Catching was a family tradition, so when Red Sox backstop Reese McGuire was 8 or 9, as he recalled, he tested out his new catching gear in the backyard on Christmas. As he crouched in the grass and baseballs caromed off his forearms, his grandfather told him: “It takes a tough kid to be a catcher. You have to enjoy the bruises.”

“We’re all kind of crazy, I think, to get back there,” said Diamondbacks catcher Tucker Barnhart, who has spent the last 11 seasons as a target squatting behind home plate.

Catching is not for the faint of heart — or thigh or wrist or toe or hip or knee or hand or shoulder.

Around the league, most catchers are banged up, always hovering on the edge of the injured list.

Late last month, Angels catcher Logan O’Hoppe was dealing with a black-and-blue shoulder, leaving him hardly able to lift his arm after absorbing a foul ball. His backup, Matt Thaiss, had a bruised hand after catching José Soriano’s 98-mph sinkers. Then O’Hoppe left a game last week after taking a foul ball to the hand. Giants catcher Patrick Bailey took a foul ball last month on the exposed area of the toe where the foot shield doesn’t quite reach. Three days later, he landed on the concussion injured list after taking a foul ball to the face mask. Red Sox catcher Connor Wong also recently dealt with a bruise under his toenail. Wong went on to describe a previous bruise to the teardrop of his quad, which made crouching painful and, well, crouching is a key part of the job.

“It’s our duty to be that tank back there and roll with the punches,” Wong said.

And for over a century, they have, accepting the bruises and strains that have come with the long-established territory. But as the game evolves, the demands of the job are making it even more hazardous; catchers have shifted closer to the plate to aid with pitch framing, but as The Athletic’s Katie Woo wrote last week, that has caused a rise in catcher interference calls and has opened up catchers to more punishment.

Last week, Cardinals catcher Willson Contreras was struck by the swing of New York Mets’ J.D. Martinez and has a broken left arm to show for it.

“There’s always a risk being a catcher,” Contreras said after the injury. “Could have been something different. It could’ve been off my knee, it could be a concussion. That risk is always going to be there.”

Add it to the list. There’s a reason Barnhart and other veteran voices, including the thick Boston accent of Cleveland bench coach Craig Albernaz, can be heard on the first day of spring training every year relaying a familiar message: It’s all downhill from here.

“The amount of excitement,” Barnhart said about the dawn of a new season, “and, ‘Man, I feel great’ — and then Day 2 happens.”

They won’t return to 100 percent until the depths of winter, after they’ve recovered from every foul tip, every achy muscle, every nick and bruise in every nook of the body. The job is unrelenting and unforgiving; the pain and danger are ever-present.

And yet, for a team to succeed, so much necessarily falls on a catcher’s sore shoulders. They build a rapport with each pitcher. They know their tendencies and what’s been clicking. They know how they’ve attacked certain hitters in the past. They see the scouting reports on every single member of the opposing roster. That’s quite the learning curve for any fill-in, and Barnhart said it’s why catchers are so motivated to avoid time off.

“You have to have, for a lack of a better term,” Barnhart said, “a ‘f— it’ mentality.”

“If you cut my arm off,” said Guardians catcher Austin Hedges, “if I can play, I’m gonna go f—ing play.”

Well, as long as it’s his left arm, he clarified. He still has to throw the ball back to the pitcher 150 times a game, a tall order if he’s limited to his non-throwing hand.

Hedges scrolled through thousands of photos on his phone one day last week in search of evidence of the gnarliest bruise he could find. He located one that occupied nearly his entire right thigh, one with rich shades of indigo, plum and mulberry. He shook his head and laughed. The culprit? One single foul tip.

Austin Hedges’ thigh bruise. (Courtesy of Austin Hedges)

“The foul balls seem to always hit you in a spot where you don’t have gear or have the least amount of gear,” Barnhart said.

In 2022, Hedges suffered a low ankle sprain while lunging toward first base. Two weeks after that healed, he suffered a high ankle sprain as he tumbled into the dugout trying to corral a pop-up. His heel turned a dark violet and his ankle ballooned in size. He struggled to rotate while batting. He couldn’t comfortably position himself behind the plate or push off his backside, which resulted in him long-hopping the ball to second when trying to nab a base-stealer.

