Catcher---need help/advise

How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

 

A couple of things.  My guess is that being in 7th grade (?) his hands are still small.  So some growing there will help. 

 

The other is simply keep working on it -- a lot of reps. 

Was he on a HS 60/90 field or the 12u 50/70?

+1 to golf.  I am a huge believer in reps.  Sit on a bucket with a bucket of balls next to you.  Him with an empty bucket also.  Then throw 'pitches' to him.  He works on coming out of his crouch and making the transfer.  Then drops the ball in his bucket and gets back in crouch.  Repeat thousands of times!

P.S. welcome to the 2020 club!  Hope you stick around.

 This was on a high school 60/90 field...thanks for the suggestions....I was also wondering if we should use the flat mitt that infielders use when working the transfer or do you think it would be better to use his catchers mitt?  Thanks again

Get him with a catching coach to fine tune his mechanics.  I wouldn't worry about his pop time as it will change (hopefully for the better) as he grows and matures, however there are HS catchers that have a tough time getting under 2.2.  That being said, sounds like he is doing fine and if you want to improve his transfer, a legitimate catching coach would help. 

I would stick with the catcher's mitt. A lot of the problem is the make up of the mitt with its thick ends.  He needs to get used to it. 

 

There is also great article on measuring release here: http://www.catchingcamp.com/ar...-a-catchers-release/

You may want to start with that. 

Specifically, what kind of trouble?  Is he dropping balls?  Is he trying to find a four-seam or just find a seam?  How far out does he reach to receive the ball?  How close is his throwing hand to his glove when receiving?  How much does he "cheat" to start his body into throwing motion?

He meets the ball out front with two hands, but when he goes in to the glove to get a grip he is having trouble getting the grip he likes which in turn causes him to double clutch before he throws..I coach high school and caught myself in college.  So I have a good idea what needs to be done but this has baffled me.  I'm not sure if he's rushing which would cause this, but his technique looks good...thanks for the help please keep it coming

Sometimes a private coach who is not related to the player helps... trust me.  I work with both of my boys, but neither take "lessons" from me although I coached HS for several, successfully.  IE:  I give my 2016 a few tips and he rolls his eyes... next hitting lesson he hears almost the same tip/point from his hitting coach and he nods and says "yeah, thanks".  lol. 

 

My recommendation is to have a catching coach watch him for a while and see what he says. 

There's nothing wrong with using a pancake/old style glove to train with.  A catching coach gave one to my son and he bought another one off E-bay. The pancake glove forces good handwork and shouldn't cause a problem with his game glove as long as his game glove doesn't have a huge pocket.  My son always warmed up with the pancake glove, and even used it during pregame in college, the old scouts thought it was great. 

Thanks for all the advice...bballdad I hear what you are saying.  Took my boy in for hitting lessons and the same thing happened...been telling him the same thing the instructor told him but for some reason he bought into what the instructor told him...kids I love them but I don't understand them

I also have a 2020 catcher....and pitcher, 1B, 3B....etc...but anyway!  Where is he doing the transfer?  Is he letting the ball hit his glove and then bringing it to his hip as he is doing his shuffle step?

No....he is meeting the ball correctly, footwork looks fine.  What he is doing is going in for the ball then not getting it, so he then is shuffling his feet until he gets the grip then throwing.  I don't know if all that made sense.  because he is not getting the right grip he looses all the momentum that he had.

This drill was successful in helping my boys.  Ball in glove, then to the hand, then back in glove, then to the hand...hundreds of times.  All the best to your son. 

Is he catching the ball in the correct spot in the glove?  Have you tried working with him with a catchers glove with the webbing gone?

My suggestion is that you completely do away with measuring pop times on a 7th grader.

 

The situation you describe is common when the player, at such a young age, is so pop-centric that he has difficulty executing.

 

For now, focus on clean handling and accuracy.  Once he has that down, then in 2-3 years you can worry about pop times.

I think that great advise...thanks for everyone's help..

plus, i would take the over!

His pop time is going to improve just by growing and getting stronger. With that will come maturity and confidence. It's too soon to think about pop time. Focus on mechanics.

Does he put his hand all the way into the mitt or does he leave part of it out?  Reason I ask is if you put your hand all the way into the mitt then now he's catching the ball with part of his palm.  He needs to keep part of his hand out of the mitt so that way the ball his landing in the pocket and it's his finger tips catching the ball instead of the palm.

