Catching positions

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:
Looks like you have a pretty good catcher on your hands.

Some of the things I see:

1) Signal stance is fine. As he gets tired, though, the tendency is to get lazy with his chest. Make sure he keeps his chest tall to make signals easy to see. (I have another pic of what your talking about and he does stay upright. The biggest problem with the signs, his hands are still small, and from 60 feet the guys sometimes have a hard time seeing his fingers, Ive told him to drag them through the chalk to "whiten" them.
2) I like my catchers to receive in the middle of their body, if possible. On an outside pitch, they should way toward the pitch slightly. Any time a catcher reaches outside of his knee, it is perceived to be a ball. Watch Jorge Posada for the sway. ( we have been working on this) one thing the umps do like about him, he doesnt let balls by, and he is still only 5'2, and they can see right over top of him, lol.

3) When receiving, try to keep the heels down. It looks like he has a tendancy to get up on his toes. Stay down. ( I think he is trying to cheat for block balls, and you are right he does creep up some, but actually while catching, he really feels more comfortable flat, then he tries to cheat again on his "pop" to second, we keep telling him, dont worry about getting the ball all the way there, just work on mechanics, heck they steal it off the pitcher anyway, lol.

4) On blocking, you are not trying to catch the ball. His mitt should be jammed in his "5 hole" between his legs and into the dirt. His knees should be on the ground, chin buried in his chest and absorbing the blow with his chest protector. Jam the throwing hand behind the mitt to protect it.
( we have worked on this by now as well, he still tries to pick too many out of the dirt, I also think alot of that had to do with his little league chest protector, and he felt a lot of the harder throwing boys sting when he blocked the balls. So we are going to get him new equipment by spring.)
5) On his throw down, he simply looks like a 13 year old on a big field. That will improve over time. (well we are trying to get him to throw from his ear more, in this pic he was spreading out, but, also since these pics, he had grown to 5'2 and jumped in weight from 95 to 112lbs, from working out. Now with his growth spurt his knees are starting to be tender as well, so I dont want to push too much right now