“You’re in pain, but you never get to shut it off,” Hedges said. “If you can play, you play. There’s no hesitation. You see how people react to getting hit by pitches. It doesn’t feel a whole lot better getting a foul tip off flesh. Then you just have to come back and act like it’s not even a thing.”

Austin Hedges’ swollen ankle. (Courtesy of Austin Hedges)

In June 2011, Chris Gimenez was scheduled to catch Mariners ace Félix Hernández one afternoon, but during batting practice the day before, Gimenez strained his left oblique. Seattle’s starting catcher, Miguel Olivo, experienced leg cramping that night, so Gimenez, who could barely inhale without cringing in pain, had to fill in for the final six innings.

For Gimenez, there was no dodging the pain in his side, especially when trying to corral Michael Pineda’s upper-90s heaters and when applying a tag at the plate on an assist from Ichiro. Gimenez tried to drop down a bunt when he batted since swinging proved unbearable. Chipper Jones shouted at him from third base, asking why he was bunting with two outs, but Mariners manager Eric Wedge had instructed Gimenez to do whatever caused him the least suffering. Seattle just wanted to keep Gimenez physically able to crouch behind the plate. He headed to the injured list the next day.

Albernaz was listed at 5-foot-8 and 185 pounds as a player, small stature for a catcher.

“I got plowed over a lot,” he said.

He also knew he couldn’t afford to sit out when granted a chance to play since he was an undrafted free agent who waited nine years for a big-league opportunity.

At one point, he thought his playing career had ended early, thanks to loose bodies in his knee getting wedged in his joint and leaving him unable to crouch.

Albernaz’s fellow coach in Cleveland, Sandy Alomar Jr., lasted 20 years as a major-league catcher. He has the battle scars to prove it. He underwent six surgeries on his left knee and three on his right.

“If you want to be a catcher,” Alomar said, “you’re never going to be 100 percent. Ever.”

Even now, he has a bone spur in his left foot from years of absorbing foul tips.

Even with all that catchers of Alomar’s generation had to deal with, it was rare for them to be struck by the hitter’s backswing. That has become an increasing problem for the modern catcher, as was highlighted by the Contreras injury.

Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said that teams are trying to walk the line between asking their catchers to steal strikes via closer-to-the-plate pitch framing, and putting them in dangerous situations by inching a bit too close.

“We do want our guys close enough to be impactful with the low strike but not walking into harm’s way,” Hinch said. “It’s a tough balance when the incentive to do it is real and the risk is extreme.”

GO DEEPER

Catcher’s interference calls are skyrocketing in MLB. It’s putting players at risk

Even as the risks become more intense, there are teams and individuals trying to find ways to make catching less of a burden on the human body. Hinch noted teams are searching for methods intended to “chip away at some of the physical responsibilities” of catching, whether altering their stances or adding bullpen catchers to lighten their to-do list. Giants manager Bob Melvin suggested everyday catchers like J.T. Realmuto are an endangered species.

With that in mind, some catchers have dropped one knee to the dirt to save the wear and tear on their knees, but several catchers and coaches stressed it’s not a cure-all. Hedges said it places more of a burden on his ankles, and it makes his inner thighs more vulnerable to foul tips.

“There’s nowhere for it to miss you,” said Jerry Narron, the Angels’ catching coach, who suggested catchers need “a football mentality.”

“It just seems like there’s always something that’s hurting,” Barnhart said.

“You feel like if you play a guy two out of three,” Melvin said, “that’s about as far as you can go with it.”

On Sept. 9, 2021, after socking a pair of solo homers against the Nationals, then-Braves catcher Stephen Vogt blocked a ball in the dirt, twisted his body and attempted an off-balance throw to third, where Juan Soto was trying to advance 90 feet. During his throwing motion, Vogt felt a pop in his hip. He couldn’t squat. Two muscles had ripped off his pelvis and he had a sports hernia. He needed season-ending surgery, which had him contemplating retirement after his team marched to a World Series title.

“You get beat up every single night as a catcher,” said Vogt, who now manages the Guardians. “It’s just part of the job.”

When Vogt made a mound visit during a recent series in Houston, he told catcher Bo Naylor: “Man, you’re getting your butt kicked tonight.’”

