Catching Absolutes includes:
- Throwing
- Blocking
- Receiving
- Handling Pitchers
Blocking:
- To successfully block baseballs, a catcher must have his heart in it.
- To block the ball, the good receiver needs to find a way to shorten the 'hop' of the baseball
- To sucessfully block the baseball, the catcher needs to control the baseball.
- The better ways to control the baseball is to block with the chest down & over the ball, with the eyes up to track the ball
- The best blocking drills practice the following:
Go Forward
Cut distance of hop
Cut angle of pitch
Be Completely Still
- More time is needed to be spent on blocking and recovery, with the emphasis on training to be completely still at ball contact
- Highly recommend using incrediballs to practice.
Receiving:
- The best of catchers will relax the muscles of the glove forearm, the moment the pitchers stride foot touches the ground.
- The direction and location of the baseball will dictate where the baseball should be caught.
.To catch a strike, catch the back of the ball.
.If the ball is up, catch the top of the ball.
.If the ball is down, catch the bottom half of the ball.
. When stance is square, catch the ball in the middle of the body.
. When pitch is above the knee (glove side), teach receiver to go out and get the ball.
. When the pitch is below the knee (arm side),
teach receiver to sway and then go out and catch the ball.
. Catch the ball before it leaves the strike zone
. Try to keep the baseball in the strike zone to allow umpire to call a strike.
. Pitchers like catchers who catch the baseball when the pitch is on the black and have the umpires call a strike.
- "Framing" is not a term that is used much anymore [& since the middle 90's by many parent MLB clubs] by roving catching instructors teaching the art of receiving.
- A few current pro catching coaches are NOT going to ask guys block balls, if it doesn't mean anything.
A few die hard college coaches want guys to block balls in batting practice (to practice their craft, and then play with the bruises.
And of course the best of managers are NOT 2b, nor pitchers, and certainly not OF, but catchers.)
Maybe we can chat about throwing and handling pitchers at a later time.