Young Catcher Development

1) Any size is good for a catcher.

2) Boost his size? You could put him on the "rack" and stretch him out.

Too Funny.. Thanks for the reply.

Coaches...

The kid is healthy and happy. Leave him alone.

He's a 12 year old kid for gosh sakes!

Coaches Rule,

The best thing to do is teach him how to receive properly, how to block, how to call a game, etc.

Coaches and scouts have a saying..."you can't teach size (or speed)"

I would agree with redbird5 on teaching him to receive the ball properly, blocking, also teach him the proper foot work when throwing coming out of his stance and last but not least teach him his primary and secondary stance.I wouldn't waste my time teaching him how to call a game chances are he will never get to call one on his own unless he makes it to pro ball, most colleges don't let there catches call a game.

He needs to learn why you call for a change up and where vs another pitch in a certain situation. He needs to understand the thinking behind the call. It is never too early to teach the finer points of the game. Regardless of wether or not he gets to call his own game he needs to understand the thought process behind it.

Teach him the proper way to throw to second - no crow hop or multiple steps. He may not get many out right now but it will pay off big later. My son is now a 14U and has done it properly for a couple of years.....he doesn't throw many out now because no one tries to steal.

The catcher postion requires a lot of practice (Blocking, etc) - he will not get the time he needs in team practice. Find ways to do some drills.

I would also guess ny son calls about 20% of his games. The pitchers love him so he is doing something right.

Catching Pens. It may be tiresome, toilsome, seemingly endless and unappreciated, but that is a time when a diligent catcher can perfect his craft and hone the mechanics of receiving and blocking. ...quiet hands, framing, learning tendancies for different types of pitches to bound different directions out of the dirt or off of the plate. It depends entirely on the mindset the catcher brings to the task. Is this his busy work for the next 45 minutes, or is it his opportunity to get a bit better.

Excellence is the gradual result of constantly striving to do better.

5-5, 110 lbs at 12yo is a pretty good size. There are a lot of people with 5' tall or less 12yo wondering where you are coming from on this one. Wait until he gets through puberty then he can start doing some weight lifting to build strength along with plyometrics and core work. In the meantime, core work and body weight exercise to build a bit of strength should be plenty enough. Don't worry about his weight at this stage in his development.

quote:

Originally posted by redbird5:
Coaches Rule,

The best thing to do is teach him how to receive properly, how to block, how to call a game, etc.

Coaches and scouts have a saying..."you can't teach size (or speed)"

You hit it dead on, redbird.

Pitch strategy, pitch selection, reading the batter. Being a field general. The mental side of the game can take him from being a good catcher to a great catcher.

My son attended two HS's this spring (due to a move). None of the coaches at any level for either school called the pitches. Neither do my son's select coaches call the pitches.

Then the fundamental mechanics. Especially blocking and throwdown footwork.

Forget about size. At about age 14 or 15, he can start a baseball oriented strength program.

Speaking about youth catcher development what are your defensive priorities for a youth catcher, 11 and over?

Mine:
1. Blocking balls, if he can't or won't make the effort he isn't a catcher.

2. Receiving the ball.

3. Fielding pop ups

4. Fielding bunts

5. Running down a passed ball and getting it to the covering pitcher.

6. Throwing to 1st. (picks, balls in front of plate, dropped 3rd strike)

7. Throwing to 3rd.

8. Throwing to 2nd.

9. Calling the cuts and blocking the plate.

10. Calling the game.

Coaches Rule: To answer your question as to what you can do to boost his size, I can tell you what I did to my '06 catcher a few years ago. As he was then every bit of 5'4", I would hang him by his wrists for 12-24 hour periods of time. While he hung there, I would force-feed him banannas, milk shakes, protein drinks and plenty of white rice and bread. Eventually he stretched to his current height of 6'1/2" and he gained nearly 40 lbs. His arms are kind of long as well so his ability to receive the ball without moving has allowed him not to waste time on footwork and other such nonsense. Of course, finding long sleeve shirts are a real hassle, but a small price to pay.
Starting next week I am going to make him sleep with 6-8 concrete blocks on his stomach. He quit working out because he says he is "embarrased" doing curls as the weights tend to pull his arms all the way to the floor. Consequently he has gotten a little too chubby. It's against the law (except in some south east and west rural areas) to starve him and I would if I could. I don't think the law addresses sleeping with concrete blocks. I'll squish that fat away.
In all seriousness, don't worry about what you can't control. Nature and skills training will take their course in due time.

itsagreatgame,
Hey, I thought we had a deal to market the "catcher's growth secret!!!" You'll be hearing from my lawyers.

doc,

I agree with much of what you said but the reason most kids don't get to call games through HS is that they have no clue how to do so. No one has ever let them do it before and they have no idea of the sequences. I would rather spend time at the 12U level teaching a kid how to get hitters out so they can get better than force feed them by calling pitches. We've let our catchers call 95% of their own game since they were 9U (FB & CU).

