Catcher Footwork

I think what the catching coach was trying to get at was not a jump pivot, but rather gaining ground on the throw to second. That would be why the right foot is landing in the middle of the clock rather than on the 6:00.

I have always found gaining ground to be faster than the jump pivot. It also always allowed me to get more on the throw and I was more accurate with it too.

Thank you for your reply Kevins1. I have seen both the 12:00/6:00 and 12:00/center of clock footwork referred to as jump pivot. I personally don't know if one or both is the correct definition.

My question, which you answered well, is which approach is most effective. Not sure if it was clear from my original post...my thinking is the same as yours here. Not sure what the benefit might be of the 12:00/6:00 approach.

whethter you jump pivot or gain ground makes no difference as long as you are throwing from off of your back leg.. if feet are too quick then the arm will drag.. when the left foot lands, it is telling the arm to throw now..

if you focus more on how quick you can transfer, the feet will happen on their own and your body will be in sync when throwing

this can and will shave off about .12 off of your pop times.

Thank you catchaprospect. How can you generate the same velocity with no forward momentum?

You can jump pivot and gain ground at the same time. You aren't really trying to gain that much ground anyway (6"-1'max). Big thing is not trying replace the left foot with the right foot as your momentum would be going the wrong way. Stay low and weight back.

Most of a catchers throwing power doesn't come from momentum but rather rotational forces created by the hips and torso. Gaining too much ground just wastes time in getting rid of the ball...doesn't help to throw 90mph if it takes all day to get rid of the ball because the clock is ticking and the runner is getting closer every millisecond.

S. Abrams,

I think you are right. There are different definitions for a jump pivot floating around. I think that Kevins1 was basically saying the same thing as you. I believe that you are gaining ground with the foot landing in the center of the clock. I believe that it is OK for the foot to land 6"-12" forward of that (as you suggest) as well. Do you think it is OK for the foot to land at 6:00?

Haven't been on in a while, anyways in order to generate power from your lower half, you have to load. Once your transfer occurs, i recommend taking your right foot and having in go under your hips, most of your weight is on it and now you can throw off of it. After this weekend, i will post in order to illustrate

lots of talk about velocity but hasnt Abrams hit the nail on the head with his reference to the time it takes from when the pitch hits the mitt until it leaves the catcher's hand? Any of us can do the math which shows the difference between a 90 MPH throw down and a 75 MPH throw down with the distance involved. I think POP times are best improved by quickening this transfer and release than increasing the velocity of the throw.

I would only agree with the previous post rating release over throwing velocity if the release was very slow (26+ frames on a 30 frame/second video)In general, if you throw 2.00, 2/3 of the trowing time is ball flight.If you improve release at the expense of ball flight, you may become slower.You have to look at the total picture.

The better ML catchers are 19-22 frames from catch to release with 35-40 frames of ball flight. This is very much pitch dependent. Elevated fastballs produce the best release and overall throwing times. However, the litmus test is on low breaking balls. That's why it is so important to practice your throwing on tough pitches as much as possible once you have refined your technique.

I prefer to start catchers out throwing with "intent" and work back to release so that you do not end up like all those pitchers who look so pretty & have zero arm speed because they learned how to pitch before they learned how to throw.That nice & easy just hit your target approach stalls development of arm speed & arm strength. The same is true for catchers. It's a lot easier to say "whoa than giddy up." Mechanics change dramatically when you try to throw the ball hard. ( I'm not talking about head snap out of control hard.)Thowing the ball with velocity takes some effort. After time it becomes "effortless effort." That nice and easy accuracy & quick release aapproach to start often gets you far less than what you really have.

Finally, I think you really have to take a close look at the jump pivot approach to throwing. It's very easy to get your momentum going in the wrong direction & get over rotated plus you still have to step to your target once you land.The majority of catchers rotate into foot plant & throw.I really feel that catch, load & throw or right foot lead & throw gives you the best chance to reach your throwing potential.

