c4dad posted:Love the discussion here. I have tried to find a meaningful way to evaluate catchers without the technology they have in the major leagues. In the major leagues, I understand receiving is more important than blocking and throwing COMBINED.
My son's best skill is receiving. For years, he has had to sit and watch as kids with "the big arm" caught ahead of him. You'd see the kids with the big arm jump out of his stance, lose a strike and then throw the ball into centerfield-awesome. Somehow that would get rewarded but a passed ball or Stolen base allowed was a trip back to the bench for my kid. (doesn't help that he has a June birthday, so always is a year ahead in school.)
On the other hand, last summer my son and the other catcher on his summer team caught approximately the same number of pitches (1700). My son got 70 more called and 22 more swinging strikes. We can debate the factors that may have contributed to 92 more strikes but to me, that is significant (proud dad!).
The issue for me is finding a metric to evaluate pitch framing as a skill. Seems so subjective that a dad would be accused of padding the stats on any sort of evaluation tool. So few coaches have any sort of idea how to work with catchers--(Do they always just have to shag for the coach and catch bullpens?) They get wowed by the big arm but don't value pitch framing as something that is done.
Would love to hear thoughts/suggestions!
C4dad, welcome to the site. I'll give you some perspective from a HS coach seat...
Proper framing technique is important and it is certainly something that we worked on. But, particularly at the HS level and below, it is FAR down the line of importance as compared to those skills that prevent the opposition from taking bases. Those skills involve the ability to throw runners out and the ability to not allow runners to take bases by allowing passed balls and balls in the dirt that are blocked/partially blocked where the runner advances anyway. Among other things, the variance in umpires' strike zones and umpires' consistency are some reasons why framing is less important. The bigger reasons are that passed balls and stolen bases had more direct impact on runs allowed. That connection is often more abstract with pitch framing.
A catcher with a weak arm, slow POP time or poor ability to keep the ball in front is far more detrimental than a catcher who doesn't frame well.
As far as finding a metric, it is not feasible at the HS level, nor will it be by the time your son is off to college. It is hard enough to find someone who can properly keep the basic book. My advice is - instead of focusing on the thing your son does well, encourage him to work hard on the things he needs to improve upon that will be more productive to him earning additional playing time.