As for prioirities, here is what we focus on:

1. receiving & stances
2. blocking
3. throwing to all bases & associated footwork
4. pitch sequences
5. game situations (cutoffs)
6. fielding his position (bunts & pop ups)

Thanks to all who have replyed. I am always working on drills with him. He's a good kid with a great baseball attitude and skills. I would like to give him the best possible chance suceed in the sport. Any reference to a good catchers drills video. Again thanks for the help.

Having going through this right now. I was waking up saturday mornings at 5 am to get to a catchers camp a hour away. We worked on blocking lots of drills (hard on the knees). We took tennis balls from a tennis ball machine getting them shot at us in while down on our knees just to get out of the fears and what not of getting hit it works even if your comfortable getting hit already. << you can work that with him on your own but there were mass kids there so we coudlnt go 1 on 1. throwing mechanics broke down. we did this drill called walking the floor where you put your hands behind your back get into your throwing stance chest on knees and instructor points ball and you take your creep step that way we did it for about 10 minutes at a time gets the legs really burning. Then your throw downs to each base. Get him comfortable throwing to bases where players are getting crazy leads after pitcher throws and there messing around walking and bouncing back to the base. I wish I had worked on this more because Im still not comfortable throwing the ball around to much.

as for drills, we use Rob McDonald's video. its excellent.

also, catching coach from this board is putting out a dvd on this. I would contact him, or go to www.catchingcamp.com.
I haven't seen it, but based on his posts, I'd pretty much recommend it sight-unseen.

goMo,

Thanks for the nice thought. Much appreciated.

redbird5,
The reason I put fielding pop ups ahead of throwing to the bases is that in these age groups almost all the bases are stolen on the pitcher. More so in our case because I'm not a big believer in a slide step for young arms.

Last night we faced a pitcher with a very simple slide step and a catcher with an absolute gun, high 70s in Pony league. We didn't run at all, so I'll admit that a pitcher with a good slide step and a good catcher can really limit the running game. Our only pick would have come on the old fake to third, throw to first play, except our first baseman was fooled too. Our catcher made some nice throws to first and third but unfortunately his first attempt of the game sailed into right field allowing a couple runs to score. One of our kids did get picked off first by their catcher. The kid has made a few baserunning blunders in the past but this was more a case of not realizing just how good this particular catcher was.

On almost every field but ours which has a net overhanging the plate, you can get quite a few outs on pop ups if you have a catcher who knows how to read and react to a pop up.

CADad,

I understand your thought but I prefer to teach how to stop the running game at a young age. Just my preference.

Teach them what they are going to need to be sucessfull in HS before they get in HS. A great understanding of the game and how to take charge of the defense. How to controll a game. All our catchers signals overide any signal given. For instance a signal from the catcher to throw over , throw behind a runner , pitch out etc. Making cut calls and redirecting cuts. Making 1st and third calls or relaying them to the field from the bench. Everything we can do to give them responsibility we do to foster this type of take charge behavior. I want a field general behind the plate. A warriors mentality and guy that sets the tone for the defense. Thats why we block everything regardless of its infield before the game to blocking 2-0 fbs with no one on. Set the tone understand that you are in charge. Pride in the posistion. JMO

I second the Rob McDonald tape that GoMo recommends...very good tape. I’m not against teaching a young catcher the details of calling a game but in my opinion that is the least important aspect of developing a pre-high school catcher. The proper mechanics of blocking, receiving, framing, ball transfer, and foot work, plus fielding the position should be the targeted areas for a young catcher. Developing arm strength is always fundamental in his development. I have found this website link to have some good basic information for young catchers. THE ART OF CATCHING
Best of luck.
Fungo

We found Rob's video an excellent tool and have shared it with many of his team mates over the years and it was eventually broken.

The only thing that I'm finding different views from Rob on is the ball exchange.

If I remember correctly Rob has the glove hand "push" the throwing arm back into place; the exchange occurred as the throwing arm was being cocked.

His new travel team coach and his HS coach both want the exchange out front, almost a flip from the glove to the throwing hand.

Anyone want to weigh in on that?

I subscribe to Rob's exchange philosophy.

Rob's exchange philosophy will give more time for the catcher to get a proper grip on the ball.

What is the exchange philosophy?

The exchange occurs by bringing the mitt toward the ear and the ball is transferred to the throwing hand at shoulder level.

fwiw, CatchingCoach does not teach bringing the mitt back with the ball. It causes two problems. First, it closes off the front shoulder too much (shoulder pointed toward 1B instead of 2B), and second, it causes sideways movement of the front arm instead of it drving down.

Here's a link to a more detailed discussion of the throw to 2nd.

http://www.catchingcamp.com/throw2nd.htm

To the contrary, I think there's a greater risk of leaving the shoulder open or opening it too soon using the ball flip/front exchange technique.
I prefer bringing the glove back towards the ear to help build a four seam grip prior to the throw.

I am sure each catcher is different and no single technique is correct for everyone, however one must take the time to get the proper grip prior to throwing it.

I see alot of kids in HS "slinging" the ball to second with no grip at all, resulting in a poor throws.