I had missed this until now, but there was a record set last night! Jacoby Ellsbury broke Pete Rose’s all-time record for reaching base via catcher’s interference.
He broke the mark with this 30th catcher’s interference in the fourth inning of last night’s Yankees-Rays game after his bat came in contact with Wilson Ramos’ mitt. This comes a year after he set a single-season record in 2016, with 12 catcher’s interferences. He shattered that old record in fact, which had stood at eight. He shattered Rose’s record too, when you think about it. It took Ellsbury 5,308 plate appearances to do it 30 times. It took Rose 15,890 plate appearances to do it 29 times.
All of which strongly suggests that Ellsbury does this on purpose, drawing catcher’s inteferences the way some basketball players have a knack for drawing fouls. Opposing players certainly think so. Check this out from last year, when he set the single season record:
Ellsbury is not the player he once was, but he still as a special skill, and I guess that’s not nothing.
