Throwing From the Ear

My son has been taught (by a former major league catcher) to have your arm back and a little out to the side and not right behind your ear. This way you will get more power in your throws. It's still a short fast throwing motion and by getting your hand away from your ear the ball will be less likely to sail to the right.

"Throwing from the ear" is simply a cue to shorten your backstroke when you throw.

Pitchers and OFs make a long circle (or backstroke) when they throw. IFs are slightly shorter. Catchers are even shorter than IFs.

If you start with your hands together at the middle of your chest, an OF's and P's throwing arm will travel down to their waist (generally). An IF's arm will travel near their ribcage and a C's arm will generally stay at shoulder height.

I hope this helps.

Where do you transfer the ball from your glove into your throwing hand? Back by your ear or out in front of your body? Best thing my son did was to change to transferring the ball into throwing hand as early as possible out in front. This allowed the arm to travel in a cirular path (a very small one) and allow him to get his upper body more upright with chest out as he throws. He has the appearance of throwing from the ear but he doesn't key in on that as a cue. He used to and while he could receive and release in .69 seconds, it was a little loopy. haven't timed him since he changed but he's cutting down more runners.

I like the transfers to occur in the middle of your body with the throwing hand reaching into the mitt to grab the ball (not dropping the ball into your throwing hand).

I'm not a fan of transferring out front. Why reach out to get it? Allow the ball to travel and keep it close to your body. Redbirdjr moved his transfer closer to the middle of his body and his times have gone down dramatically. He is a 2012 and threw out a plus runner by 3 steps last week with a 1.81. That was a scout's time. I had him at 1.84.

I agree, throwing from the ear should be a cue and not a rule.

As far as transfers, I teach middle of the body as well. Tell me kids I want them to think push/pull. Catch ball, turn glove, push into throwing hand, then pull ball out of glove with throwing hand and lead with elbow back. Teach them to have throwing mechanics much like a football quarterback.

Funny thing is, with my son, while we focused on transferring the ball out in front (hand behind glove in a fist) he actually doesn't really accomplish that. He's more in the middle of the body. So I get what you are saying.

Have him try putting his throwing hand in a ball at his chest. It will encourage his transfer to happen closer to his body and prevent him from reaching out too far.

When throwing, your elbow should actually be a bit higher than your shoulder, and your hand should be just far enough out that your elbow is bent slightly more open than 90 degrees. You'll get more power and a more straight throw with this mechanic.

Throwing from the ear is not a proper technique, based on what I've seen from several catching instructors who are a former pro catchers teach.

quote:

Originally posted by slbaseballdad:
Funny thing is, with my son, while we focused on transferring the ball out in front (hand behind glove in a fist) he actually doesn't really accomplish that. He's more in the middle of the body. So I get what you are saying.

The hands are quickest when closest to the body... transfer in and early.

The ball travels faster than you can. When you reach you throw your mechanics off. Your first job is to catch the ball properly. Let it travel catch it deep.

Just for clarification guys, I never said and he has never been trained to reach out for the ball. He simply has a mindset to transfer the ball as quickly as possible in front of his body instead of up by the head like some teach. (although I can see how one might interpret my comments in that way)In fact, once he changed from transferring the ball up by his head to in front of his body, mechanics, pop times and CS's improved dramatically.

I wasn't reading it as he was reaching...right now. But, it is a common problem, especially when you take your throwing hand toward the ball. It leads to getting stiff and reaching. Just trying to save you headache down the road.

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:
I wasn't reading it as he was reaching...right now. But, it is a common problem, especially when you take your throwing hand toward the ball. It leads to getting stiff and reaching. Just trying to save you headache down the road.

Redbird5....not clear why getting the hand in the glove early or in front of the body to ensure efficient exchange would make you stiff and create any problem?

Earlier transfer of the throwing hand into the glove as the ball is funneled in and movement of the two together from out front to the middle of the body will ensure more synchronized footwork, efficient movement of the throwing arm to proper throwing position, and efficient positioning of the front arm/glove to move into the throw. A late transfer can throw timing off.

I am not saying you transfer out front, but getting the glove/ball/throwing hand together as early as possible results in efficient mechanics moving into the actual throw.

Dad,

To quote my intelligent buddy, Coach May:

"The ball travels faster than you can. When you reach you throw your mechanics off. Your first job is to catch the ball properly. Let it travel catch it deep."

quote:

Earlier transfer of the throwing hand into the glove as the ball is funneled in and movement of the two together from out front to the middle of the body will ensure more synchronized footwork, efficient movement of the throwing arm to proper throwing position, and efficient positioning of the front arm/glove to move into the throw. A late transfer can throw timing off.

I am not saying you transfer out front, but getting the glove/ball/throwing hand together as early as possible results in efficient mechanics moving into the actual throw.

This is exactly what we found with my 2014 son. Throwing sequence was much better. Times got much better and cut down more runners when we changed to this from the ear.

Make sure you work on the pitches that you can not catch in the middle of your body. Setting up inside and the ball being outside. Setting up outside and the ball being inside. Location down and the ball is up and away , etc etc.

You will find that the longer they play this position the more pitching coaches will demand a chance for a called strike before a chance for a cs. And they will recieve the ball the way their coaches want them to or they will not play.

Footwork is critical. There is no subsitute for arm strength. Many times they will have to make up for things outside their control in order to shut down a running game. In a perfect world every pitch can be caught in the middle of the body. Coaches run many times in cb counts. There is a lot more to this than saying catch the ball in the middle of the body. I know you know that but Im just putting that out there.

The ability of the catcher to make athletic plays at his position and having the arm strength to overcome the fog of war will go a long way.

quote:

The ability of the catcher to make athletic plays at his position and having the arm strength to overcome the fog of war will go a long way.

This is a great thread and an insightful observation.

TwoTex Jr recently moved up from JV to varsity. His arm may be slightly better than the other catcher he replaced. Mostly he is more athletic and receives/blockes the ball better, and moves well behind the plate. I've noticed that teams haven't tried to run on him much. I attribute this to presence and athleticism (because his arm isn't spectacular), would be interested in the coaches' perspective on how this figures into the equation.

i had a long, almost pitcher like, windup behind the plate for a long time. i started throwing from my ear last year, when my new coach explained to me how much time i could save. it took me awhile to figure it out completely, and my throws were weak at first. but this year (junior year) i was all conference, all district, and was second in the conference for throw outs. my teammates give me a hard time because i throw from my ear even when im playing catch with them. its a great thing to do, and it just comes with time.

athens -
I'm glad you are having success but I think you are hearing here that throwing from the ear is not a mechanic that should be used. It probably sped you up from what you say was your big windup, but if you want to advance in baseball as a catcher, you will probably need to change your approach.

Rob-
i guess its not quite from the ear..more like a foot or so away and slightly cocked back. throwing from the ear is just a little easier to explain it.