Yankees reliever Luke Weaver calls for catcher’s interference infractions to be limited

TORONTO (AP) – Luke Weaver wants Major League Baseball to limit catcher’s interference calls.

With two on and one out in the seventh inning of a 4-4 game, the New York Yankees reliever thought he had struck out Toronto pinch-hitter Addison Barger. Then a video review determined Barger’s bat nicked the mitt of rookie catcher J.C. Escarra, sending the batter to first and loading the bases.

Ernie Clement followed with a single off shortstop Anthony Volpe’s glove to drive in the go-ahead run, George Springer hit a grand slam and Blue Jays won 12-5 Tuesday to close within a game of the AL East-leading Yankees.

“It’s just a real silly thing to happen,” Weaver said.

Escarra, starting for the second straight day because of Austin Wells’ circulation issue with his left index finger, was cited for interference in Monday’s 5-4 loss. That call allowed Springer to reach in the sixth inning, and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. followed with a tiebreaking, two-run single.

“It’s pretty devastating, honestly,” Weaver said. “I feel like that’s a really unfortunate part of our game. I don’t really personally think that belongs in our game. I think there should be some type of discretion to it. I understand that there are moments where it’s very egregious, they hit the glove on a full swing, but you feel like you earned something there and it was taken from you.”

Catcher’s interference calls have risen with the importance of pitch framing. There were 100 last year, up from 61 in 2021 and just nine in 2017. There were 45 this year through Monday.

“I was too close today,” Escarra said. “I was just too deep in there trying to steal that low strike.”

“It’s just trying to get the glove in the zone,” he added. “If the pitch is out of the zone I’m just trying to move it as fast as possible up and forward to steal that strike, to make it look like a strike to umpires.”

New York has been called for catcher’s interference four times, one shy of Boston’s major league-leading total and matching the Yankees final figure for 2024.

“We’re incredibly diligent on trying to eliminate that as much as possible,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The checked swing, there should probably be something looked into that where a check swing can’t get you beat like that.”

Escarra’s miscue was New York’s only error Tuesday, but third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. made a wide throw to first on Davis Schneider’s slow roller in the fourth, ruled an infield single. Two batters later, Andrés Giménez hit a three-run homer for a 4-2 lead.

Asked whether he would consider moving Chisholm back to second base and shift DJ LeMahieu to third, Boone responded: “We’ll talk through that stuff. I think both guys are really talented defenders wherever they line up but we’ll continue to look at things like that.”

Yankees relievers have struggled during a 6-12 slide. The bullpen took a blow this week when Fernandez Cruz was diagnosed with a high-grade oblique strain.

“Some of those guys have been leaned on heavily,” Boone said. “It’s on me to – I got to do a better job of getting those guys in positions where they can be successful.”