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

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

Being a quality receiver is a great trait to have as a catcher. A must have to stay in the position. Matter of fact, I prefer the position to rather be called receiver rather than a catcher. Here is why, a receiver takes pride in how and where the ball is received. A catcher is simply just catching the ball. If you show me a quality receiver, I will show you a best friend of a pitcher, and a best friend to the team.

 A quality receiver behind the plate allows for a solid pace of play, allows a pitcher to keep in rhythm, and keep the defense from becoming bored. A bad receiver will have many passed balls and cause many strikes to look like balls, which causes many hitter friendly counts and many free bases for the opposition. One of the best traits any catcher can be called is if he is not even noticed at all.

When covering receiving as a catcher there are three aspects that are important for the skill of receiving. The first being catching a strike, next would be holding the caught pitch, after that would be pitch framing, and the last aspect would be the target position for proper pitch framing to happen. With all of that being said, let's dive into pitch receiving!

Catching the Strike:

The first skill of receiving is the skill of catching strikes. It is important for a catcher to catch every single strike in the strike zone. Once you establish the strike zone, the next important aspect is to catch the borderline strikes and to make those appear as strikes. Another aspect for catching is to make the movement as fluid as possible. This can make possible balls appear as strikes. This also allows for the umpire to trust that the catcher will receive the pitches in such a way that it provides the umpire a clear view of the pitch that was thrown. To have a fluid movement when receiving a pitch, the catcher must achieve a happy medium allowing the pitch to come to him, and also catching the pitch with a semi-extended glove. A good example of this, would be the picture of the catcher above.

Holding the Pitch:

After a catcher has received the pitch, the catcher must hold the pitch so that the umpire can see the pitch and make a call on if the pitch is a strike or a ball. This is a good technique for a catcher if there are no runners on base. If there are runners on base, do not hold the pitch as long because you have to defend against the steal. If a catcher has a pitch that is well out of the strike zone and he tries to bring the pitch back into the strike zone, this will upset an umpire. If a catcher does this then it will not provide an umpire a clear view of the strike zone, on top of this, this goes against the principle of catching the ball in a fluid fashion. 

Target Position for Pitch Framing:

The target position for pitch framing to happen is to have the pinky finger to be pointed at a 45 degree angle, with the elbow of the catcher at the same angle. To add on to this, the catcher must receive the pitch between the pointer finger and the thumb. This allows for the catcher to have the happy medium of catching the pitch with a semi-extended glove along with receiving the pitch in a fluid fashion. 

Framing the Pitch:

When framing the pitch, the catcher must position himself in such a way so that the umpire has a clear view of the strike zone. Framing the pitch involves making the strike in the strike zone a strike, and making the borderline strike appear as a strike. Now onto how to properly frame the inside, outside, low, and high pitch. 

1. Framing the inside pitch: The inside pitch should be the easiest pitch for a catcher to receive. When the pitch is coming in, the palm of the catcher should somewhat be facing towards the ball. When the ball contacts the catcher's mitt the palm should go around the ball. When catching the inside pitch, the catcher should catch the pitch from the outside of the ball. 

2. Framing the outside pitch: The outside pitch is more difficult to frame than the inside pitch. Since this pitch is more difficult to catch, shifting the catchers position to right of the middle of home plate. Again you can catch the outside pitch by catching the outside-in of the ball. 

3. Framing the low pitch: No pitch is more important than the low pitch. For a pitcher to be effective he must have the low pitch framed well. To receive this pitch, the catcher must catch the low pitch by getting the thumb underneath the ball. The low pitch should also be caught from out and up. 

4. Framing the high pitch: The last aspect of pitch framing is framing the high pitch. The high pitch is important to have as well, because when receiving a high fastball, particularly high and inside, this pitch has a tendency of missing a lot of bats. To receive the high pitch, the catcher must receive the pitch from above. It is also important for the catcher to receive the pitch deep and down. 

These are all traits that go into a catcher receiving pitches. Receiving is a critical aspect for any catcher. I cannot state this enough, a catcher that receives pitches effectively will have many best friends. On top of that will have the game going in a pace that the pitcher, defense, his coaches, and fans will appreciate.