The St. Louis Cardinals may have seen their hopes for 2024 go up in smoke on May 7, when catcher Willson Contreras suffered a fracture to his forearm on a swing by J.D. Martinez. Contreras is projected to be out for six to eight weeks, and the injury has stirred up conversations among fans and players about what can be done to prevent the growing number of catcher interference calls around the league to lessen the chance of an incident like this happening again.
Catcher interference used to occur once in a blue moon, but its prevalence has drastically risen over the past few years as catchers have taken a new approach to framing in an attempt to get more strikes called for their pitchers. Catchers tend to be closer to the plate than at any time in the past, and this, combined with the trend of catching the pitch low and yanking it up toward the hitter’s bat path, has led to an epidemic of interference calls.
