Pop time dropped!!

Growth spurts always mess with timing and coordination. It will settle out. Plus he will be a heck of a lot stronger. All good things!!

Why worry about a 2.1 pop time as a freshman? It is a great time. Besides, changes in timers or the stop watch used could account for that amount of change. Even a slight change in where he sets up or change in the ball field (surface or distance from plate to 2nd) could account for some change.

Great times, have fun!

Who is doing the timing?

There is a lot more to worry about than just a catcher's pop time. Overall defense, hitting, leadership, and since we're in mid-August ACADEMICS.

I wouldn't worry about the times you're mentioning at all. He's got plenty of time to bring them back down, and for his age they're good times anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by baseballfam4:
My son had been throwing a pretty consistant 1.95 pop as an incoming freshman and through freshman season. But, he now seems to have lost some speed(still consistant to bag)but,now throwing 2.0-2.1
Even though he used to pitch prior to freshman year he has consisitantly worked in all areas of catching,so I can't understand what might be the problem?He has grown recently,but again...is this common?

I do see kids that go through growth spurts take a step or two backwards in performance while adjusting to their new bodies. His times either way are very good for a freshman so not to worry.

06catcherdad hit some real important points as far as all the other things that matter as well. The biggest being Academics. I'm more concerned that the freshman get settled at the high school and in the groove of the academic side of life.

Thanks for the feedback,its just so competitive and it seems if a catcher is below 2.0 they have a better chance to catch the attention of college.My son is now 15,a soph. this Fall and a 3.0+ student at a strong academic school and we've always taught him school is always first.He is active in Key Club(volunteering) and his church youth group.He has a strong bat(.477)4 homeruns,but I don't think that counts,it was freshman team,not varsity.(no one is allowed to move up to jv or varsity as freshman)I wouldn't have really worried about it ,but my son is getting frustrated,he had a few throw down opportunities the last few weeks(scout timed)and his times were not where he was used to and is so determined to get his time back down...I guess that might be a good thing now that I look at it.I'm going to let him know growing can change things a bit and to keep working.The funny thing,his arm seemed to slow and his 60yd speed got faster for him...7.17,go figure.lol
Thanks everyone,we really do appreciate the feedback.

He's got plenty of time and, IMO, should not stress about college coaches at this point. He's only a sophomore and nobody at the college level is expecting very much from any sophomore. Fact is, except for a very, very few sophomores, most college coaches won't have much interest until they're at least in the summer heading into their junior year. Tell him to build great academic success first and foremost, and then to take care of his baseball fundamentals and the rest should fall into place just fine over time.

My '12 son is a catcher. I lied to him for 2 years by telling him he was 2.1 to make him work harder. This summer, he has consistently been in the 1.9-1.95 range and I can't pull it off anymore.

His frosh and soph years are important for establishing work habits through his HS years. At best a low frosh/soph pop time may capture someone's attention. I hope it motivates him positively.

I'm not an expert, but I have a catcher and we experienced some of the same things. As a fish, he's 5'9 and 160lbs. As a Junior, he was 6'0 and 195 lbs. This past year, we re-tooled his footwork and his times dropped, significantly. So, look at his feet, which IMO is most important. As JR grows, two things happen. First, JR tends to get long, by standing up too tall. Second, JR tends to take up too much ground, again slowing down his times.

But, don't get caught up in the "pop" rat race. Proper receiving technique, footwork, transfer, and then arm strength are the order of importance. As he grows and physically matures, arm strength will take care of itself. Now as a rising senior, Gun is 6'01 and 205. His pop times continue to drop. As said, 2 flat - 2.1 is solid. Sounds like you have a really good start to a great HS catcher.

Feel free to PM.

GED10DaD

BBFam4 - back at you. GED10DaD

I like to have my catchers give and hold a good target out there for his pitchers with the elbow bent and the glove in position for the ball to enter the webbing instead of hitting the outer padding,rattling around and bouncing off, this is also much easier on one's hand also this let's the ball travel since the traveling ball is faster than unnecessarily reaching out for the ball and sticking the arm straight out there with the elbow locked up, some disagree with me due to the fact that they are more concerned with the fact that they are under the impression that holding the glove out there influences the umpires call, I work with catchers with the thought of improving their overall physical catching abilities along with not positioning themselves so as to block out the umpires vision while leaving the umpiring to the umpires,communicating with home plate umpires on this aspect helps tremendously. Any and all feed back, pro and con is certainly appreciated.
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