Naylor said nothing is more irritating than a foul ball off the hand. He added that he’ll occasionally be completing his pregame routine on a foam roller when a sharp pain pops up unexpectedly. That’s when he cycles through every possible pain-inducer from the previous night.

“Wait, why does this hurt? Oh yeah, I got a foul ball there last night,” he said.

McGuire said he wakes up “every day” with a mysterious bruise or ache. On April 30, it was his thumb, from a foul tip that struck his mitt at an awkward angle. Adrenaline fueled him the rest of that game, but it was stiff when he woke up the next day; he hadn’t realized how hard he had jammed it.

“Most of us have some sort of thumb injury,” said Cubs catcher Yan Gomes, who uses a protective guard and a stockpile of tape for added security.

All of them, not most, have some sort of something. Hinch, who caught for parts of seven big-league seasons, said it’s “the reason we all look like hell when we’re done playing.”

In August 2018, Joey Votto joined the Reds’ injured list, and Barnhart and Curt Casali, the club’s catchers, shared some of the first-base duties in his absence. For the catchers, it was like a spa day.

“We’d always joke with each other,” Barnhart said, “that, ‘Man, if my body always felt like this and I got to go to the plate, this is a great feeling. You don’t have to squat down. You’re not worried about getting hit. All you have to do is stand at first base and catch the ball? That’s it? My body feels great.’”

— The Athletic‘s C. Trent Rosecrans, Chad Jennings, Stephen J. Nesbitt, Sam Blum, Cody Stavenhagen and Andy McCullough contributed reporting.

(Top photo of Contreras suffering a broken arm: Dilip Vishwanat / Getty Images)

In Steve Smith’s third year as UCF’s director of player development, the school started prepping for the upcoming revolution.

Soon, for the first time, college athletes would be able to make money off their name, image and likeness.

“They all call me ‘Smitty,’ and they said, ‘Smitty, you need to make sure none of our athletes jeopardize their eligibility prior to this being passed and going into effect,’” Smith recalled.

UCF’s compliance department mentioned then-starting star quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who wanted to launch a clothing brand. It was Smith’s introduction to NIL, and it opened his eyes to uncharted territory and what he considered boundless opportunities. A few months later, in August 2021, he pivoted careers and became an NIL agent.

Smith formed his own LLC and registered with the state of Florida as a sports agent. His first client? The easygoing left-handed QB from Hawaii.

Smith, and others who saw need and opportunity, joined an industry where everyone is navigating an evolving marketplace. It goes beyond setting up partnerships with brands, as Gabriel, who transferred to Oklahoma and then Oregon, has had with Old Spice, Sonic and others. The collision of NIL with the transfer portal has created its own cycle of competitive matching between school and player, in which NIL deals are part of players picking new programs.

Collectives affiliated with schools often offer packages ranging from the tens of thousands to, in the biggest cases, the millions, in exchange for social media posts, public appearances or autographed memorabilia before or after a transfer signs with his new school.

The spring portal window closed in April after being open for two weeks. In that span, more than 850 scholarship football players entered the portal. In total, more than 2,600 scholarship college football players entered the transfer portal this offseason looking for a new home.

Because of challenges to the NCAA in federal court, rules prohibiting NIL deals from serving as inducements to attend particular schools are no longer enforced, and athletes are allowed unlimited transfers and immediate eligibility.

When it comes to the portal, some agents, several of whom spoke with The Athletic on the condition of anonymity, said landing the biggest deal with collectives is the priority for some players. But some agents said they’re not trying to squeeze the most money out of what is essentially college free agency — their aim is to help athletes create a marketable brand by looking at the big picture.

NEWS: Top QB Jaden Rashada is entering the transfer portal per his agency Disruptive Sports @disruptivesport @henryorgann pic.twitter.com/jIiZnG3FN2

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) April 18, 2024

Agents’ involvement in the transfer portal has been more visible, with players citing or thanking their agencies on transfer announcements and reps speaking on their behalf to reporters regarding offers and visits. But their roles appear varied with a broad range of qualifications and involvement.

A common saying, even by the agents themselves, is that anybody’s aunt or uncle can act as an NIL agent.

