Outfield view:

https://twitter.com/CodifyBaseball/status/1671362693666861056

That is truly brutal.

Brutal. What part of the blocking the plate rule was a violation? That looked like good clean baseball by both sides to me.

Even the Sox color man has no idea why it was a violation.

As I noted in OmniChatter last night, it looks like the catcher has his foot on the back point of home plate, pretty much in the middle of the base, leaving the entire front open to the runner. That seems clear on replay, as evidenced by the runner actually touching home, albeit just after he was tagged out. What did the replay official claim to see, and what was his interpretation?

If that is a rule violation then the rule needs to be clarified.

Cross-posting from the chatter:

Given the note to the rule, it's pretty clear that MLB messed up on this call:

“A catcher shall not be deemed to have violated Rule 6.01(i)(2) unless he has both blocked the plate without possession the ball (or when not in a legitimate attempt to field the throw), and also hindered or impeded the progress of the runner attempting to score.”

While one COULD argue that Heim "blocked the plate without possession of the ball"---which I think is questionable---there is no way he hindered or impeded the progress of the runner.

Wasn't the whole point of this rule to stop crashes into catchers blocking the plate WITH possession of the ball?

I don’t get it. MLB needs to provide a full explanation from the replay reviewer here.

Wasn't the whole point of this rule to stop crashes into catchers blocking the plate WITH possession of the ball?

Well, kind of. But since MLB still allows crashes into catchers blocking the plate with possession of the ball, they didn't really get it completely right.

If that is a rule violation then the rule needs to be clarified

Yes. The rules glossary says that the catcher must not "block the runner's path to the plate." If the catcher should not touch the plate at all, that would be easy to phrase; but it's not how it's written now. You might as well say that the first baseman is blocking the path to his base by having his foot on it.

Although it would certainly increase offense if they started calling first basemen for that.

As he began his dive, Andrus made a slight dodge toward fair territory. To me it was a natural move to make the catcher reach a bit farther, but maybe the umps thought (wrongly, IMO) that the move was to avoid a blocked plate. The whole 3rd-base side of the plate was wide open.

I was thinking of Bochy being a terrible hitter, but he was not - a 90 OPS+ at catcher, 1978-87, ain't half bad.

as a rookie with the Astros, 99 OPS+ in 154 AB at age 23.
what were the odds that he would never get as many AB in a season again?
sophomore slump, sure.

but 14 HR in 239 total AB with Padres, 1985-86, with an OPS+ around 120 works for me.
he hit .160 the following season, and that was it.

minors in 1981, late-season callup with Mets in 1982 and a 142 OPS+ in 49 AB. the Mets were so impressed that they released him in the offseason. the Mets preferred to go with 34-year-old Ron Hodges and young backups Junior Ortiz (54 OPS+) and Ronn Reynolds (39).

from SABR bio:

"When Bochy first made it to the majors, he had earned a reputation for having a large head. After he was called up to the Mets, he arrived but his batting helmets did not. At the time, he had custom helmets because his extra-large head size, 8, was so unusual.

“When I got called up, the first question wasn’t, ‘How are you?’ but, ‘Did you bring your helmets?’”

Pick em: Bruce Bochy or Bruce Bochte?

BB 1978-87 2.3 WAR, -0.7 WAA in 900 PA
BB 1974-86 19.4 WAR, -0.6 WAA in 6000 PA

Greatest European catcher ever, edging out Al Pardo for the honor.

And ... the all-Bruce team ... pretty good rotation by these standards and a HoFer in the pen but the IF is terrible. There's probably a real IF in there somewhere and I missed him. The OF gets an upgrade if we rope in the Bryces.

