Catcher with easy arm action.

Overall I agree with you but I think he's too tall when he throws. I think he can get more out of his mechanics if he was a little more athletic / lower. From what I can see it looks like he's relying too much on the upper body. I would say he's something like 65% upper body and 35% lower body.

You're not always going to get a 50 / 50 split in effort / action but in this one throw he was definately out of balance IMO. Overall I like what he did but if he would use more lower body then I would love it. But this is just one throw we see by this guy so it's not truly indicative of how he throws overall.

Do you know who the catcher was?

quote:

Originally posted by coach2709:
Overall I agree with you but I think he's too tall when he throws.

I dont think thats really a problem on a fastball at the letters.

Yeah you're right - why in the world would we want to be consistent in our mechanics?

Like I said - this is probably an isolated one time thing but if it's not then there is a problem with being too tall when he throws.

Mechanics are largly location depended.

While I remotely will agree I don't think that is the case here. I'm at school and they block youtube so I can't watch the video so I'm saying this based on memory from last night.

The location of this pitch didn't require him to stand straight up. My guess is that he knew it was a hit / run the hitter failed at and the runner got a poor jump. He threw this guy (who looked like he should have been fast) out easily and I'm thinking he stood up to take his time after seeing the runner get a slow jump.

I would teach a catcher most of what this guy did. The standing up isn't not what I would teach them.

Coach2709,
IMO most of the best catchers throw tall.Look at the 1st clip I downloaded. It's part of the process that most efficiently transfers energy up the kinetic chain.IMO it's very tough to throw effectively when you are compressed.I do believe it is somewhat pitch dependent,but in general most ML catchers are very upright when they release the ball.The one pitch you MAY see a little more knee flex at release is the ball in to a LHH where the catcher has to swing out away from the hitter to create a throwing lane.

This is Chris Snyder I think.I like his lower half. For me,the fact that he is turning the laces of his pivot over is indicative of good lower half mechanics.
JW

Jerry we may have to agree to disagree. Whether it was when I was playing, coaching clinics or whatever I've never seen anybody teach a catcher to throw standing that tall.

Here is a video of Brian McCann and look how much lower he is than your video of Snyder(?). In McCann's video I have to admit that it's not the best evidence because it's just a throw down after warm ups. But it looks to me that he's also going pretty close to game speed with his but he slows his upper body down some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQHD_QM4hkQ

Here is a video of the catcher for the University of Alabama and it's hard to see because of the shortstop but it will have a slow mo replay where you can see it better. I played this one side by side your video and he's much lower. You're going to make the point the pitch location is lower in my video but he's still low.

This video of a San Francisco Giant catcher (I think his name is Eli Whiteside) and he gets a high pitch on a strike 'em out / throw 'em out. To me this guys footwork is amazing how quickly he gets turned but look at the flex he has in his knees. It's a lot more than Snyder. Another plus is that this is Cal Ripken narrating - can never go wrong with the Iron Man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPn6PC3befs&NR=1

This video is of Yadier Molina and it's a little disappointing because it's 4 minutes long and only one shot of him throwing. Go to the 2:20 mark and you can see it. Other than this it doesn't show anything else.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1mwkgH6U78

I guess this shows there is more than one way to skin a cat.

i have video clips of johnny bench and he came up just like the video clip. i was also surprised how high his arm action and release was. high and loose.

Not only did Whiteside throw the runner out, he was completely interfered with by the batter!

quote:

Originally posted by Rob Kremer:
Not only did Whiteside throw the runner out, he was completely interfered with by the batter!

I thought the same thing too Rob.