Throwing hand in secondary stance

I teach to have the throwing hand behind the glove. I have found that having it there significantly reduces the time it takes to get the ball of of the glove when throwing. When the ball hits the glove, the glove is rotated 180 degrees to face the catchers and the throwing hand is right there ready to grab the ball and lift it out of the glove.

As far as blocking goes I teach to send the hands to the ball and then have the body go to the hands. I send both of my hands together to the ball then all I am doing with my body is driving towards my hands and recentering myself on my already established new midpoint. That new midpoint is the location of my hands. I do not have to teach myself to recenter my midpoint on my hands, that is something we all do natuaraly. This cannot be done nearly as effectively if the hands are not traveling together.

I kept my hand behind my glove until a couple broken fingers my Soph year kept me from catching the rest of the season. (after I was cleared, my spot was filled) From that point, my hand was behind my back. The only times my throwing hand didn't catch up to my glove were a lefty's circle in the dirt on the left side of the plate. Still not a problem because my glove side arm was there to block anything too wide. As far as the transition from glove to hand, I was throwing (believe it or not) consistent 1.95's with my hand back there.

But in all honesty, I teach what is comfortable. I got nervous back there with my hand "in the line of fire" and couldn't do my job. With minimal practice, I could get my throwing hand behind my glove on pitches in the dirt and transfer the ball just the same as I could before.

redbird I teach the throwing hand relaxed behind the right leg or relaxed on the top of the right thigh. I leave that up to the player. I also do not have a problem with them leaving it behind when they block as long as they stay relaxed and loose. I do not like it behind the glove at all. My sons college catching coach says he could careless as long as its not behind the glove and you block what you should. If it works for your kid its a good thing. I think most if not all have realized that putting the throwing hand behind the glove in the 2 stance is not a good technique.

In his primary stance (no runners on), he keeps it in a fist tucked near his hip flexor/groin area.


Catching Coach,
He has found the opposite. His transfer is much faster with his throwing hand at his chest. It works for him and I have noticed more catching guys teaching it.

Redbird5,

We all teach what we have found our students to be successful at. I have timed thousands of catchers and have found that that with the throwing hand behind the glove and an exchange out front my students get the ball into the throwing position with proper body alignment faster then if they have the hand by their chest on on their thigh.

I am still a student of this position so when the data starts to point to a faster technique that still nets proper body alignment I will definitely look seriously at that technique.

cneagles,

My son feels the opposite. With his hand at his chest, he has not only improved his transfer times but also has found it easier to get his hand behind his mitt when he blocks. Different strokes...

I was always taught to have the bare hand behind the mitt. I much preferred the normal stance with the bare hand behind the right leg. However I learned the hard way why that wasn't such a good idea..

Put me down as another fist in front of the chest guy. I switched to teaching this technique after spending a few days talking with an ex-catcher in the Cardinals and Cubs organization.

I have found the same as others have found. Quicker transfers (due to transferring closer to body), better hand/arm position for blocking, and also better receiving mobility. It seemed that when I had them keep the hand behind the glove it limited their range of motion going left and right when receiving.

Just my .02

catchingcoach,

Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you teach a method that is basically a combination of both described here? Throwing hand starts behind the glove, thumb in fist, and then moves to chest protector as catch is made. I am trying to confirm, but the DVD player and I are not seeing eye to eye at the moment.

Tim

GED10 usually has his hand on top of his right thigh, rarely behind the glove, never at the chest or behind the back.
GED10

Deaconspoint,

Yes, I teach that if the catcher reads the pitch and situation and there is no one running, and the pitch does not need to be blocked, I have the catcher draw the hand back to the chest protector.

We let our catchers do whatever is most comfortable for them, and that still allows them good transfers and blocking. Almost every single catcher we have keeps his throwing hand on his thigh near the groin or just outside his thigh.

It doesn't seem to hurt their times, as two of the very best throwing high school catchers in the nation, Andrew Susac and Max Stassi, both do it this way. Andrew threw a runner out in a game the other day, in front of more than a dozen scouts, with a 1.76 right on the bag.