catcher: two fingers in the pinkey hole

Do whats comfortable. If your getting the job done no one should care.

My son has had several catching instructors. Everyone seems to have a different opinion on about everything. I agree with Coach May, do what helps you get the job done. There's no one way.

to me this has always been a glove specific thing more than a catcher thing.....as an old catcher I had a Nokona Bulldog mitt and it was well broken in....2 fingers in the pinky finger slot gave me more control over the floppy mitt....

My Rawlings however, was more firm and had a more substantial pocket....there was no need to have the added pressure to shut the mitt....

so after all that.....can you catch?......ok do it that way....

Overall go with what's comfortable but make sure you give it a shot. Back when I caught nobody ever told me to put two in the pinky so I caught the traditional way. After I started coaching and got around camps / clinics and they were talking about two in the pinky I would mess with it when catching my pitchers. At first it was really weird but after a little while I started to enjoy it.

If I could go back and do it again I believe I would do the two in the pinky full time.

Used to do this when catching bullpens simply to reduce wear and tear on the hand; works pretty well for that purpose. Never did it in a game as I didn't think I had as as much control of the ball in the pocket (still believe this). Had tendency to lose the ball in the pocket during the transfer; could just been a personal issue. Maybe I could have done this with no runners only but just decided to stay with the traditional approach. Not something I would do with runners on and I might need a quick transfer to throw someone out. JMHO

I remember back when I caught (dead ball era!) trying this and it made me feel like I had a first baseman's mitt on with the ball landing so deep in the pocket. Didn't like that.

Works pretty well for some infielders.

2bagger,

Yes, my son has used 2 fingers in pinky slot for years and he is a MIF. Not sure if he does it in the outfield though.

Gun uses two-in-the-pinky, no matter if he's using his gamer or #2. He says it keeps his glove hand/fingers from some wear and tear. And, it allows him to "sqeeze" the glove easier. The only draw back - you expose a little more of the meaty part of the heel/palm of the hand to foul tips and ball strikes.

GED10DaD

thanks for the feedback

Thank you for sharing this. I will give it a try as my son is killing my hand, especially the index finger when I catch bullpens.