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15 replies

Help(08 catcher in need of advice)

R RageRoolz10+ posts
High everyone, I'm a newly registered user, although I have followed this website fairly closely for a few months, just lurking, reading posts and articles on the main page. I felt the need to register because I have been dying to hear other opinions on my situation.

First off I am a good student. I scored a 29 on my ACT and am currently scheduled to take it again, where I am confident I will score at least one point higher now that I am more familiar with it etc. I am unsure of my exact GPA, but it will be at its lowest a 2.8, but should be closer to a 2.9. I am very interested in playing baseball after high school, but am unsure if I even have the ability. I know I have the desire, but I fear my hitting will really hold me back. Defensively I feel I am very solid behind the plate. I have throw a 2.1-2.2 pop time, but this was in the winter and my footwork and arm strength have increased quite a lot since then, but I would say my strength is my ability to block the baseball and call a good game.

Speedwise i am only ok. I have done alot of work in the weight room and on the track and have slimmed down to about 180 or lower and I am 5'8. Although I am still not happy with my conditioning, I feel that I can run good times. The only thing I worry about is my hitting(or lack there of)

I feel like I have the potential to be a good hitter, but I haven't ever had a coach work with my on my swing for any extended period of time and I am terribly streaky.

I have a showcase coming up August 1st-3rd and I know many college will be there and this will be my best shot to impress college coaches, but I am worried about how I will fare.

Is there any spots for a catcher who plays good defense but doesn't really hit? I feel like my grades and test scores will help me, but if I don't do well at the showcase I am afraid my dreams of playing college baseball will be gone...
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ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
Rage - welcome to the hsbbweb Smile

I think you have many positives to build on and sounds to me like you are a serious candidate to play at the next level. I am no catching guru but will give you a few of my takes. Your pop times sound decent but it sounds like you are still getting better in that area - so that is good.

Your size is fine imho. Yogi Berra owns 10 rings and Ivan Rodriquez is one of the game's very best just to name a few examples. Speed is also not a tool that catchers are usually held to account for.

I feel like your hitting is just like your defense. If you keep working on it, it will improve. From my limited experience, it seems a lot of kids are judged on their hitting abilities while they are taking BP. They (the recruiters) can guage things like bat speed, bat control, and power. Show that you can hit the outside pitch to the opposite field and pull the inside pitch while hitting the stuff over the plate back up the box.

IMHO, the showcase does not care what your highschool batting average is. They will grade you on what they see. Your goal should be to go there and have fun, play your heart out, and don't put any pressure on yourself. Let the chips fall where they may. There is a place at the collegiate level for kids like you who want things bad enough and are willing to work to achieve their goals.
C Corky9999100+ posts
Hey RageRooiz!

Cleveland Dad is giving you some good advice.

Being a good student is always a great place to start.

In regard to hitting a bit better, how about locating a Detroit area instructor and taking a couple of lessons to tune you up? Then there is always the batting cage and hitting off a tee too.

Just a couple of words on going to a showcase, try to go to several showcases, that way, you can learn the showcase ropes and get yourself more comfortable working there. As being relaxed, Smile always helps.


Good luck!
R RageRoolz10+ posts
thats the thing i feel pretty confident about is being relaxed. I haven't done a showcase before, but I have been playing baseball all my life. I'm a pretty easy going guy, but when it comes to baseball I get serious while still having fun. In a double header today I actually got a few nice linedrives and walked a bunch, which I firmly believe was from hitting the cage the other day. I also pitched for the first time ever.3 innings a few k's and 3 or 4 runs(all in the 2nd inning i pitched.tried to throw too hard and a few kids got nice hits off of me after i got myself in trouble(hit the first kid, walked the next).

I am curious if the showcase I attend will clock me MPH wise. I am extremely curious as to how fast I am throwing the ball, because I have never had it measured. I got a great comment from a visiting coach scouting the game who told my parents that i had a "live" arm, so that felt good.
WalawalaWalawala100+ posts
defense is the most important thing for a catcher. If you throw well, recieve well, and block well, there will be a team who could use you. My advice to you is to get your pop times as fast as possible because that is the easiest thing for a coach to measure in terms of valuing your worth.

For example, say even a good hitter has a bad day when a coach is there to see him, he goes 0-4 with 4 ks, but he is throwing 1.9-2.0s between innings and in the game and recieves and blocks well, the coach will see that this particular player does many things well, despite his bad day at the plate.

Catching is the one position where hitting is the least important "tool".
PopTimePopTime500+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by RageRoolz:
Is there any spots for a catcher who plays good defense but doesn't really hit?

Throw this question out the window and BECOME A BETTER HITTER! It's nice to be a good "catch and throw" guy but of course coaches at all levels want to see you swinging a good stick! It would do you no good for all of us here to follow walawala's lead and tell you that for a catcher, as long as you're playing good defense then coaches will overlook poor plate performance. It doesn't sound like you're talking about one bad day at the plate to me. Relax, get some good instruction and work work work!
RobVRobV100+ posts
quote:
I also pitched for the first time ever.3 innings a few k's and 3 or 4 runs(all in the 2nd inning i pitched.tried to throw too hard and a few kids got nice hits off of me after i got myself in trouble(hit the first kid, walked the next).

I am curious if the showcase I attend will clock me MPH wise. I am extremely curious as to how fast I am throwing the ball, because I have never had it measured. I got a great comment from a visiting coach scouting the game who told my parents that i had a "live" arm, so that felt good.


