Less than a week after his frightening collision with Jake Marisnick, Los Angeles Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy is opening up a bit about the play.
Lucroy, who suffered a concussion and broken nose when the Houston Astros outfielder ran him over Sunday in a play at the plate, spoke on the collision in an interview with JP Hoornstra of the Orange County Register on Friday.
“I don’t think he was trying to hurt anybody,” said the former All-Star, who added that Marisnick texted him after the incident. “However, I did give him the whole lane, the whole foul territory to slide. I did tell him that in the text. As a catcher, when a play’s at home, I always try to give the runner some place to slide. That’s what the new rule says, you’re supposed to do that. If you don’t you can get called for interference, then they’ll get the run. We communicated, and it is what it is.”
Lucroy, who is currently on the IL, also offered an update about his recovery.
“Obviously I have a broken nose,” he said. “We’re going to try to get that fixed on Monday. Concussion-wise, I feel pretty good. I thought it’d be a lot worse than it was. In all honesty, the symptoms – I haven’t really had the kind of symptoms I’ve had in the past when I’ve had a real bad concussion. But I’m feeling pretty good from that angle. We’re going to keep an eye on it.”
Marisnick drew a two-game suspension from the league for the collision and served the first half of it during Thursday’s loss to the Texas Rangers. Other players were very upset about the play, but it sounds like Lucroy thinks that Marisnick acted more carelessly than maliciously.
