To become a better at anything you must start with the basics. That is no different for catching. I am here to talk to you about becoming a better catcher and the drills and tools you can use to achieve your goals of being a better catcher. Catching isn’t for everyone. It’s like volunteer work; you have to work hard and it isn’t very rewarding. A majority of the time volunteer work is unpaid and in the MLB catchers are the lowest paid position players. But when people step back and see what volunteer workers do they are impressed by what the workers are willing to do for such little reward. The same goes for catchers, people are always impressed by what a catcher has to do each game for the little amount of credit received. …show more content…
In order to do this, you are going to need the right throwing mechanics. When the runner is going you don’t have much time to throw him out. The correct arm slot is important in this case. A catcher shouldn’t have a long wind up to throw. Instead you need to throw from your ear for a quick release (similar to a football throw). To get the ball there you need to have a smooth transfer which requires you to bring your glove to your ear where your throwing arm should meet the ball in the glove. A good way to practice this is just sitting on the couch and practicing your transfer. Another drill is to blind fold yourself and practice the transfer to make it muscle memory faster. After you have made a proper transfer and are ready to throw you have to get your throw power from somewhere. That power is in your legs. When you are throwing drive off of your back leg to create power towards your target. A drill that is great for throwing as a whole is the receive and pop drill. Have a teammate throw you and ball and right before you are about to catch it drive forward as you pop up to catch and throw down. Have your coach time you on your throws down to second base to record your pop time. The average high school pop time is 2.0, anytime under that is when coaches start to notice