Marlins run drills to prepare for home-plate collisions

JUPITER, Fla. -- Collisions at home plate, on occasion, do happen.

In preparation for possible contact, the Marlins have been doing drills with their catchers to prepare for contact.

Manager Mike Redmond, a former catcher, is stressing proper technique on possible plays at the plate in hopes of avoiding injury.

"We try to tell our catchers how to protect themselves," Redmond said. "For me, I would be the smallest guy out there, and I blocked the plate. I never got hurt like that."

As an organization, the Marlins were involved in one of the most controversial collisions at home plate in recent years. In 2011, Scott Cousins ran over Buster Posey, causing the Giants' star catcher to miss the rest of the season.

One thing Redmond is not telling his catchers is to avoid contact entirely, and concede a run.

Contact, sometimes, is unavoidable. But by bracing yourself, you can minimize the risk of injury.

"What we do is try to teach guys to avoid going down on their knees," Redmond said. "If you're a little guy, and you go down to your knees it makes you even smaller, and you don't have a base.

"So we try to square guys up, and give them the tools where they can protect themselves in case they do get run over. It does happen. We hope our guys will be able to get in there and protect themselves, and nobody gets hurt."