Catcher Pop Time

Any time is good for a freshman if he can get it on the bag without having to use a cut-off man!

Excellent for a HSV catcher is 2.0-2.1

Many are in the 2.25-2.3 range.

2.4 is very good for a freshman.

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I think you're shooting for the magical 2.0.  The closer (or below) the better.  But you still need a good pitcher to have a chance to throw a guy out. 

The New England Catching camp had a great article on breaking down the pop time so you better know where to focus your efforts.  If I find it, I'll link in up.  Or maybe Jay see this and post. 

That's far from typical.

And useless as a benchmark for 99% of the frosh catchers.

But if if makes you feel "good about yourself" to post it, who am I to trample on someone's "self-esteem"?

ok freddy sorry ... I thought it was a good starting #

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My son is a senior and has started on varsity since he was a freshman, and we have been to lots of showcases and he has been part of top-level games over the years.  I have seen lots of kids that had good pop times but were horrible catchers.  Sometimes they are like pitchers with strong arms that cannot block, and sometimes they "cheat" by catching ball with push off leg already back.  2.0 is the necessary mark to play D1 college ball, but focus for freshman should be on technique, velocity and accuracy.  Also, you cannot catch if you have pass balls.  Have your son work on these things and he should be successful.

I second that. After watching some showcase videos I noticed a trend of over anticipating the ball and catching it in positions that don't accurately show a true POP time. For a Freshman to be at the 2.15 - 2.30 and have great blocking, good throws to 1st-3rd and most importantly situational awareness is more important than just a quik POP time.

"and sometimes they "cheat" by catching ball with push off leg already back"

"Sometimes"? My $.02 is that 90% of "showcase" times are useless (and yes, I just made up that number).

Frankly, as long as a HS catcher can make a quality throw, block instead of try to trap, and make the pitchers look good, he'll be a good HS catcher. BTW, note that "pop time" isn't as prominate a figure on the various recruiting sites/sources as it was about 3~5 years ago... maybe folks are finally figuring it out.

There’s really only 1 way to get an accurate pop time for a catcher, and that getting in in a game when a runner’s trying to steal. The times in showcases or practices are neat to look at, but really don’t tell a lot. The fly in the ointment is, its difficult to get more than a couple chances in any one game, and even more difficult to be prepared to get the time.

pop time means nothing if your pitchers don't keep the runners honest.

Originally Posted by Will:

pop time means nothing if your pitchers don't keep the runners honest.

And the quickest pitcher to the plate gets run out of the park if the catcher sucks. In the end, defending the running game is a very simple thing to do, but there so many things that have to go right, it makes it complex.