Mike Scioscia doesn’t think baseball should impose new rules on home-plate collisions
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Angels Manager Mike Scioscia, the former Dodgers catcher, has been on the receiving end of bone-crushing hits like the one that broke San Francisco catcher Buster Posey’s left ankle Wednesday night.
But as violent as the home-plate collision between Florida’s Scott Cousins and Posey was, and as severe as the consequences are — Posey is probably out for the season — the Angels manager doesn’t believe baseball should legislate against such hits.
“When something like this happens it is unfortunate, but I don’t know if there’s enough there to rewrite the rulebook,” Scioscia said. “There’s definitely a code that’s alive in baseball of what is acceptable. You’re trying to score a run and the catcher is trying to stop you from scoring a run.
“I think it’s obvious when someone does something that’s not necessary. Ninety-nine percent of the time it’s the adrenaline of a runner understanding he has the opportunity to score a run and the adrenaline of a catcher understanding he can stop a run that leads to these.”
It didn’t take long for Scioscia to recall the hardest hit he ever took as a catcher.
“Chili Davis hit me like a linebacker on a blitz,” Scioscia said of a violent collision in which he held on to the ball for the out. “He separated his shoulder and I was woozy. It was the third out. I thought I rolled the ball back to the mound. I guess I rolled it more toward the first base coach’s box.”
Scioscia said he never suffered any psychological fallout from such hits “to where I’d maybe back off of a play like that,” he said. “Every catcher has had nicks from plays at the plate.”
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-- Mike DiGiovanna