The alternative is that you give him a lane to the plate. Any play that involves a tag on top of the base has a chance that a part of the guy's body will slip in under the tag. If he doesn't move his body there he's forced to reach, the moment you reach it decreases the chances of making the out. But because he had enough time to slide, block and throw his glove out in front, he did.
If you want to argue that having the armour on makes catchers a little braver to do this type of thing, yeah I'll give you that.
I'm still okay with it though, as long as the defensive player has the ball I think they should have the right to go wherever they want with it, as long as you lead with the glove. I would not be in favour of the catcher leaning in with a shoulder and then with the glove or something stupid like that.