I know about the showcase you will be attending. My son will be there also. Smile

Yes they will gun you the the first day during the skills competition. The catchers are gunned and clocked for their pop times. You could always sign up as a pitcher too if you want to be graded off the mound (they gun you there also).

Then they have BP but it's in a cage where they use a machine so IMO... that could be setup better.

Then you play games the rest of the days (usually around 3 games).

Good luck to you and have fun.
PopTimePopTime500+ posts
Just an afterthought to my last post. My son is also a catcher. He caught every inning of every game for his HS varsity team as a junior and senior and was a conference all star both seasons. He was recruited to play college ball as a catcher and that's where his college coach plans to use him starting this fall. This summer he's playing legion ball for one of the better teams in our area. This legion team draws its players from a handful of some of the best high school teams, in some of the best conferences around us. So my son sort of went from a "big fish in a small pond" to a smaller fish in a larger pond. Well, the legion coach has another catcher on this team who was also a very fine HS player, and who was also on this team last season. From the outset, this other catcher was named "first string" and my son was relegated to mop up and bullpen duties. He only started one game at catcher in the first 10 games.
Sometime around then, the team's CF was slumping badly at the plate. The coach, knowing my son was an excellent hitter, experimented in practice by moving his LF'er to CF and inserting my son in LF. He hasn't come out of the lineup since. He was athletic enough to pull it off and is now providing some much needed pop at the back of the lineup.
The thing is, because of my son's ability at the plate, this summer has turned from dismal to downright enjoyable! So don't be pigeon-holed into being a one dimensional, defense-only catcher. The more skills you can develop, the more options you AND your coach will have down the road. You can do it.
By the way, it's normal to be nervous before a showcase. Just try to relax and play your game. There will be other showcases if this one doesn't go well, but I'm sure you'll be fine.
ClevelandDadClevelandDadHSBBWeb Administrator
quote:
Sometime around then, the team's CF was slumping badly at the plate. The coach, knowing my son was an excellent hitter, experimented in practice by moving his LF'er to CF and inserting my son in LF. He hasn't come out of the lineup since. He was athletic enough to pull it off and is now providing some much needed pop at the back of the lineup.

Poptime - what a great message for young ballplayers. We were told by college coaches that if you can hit that they will find a place for you somewhere in the lineup. To me, playing is always preferable to watching Smile The pro level is similar in that players will change positions to keep their bats in the lineup. Craig Biggio and Brandon Inge are two catchers who come to mind that are playing other positions but there are many of these examples in college and the pros.
Rob KremerRob Kremer1,000+ posts
Poptime's message is good and needs to be stressed. The bat can keep a kid in the lineup.

I disagree with Walawala - hitting is not the least important tool for catchers - speed is. It is true, though, that coaches will accept a good defensive catcher who is not that great of a hitter.

But if you are just a catch and throw catcher, it is far more likely you'll be sitting while a better hitting catcher plays, even if he is not as good defensively.

So learn to hit better! There are plenty of things that can make a batter more productive at the plate that don't even require much physical talent. Pitch recognition and plate discipline, for instance.

The other night my kid had four plate appearances. He knew what he wanted to swing at, and as long as he was ahead in the count, he wasn't going to swing at anything else. He saw 18 or 19 pitches during the game, and swung at a grand total of one of them, which he stung into center field.

Three BB's and a base hit. That helps a team, and I am firmly convinced that a good approach at the plate can be the difference in 100 points of on base percentage.

Being a good hitter does not always mean the kid is slamming the ball all over the field.
JohnLex7JohnLex7100+ posts
"Being a good hitter does not always mean the kid is slamming the ball all over the field."

ABSOLUTELY!!! Too many people think that a "good hitter" is just the one who is hitting 400 foot bombs. If you can get on base, you are helping your team.

I would also agree that a good defensive catcher is going to sit behind a catcher that hits better but is not as good defensively. However, that doesn't mean that the good defensive catcher isn't going to play regularly.
R RageRoolz10+ posts
my last game of the summer season i had 6 at bat(it was a double header)

I got walked four times, hit by a pitch and got a line drive hit to right center. I've always had pretty good plate discipline so I guess that would help me...

I've been taking a lot of cuts lately and feeling pretty good about myself. I think i'm going to go to my HS field and get all my times so i can try to improve them before the showcase, even though i only have about two weeks, it can make a big difference IMO
WalawalaWalawala100+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by Rob Kremer:


I disagree with Walawala - hitting is not the least important tool for catchers - speed is. It is true, though, that coaches will accept a good defensive catcher who is not that great of a hitter.



touche. I was just trying to point out that you dont have to rake to be a succesful catcher in college and pro ball.

Also, (and this will obviously vary from coach to coach and program to program,) in my expierence if one catcher is clearly better defensively than another, then the catcher who is weaker defensively must be a WAY better hitter than the other to catch over him. If the weaker defensive catcher really can hit he will DH or play 1st.
PopTimePopTime500+ posts
quote:
Originally posted by RageRoolz:
I think i'm going to go to my HS field and get all my times so i can try to improve them before the showcase

You know what? Don't care what your times are today. Just go and run! Hill sprints really improved my son's speed in a relatively short period of time. He's still no demon, but much-improved. Sprints in general are good. Concentrate on form. Go on-line and find a site that illustrates the proper form for running sprints. You'll be fine.

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