You should always begin from the premise of, they’re all amazing. Every player in the major leagues — every player is amazing. The worst player you’ve ever seen on your favorite team possessed the sort of raw talent most baseball players could only dream of. Given that, in this age of information, I absolutely love the data that allows individual players to stand out. They’re the freaks among the freaks. Take pitchers. This season, Aroldis Chapman has thrown 48 pitches at least 102 miles per hour. The guy in second place has nine. Or, take hitters! We can do this now. This season, Giancarlo Stanton has hit six baseballs at least 118 miles per hour. The guy in second place has one. It’s unbelievable that anyone would stand out. Those are some of the most delicious statistics.

Now, pitch velocity? That’s a skill thing. Batted-ball velocity? That’s also a skill thing. What I’m about to talk about isn’t exactly a skill thing in the same sense. But I want you to know something about Jacoby Ellsbury. I need you to know something about Jacoby Ellsbury. In what way does Jacoby Ellsbury most stand out from the crowd? Eight times already this season, Ellsbury has reached base on catcher’s interference. The guy in second place has done it twice. Ellsbury has already tied the all-time record for a season. It is the All-Star break.

I made a note to write something about this a few weeks ago, when Ellsbury was at six. Then it happened a seventh time on July 1, and it happened an eighth time on July 4. What’s funny is I already wrote about this phenomenon in August 2013. Back then, Ellsbury seemed weird because he’d reached on interference four times. Already this season, he’s doubled that. Here’s Ellsbury’s entire career, and the last decade of the rest of Major League Baseball, in terms of times reaching on catcher’s interference.

It’s not a new thing, and it is a new thing. It’s not a new thing, in that Ellsbury has done this a bunch of times before, and it’s even factored into advance scouting reports. Other teams have long warned their catchers about Ellsbury’s stance and swing path. What’s new is this rate. Eight times, already, in a half-year. If other teams are learning, they’re not showing any evidence. Ellsbury has taken 0.33% of all big-league plate appearances this year. He’s drawn 32% of all catcher’s interference calls. It is genuine silliness. C.J. Cron, Aaron Hill — they’ve reached twice on such interference, which is weird enough. With Ellsbury, he’s reached on catcher’s interference twice as often as he’s homered.

Here’s the most recent case. On July 4, Ellsbury swung and caught a piece of Dioner Navarro’s glove. Ellsbury still hit the baseball, and he hit it fairly well, but it was also a routine fly out. The only difference was Ellsbury remained at first base after running down the line.

A side view for you, showing how subtle this can be:

It was so subtle, in fact, that on the White Sox broadcast, there were 89 seconds that passed between Ellsbury making contact and the announcers saying what had happened to allow Ellsbury to reach base. As Ellsbury stood on first, here’s how the following plate appearance began:

The scoreboard up there says none on, two out. Actually, there was one on, with one out, which is why James Shields worked from the stretch, and looked over at the bag. The White Sox broadcast didn’t know to expect that Ellsbury could pull this off. The Yankees broadcast was on it. They’ve seen this happen enough. And also, while actual catcher’s interference can be subtle, the sign for catcher’s interference is anything but.

Umpire: look at this guy
Umpire: this guy is an idiot

For what it’s worth, the interference isn’t always subtle. On July 1, Ellsbury reached on Derek Norris‘ interference. Behold:

It feels cheap, maybe. Like reaching base on a technicality. It is reaching base on a technicality, but it’s important to recognize that Ellsbury isn’t doing anything against the rules. I can’t imagine this is something he tries to do on purpose, because he’s up there trying to hit the baseball, and you can’t be thinking about two things at once. Other hitters stand even further back in the box, and this is just a part of Ellsbury’s swing — his natural path sometimes takes him a good distance backward. Catchers are supposed to know about that. They’re supposed to move a few inches back. Many of them do. Obviously, not all of them do. Ellsbury’s on an incredible pace. None of the interferences have won the Yankees a ballgame, but a time on base is a time on base. Ellsbury’s “effective” OBP is higher than his real OBP by 15 points.

According to that linked article from the New York Times, Pete Rose holds the career record with 29 times reaching base on catcher’s interference. Ellsbury, today, stands at 22. He has an excellent shot of making the record his own. I suppose he has some shot of doing it this very year.

Yesterday, I was very casually listening to the radio as the Mariners played the Royals. I wasn’t paying attention to any details, really; it was the sort of listening where I wasn’t truly listening, and I could be reached only by an announcer raising his voice. An announcer did raise his voice when, in the fourth inning, the Mariners stretched their lead to 3-0. A run was driven home by Ketel Marte, and you can see the play right here:

Among the significant factors:

• left-handed pitcher, falling slightly off to the third-base side of the mound
• Kendrys Morales playing first base, instead of Eric Hosmer
• two outs

In a sense, the situation did call for a push bunt: Brian Flynn wasn’t ending up in a good position, and Morales doesn’t move around so well these days. But that last bullet is a big one. I’m not saying it was dumb — it was, after all, wildly successful! The last bullet just makes it unusual. As my attention was drawn in to the broadcast, half my mind assumed the announcer was just getting the number of outs wrong. You don’t see many similar bunts. I made a mental note to generate the InstaGraphs post that you’re reading right now.

What’s the frequency of a two-out RBI bunt, or of a two-out RBI bunt attempt? We go to the Play Index. Two-out bunts, in general, are of course fairly rare, as bunts go. There’s nothing to sacrifice, and there’s not much margin of error.

This year there have been 107 two-out bunts. Out of those, 18 took place with at least one runner in scoring position, and 13 took place with a runner on third. There have been five such RBI, and just days before Marte in Kansas City, Kolten Wong dropped down an almost identical and successful bunt against lefty Jeff Locke and the Pirates. Colby Rasmus has one of the RBI bunts, Chris Rusin has another, and Asdrubal Cabrera has the last. Note that this considers only bunts put in play — no consideration is given to missed or fouled attempts. That’s always one of those complicating factors with bunts, but if we’re judging just by outcomes, then Marte’s result, indeed, was unusual.

To me, the most important number is the 13. The number of two-out bunts in play with a runner on third. For a sense of scale, this season there have been 20 complete-game shutouts. Or, alternatively, this season, the Atlanta Braves have scored 20 runs. Marte’s bunt wasn’t one of a kind, but it’s not something an opponent would expect, which, in turn, makes it worth trying. It’s additionally worth trying because Marte hits poorly but runs well, so, here we are. You don’t see a lot of two-out RBI bunt attempts. Bunting is hard, and confidence is a factor. Yet there’s nothing wrong with a two-out RBI bunt attempt; it’s all a matter of evaluating probabilities. That Kolten Wong bunt, from earlier? Kolten Wong sucks against lefties. Why not try a bunt? It’s a perfectly valid tool made available to the mediocre.