College catchers

In my humble opinion, the catcher is the most important player on the field. He is a team leader, he is tough as nails, he is very smart, he has a great arm, he has the best reaction time, he swings the bat with authority, and he probably will be injured more than the others.

In other word they are very unique individuals.

Most good pitchers and I say most, are good pitchers because they are fortunate to have a great catcher.

I have great respect for the tough guy behind the dish.

I think a team needs several for the reasons you have stated, some never make it past the bullpen but they are important as is the starter. The bullpen guy may be called upon at a moments notice to be the starter.

CV

Just what I've seen. UL has 3 game catchers, all with different qualities. The best hitter is a freshman with little game experience, so he DH's and leads the team in batting. He could catch full time if the coach would let him though. The one with the best arm is a senior who handles pitchers very well, but he has the weakest bat. The other senior who catches the most handles the pitchers well, a decent bat, but the weakest arm by far.

I would think two or three very good well rounded catchers and two bullpen catchers would do the trick. At UL the bullpen catchers know what they are and accept the role.

Dad04

You said the key thing--" the bullpen catchers know what they are and accept the roll"--

I will say this we carry three catchers with us on our travel team and they are all first stringers in our mind-- and they know their roles--when you cram 6 games into three days one catcher cannot cut it--

TR

Obviously catchers take a beating. 56 college games plus playoffs is more than 1 or maybe 2 catchers can do well. Baseball is a team game and the bullpen catchers are nearly grown men and happily play their roles. Coaches don't have to trick a player into taking the job.

Dad04 and TRHit,

quote:

You said the key thing--" the bullpen catchers know what they are and accept the roll"--

I don't think that is the case with all parents and players when they come into a program.

I guess we probably do it a little different than most -
our bullpen catchers are members of the support staff. As such they are important and are key to the function of the team, but they are not on the player roster and could never enter a game

At the time the Fullerton coaches started scouting my son games for a potential catchers scholarship, he was recuperating from a sore rotator cup he acquired closing games as a pitcher after he'd already caught six innings. Game after game the coaches attended in hopes to see him play defense only to find him designated hitting. During that time,as they put it, they started to notice his leadership/team player qualities while he was in the dug out. He's been the starting quarterback for his HS football team and has a natural ability as a positive leader which his team mates respected and Fullerton admired. Finally, the scouts saw their first look at him in the catchers role and offered him a scholarship which we accepted.

During the meeting with the coaches at our home, some of the questions we asked were the same in the replies above. Mainly, I asked if he'd get lost in the system being since the team has at least 7 catchers on their roster. They explained that some are strictly bull pin catchers while a few others will either be leaving next year or moving to a different position.

I'm not sure if this answers any questions but it's been our experience to date.

I think many parent's and player's need to know that the top programs keep at least 2 and sometimes 3 bullpen catcher's.

They are not rostered. It's a position some fellow's are happy with. Believe me they ARE an integral part of the team.