Mark Lipczynski

Professional baseball's starting catchers kneel for nine innings, day after day, for upwards of 120 games a season. They are struck by foul balls, hit with backswinging bats and—even with rule changes to lessen the chances of home plate collisions—occasionally get run over by large men sprinting at full speed. It's hard work. We wanted to know what it was like to experience all of this—to be the guy who takes a beating for a living—so we caught up with seven of the best catchers in the game. Today, in the second of seven exclusive interviews with MLB backstops, we have Jonathan Lucroy of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Jonathan Lucroy, 28, isn't just one of the best catchers in the majors, he's one of the best position players, period. Last year, he ranked in the National League's Top 10 for hits, average, doubles, triples, and OPS. Not surprisingly, he made the 2014 All-Star team and finished fourth in the National League MVP voting. Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said in spring training that he even planned to play Lucroy at first base on occasion to give him a break without taking his bat out of the line-up, but the dangers of the job caught up with Lucroy before he could even try it. In late April, a foul tip struck his foot and fractured a toe. Thankfully, he's only expected to miss a month or two. "It's a position of pain, but it's also very rewarding," Lucroy says. "You just deal with the punishment and accept it. It's my job."

What's it like to play the toughest position in baseball?

It's hard sometimes. You catch a lot of guys who throw real hard, and foul tips hit you. I got hit the other day in my forearm. I got hit in the shin. It's always something. That's why we need all the equipment, to cover everything.


It's the most painful part. The hardest part is calling the game—being ready for that mentally. Being able to squat, block, and call pitches. The foul tips and neck shots are the most painful part, though.

What do you wear?

I wear a standard skullcap. I have a titanium mask, which is lighter and has memory foam pads on the inside. For me, this works a lot better. When you get hit, it'll fly off, versus a hockey-style mask, where if you get hit, it stays on your head. It still doesn't feel good to get hit, but it lessens the blow a little bit. Then I have a chest protector, which is also memory foam. When you block pitches it helps to deaden the ball. There are shinguards, which take a pretty good beating. They have extra protection inside, including a gel knee pad. And I wear knee pads on my sliding shorts, too. You get pretty bruised up from all the squatting. Then there's my glove, and the glove I wear under my glove. It has an L-shaped pad on the index finger and just above my thumb, on the palm. That's where I catch the ball, and it helps to cushion things. You get hit constantly–bam, bam, bam. You can see a difference in my fingers. My index finger on my glove hand is bigger, from all the pounding over a long period of time.

Milwaukee Brewers Catcher Jonathan Lucroy
Mark Lipczynski

What's it like to stand in and take that collision at home plate?

It's not too much fun. It's pretty jarring. It doesn't happen very often anymore, because of the rule they put in last year. Before that, I got drilled a few times. It's one of those things you deal with: Get in front of the plate, block it, and take the hit. But that new rule is going to help prevent injuries. Not only career-ending but life-changing. You get a bad concussion and you could have all kinds of issues that linger.

What's the worst place to get hit by a ball?

The most painful is probably on the inner wrist when you block and expose your wrists. I've popped blood vessels in my arms from that. That doesn't feel good. But it goes away in a few days. Getting hit in the obvious area doesn't feel good–I'm not going to elaborate on that, but you know what I mean. I've been hit in the side of the neck a few times. Once, when I was in the minor leagues, it was like 100 degrees in Florida. A ball went down, hit a rock, and kicked up right into the side of my neck. I started blacking out. It swelled up, and I guess that slowed down the blood to my brain or something and I passed out for five or six seconds. So when you block pitches in the dirt, you gotta tuck your chin in to protect from that.

How about getting hit by a backswing?

That doesn't feel good either. I've been hit in the elbow, the head, and the shoulder a lot. Getting hit in the shoulder is a lot better than the elbow or head. Once I got hit in the head, and it cracked my helmet and [my head] started bleeding. I've seen guys get smoked in the head and have to get stitches. I got one in the back of my arm once and it just went dead. I came back, though. The guys who get hit on backswings—a lot has to do with the hitters. You gotta know which guys do that and back up. If you block the right way, and receive the right way, you'll get beat up but you'll live. If you do everything the right way, you'll be okay.

To see Lucroy take a hit, and further discuss his tough job, see the below video, courtesy of MLB.[TIMESTAMP]&

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