Watch out Pete Rose, Jacoby Ellsbury is coming for you

New York Yankees center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury reached base in the first inning on Tuesday against Baltimore through catcher’s interference, setting a new single-season MLB record.

Ellsbury broke a record held by Roberto Kelly, who reached base on catcher’s interference eight times in the 1992 season. Ellsbury recorded his ninth catcher’s interference of the season against the Orioles and it’s only mid-July. It looks like he’s going to set the bar significantly higher in a category that really isn’t as much about skill as it is about a player’s style of batting.

Catcher’s interference happens when a catcher’s glove makes contact with the batter’s bat or hinders or prevents the batter from hitting a pitched ball. It seems to happen so much with Ellsbury because of where he stands in the batter’s box and the nature of his swing.

Ellsbury is also closing in on the career record for catcher’s interference held by Pete Rose.

In 24 years in the big leagues and nearly 16,000 plate appearances, Charlie Hustle reached base on catcher’s interference 29 times. By comparison, Ellsbury is in his 10th season and has not yet reached 5,000 plate appearances, but he’s hot on the heels of Rose with 23 catcher’s interference.

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Kyle Ringo is a contributing writer to Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo