Receiving Pitches - To sway or not to sway

GtJackets,


What that catcher is missing is that you should never be moving your body as the ball hits your glove. You should already be there ("Beat the ball to the spot"), so there is no chance the umpire would be influenced by that shift of weight.

Peripheral vision works on a horizontal axis, but not vertically. So an umpire, who is watching the ball from the pitchers hand to the plate, is not watching the catcher. They can't.

During the time the pitch is in flight, the catcher has to ability to shift his body in a way that allows him to get his chest behind the ball, keeping the glove inside the shoulders (aside from having more control of the pitch, it looks better to am umpire when a catcher is not reaching outside of their shoulders to receive a pitch).

Our goal is to be quiet before the ball leaves the pitcher's hand and after it hits our glove. In order to accomplish this, I need to do as much as I can to keep my shoulders/chest behind the ball. The second I reach outside of my shoulder for a ball, the glove is more than likely being pulled off the plate. Especially if it is reaching outside of my throwing side shoulder, where I am most likely turning my hips/shoulders to get to the ball.

Hope this helped clear things up.

Can you give me an example of how much sway you are talking about. When I watch the average HS catcher sway it is very noticable but when I watch the pro catchers (Molina is my favorite) i do not see any sway. Maybe he is just that smooth but sometimes he even has his knee on the ground in set-up for that inside pitch. WouLdn't this make it impossible to sway for that pitch? Truth is I see both sides of this question and thanks for your insight.

The answer to the question is fairly simple. How much sway? Just enough. Enough to get the glove inside the shoulder. That is as far as we need to go. Maybe it's a quarter of an inch. I don't need to receive the pitch in the middle of my body. Just enough to keep my chest and shoulders behind the ball to allow me to stick the pitch.

As for setting up with a knee on the ground...Remember that Molina is an MLB catcher and is catching pitchers who are the absolute best on the planet in locating pitches (Carpenter, Wainwright, Garcia). They can locate, most HS pitchers cannot. Most of the time, Molina is only doing it in certain situations. Nobody on base, or less than two strikes, or he is catching a pitcher he knows will hit their spot or at least not miss my much. You can shift your upper body from that position. I want to attempt to receive as many pitches inside my shoulders as possible. If I am forced to reach for a pitch it should be a no-doubt "ball".

I would very rarely suggest this approach for a HS catcher. Pitchers aren't as accurate and catchers need to focus on polishing their receiving skills out of their primary and secondary positions first.

Thanks you have been a big help.

As far as setting up on one knee I definitly agree should never be done by the HS catcher. I was only using that as an example of not swaying.
Something you said about just keeping it within your shoulders made me wonder if the pro catcher advice I received was only for pitches within the shoulders and to stay quite and not sway to center up that pitch. I guess that thought would be why move on a pitch that is already a strike or borderline strike.

Thanks again!

quote:

I guess that thought would be why move on a pitch that is already a strike or borderline strike.

Thanks again!

Bingo!

Guys:
I'm very much against swaying.The less movement, the more strikes. On strikes or "straballs" when you lose contact with the umpire( sway away from the umpire or sway into the umpire's visual lane), fewer strikes will be called.Umpires will call strikes balls before they call balls strikes & movement gives them permission to call strikes balls. Catchers must be able to cover 22"(17" plate + 2 1/2" on each side) without moving. In a non running situations get there early, catch it firm & let it sit long enough(not too long)for the umpire to make the call. Your job is to make sure that all strikes are called strikes.

As far as one knee stances are concerned at any level,IMO as long as it helps the pitcher execute his pitch it's ok.Obviously it's not ok with runners on base or with 2k's on the hitter.If it's a basehit bunter I can get out just as fast as when I'm in an up position.

JW

Great posts guys. I really enjoy reading your stuff.

Thanks Guys, keep it coming. I love getting all the advice that I can. I know that when I can stay still it helps me to catch the balls with a lot of movement cleaner and smoother.

