The Do's and Don'ts When Throwing to Bases as a Catcher

The Do's and Don'ts When Throwing to Bases as a Catcher

Throwing to bases is one of the most important skills for a catcher to have.  Arm strength is certainly an asset to a catcher's throwing, but certainly is accuracy. In this post, I will detail the do's and don'ts of how to be accurate with the body and the mindsets necessary to be successful at throwing out runners. 

Grip:
One of the first keys in any form of throwing is getting the right grip on the ball. It is universal throughout baseball for a position player to have a four seam fastball grip on the ball to have the best accuracy on throwing to the bases. The reason why a position player will use the four seam grip is because it provides the straightest movement possible on the ball for accurate throws to happen. A four seam grip is when a player puts his pointer finger and middle finger across the railroad tracks of the horseshoe of the seams on the baseball. To have a comfortable grip on the ball the thumb will be placed underneath and in the middle of the space between the pointer and middle fingers. If the thumb is not in between these fingers, it allows the ball to have arm side, or away from arm side run on the ball, which will cause inaccurate throws to happen.

Transfer:

A huge key to the transfer aspect of getting your grip to be able to have a sure and accurate throw to the bases is the fluidity of the transfer. There are two big keys to a fluid transfer from the catcher's mitt to the throwing hand. The first being the catcher not having a flexed arm when receiving the pitch. When the catcher receives the pitch, his arm must be at a 45 degree angle. After the ball has been received by the catcher, the catcher brings his mitt to his throwing hand. It is very important that the catcher does not flip the ball to himself to be quicker, this can only cause him to have an inaccurate grip on the baseball and cause him to fumble the baseball as well. Another aspect that is important and overlooked when teaching catcher throwing is the importance of the head of the catcher staying back on his back hip, allowing the throw to maintain in the proper sequence. 

Footwork:

A reason why the head should be on the back hip of the catcher is for two reasons. The first reason, as mentioned above, is for the proper sequence of the body to occur. This means that when the catcher finishes, his momentum is going towards the base he is throwing to. A term I like to use when talking to pitchers about finishing the pitch is having both of his shoulders pointing at the target when he finishes his pitch. In other words, I have the pitcher pretend that his shoulders are the headlights on a car, and he must have the headlights pointing on to his the target. This allows for all of his momentum of his body to go forward. The same thing applies to a catcher. The other reason is injury prevention. When the head is back on the back hip of the catcher, he is properly storing up his momentum. When a catcher does not do this, he puts too much pressure on his elbow, which can cause major setbacks and injuries upon himself. 

So when teaching footwork, use the catcher's chin as a reference point. Wherever his chin is when he receives the ball, the catcher should step there to keep his body in line. For example, look at the gifs below of Wilson Ramos. As he transfers the ball to his throwing hand, he steps with his right foot to where his chin was. If you watch video clips of catchers throwing out runners, they will replace where their chin was with their right foot. To some catchers this is an unconscious effort, to some it is practiced until it is an unconscious effort.

The next aspect of footwork is very important. For a catcher to have a consistent throw to the bases, he must only release the ball once the lower half of the body has moved into a position for the throw to be made. In simpler terms, the catcher must have his right foot down before he has control of the baseball, after this the catcher must plant his left foot and throw the ball toward the base he intends to throw the ball to. You will also notice that the catcher's hips, and shoulders are pointed at where he wants to throw the ball to as well, providing a straight line to his intended target. In the gifs below of Wilson Ramos you will see each of these traits that I have discussed above. 

The Throw: 

As I discussed above with the footwork of the catcher, the hips, and shoulders, they all provide a firm front side for the catcher. But I have left out a critical part of the process, and that is the throw. After the catcher brings the glove to his throwing hand, and picks up the ball to get into a four seam grip, the catcher must take his elbow back, and his glove hand elbow forward as if he was shooting a bow and arrow. The glove arm will be in a 90 degree angle, with the glove pointing to the intended base the catcher wants to throw to. The throwing arm of the catcher will be at a no greater than 90 degree angle with the ball pointed to first base, and the throwing hand at the right ear of the catcher. During this time, the momentum will be on the back side of the catcher, as the left foot plants all of the catcher's momentum will be going forward with his shoulders pointing at the target. Or as I stated above, having the headlights shine on the intended target. The arm slot that the catcher must have is over the top. This provides the straightest throw possible, compared to lower arm slots. Although I have said this, there will be instances where the catcher must use a lower arm slot to make a quick play happen. Those plays would be on dropped third strikes that get away from the catcher, or bunt plays. An idea to help your catchers is to practice these plays, or have them practice with shortstops to help them make accurate and on the move plays. 

When throwing to second base, you can follow all of the steps above. When throwing to first base with a right handed hitter up, no matter on the knees of the catcher, or on his feet, the catcher must swivel his shoulders so that they are pointed to first base so that he can have an accurate throw. When there is a left handed batter up, the catcher must step behind or go in front of the batter. Throwing from his knees is not an option in this situation. When throwing to third base, the catcher can either go in front or behind the right handed batter to throw to third base. The pitch will dictate that decision. I do not believe a coach will ever attempt to steal third base with a left handed batter hitting, it makes the runner too vulnerable and not protected. When the catcher receives the pitch from the pitcher on the inside or in the middle-inside of the strike zone, the catcher must step behind the batter with his right foot going behind his left foot allowing himself to get his body under control. Once his right foot is planted, he steps with his left foot and takes all of his momentum forward. 

In conclusion there are many factors that go into a catcher throwing the ball with velocity and accuracy. These skills should be practiced nearly every single day for the catcher to be comfortable and confident at this skill. Along with blocking and receiving drills as well. A confident catcher, is a very valuable asset for his team. The catcher is the captain of the defense, when he is calm, the rest of the defense and the pitcher can be calm as well.