C Bnedict, Bochy
1B Bochte
2B Wright (4 career games, still managed to play 3 positions, that's versatility!)
SS Miller (really a 3B but 14 starts at SS)
3B Edwards (really a C of the 50s but 19 starts at 3B, made an AS team)
OF Jay Bruce
OF Campbell
OF Aven (sorry Mets fans, he beats out Boisclair)
SP Hurst, Kison, dal Canton, Chen, Ruffin, Bob Bruce (Chen or Ruffin to the pen)
RP Sutter, Rondon, Berenyi

Ruffin to the pen

Ruffin was one of 3 Rockies with double-figure saves in 1995 -- 11 for him, 14 for Darren Holmes & 10 for Curtis "Satanic Mechanic" Leskanic. Which I know because I had all 3 on my fantasy team --
Steve Reed, too, who saved 3 & had probably the best overall numbers of the whole crew -- for stretches that season (only one I ever finished first).

Dunno if that's a record, but I have a hard time imagining a bullpen with 4 double-figure saves guys.

Terrible call or terrible rule

If the Rangers can go 49-40 the rest of the way - that would put them at 94-68 for the season - Bochy's career managerial record would be exactly .500.

MLB ought to announce the replay umpires working a game, same as the on-field ones. They ought to also release an explanatory statement on rules interpretation plays, such as last night’s.

MLB ought to announce the replay umpires working a game, same as the on-field ones. They ought to also release an explanatory statement on rules interpretation plays, such as last night’s.

Ya, first thing I thought of was "what idiot made that call?"

If the replay ump is going to have that much power over the game then he can't be anonymous. Anybody know where Angel Hernandez or C.B. Bucknor were last night?

Anybody know where Angel Hernandez or C.B. Bucknor were last night?

Neither was listed as an on-field umpire for any of the 15 games that night.

"When Bochy first made it to the majors, he had earned a reputation for having a large head. After he was called up to the Mets, he arrived but his batting helmets did not. At the time, he had custom helmets because his extra-large head size, 8, was so unusual.

Either his head contains extra brains that give him super managing powers, or he was one of the pioneers of the steroid era.

Wasn't the whole point of this rule to stop crashes into catchers blocking the plate WITH possession of the ball?

I don't think so. If the catcher has the ball and is sitting in the baseline, there's not a whole lot of danger. He's ready to get hit and the baserunner is more likely to be hurt than the catcher.

I believe that the rule was designed to protect the catcher from being hit unawares. Like when the throw is coming and the catcher is reaching out to get the throw and all of a sudden a 220-pound runner barrels into them. That's where injuries tend to occur. So the catcher can't block the plate without the ball and the runners can't hit the catcher when he's not in the baseline.

I don't think so. If the catcher has the ball and is sitting in the baseline, there's not a whole lot of danger. He's ready to get hit and the baserunner is more likely to be hurt than the catcher.

I believe that the rule was designed to protect the catcher from being hit unawares. Like when the throw is coming and the catcher is reaching out to get the throw and all of a sudden a 220-pound runner barrels into them. That's where injuries tend to occur. So the catcher can't block the plate without the ball and the runners can't hit the catcher when he's not in the baseline.

I believe you're right, but I believe it's misguided. There's no reason to allow these kinds of collisions under any circumstances (intentional ones, that is. There is going to be the occasional unintentional collision that you can't fully legislate away). If the throw has you beaten by so much that you have time to load up to barrel a catcher waiting for you at home, you should just accept the fact you're out and go ##### at the third base coach for a stupid send.

These rules are stupid in MLB but even worse in lower levels. In the games I umpire, batting teams' coaches want a "blocking the plate" violation called on every putout by a youth catcher. Sample from last weekend:

First-and-third, one out. Hard grounder to second with the infield in. Throw beats the runner (going on contact) by ten feet. Catcher applies tag before runner can even start his slide.

Coach comes out. "He's in the baseline!"

"OK, he's in the baseline."

"He's in the baseline without the ball, that's a violation!"

"He's not blocking the plate, though. He has the right to field the throw and tag out the approaching runner."

Coach goes away.

The next play - now with first and second, two outs - is a line shot directly over the third base bag that I call fair. It ends up as a two-RBI double. The other team's coach comes out of the dugout hollering that it was a foul ball. Go figure.

I always tell my kids, major league umps make mistakes a lot, especially on balls and strikes (5% missed calls is considered good!). In kids baseball, you'll be lucky if there's even a pattern.