Lot of great stuff here. I'm with the sway camp and pretty much believe / teach what ccjr is saying. One cue I use to help teach the sway and get there before the pitch so you can be behind the ball and settled is "catch the outside half of the ball".

Work your body so that way when the ball hits the mitt it has been worked into a back towards the plate stick. This forces the catcher to do what ccjr is saying by getting the body behind the ball.

Hope that makes sense

My son has been working with Mike Stefanski, catcher coach for the Reds. He calls it sway 60. In effect, moving left or right only 2-3 inches at most. Very minor moves, definetly beating the ball to the spot. Excessive movement makes it very difficult to get ones legs/behind under themselves to throw down in correct alignment to second base.

Playing in a pretty solid d1 program in the northeast ive been able to talk catching with some of our alums who are currently at the next level, one of whom is in the cardinals organization. He talked about how they teachthe molina way to their guys... in the case of recieving and swaying they emphasized leading with your glove-side kneeto the ball. While in flight moving your leftknee to the spot will free up your recieving elbow to
the throwing hand side of the plate while allowing you to keep a strong athletic base. An example of this is when you see molina drop his kneeto frame a pitch. I wouldnt use the term "swaying" rather a slight rotation of the hips to allow strength in recieving all parts of the plate. Hope this helps a bit!

worked with the royals catching coordinator and now aa manager at arkansas. he teaches sway to keep the ball closer to the center of your body. it is subtle and not aggressive. you play as close to the center of your body as possible to quicken the pluck and transfer to throwing hand.

I only know the Domingo way of catching.

It's God given

As an umpire, we want to call strikes. Beating the ball to a spot and sticking the glove can make a questionable pitch sellable. Sway or don't sway, just don't move the glove after ball arrives. Hard to call strikes if glove is moving into zone. Looks like catcher didn't think it was a strike either.

Im glad 505 Ump responded in the thread...I've been reading and formulating a response fitting....

The problem I have is with the word sway...if we are talking about slight subtle movements to aid in receiving the ball, that will rarely cause any issue with me....YET if your talking about starting off square to the plate and swaying out to the edge to attempt to make it look like a strike you are doing your self a disservice...

Decide which it is you are attempting to do....treat any coaching directed at gaming the umpire with suspicion....I feel the same way with "pulling"...and by that I mean catching a ball off the plate and quickly pulling it into the center of the zone.....its going to be a long day for you and your pitcher if you keep that up....

I dont know if its been said in this thread before here, but if its not a strike to you, I wont be a strike to me....

505 correctly states its our job to call strikes and your job to let us get a good look at it....stay quiet and receive the ball....again recieve the ball... a good catch helps....a fumble doesnt....and a miss is never good...

the Umpire and catcher need to work together

Great response from p1aa_ump.Good umpires are distracted by movement.Your job is not to create strikes or enhance the strikes.You don't have to add to the process to ensure that pitches will be called strikes.Just make sure not to distract from the process. It should be about the umpire & the ball.The more that you insert yourself into the process the more strikes are turned into balls.
The keys to maximize strikes:
1. In non running situations catch the ball up to the plate.
2. Beat the ball to the spot & catch the ball firm.WHEN THE BALL HITS YOUR GLOVE ALL ACTION STOPS.
3. Let the close pitch sit.Timing is based on the umpire.
4.Once you set up & the umpire has set up,KEEP YOUR BODY STILL ON BALLS WITHIN THE STRIKE ZONE.USE YOUR HANDS.
JW

I think one of the problems is not to sway or not. It is how it is emphasized. I think swaying is emphasized too much. The problem with swaying is that catchers sway too much. There have been some great points on this post. Coach Weinstein is right that Umpires do not like catchers moving. This is why the earlier point of getting to the spot early is important. The catcher needs to get his glove to the spot early while keeping his body quiet. A small sway is warranted to keep the ball inside the frame of the body, but it must be done early so that when the ball arrives, the body and glove are quiet. Beating the ball to the spot and sticking should be emphasized.