Players, coaches and agents say publicly the “football fit” comes first when players seek to transfer. And getting on the field matters for long-term aspirations. But the money, either to stay at a current school or pick a new one, makes the process more complex.

“I don’t think most kids go in the portal for money,” said Russell White, president of Oncoor Marketing, who represents college athletes in the NIL space, as well as NFL and NBA players. “They just want to make sure they capitalize on that piece.”

That’s where agents can come in.

Chase Moss, CEO of First Class Prospects, said a common blueprint to get players entering the portal more attention is to release information to recruiting sites or reporters with a large online following. That’s when staffers from schools often follow the player and/or agent on social media and begin to work on this round of recruitment.

“We don’t have them commit until we have (an NIL) deal, because otherwise there’s no point,” Moss said.

When a player enters the transfer portal, how do they know what they should be worth? The specifics of deals usually remain private.

“That’s based on conversation and experience in the marketplace,” said Jeff Hoffman, whose agency, Everett Sports Marketing, has represented 2024 first-round NFL Draft picks Marvin Harrison Jr., Brock Bowers, Xavier Legette and others. “It’s talking to other agents, collectives, and having relationships to have an understanding of where people are being offered in that pay band to know where my guy should be.”

During open transfer windows, just hearing what players are being offered can prove invaluable.

“The beauty of the portal is, once you get in, a ton of schools can contact you, and that’s where the information just flows,” White said.

Last fall, Nebraska coach Matt Rhule told reporters that the anticipated going rate in the portal to sign a starting-level quarterback in NIL funds is anywhere between $1 million to $2 million.

Star quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, some tight ends and some defensive standouts make the most, said the director of a power conference collective, speaking on the condition of anonymity, and some of the best-run collectives can pay well for first- and second-stringers, and sometimes beyond. Agents who spoke to The Athletic said they were aware of which programs’ collectives appear to have the most money to spend on NIL — and which ones don’t.

GO DEEPER

‘It’s basically like a silent auction’: Why are college football NIL deals hush-hush?

Agents say they can protect players from signing bad deals. Negotiations can include elements like use of a car, pay for parents’ travel to games and disability insurance. Without representation, some players transferring this offseason, Hoffman said, may not have a full understanding of how deals can work.

“Let’s use a round number: I’m going to transfer, and I’m getting paid $100,000,” Hoffman said. “Half of that is going to my car and my apartment. The other $50,000 is breaking down into monthly payments. I have to pay taxes on that, so that’s taken out. So let’s say after that I am down to $36,000 and getting paid $3,000 a month. For that $3,000 a month, I need to attend 10 events, post 15 times on social media and provide 10-20 signed pieces. It’s just not viable. It’s not commensurate with the pay.”

But using an agent can also come with potholes. In December, The Athletic detailed how a disconnect between former Syracuse linebacker Leon Lowery and his former NIL agents nearly derailed his transfer to Wisconsin.

“I would say most are working in the best interest of (their clients), in terms of making more money,” one agent said. “But what percent are good or make good decisions or help them? I would say few.”

Some parents, agents say, have pushed their children to enter the portal in search of a heftier paycheck or have negotiated built-in stipends for themselves in NIL contracts.

One agent told The Athletic of parents or family members handling negotiations: “It seems the assumption is, ‘We could do this on our own.’”

In recent years, many high-profile programs created the role of a general manager who helps bridge the gap between coaches and collectives. If a player is wanted by a staff, a GM will inform a collective CEO to be prepared to reach out to the player or the player’s agent.

Said one agent: “When it comes to NIL conversations, it’s collectives. We’re not really dealing with coaches. But at the same time, I do talk to coaches. ‘Hey coach, our guy is thinking about entering the portal. Is this somebody you’d want in your locker room? How quickly could he get on the field for you? What holes do you need to fill?’ So we talk about on-the-field stuff. I’m not saying coaches don’t talk about money, but it’s typically not what is discussed.”

Said Smith, now part of Legend Agency: “Once you have your school and somebody likes it and is a good fit, then the conversation really does come down to: What is market value right now? What other offers have you received? Here are the deliverables, are you on board with those deliverables? And then the collective has to understand, does this person add value to what else we’re trying to do?”

One common issue agents and collectives alike have faced is misunderstanding of worth in the NIL marketplace.