JW

quote:

I prefer to start catchers out throwing with "intent" and work back to release so that you do not end up like all those pitchers who look so pretty & have zero arm speed because they learned how to pitch before they learned how to throw.That nice & easy just hit your target approach stalls development of arm speed & arm strength.

This is so very true, and mostly overlooked by people at lower levels, including high school too often. Like it or not, arm speed and arm strength are incredibly important, both to pitchers and catchers. Well said Jerry!

Jerry is 100% correct...can't say I've ever seen a weak armed catcher per se. To throw hard any player has to have the intent. As with most players, young catchers don't do enough long toss/arm strength development.

The transfer is important so that you don't waste your arm strength and is a quick place to examine when a catchers POP is lower than it should be based on his throwing velocity. You have to be proficient at all phases of throwing, transfer and recieving to maximize your potential at throwing out runners and becoming the best catcher you can be.

A catcher has to be able to throw using a couple different methods depending on the pitch location. The main problem with the jump/pivot is the catcher losing body control/direction and his weight distribution when he lands. Way too often I see catchers (at every level) being too tall and with too much weight on the front foot, leaving nothing to throw with. Too often coaches are watching for the end result versus how it happened.

NCTravelCoach,

Sorry for the delay.

Finally got a grasp of your question in my typical delayed manner....no, I do not want the back foot (right) to land at 6:00 but rather in the center or slightly above center of the clock on a throw to 2nd when using a jump pivot. The only time I would ever want to see the right foot going somewhat backwards may be on the throw to 3rd, depending on pitch location. Overall, I lke to keep foot movement as minimal as practical for the pitch location.

well I had my gifted daughter do the the math for me.


75 mph = 1.165 seconds "in the air" on POP time

90 mph = .971 seconds " "

Obviously horrible throw down mechanics will trump a good arm for a bad POP time but getting that magic 2 tenths that most catchers seem to be looking for requires the great arm if the mechanics are in order.

keep in mind the ball loses velocity the entire time its in the air.

quote:

Originally posted by Walawala:
keep in mind the ball loses velocity the entire time its in the air.

this is true

Came in way late on this one... But back to the weight distribution. Getting to far off your backside and onto your frontfoot before release is a gigantic problem for catchers. It makes a tremendous difference if you can maintain power on the backside when throwing down. It keeps your body connected and prevents your arm from being put in a compromising position (i.e. dragging). The day I learned how to stay back was the day I truly learned how to throw to second with authority, and coincidentally enough, my times dropped like crazy. The only problem with "gaining ground" is that the way it is taught to kids sometimes encourages this frontfoot weight distribution to occur because kids focus on gaining too much ground. If you focus on trying to hit that "center of the clock" your body's natural momentum will have you gaining a little bit of ground anyway.

That's right the ball will slow down 1 mph for every 10 feet it travels, so the average velocity of a 90 MPH throw over the length between home and second is actually around 84 mph.

So a 90 MPH throw will take 1.04 seconds and a 75 MPH throw will take 1.26 seconds.

I had a couple other thoughts on this discussion pertaining to velocity....

- In order to throw your hardest to second base, you have to maintain your backside in order to get your legs and arm together. So if a player is having trouble with getting too far out in front (or jumpy, or dragging their arm), focusing on just throwing their hardest to second base may be a good way to get their body working together in one motion. After getting this down, then you can speed up the release. For me personally, this really worked. Then when I went to start speeding up my release, I was able to maintain velocity because I was able to feel when my body was together and when it wasn't . Hope that made sense.

- As long as your times are terrible, if a catcher has a good arm, I think it's a good thing to show it off in both the showcase and game scenarios, even at the expense of quickness. In a showcase, it shows scouts and coaches that you have a lot of arm strength. Maybe you take your first throw you're given and just throw the heck out of the ball, and then focus on quickness... In a game scenario, other players (and often coaches) aren't always timing catchers between innings. By taking the time to throw a p-rod to second, you give the other team a reason to be less agressive on the base paths. Other people can see a strong arm, they can't see your pop time.

- Keep in mind that a very exceptional catcher will be able to throw a legit 90+ from behind homeplate (Santiago, Pudge, etc.).

Just some thoughts...