Proper Recieving....

Ya....... I just catch the ball.Is there a proper name for that?

There is more to proper receiving than I'll list here but a few things you need to do begin with giving your target. Once your pitcher begins his delivery, you should relax your glove hand, letting the glove tilt downward just a bit. This does two important things. First, it begins movement, the concept is known as muscles in motion and basically means that muscles that are already moving are able to react and move more quickly than those being held in a static position. The other important thing this tilt does is to help you relax your hand to cleanly receive the ball.

Once you've relaxed your hand and it is moving, you should strive to have quick hands to the location the ball will arrive at, catching the outer half of the ball. In other words, catch the top of the ball on a high pitch, the bottom of the ball on a low and the side of the ball away from the strike zone on wide pitches. This will allow you to keep strikes in the strike zone rather than taking strikes away from your pitcher. Whatever you do, don't be stiff and try to jerk the mitt back into the zone. There isn't a good umpire anywhere that appreciates that feeble technique.

Strive to be smooth and "quiet" back there, and you'll become an asset to your pitching staff. There is obviously more to this than I've listed, so hopefully others will offer additional advice.

quote:

others will offer additional advice.

You better believe it.

In addition to what 06 said (all of which is spot-on), I teach my kids to recognize the pitch location as early as possible and sway to the ball so that it is caught near the middle of the body. CatchingCoach (I believe) laid out a very good explanation as to the why's of doing this, it relates to the umpire's sight line and selling the pitch on the corner as a strike. And don't waste your time trying to sell a pitch that is definitely a ball.

I think that the last point that Style made is huge. Spending a lot of time trying to make obvious balls look like strikes can cost the catcher some credibility with the umpires. Framing is an art, and a catcher who can do it well can get his pitchers a whole lot of strikes. One Division 1 coach I heard speak about catchers said that while they do care about pop time, a catcher may only throw to second a couple of times a game. However, he said that they can easily catch 120-150 pitches a game, and receiving is the main thing they look at in a catcher.

One other thing I'd like to add about receiving and earning strikes for your pitcher is to get small. The lower you can squat and receive, the easier it is for the umpire to see the true location of the pitch. This is one reason why catching is one of the most likely places to see a smaller stature player. If you think about it, there are a bunch of shorter guys catching in the big leagues, Ausmus, LoDuca, Lieberthal, Pudge, Kendall, Torrealba, and others that don't come to mind right now. The shorter guys can get really small, and every umpire likes having a good view.

If they can't throw well they will throw a whole lot more than one or two down to second base a game. The reason they dont throw alot is because they can throw. The ones that cant are not in the game. The ability to recieve is huge as well as blocking skills and setting up properly. Everything that a catcher does is huge. You can be a great reciever but you better have the ability to get the ball to the bags as well or you will be a great bullpen reciever. I dont know about you but I have yet to see a great reciever in a college game that threw a 2.3 to 2b. If you want to catch at a high level you must be good at all the phases of catching not just one or two.

I wasn't suggesting that throwing isn't important, but they both are important, and those who focus only on pop time are missing other important aspects of the position.

Like Stylemismatch said, picking up the ball early is probably the most important thing. Not only can you frame better by swaying toward the ball, you also will have better blocking skills.

Also, one question. I heard one is supposed to have is glove elbow inside his knees. Is there an advantage to that, or is it a framing issue?

God Bless you for saying small kids can make good catchers. Our son is a GREAT catcher... nothing gets by him! He also is good at holding runners and getting better all the time at his throws to 2nd. He REALLY wants to play college ball, is a smart kid, but is only 5'5" and doesn't seem to be growing at all at age 15 1/2. Please tell him (and us) that he can live his dream!!!

One thing I like to do to to keep my glove in the zone and get more called has pretty much been mentioned.I just start moving my glove so that way when I have to frame it doesnt look like I moved it just to move it in the zone.

Many technique,but you only have to have 2 guys like you,your pitcher and the ump.