As a catcher, the most difficult pitch to receive...and the most difficult for an umpire
to call consistently... is the low pitch.
In this video we will discuss the best ways for a catcher to receive that low pitch so
his pitcher gets the strikes calls he deserves.
Catchers have multiple skills to learn in order to play the position well at higher
levels, and the most important is being able to receive pitches well.
After all, that is the skill catchers will use - by far - the most often.
Some coaches refer to “framing” pitches, but personally I prefer the term “presenting”
the pitch.
The reason is quite simple: I don’t want my catchers thinking they are trying to fool
the umpire and working against him.
I would much rather my catcher think of helping the umpire make good calls.
This change in thinking makes him and the umpire partners behind the plate rather than
advisories and given the time they spend together, this is a much more productive attitude.
There are four steps to being a great catcher at receiving and presenting the low pitch.
#1 Be close enough to the batter.
I have found that most youth catchers pick a spot to set up and regardless of where the
batter is in the box, they are always set up at the same distance from home plate.
And, they usually are not anywhere near close enough to the batter.
See our other video on setting up as a catcher for more info.
In this video we see one of my favorite MLB catchers, Brian McCann, receiving a low pitch
and you can see just how close he is to the batter.
Granted, the camera angle here makes him appear even closer, but he catches this pitch at
or in front of the batters back foot.
Here are some other videos of a catcher being in the right spot.
And a few examples of catchers being far too deep.
This is something that doesn’t require skill or practice.
Being close enough as a catcher is either Do or Do Not.
There is no try.
Do or Do Not.
There is no try.
#2 Get your thumb under that ball.
If possible, we do not want to catch that pitch with our glove turned downward.
Here is an example of getting the thumb under the ball without turning the glove.
The better you are at keeping your thumb parallel to the ground the better.
This is an example of a catcher turning the glove around.
Once the catcher turns the glove like this, the umpire will almost always call a ball.
Even dropping the glove like in this clip is less than ideal, but can be acceptable.
You will see this movement by some great catchers, but personally I think this looks far better.
Of course catching every ball is the most important thing, but when possible, keep your
thumb parallel to the ground and get it under the ball.
This is a skill you will need to practice in order to get right in a game.
#3 Beat the ball to the spot: Once the catcher is set up close enough, when they recognize
the pitch will be low, the catcher should try to beat the ball to the spot rather than
catching the pitch when their glove is moving down.
This actually applies to every pitch regardless of location, but with the low pitch think
down to up.
If you can be there waiting for the ball, the catch will appear much better and once
you are strong enough, you can stick that pitch without letting the force of the ball
drag your glove down.
Here is a clip of a catcher beating the ball to the spot, but the force of the pitch pulls
the glove down.
If you lack the strength to hold that pitch in place, don’t be discouraged.
As a youth catcher you’re going to grow and get stronger.
As long as you work on the fundamentals, when the arm strength comes you’ll be ready and
you’ll make it look easy.
Even MLB catchers make mistakes as seen here.
It’s likely the pitch was delivered wrong and caused the ball to move in a way the catcher
wasn’t expecting.
This is why catchers call pitches.
They need to know what is coming.
It’s rare to see an MLB catcher get to a ball late.
This is a pitch he could have gotten a strike call on, but the poor glove movement likely
hurt his chances.
This is certainly a skill you can work on in practice, while catching bullpen, and while
in actual games.
As your pitcher get better at hitting spots, it will become easier for you too.
And finally #4 Reach out to get that pitch: Pitched balls are always dropping, so the
further the ball travels the closer to the ground it will be when caught and the less
likely called a strike.
So not only do you want to set up close enough to the batter, you also want to reach out
to get that low pitch when the ball is still higher.
By dropping a knee you lower your torso and you have more strength to hold that pitch
in place.
If you fear reaching out because you’re afraid of getting hit by the bat, this is
really something you will need to learn to block out.
Reaching for the low pitch works because you remain under the swing path.
In this video clip we see a young catcher that is obviously too deep, but he also is
not reaching out to get the low pitch.
When we look at this one frame by frame we see that it was probably a strike, but since
the ball is caught in the dirt, the umpire called it a ball.
Had this catcher been close enough and caught that ball up in this area, the chances are
good that the umpire would have called it correctly.
This is why the catcher works WITH the umpire to help him call a good game.
That low pitch is easy to see by coaches from a side angle, but very hard for an umpire
to see, so if he’s not calling it right, he’ll hear about it.
As the game goes on, the umpire will know which catcher he can trust and which catcher
is making his life difficult.
This is another skill the requires practice.
I don’t recommend trying this in a game before you have a chance to get comfortable
doing it in practice or by working your way into it a little closer at a time.
Safety should come first, but eventually you do want to try to get that pitch at the batter’s
back foot or even in front of it.
At the 2017 LLWS there was one catcher that was far and away the best at receiving the
low pitch and that was the Texas catcher.
He’s the first youth catcher I’ve seen stick that pitch correctly on a consistent
basis.
He is close enough to the batter, although he could probably get a bit closer he’s
certainly within the margin of error in his set up.
He gets his thumb under the ball keeping the glove at an acceptable angle.
He is definitely beating the ball to the spot.
And, most impressive, he is catching from down to up which at this age is extremely
rare.
Someone didn’t just hand this catcher equipment and tell him to get behind the plate.
This young man spent a lot of time working on doing the job correctly and was coached
by someone who knows the position.
If this video was helpful, check out our other catcher videos and don’t forget to subscribe
as we will be posting more youth baseball videos regularly.