Catching FUNdamentals for Another Dear Ol Catcher,

From the ol' days to the 'new' ways,
framing tehniques being taught today
appear to have replaced the basic question
that the HOF catchers that we enjoyed
learning the game from taught me.

Can the kid catch?

When I travel to watch and report
a potential follow kid, I primarly
look for two things, that being:

The ability of the catcher to receive and keep any strikes thrown by his pitcher as strikes.

The ability of the catcher throw the
baseball after catching it.

There are other mechancal drills for
catchers to practice as a means to
improve his catching capabilities
(quarter glove turn, drop & block, ankle shift, etc).

One fundamental for a catcher to improve
is ability to catch the ball in the
strike zone is..........to catch everybody.

Another fundamental for a catcher to
improve his ability to catch the ball in
the strike zone is to.......catch
the ball with his hand out in front
of his body.

Another mechanical drill I preach
to catcher's today for improving and obtaining 'soft' hands, is to practice keeping the wrist loose prior to catching the baseball.

For those LL coaches, 'teaching' framing
techniques first, I suggest reprioritize
the fundamentals and messages for those
special kids learning the hard way how
to become a pretty good catch & throw guy.

This is what the high school coaches will
look at first. The college coaches
will then properly teach 'the art of framing'. Then the pro guys will go
back to the basics again, because at
that level catching a 95+ fastball with
movement from Clemens, Wright, or Benitez
means having 'soft hands' first, catch
and throw next, calling games next,
and maybe somewhere down the list
the ability to 'frame pitches'.

cheers
Bear