Kansas City Royals’ Jorge Soler has a shot to set one of MLB’s most obscure records
The start of summer is just around the corner, and maybe the warm weather will help Royals designated hitter/outfielder Jorge Soler heat up.
Who would have guessed that 58 games into the season Soler would have a lower on-base-plus-slugging percentage than Nicky Lopez?
While Soler, who has a triple slash line of .177/.266/.320 is struggling, he does lead the majors in one (obscure) stat: reaching base on catcher’s interference.
According to Elias, the official statistician for Major League Baseball, Soler’s five times of reaching catcher’s interference this season is two more than second-place Jake Cronenworth of the Padres.
Four players have done it twice: the Twins’ Nelson Cruz, the Mariners’ Tom Murphy, the Tigers’ Wilson Ramos, and the Diamondbacks’ Josh Rojas.
Catcher’s interference, per the MLB glossary, is when a batter is awarded first base when a catcher (or another fielder) interferes with the batter at any point during a pitch.
It usually involves a catcher’s glove hit by a bat.
Royals manager Mike Matheny said Soler’s spate of catcher’s interference calls is partly due to his attempt to get back on track at the plate.
“He is trying not to make such a commitment out front but to let the ball travel, and when a player like Soler knows that he can display his power to center fielder, or right center or straight away right, part of it is making sure that you’re seeing the ball. First of all, picking up spin and not making up your mind too early, which means that you can get deeper,” Matheny said.
“There are just certain guys that you know that are going to get you with a backswing. Those guys you’ve got to give a little more space to, and we keep close tabs on the guys that are more likely to have the kind of swing that casts a little bit back before they begin their swing path. And this is something we’ve seen him do in the past, too. It’s not just new this year but just seems more frequent this year. I think most of us because he’s trying to use more of the field which is the right approach.”
The Royals said Soler has now reached base 10 times in his career on catcher’s interference and all are since 2019, which leads the majors in that span. It’s also a Royals record and six more than former catcher Mike Macfarlane.
In fact, Soler has 10 of the 53 catcher’s interference calls (18.9%) in Royals history.
Soler is on pace to reach base 14 times this year via this strange method. Elias said former Yankees outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury holds the single-season record with 12, which was set in 2016. Roberto Kelly is second (8 in 1992). Two players are tied for third with seven: Josh Reddick with the Astros in 2017 and Dale Berra with the Pirates in 1983.
Matheny, who was a catcher from 1994-2003 with four teams, said it usually isn’t a painful experience when the bat hits the glove.
“You’ve got probably about 6 inches there to deal with from where the fingers are to where the end of the glove is, so fortunately it looks so far like it’s been mostly glove (that is hit), Matheny said. “You hate to see anybody’s hand get busted by a swing because that would hurt.
“It just scares you more than anything else, really, when that happens because we catch thousands and thousands of balls coming at you without hitting the glove hitting it first. So that’s just something that throws you off as much as anything, but fortunately we haven’t had any broken hands.”
This story was originally published June 8, 2021 at 9:04 AM.
