2 or 3 catchers for varsity?

Not a cut and dried answer. Way too many variables.

Right now at our HS they carry 1 catcher, and a JV catcher.  Our number 2 catcher is actually a sophomore and they left him on the sophomore team for the year and pulled him up when they needed him.  The JV catcher acts as an emergency catcher on the V team.  If the V catcher was injured or pulled JV went in, but if they knew the V catcher was not going to play before the game they pulled up the sophomore catcher.

When my son played varsity, they always had two catchers.  The backup catcher was usually the bullpen catcher, and was available in case the starting catcher became injured.

Can you ever have too many catchers? 

My 2017 son took over the catcher spot mid-season last year on his V team from a now-senior whose brother and uncle were both starting catchers at our small secondary school. He worked very hard and I'm very proud of him; it seemed to be a very uphill climb at times.

Edited per in RE to Ohio Dad.

IMHO always gotta have 2 catchers on V to keep arms, knees, in top form. Early in the season can play #1 catcher in both games of a DH, but why? Give both #1 & #2 innings and experience behind the plate so that down the stretch, when #1 is playing the majority of the games, #2 is ready to pitch in as needed. Always good to let #3 JV or Frosh catcher catch V bullpens every now and again to train him up......

Batty67,

I like to always remember that baseball is a very humbling sport, and things can change quickly.  Your response hit me the wrong way.  No disrespect, and I hope your son continues to do well, but things happen.  Slumps happen.  Injuries happen.  That Senior could have worked hard and improved.  Wishing you the best, but hate to see you bring bad mojo to your son.  Have seen it happen.  Take care and good luck. 

Keep 2 up at Varsity, but JV catcher should be ready for a "call-up" if situations change.

Well, no. But developing them is a full time ordeal!

A senior as  backup is easy because he has no other options. But a junior or a soph could be getting every inning on the JV team and 4 at bats a game and developing. That's what I mean by too many variables.

How much better is the #1 than #2?

What grades are they all in?

Who will be the starter once #1 graduates?

Can the #2 play other positions at the varsity level?

Can the #2 or #3 hit at the varsity level? 

And 1 million other considerations.

My goal with catchers on varsity is to A. make sure we're good behind the plate in games B. make sure we have a viable option if the #1 can't play C. make sure we have someone to handle pitchers in the pen during games and D. make sure the next "starter" is getting ready for when it's his time (which encompasses a lot of things.) 

Totally agree with ironhorse.  To add... A common scenario that puts pressure on a team to carry three is a game situation when #1 is catching, #2 is playing another position and you need a bullpen catcher.  This may or may not be manageable with a willing non-catcher.  Another is when you are trying to conduct an efficient inter-squad game.  You try to rotate P's in a manner that doesn't slow the game too much, having them warm up in the bullpen before entering the game.  This requires a catcher on field, a catcher in the bullpen and, preferably, a catcher getting his hitting turn.  This is a good opportunity to bring over one of the JV catchers.

My son's high school team had two catchers. When one got dinged up the JV catcher would get called up. If two catchers were to get injured in a game there were two outfielders who could catch in an emergency.

One was the "if the game is close" emergency catcher. He had caught in the past, played infield in the past, (blocking) and had a strong arm. Another outfielder was the "if we're in control of the game he won't get killed back there" emergency catcher.

You can have too many players on the bench, so yes, you can have too many catchers.

Injury risk to catchers is over-stated.

Ideally, in addition to your primary catcher, you have a defensively-competent backup catcher who accepts that role (and is an animal for catching bullpens); and a number of position players who can get back there in a pinch