Stats4Gnats posted:One reason the “speedup rule” was originally created was to allow a catcher time to get on his gear and get back on the field to catch warmups. It didn’t take too long to figger out that sending out someone else to take warmups gave the C plenty of time to gear up.
I've watched quite a bit of HS, Legion and travel ball and nearly all allowed the courtesy runner for the P and C. I often wondered if there really was any time saved. You are correct, it's just a few seconds at most.
One additional comment though - most catchers, it seems, don't have a lot of speed on the base paths so a fast CR would work in the offensive teams favor. I think that was the reason my son's HS coach always used the CR for the catcher and pitcher. The starting catcher was not all that fast and the coach would take the opportunity to get more speed on the bases via the CR. And unless the ace (a 5 tool player) was on the mound, the coach usually had a DH for the pitcher.
Catcher's get a big wake up call in college though. No courtesy runners. And it's rare to see pitchers bat at the college level. Most coaches use a DH for the pitcher.