Former Cy Young award winner and perennial person in trouble Denny McLain has a theory about Alex Avila’s injuries:

“I believe, and I could be wrong, maybe the Tigers know this, maybe they don’t. I think he’s a flincher.”

McLain explained that kids growing up who wanted to be catchers would “blink just as the ball got to the mitt.”

“If the hitter made a motion that he was going to swing, the catcher would blink,” McLain said. “And, therefore, the glove would move, the eyes would move, the head would move. Everything moves when you blink. I suspect that he may be, as I call him, a flincher, a blinker.”

Because he takes his eye off the ball, he gets hit by more foul balls. I would think that someone could go back and watch a few games to see if this is true.