In the middle of bowl season in December, there were more than 1,800 players in the portal. Some agencies offer consultations to players or negotiate short-term NIL contracts just to see what the process is like.

“Not everyone is going to make a lot of money,” Smith said. “It’s like the real world. Not everyone is rich.”

The biggest opportunities are there for big-name players like Gabriel, who can harness the full power of NIL, more along the lines of how many expected NIL to work before the rise of collectives. At Oklahoma, in addition to partnering with the Crimson and Cream OU Collective, Gabriel had existing deals with EvoShield, Rock ‘Em Socks and more. He’s retained a few preexisting deals since moving to Oregon.

Dillon Gabriel settled in at Oregon this spring ahead of his sixth season in college football. (Eric Evans Photography / Courtesy of Oregon Athletics)

Aided by Smith, he’s become involved with local NIL deals, including a roofing company and a clothing brand called Ducks of a Feather, which allows participating athletes to profit off merchandise sales. It was launched by the Oregon collective, Division Street, headed up by two former Nike executives.

Similarly, Notre Dame’s Riley Leonard is represented by Peter Webb and Doug Young and their NIL agency, QB Reps, which represents only quarterbacks. The duo has 20-plus years experience in sports marketing and coaching at various levels. In addition to Leonard, they represented former Oregon QB Bo Nix.

“When a kid goes into the transfer portal and has all these different opportunities from these different schools, slowly we’re just able to build an evaluation process at every single school, but only for quarterbacks,” Webb said. “If you’re a five-star quarterback that goes to Alabama, Clemson or LSU or Oregon, we’re going to know exactly what that looks like.”

Webb and Young, who also worked with Leonard while he was at Duke, said he has 10 NIL partnerships, including Gillette, EA Sports, Topps, Leaf trading cards and Rhoback apparel, with more in the pipeline. Mission BBQ, one of Leonard’s first local partnerships, is 10 minutes from Notre Dame Stadium in Mishawaka, Ind. The new Fighting Irish starting quarterback is already in high demand.

“This is a different story when Riley is arriving at Notre Dame than if he’s arriving at some other school,” Young said.

Exact numbers of NIL agents aren’t known. Most states require agents to register, but qualifications — and enforcement — are light. Some agents hope to represent players who make it to the NFL, where agents must be certified by the players association.

The range remains predictably immense. Some players like Arizona State wide receiver Raleek Brown and Tulane wide receiver Mario Williams have hired Jay-Z’s Roc Nation to represent them. Then there are some who hire agents whose websites listed in their online social media bios still don’t work. Some go it alone.

“We still have kids making $100,000 or more that aren’t using NIL agents for negotiations,” said the collective director, who estimated maybe 10 to 15 percent of the 150 deals his group strikes a year are negotiated by agents.

The commission taken home by agents can vary greatly, too. While the general consensus ranges anywhere from 10 to 20 percent on NIL, some agents can take a cut as low as 5 percent. Some take no commission on deals negotiated with collectives. One agent who spoke to The Athletic said no agent should be going above 20 percent under any circumstance.

The collective director said the running joke of “someone’s aunt or uncle” doesn’t always refer to nefarious intentions or bad endings. Oftentimes it works out just fine. But he added regulation in the NIL space is needed across the board.

The NCAA is working to build and maintain a voluntary registration portal for agents and other professional NIL service providers — a pet project of NCAA president Charlie Baker. Several agents who spoke to The Athletic doubted it would make much impact.

GO DEEPER

Why is the NCAA proposing a new subdivision? Explaining the related legal battles

NIL continues to evolve. A proposal by Baker could lead to collectives moving in-house and schools paying athletes directly. The many lawsuits putting pressure on the NCAA may lead to a new model of athletes as employees who collectively bargain.

“The players should like ‘the wild west,’ because that’s where you can maximize. Others don’t because it’s not mutually beneficial at the moment,” Gabriel said. “However, I think there’s definitely changes on the way. I know this is not sustainable long term.”

(Top image: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic; istock)

On Monday night, Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren knocked down two free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining in Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks. They were huge makes, bringing the Thunder closer to evening the series.

