The Do's and Don'ts When Blocking as a Catcher

The Do's and Don'ts When Blocking as a Catcher

When deciding to become a catcher one of the mental barriers that the player will need to overcome is the fear of contact with the baseball. When you are a catcher you must have the mentality of, "I will block every single pitch in the dirt." If you have this mindset this will instill a confident mindset with your pitchers that they can throw an 0-2 curveball or changeup in the dirt and the catcher will block the pitch in the dirt and prevent the runner from advancing up a base or scoring from third to home on a passed ball. 

A catcher must anticipate that any and every pitch will be thrown wildly so that he will not be shocked when he sees that he has to block the wild pitch being thrown at him. To get better at this skill, a catcher must practice this skill regularly in practice. When he is practicing this skill, the catcher should recognize the spin of the particular type of pitch that the pitcher has thrown. For example, if a right handed pitcher throws a curveball, most likely the breaking pitch will spin and break to the catcher's right side of his body. To block this pitch, the catcher must get inside of the baseball's path to try to deaden the ball in the dirt at impact so it is in front of him instead of going errantly to the left or to the right, allowing for the base runner to gain an extra base. According to Coach Ron Polk in his "Baseball Playbook" he writes, "A good rule to follow is for the catcher to play the ball off his right shoulder, allowing for the ball to "back up" once it hits the ground." The opposite stands true for a left handed pitcher. The catcher must play the ball off of his left shoulder. This allows for the catcher to stay inside of the pitch so it can stay in front of him. Another thing that a catcher can do is prepare for wild pitches by putting more weight on his opposite foot from the anticipated break of the pitch. 

Now let's dive into what the catcher should look like when he has blocked a pitch correctly. When in blocking position, the catcher's mitt must cover the hole in between his legs. When in blocking position, the catcher must have his elbows tucked into his sides. This allows for a wider base for the catcher to block the pitch, and prevents the ball from ricocheting to the catcher's left or right side of his body which can allow the baserunner to advance. The chin of the catcher must become tucked to protect his throat. A good rule to think of is this, the way the head goes, is the way that the body goes. A head that goes down, allows for the rest of the equation for blocking to occur. When the head goes down, the catcher's shoulders become rounded and the chest will be slightly forward. This allows for when the ball makes contact with our chest, the ball will go forward from contact.

Blocking Balls in Front of the Catcher:
The pitch hitting the dirt in front of the catcher should be the easiest pitch for a catcher to block. The reason being is because the catcher does not have to move laterally left or right to have to block the pitch. The catcher as stated above, must have the mindset to always be prepared block any pitch in the dirt. This mindset MUST be involved with men on base. When a catcher notices that a pitch will be in the dirt, he must kick his heels out and up as soon as he reads that the ball will be in the dirt. After he kicks his heels out and up, the catcher must land as soft as possible on his knees in order to have control of his body. As soon as his knees hit, the catcher's elbows must be tucked to his sides, the chin tucked to protect his throat, his mitt covered between the hole in his legs, his shoulders rounded, and chest slightly forward.

Blocking Balls to the Right or Left of the Catcher:
To catch the pitch in the dirt to the right or left of the catcher, the catcher must step to the ball with the foot nearest to the ball. The catcher must make sure that his body is aligned in such a way that the ball will not ricochet away from him so that the baserunner or baserunners can gain an extra base. For the pitch a few inches outside or inside of the plate, the catcher can apply the two knee drop approach as the pitch in front of the catcher. If the pitch is way outside of those inches to the plate, the catcher must have to step to the ball to have any chance of blocking the ball. The catcher's goal must be to block every single pitch possible. Now there will be some cases where it will be impossible for the catcher to block the pitch. But the catcher should practice and find out his range of what he can and cannot block.

Blocking pitches in the dirt is a necessity to have as a catcher. A catcher who can consistently block pitches in the dirt gives the pitching staff and coaches the confidence that the pitcher can pitch out of the zone to fool a hitter with an off-speed pitch. A catcher who is good at blocking pitches in the dirt will also save runs to save games for his team to win games and a championship.