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Hey guys - I'm back to coaching catchers after MANY years of not doing it. When I was head coach I always had a great coach in charge of them so I really never messed with them. I would just like a refresher on some old stuff that I used to do and some of the new ideas that have come out in the past few years that help.

I would love to hear about some basic, skill specific drills for catchers and overall general drills, agilities to increase mobility behind the plate.

The school I am at now is a lot smaller than what I'm used to so I got to take a kid and create a catcher out of him. I'm lucky because the starter is a returning all state senior so I'm going to keep him sharp and fresh. The majority of my time is taking this freshman and making him a lot better to hopefully step in next year or at least by his Junior year.

His biggest problems are

Receiving - there are sometimes where he just misses pitches from guys who throw a little harder. We got a kid who can bring it mid to upper 80's and there is no way I'm going to put him back there right now but I need to find some way to teach him how to catch guys like that.

Throwing - his mechanics are terrible right now. His elbow drops and he leads too much with his elbow which creates the push. But to me the biggest problem is his arm speed is so slow. Not sure what to do here other than tell him to speed it up.

Any help be appreciated it guys.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. Thomas Jefferson

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A couple of easy drills:

1) Rcving drill - have him receive balls from the pitching machine. FB and CB.
2) Throwing drill - when playing catch (even when just warming up), have him work a progression. a) Catch the throw and practice the beginning of the exchange by moving the ball into throwing position. Instead of throwing it, now move to side position with arms relaxed and ball in the middle of his body (Shoulders pointing toward target). Separate and throw. b) After 15-20 of the above. Now catch the throw and work to quickly get into throwing position, including body turn. Instead of throwing, have him get in his secondary stance and mock receive a ball and then throw. (putting it all together)

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