Collisions at Home Plate

The following clip shows you all you need to know about the potential danger of collisions at home plate. 

I’m sure many a catcher has woken up in a cold sweat after dreaming of Bo Jackson or Prince Fielder bearing down at them at home plate.  This type of play has the potential for serious injury for a variety of reasons.  The top one being that the catcher is somewhat stationary and the runner is traveling at full speed.  In addition, the catcher’s eyes have to be on the ball/throw and can lead to a catcher being blindsided by the runner.  Because of these significant dangers, there are some very important safety tips catchers need to implement in order to protect themselves as much as possible and make the play as well.

A forearm to the face is a great
reason for keeping the mask on.

Mask on.  One of the only things working in a catchers favor is that he is covered in armor.  The catcher needs to make sure he uses it.  Some catchers have a habit of removing their mask every time the ball is hit.  This is a bad habit to get into.  A mask that remains on during a collision at the plate provides a great deal of protection to the face.  Don’t take it off!
Point your toes/knee at the runner.  When a throw is coming from the centerfield or right field area, the left side of the catcher’s body is facing the runner coming down the line.  A catcher MUST point his left foot and knee at the runner who is coming at him.  This does two things: 1) It faces the shin guard at the runner and protects his left leg should the runner’s spikes hit the leg on the slide, and more importantly, 2) the side of the catcher’s left knee does not get hit by the runner.  When the side of the catcher’s knee gets hit on this play, it has the potential to result in a major, career ending injury to the knee.  A leg that gets hit from the front may still result in an injury (hyperextension) but it normally won’t be as severe as getting hit on the side.
Give the runner some space.  When you watch a play at home plate on TV, you will see that the catcher usually provides a space or lane for the runner to get to home plate on a slide.  When a runner sees this space, he is more likely to slide.  If the catcher is totally blocking the plate, the runner is more likely to slam into him because there is nowhere else to go.  If a catcher receives the throw early enough, he can then step back to block that area from the runner and apply a tag.  Blocking the entire plate without the ball usually invites a collision.
Stay low.  Whenever possible, a catcher should stay as low to the ground as he can on a play at the plate.  Think of the biggest hits in football.  Usually they involve a player with the ball who is upright and a tackler who drops his shoulder and plows through the guy with the ball.  Catchers want to avoid this situation if they can.  A catcher can be a sitting duck on this play so staying lower than the runner prevents a runner from dropping his shoulder underneath the catcher and really drilling him.  Unfortunately, the catcher cannot control the throw he is given.  Some throws will be high and/or up the 3^rd base line a bit which forces the catcher to remain upright to catch the ball.  A catcher just does what he can to stay low.

Lower than the runner, left toe and knee facing the runner, mask on,
and drops his butt to the ground on impact.

Drop.  One of the worst things a catcher can do is try to “stand up” to the runner.   By that I mean he tries to just take the hit and not allow the runner to knock him down.  Think about this.  A runner, sometimes a very large runner, is barreling down at full speed and has had at least a 90 foot start to gather momentum.  The catcher is standing still.  This is never a winning scenario for a catcher.  A catcher who tries to take the hit to somehow prove his toughness is being very dumb.  Think of how a car is engineered.  In a head-on collision, a car’s engine is designed to drop to the ground at impact so that is does not get pushed back into the driver or passengers.  A catcher should apply that same engineering on a play at the plate.  At impact, the catcher should drop his butt straight to the ground and roll backwards with the hit.  If the catcher is low enough, the runner usually flies over the catcher after impact instead of through him.
Other important tips:
Don’t assume.  At many amateur levels, a collision at the plate is an illegal play and can result in immediate ejections.  Of course, this is due to the potential for injury.  However, a catcher should NEVER assume the runner is going to slide like he is supposed to.  Sometimes a runner has every intention of sliding until the last moment when the competitive side to him comes out and he just temporarily loses his mind.  A catcher must prepare for the worst no matter what the rules say. 
Don’t get angry.  When a catcher gets “smoked” by a runner at the plate, the best thing a catcher can do is just get up and react as if nothing happened, especially if the runner is out.  Many young catchers will come up angry and go after the runner to confront him.  Very immature.  React as if it had no effect on you at all and you will earn a lot of respect from both teams and others who are watching.  Of course, if a catcher is actually hurt on the play, nobody would  expect him to just get up and carry on as normal.
Practice.  Because this play is a rare one in baseball, many catchers do not practice the fundamentals of this play very often or at all.  A catcher should practice getting throws from different parts of the field and apply tags with the correct body position.  A runner or coach can move down the line when the throw comes in and “collide” with the catcher by just shoving the catcher back with his hands.  This  “controlled collision” allows the catcher to practice all the tips listed and explained above.  
A collision at the plate is usually not a very fun play for a catcher but it certainly is part of the job description.