How long should a catcher stay down

quote:

So my question is how long should a catcher stay down and "frame" the pitch before popping?

Help me understand the “popping up you refer to. If the "Popping up" you describe is the first movement in throwing out the advancing base runner (that really isn’t advancing) then your son is wasting time and his energy and this may be what his coach is pointing out. The catcher’s stance with runners on is more upright and different that the more relaxed, lowered stance with no runners on. I have seen young catchers load and fake throws to first in attempt to hold a runner on the bag. I don’t like this. To me this just means the runner is effective in distracting the catcher. If the catcher really wants to hold a runner on base, the best way to do this is to throw out his teammate.
Framing pitches and throwing out runners are two seperate functions and the two have little impact on the other.
PS: I'm JB'sDad too. (another JB)

My guess is your boy was standing up before the pitch arrived in order to pre-set for the throw down. This is very common among young catchers, for obvious reasons. It is an instinct that catchers have to overcome (and I am convinced that catching is, more than other positions, an exercise in NOT doing what your instincts naturally would have you do.)

I doubt your son's coach wants him to catch and "stick" (or "frame") a pitch when a runner is stealing. He is probably telling him to stay down in his runner-on position until the pitch arrives, and only start the throwdown footwork after he has caught it.

quote:

Just a note the runners on first were getting very large leads.

Pitcher's hold runners and the catcher should have a way to let the pitcher know to throw over to first..............

Hard for a catcher to stay down, get the strike and throw the runner with a large lead out, too................

Long time ago, now, wasn't it, Fungo>?.........

Somewhere on this site I saw a list of the catcher's priorities. I believe # 1 was to receive the ball - I took this to mean catcht the ball almost the same way if men are on base or not. Down the list by several spots was throw runners out.

FormerObserver,
It has been a long time! For you too! You and I both know we'll never forget those days ----
Fungo

What people seem to forget (and was mentioned earlier) is that the name of the position is catcher not thrower. You have to catch the ball before you can do anything else - plus you catch more than you make meaningful / important throws.

Tell you son to stay in the runner on base position until the ball makes contact with the glove. Then he can pop to throw. Halfway decent umps will still be able to see the location of the pitch for ball / strike purposes.

The pitchers job is to get the runner thrown out - the catcher just gets the credit.

I'm giving the credit to the pitcher and I was a catcher in college - I must be crazy.

quote:

Tell you son to stay in the runner on base position until the ball makes contact with the glove. Then he can pop to throw.

Now I'm totally confused.

Sounds like to me he is worrying about the runners and popping up in anticipation that they will run before he recieves the pitch properly. Tell him to relax and just recieve the ball regardless if men are on base or not. He wants to recieve it deep anyway wether he is throwing someone out or not. If they are getting huge leads he can throw behind runners and the pitchers can work harder on keeping them close. But his first job is the properly recieve the baseball.

I appreciate all the information, the reason I was asking is that I was confused as to why the coach was telling him this since he was not moving into the throwing position until after the ball was received. The only thing I could think was that the coach wanted him to stay down longer in order for the umpire to get a better look at borderline pitches.

Again thanks for all the replies

Hey fungo where did I lose you at? Let me know how I can clear it up.

Where did you lose me?? I've been lost for a long time...
When you say "stay in the runner on base position until the ball makes contact with the glove, then he can pop to throw." I have to assume you are talking about throwing to a base to get an out. In situations where the catcher is attempting to throw out the runner, isn't catching the pitch, a clean transfer, and throwing to the base the focus of the catcher and not whether or not he's holding the pitch long enough for the umpire to see if it is a strike? Once the catcher determines he's going to throw out the runner all his effort is directed toward the runner. This effort usually starts prior to the ball contacting the mitt. I know we're talking about tenths of a second here but catchers are measured in tenths of a second. I agree with you that pitchers play an important role in preventing the stolen base but catchers have to play out the hand that is dealt to them. Love them lefties when it comes to holding on the runners.
Fungo

I teach my catchers that there are two positions to catch a pitch - 1. nobody on then you get as small/low as you can so the umpire can see more of the plate. 2. someone on base or two strikes on a batter then you are a little higher so you can shift side to side to block pitches.

I'm saying he needs to stay in position 2 until the moment the ball touches his glove. I tell my guys to know what to do before you do it. An example is let's say there are runners on first and second and the runner on first is not very fast. My catchers know this is the guy they are going to throw out in a doublesteal situation. Most catchers are going to throw to third trying to get the lead runner - we try to get the guy we have the best chance at.

We feel by doing all this the decision to throw or frame or whatever has already been done.

For one thing your son should have thrown down to first a couple of times to show the other team he wasn't affraid to trow down there. But on the "popping up" topic it doesn't really matter. It all comes from the feel of the catcher. If he feels that he should pop up then do so.

quote:

Originally posted by Franchise7:
For one thing your son should have thrown down to first a couple of times to show the other team he wasn't affraid to trow down there. But on the "popping up" topic it doesn't really matter. It all comes from the feel of the catcher. If he feels that he should pop up then do so.

Now I'm confused