Catcher's glove hand injury question

He's a catcher - if this part of his hand doesn't always hurt then he's catching pitchers who can't throw. Overall this part of his hand is going to hurt for a very long time.

Hand injuries are pretty common in catchers - the bruise your talking about, sore thumbs and hurt wrists.

I had an 86 mph fastball run away from my hand once and the ball moved at the last instnat. I couldn't adjust fast enough and it bent my thumb back. That hurt for years.

As for something that might help him is this one thing I used to do in college. Take your hand and slightly pull your hand out of the mitt on fastballs. Now most of your palm is out of the mitt and now the top of the finger should be there where the palm used to be.

Traveler,
Yes, there are padded gloves catchers can wear under the mitt that helps. Palm Guard and Champro are two that manufacture these that are designed for catchers. I also agree with Coach2709 in that leaving a slight air space between the palm and the mitt reduces the "shock" of the ball. So, technique does factor in. Sore thumbs are prevented by using a material commonly referred to as "hard thumb" but is actually a thermoplastic splinting material that becomes malleable in hot water and is then formed to fit around the thumb and is worn (and stays) inside the mitt. I begged some splinting material for my son while he was in high school from our local AA team. It is also very common for catchers to tape their wrists to reduce the over-flexing caused by the impact of the ball.
Fungo

I used Palm Guard back in college and really liked it. I would definately suggest getting one. As for the mold they didn't have that back when I played in high school (early 90's) and college so I don't know how well that works but if Fungo says it's good then you can take it to the bank.

I never taped my wrists because I always had pretty strong forearms and hands so the flex on impact wasn't that big of a deal but the tape will never hurt him.

www.catchersthumb.com

Baseballboydeuce's suggestion is actually pretty good and is what I was going to suggest. I can pretty much bet that a lot of professional catchers use these ones. That is a very good price as if you went to an orthopedic doctor it would definitely cost a lot more for him to make you one. I know this through experience, because I messed up my hand once before Cooperstown a long way back and had one of these made for my hand. I was eventually moved to 1st because of size, but I used that for about 4 more years afterwards without any thumb injuries. Another thing I can recommend, although it may be cost prohibitive, is to go out there and spend money on a nice Rawlings Pro Preferred. If you are going to do this, get once that is 34" or 34.5". I never ha done of these, but I know a few catchers in the minors and all of them have told me how much easier it is to catch with a 34" glove, especially when you make the transition from high school to college.

I hope this helps.

Anyone familiar with a product that came out last year called evoshield?

I've heard good things about the evoshield thumb protector, they have 2 different kinds, my friend had the hourglass. and for $20, its worth a try.



cutters also makes a great fielding glove with lots of padding, and it does not slide out of the mitt, something that always bothered me. good padding and tackiness to keep your hand in the glove.

Bought the evoshield. I don't believe son has caught with it yet, but it seems like a nifty product. You put it on your hand, tape it, and leave it for 30 minutes, and it makes a mold of your thumb which then becomes fairly rigid, but padded.

Son broke his hand last year, which healed fine. One doc recommended surgery because his thumb hyperextens, but the hyperextension doesn't seem to bother him (painless). Anyone else have an issue with hyperextension?

Yeah, the Evoshield products are very popular. How has this worked out for your son?

quote:

Originally posted by baseballboydeuce:
www.catchersthumb.com

I had someone tell me today that they liked the Catcher's Thumb much better!

My son uses the Catcher's Thumb and loves it.

What I like about Catcher's Thumb is you get more than one shot to get it molded correctly. If you don't get it exactly right...you can reheat and mold it again. The first time we molded it, there was a little ridge that was uncomfortable for him...we just took it home, reheated it..cut it a little more, smoothed it out and now it is perfect for him.

I am not sure if you can do that with the Evoshield. My impression from reading about it was once you activate the hardener...you get one shot at getting it molded correctly...but I could be wrong on this...and maybe somebody who has one could give some info on this. If you can remold the Evoshield...it is cheaper than the Catcher's Thumb...if not, the extra cost is worth it.

Seeing as the injury occurred at the base of the index finger, one thing you may want to take a look at is how he is putting his hand into the glove.

One of the things I talk to all the catchers I work with around the country is how to put your hand in a glove. So many catchers jam their hand inside the glove that there really is no chance for the ball to hit a part of the glove that doesn't leave one of those sensitive parts of the hand exposed to too much contact.

I use a glove model very similar to the Rawlings Gold Glove, the All-Star Pro Elite. They are extremely similar in design and in padding. Make sure some of your son's palm is outside of the glove. He should be closing the glove with his thumb and pinky finger, not his palm. By leaving some of the base of the palm outside of the glove, the pocket will sit in between the index finger and the thumb rather than right on top of either. Thus allowing the leather to absorb much of the impact, rather than his hand.

If this isn't the issue, it could simply be the adjustment to a significant increase in the velocity he is used to handling. Is this the first season your son has caught near 90 MPH?

My son had the exactly the same problem last year. Every time he caught a game his hand, right below the index finger, would swell up. He was using the Mizuno Classic Pro mitt. It wasn't enough mitt to handle the harder throwers. This year we switched to the All-Star Pro-elite (CM3000SBT) and he wears the "catcher's thumb". This year no problems. The Mizuno was a good mitt but it didn't hold up through a high school season and then American Legion. It was toward the end of the legion season that he started to have problems.

Hi there,

I just happened to stumble upon your post. Im partners in a new high-end glove company called Brown Gloves,with Eric Chavez of the Yankees. Our company was actually started on an innovative Catchers glove that I designed to protect the hand from the impact of the ball. Please check out our website www.browngloves.com and go to the OUR STORY link. If you would like more info please don't hesitate to contact me through the site.

Out AD palyed pro ball and caught so he spends a great deal of time working with catchers. We had a catcher having the same problems. He stated that it come from not catching with the fingers sticking upright. That when the fingers go towards the side the thumb stick upright and takes the brunt of the force. When he engrained this idea into the catcher's head an repped it the problem went away.

Can't believe it has been 2 years since I posted about my son's hand. He never mentions his hand after his injury a couple of years ago.