A Catching Tutorial by Coach Kyle
Do you want to be a better catcher? A lot of coaches at the younger levels of baseball neglect what the catcher is doing when the pitch is coming in. A lot of coaches critique and critique on blocking. That is fair. However the art of receiving is being lost at the younger levels of the game. It is not until high school, or even college that receiving pitches become a very crucial part of the game. The following are four tips on how to be a better catcher in the receiving aspect of the game.
The first tip is to know what pitch is coming. Obviously this should be a very apparent and obvious part of catching. However, when there are night games, the pitcher may have trouble seeing your signs. If this happens, hopefully he will tell you and not guess what you are putting down, which happens sometimes. What catchers will do with their pitchers is implement a touch system. You and you pitcher need to be on the same page. Another time that signs can get tricky is if there is a guy on second base, and you do not want your signs to be stolen and relayed to the hitter. So whether you are using the same touch system, second sign, revolving signs, or whatever you and your pitcher decide, you have to be on same page. You do not want a fastball coming in when you call a curveball, or vice versa.
The second tip would be setting up in the right place. If you call a pitch on the outside corner, you are going to want to get your self positioned there. The easy way to think about this is to set up on the black of the plate, and have it lined up with your belly button. This way you have the ability to receive a pitch just off the plate well and potentially get a strike call for you pitcher. You can also reach back across the plate and receive a pitch over the middle as well. When I mean reach, that does not mean you should turn your body to allow yourself to catch the pitch. Umpires hate movement so to get a pitch the misses the spot you are going to want to use something that is called “ankle-sway”. What this is, is a technique where you body slides/leans over to a pitch. You do not need to turn your body. The umpire cannot see you lower half move to a pitch. So if you sway to one side or the other but keep your shoulders in the same position, you may have better luck on getting a call. If the umpire sees your shoulders move to revive a ball off the plate, you will most likely not get the call. Set up where you will get get calls, but most importantly, making it hard on the hitters to get good barrel on the ball.
The third tip would be to just relax. This is in every aspect of your mind and body. Take a deep breath behind the plate and know its just a game. No matter what short stops may think, you are the quarterback of the team. You are the the General and should be aware of his troops on the field. You are in every play. You cant have a quarterback that panics on a play, or a General that freaks out in the midst of war. You have to stay cool, calm, and collected. If you are relaxed mentally, that is half the battle. When it comes to your body and relaxing, just be you. especially of there is no one on base. get comfy and as low as you can to steal strikes for you pitcher. You can go to a knee, do the splits, or just get as low in your crouch as possible. This will keep you quite and able to focus on the most important job of a catcher, to catch, and make all pitches look good. Now when there is someone on, you should be in an athletic position, ready to block, throw guys out, and catch wild pitches to keep baserunners from advancing. You should be comfortable being able to receive and relax in any position you are in.
The previous three tips all directly correlate to tip number four which is to be quite and subtle when the pitch is coming in. Umpires hate movement and the more movement the less calls you will get. You look at guys like Yadier Molina, he is as relaxed and quiet as they come and it drivers hitters and opposing managers crazy. He can steal calls left and right because he does not move behind the plate when he receives a pitch. It is an art. A lot of kids these days are what umpires call “Loud”. It is distracting for umpires and leads to more balls. The only thing moving when a pitch comes in is your glove and the “ankle-sway” that was introduced in tip two. If you can develop this skill, your pitchers will like you and so will umpires because it make their job easier. To get lower pitches all you have to do is turn your glove over and use the “recoil” of the ball hitting your glove to bring the pitch up. To receive well you have to concentrate on your thumb. if you keep it under the ball at all times, chances are you received the pitch well.
The only way to masters these skills is to do as many repetitions as you can. Gameday Baseball has a fungo machine that is perfect for this. However, even the most standard pitching machine can get you comfortable receiving pitches. Nobody likes catching bullpens but it is the most game like practice that you can get. You can also get to know your pitchers as well and understand their tendencies. The overarching theme is the harder you work at it, the better you’re going to be! -Much like everything in baseball.
Watch a “Both Sides of the Ball by Gameday Baseball video on Catching!
