Mets don't want their backstops catching any bad breaks

ST. LOUIS — Willson Contreras suffering a catcher’s worst nightmare Tuesday night, his left forearm fractured when struck by J.D. Martinez’s bat on a routine swing, was a result of the Cardinals’ philosophy for their backstop: Get closer to the plate so that more pitches, when caught, look like strikes.

They played with fire — and knew it — and got burned.

Many teams employ a version of that strategy, Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Wednesday, but finding the fine line is important. So the Mets preach to their catchers: Get close but not too close — a standard that changes series to series and sometimes at-bat to at-bat.

“It’s been a topic throughout the offseason with every team because we see it more and more nowadays, where catchers are trying to creep in there, trying to steal strikes,” Mendoza said. “Not only on catcher’s interference but backswings. We see it pretty much every night, catchers getting hit. People are going to have to get back in a room and try to come up with a solution here. It seems like every day, people are going down. You hate to see that.”

Francisco Alvarez, regarded as a strong framer who isn’t afraid to nestle in close to the plate, has a habit of getting whacked by swings and backswings. In one mid-April instance, a Pirates batter struck him on the left hand/wrist, leading Mendoza to believe briefly that he had broken a bone.

But so far Alvarez has escaped severe catching-related damage, the scares ending up as just that. He was running the bases when he tore a ligament in his thumb, requiring surgery that will keep him out until mid-June.

The Mets’ catcher safety procedures include catching coach Glenn Sherlock studying upcoming opponents and telling the backstops which hitters to be wary of. He looks at which batters most frequently draw catcher’s interference calls and watches video to see who has long swings. The longer the swing, the greater the risk to a catcher creeping forward.

The message, then, is to back up a bit when those guys step to the plate. Even a few inches can make a difference.

“Catcher depth is something we look at pretty much on a daily basis,” Sherlock said in an interview last season. “If we feel like one of the catchers is getting too close, we make them aware of that.

“But they try to get close. In today’s game, with catching strikes and framing, that’s something that’s important to them. But we certainly don’t want those guys getting hit.”

The closer catchers are to the batter, the earlier they catch the pitch, the more likely it is to be called a strike, Mendoza explained. That is especially true for low pitches.

“Now teams are more aggressive telling catchers to get up there,” Mendoza said.

Might an automatic ball-strike system — colloquially known as robo-umps — limit this danger?

Maybe, Mendoza said.

If the skill of framing is systematically de-emphasized, catchers won’t be incentivized to position themselves the way they do now. MLB plans to implement a version of the ABS system in the majors soon, potentially 2025. Its been tested in the minors to mixed reviews in recent seasons.

“You would think (that would limit swing-related catcher injuries), but we’ll see what happens,” Mendoza said. “In the meantime, it’s tough to see a good player go down like that.”

By Tim Healey

timothy.healey@newsday.com@timbhealey

Tim Healey is the Mets beat writer for Newsday. Born on Long Island and raised in Connecticut, Tim has previously worked for the South Florida Sun Sentinel, the Boston Globe and MLB.com. He is also the author of “Hometown Hardball,” a book about minor league baseball in the northeast.