The Mavericks had no timeouts left. They had to rush up the court to get themselves back in the game. At that point, fans should have been wondering if they were about to witness a signature playoff moment. Would Luka Dončić shake off a rough night and lift his team? Would Kyrie Irving add to his formidable highlight reel of awesome playoff moments? Would Shai Gilgeous-Alexander strip someone in the backcourt, wrapping up a huge night for him? Would Holmgren come charging out to the 3-point arc off a switch and send a shot into the Dallas night?

Instead, as the Mavericks moved the ball around to create a good look, Gilgeous-Alexander intentionally fouled P.J. Washington. The Thunder were leading by three points. It was the right move. Giving up a maximum of two points when leading by three made sense with so little time remaining. The Dallas forward split a pair of free throws with 3.2 seconds left, Gilgeous-Alexander hit both of his at the other end and that was that. Thunder win.

Pretty anticlimactic, no?

Casual NBA viewers often criticize the ends of games for taking too long. Those complaints are justified, and the league has addressed them in part. Before the 2017-18 season, the NBA changed its rules to limit teams to two timeouts in the final three minutes of games instead of three timeouts in the final two minutes, as it had been previously.

Well, here’s another problem: In the situation the Thunder faced Monday night, teams are not encouraged to defend without fouling. Free throws are among the least interesting and most time-consuming parts of basketball, and the nature of the rule is leading to more of them, not fewer. Worst of all, it is robbing viewers of potentially iconic moments.

Let’s change the rules, then. Here are two proposals.

1. If your opponent is in the bonus and you are winning by three points or more and you foul your opponent beyond the 3-point arc, your opponent gets three free throws.

2. In the same scenario, there is an extension of the current “take foul” rule, with the trailing/fouled team getting an automatic free throw and possession. This is my preferred option.

It might seem counter-intuitive to use the threat of more free throws to cut down on the number of free throws late in a game, but the free throw is the most efficient shot in the game. In the first proposal, a team would give the opponent a chance to tie the game at the free-throw line. In the second, it could set up a scenario in which the opponent could win with a made free throw followed by a made 3 (or tying it with a made free throw and a 2). No team is going to pursue those options purposefully.

There are potential loopholes, which I will get to in a moment. The current rules encourage players and coaches to consider three scenarios that all defy the spirit of the game.

1. Prioritizing fouling over playing defense without fouling. It makes for an interesting philosophical debate, but anything that moves away from settling the game while the clock is running is not optimal.

2. If the trailing team thinks an opponent is trying to foul, its players might try to rise up for an unnatural shot while the leading team attempts to deploy the strategy. That is just another way of trying to bait the referees into a foul call with unnatural shot attempts, an activity the league is actively trying to curb.

3. If, when trailing by three in the final seconds, a player hits the first of two free throws, he is then encouraged to try to miss the next one in a way that maximizes the possibility of an offensive rebound that produces another field goal attempt. Why do we have a system that promotes missing a shot on purpose? (On Monday, Washington missed the first free throw. Instead of trying to miss the second one to generate an offensive rebound and potential game-tying 3-point attempt, he made it.)

There are counters here, and I am not claiming that either of the above proposals would be a perfect solution. Most notably, teams have 47 minutes and 36 seconds to avoid trailing by three points with the shot clock turned off. Speaking of free throws, the Mavericks missed 11 of their 23 attempts on Monday. The Thunder fouling Washington was not the primary reason Dallas lost.

Additionally, what about the team that is leading? That team is intentionally fouled more often than the trailing team to extend the competitive portion of the game. Well, the second part of that sentence is the crucial bit, isn’t it? I have no problem with a rule that applies to one team but not the other given the specificity of the scenario.

Finally, such a rule could encourage another type of grifting: a player for the trailing team creating unnatural contact to obtain the advantage afforded by yet another rule designed to help the team with the ball. That would just be exchanging one form of grifting for another, though. It is not a net gain in referee deception.

There would naturally be other unintended consequences of any such rule change. I’m all for sniffing them out and trying to make the best rule possible. What I do know: Every basketball fan has a few buzzer-beating or last-second shots they will never forget. If anyone has a similar list of “best uses of a take foul to maintain a lead,” I’ve yet to meet them. I don’t really want to, either.

(Top Photo of Luka Dončić after a late-game foul: Tim Heitman / Getty Images)