gomez, who uses a protective shield and a bunch of tape for added safety.

All of them, not most, have something. Hinch, who has played parts of seven seasons in the majors, said that’s “the reason why we all look like hell when we finish.”

In August 2018, Joey Votto joined the Reds’ injured list, and the club’s catchers, Barnhart and Curt Casali, shared some first base duties in his absence. It’s like a spa day for the catcher.

“We always joke with each other,” Barnhart said, “‘Man, if my body always feels like this and I have to get on base, it’s a great feeling. You don’t have to squat. You don’t have to worry. Got hit. All you have to do is stand on first base and catch the ball? My body feels great.

— CompetitorC. Trent Rosecrans, Chad Jennings, Stephen J. Nesbitt, Sam Blum, Cody Stavenhagen, and Andy McCullough contributed reporting.

(Above photo of Contreras with a broken arm: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)