"It's a good rule overall” - Braves’ 3rd base coach Matt Tuiasosopo praises MLB's obstruction rule to avoid players getting injured
Atlanta Braves third base coach Matt Tuiasosopo and Bally Sports analyst CJ Nitkowski recently discussed MLB's decision to strictly enforce the obstruction rule.
Over time, some infielders have developed a habit of obstructing the baserunners by covering the base with their knee, part of their leg, or simply straight up. This poses a risk of injury to the runner as they slide into the base. Infielders pretend to do it under the guise of catching the ball but now MLB has instructed their officials to enforce the obstruction rule if they see the action.
Tuiasosopo is happy with this decision and lauded the enhanced rule, saying:
"Once if they get hammered a couple times you know I think you'll start seeing some adjustments and I think it's it's it's a good rule overall just to make sure guys aren't getting injured when they know when they shouldn't be." (At 2:11 in the video below)
Atlanta Braves coach on teaching infielders proper base setup
As per a report from ESPN, the majority of baserunning injuries occur at second and third base, where the fielders also block the view of the runner under the appearance of catching the ball.
Coach Matt Tuiasosopo also had a consistent outlook regarding this. He also mentioned teaching the infielder to set up a legal position so that it doesn't impede the runner's view while they slide headfirst into the base.
"You know we see videos of infielders that already you know are blocking with their leg, you know that they drop the knee down and that's where you see a lot of those injuries so we like the rule a lot," Tuiasosopo added (at 1:15 in the video above).
"It's just you know trying now to teach our infielders you know where to set up, you know how to go to balls that might be offline, where we're still giving them the lane and we can still you know complete the play."
According to the Braves coach, the league will need to strictly observe this rule, or more injuries can occur.