 

Take a ball and put it in the palm of your glove hand - no glove.  Now work a transfer into the finger tips of throwing hand.  It's a jumbled mess.  Yes there can be a transfer but it's awkward.  Now do the same thing with the ball in the glove hand using the finger tips.  It's going to be MUCH smoother transfer.

 

Couple of drills I use with my guys are

 

1.  Three Fingers - I get about 6 or 7 feet away and toss a ball at them.  They have to catch it with just the thumb, index and middle fingers while the ring and pinky stay extended.  Don't let them tuck those two.  Purpose - to get used to feeling the ball on the fingertips.  You can also incorporate framing with this.

 

2.  Ring around the rosie  (I really need to find a cooler name than this) - you need at least two catchers (or catcher and coach) but three or more will work just fine.  Let's go with four guys and you'll need two balls.  Have two guys opposite of each other (they are standing in a box / square) with a ball in their left hand (no mitt) fingertips.  When you say go they have to work a good transfer and just flip the ball to the next guy who catches with three fingers.  Purpose - now both balls are going in a circle while working on catching with three fingers and getting a transfer to get rid of the ball.  You can use two guys and two balls but it's pretty intense.  Could lead to flipping instead of transferring.

 

3.  Ball in Mitt - this is an individual drill and I incorporate the TEE drill for footwork with it.  Paint your TEE on the ground and do whatever you want with this.  While you're doing this each guy has a ball in his mitt but using the fingertips / hand partially out aspect.  Have them squat and work coming out to throw while getting a transfer.  Now they are in a throwing power position but if they do it correctly they won't fumble or search for the ball in the mitt.  Purpose - work on all the different aspects of footwork involved with throwing while including transfers.

 

4.  Rapid Fire - I pair catchers up and get them about 70 feet apart.  One starts in the crouch with ball in hand like above and then throws to partner from him.  He receives the throw in position 2 (runner on / higher up / ready to block or throw position) and throws back to his partner from the crouch.  Once they throw they will need to hop back to try and to keep the distance from closing.  Purpose - just another step added onto the drill above to incorporate the feet and transfer while adding a throw in the mix.

 

Couple of key thoughts - 

1.  Receive the ball as deep as possible to the body - a thrown ball is always faster than hands moving 

2.  Never listen to anyone who says it's like pulling the string back on a bow.  It's nothing like that at all.  It's about getting into a power position as quickly as possible.

 

Hope this helps some.

I played catcher throughout college and my son is a 2017 catcher.  Try taking a tennis ball and throw in against the brick wall and have him catch it and work on getting rid of it.  It's no different (other's will try to get scientific) than a ss or 2b turning two.  He can do this on his own.  The key is getting the ball out of your hand.  I tell mine, be quick but don't hurry.  He can work footwork, release, and transfer all at once and not have the strain of throwing down.  Before I get blasted, I'm not talking about throwing the tennis ball hard into the wall!  Just a quickness, repetition drill.  The tennis ball also makes you soft with your hands or it will bounce off easier than the baseball.  This is poor country boy baseball lessons.  

I am also a big believer in not framing pitches.  Lots of umpires take this as showing them up these days.  Have him catch every ball as if there is a funnel connected to his right shoulder.  The inside pitch is pulled across to your right shoulder, down in the strike zone comes up to shoulder, outside pitch is brought back inside to shoulder.  This makes the catcher help the pitcher by getting pitches to cross the strike zone.  It helps the catcher because he is constantly getting into a  throwing position by bringing the ball to his shoulder.  Then when he is ready to throw, he already has the ball headed towards his right shoulder to throw.  I tell mine that he is actually making a backwards C to get rid of the ball and as mentioned above, not shooting a bow and arrow.  

I don't necessarily agree with the don't fram pitches but I see what you're getting at.  I tell my guys that if you have a good ump then framing is a waste of time because they are going to call ball or strike based on the pitch and not on anything you do with the pitch.  The purpose of framing is the give that lesser umpire a chance to think about it for a second and maybe convince him of where the ball MAYBE went over the plate.  But I tell my guys to only hold it a second regardless of how good the umpire is because the longer you hold it the more you show him up.

 

Could you explain a little more as to what you have your guys do with receiving the ball?  I'm picturing a lot of movement but I may be reading it wrong.