In today’s video blog post, we are going to continue to talk about catcher mechanics, how to give good targets and handling low pitches.
Catcher Mechanics: Targeting
The big thing that we do is we give our targets from our glove to our body. For example, say we have a right-handed hitter up at the plate. The catcher is in a down position and she’s going to give a target for an inside fast ball. So what she’s going to do is shift over and split the inside corner of the plate with the midline of her body. Then she’s going to hold her glove out in the middle of her body and out towards the pitcher. By doing this, the pitcher not only has the glove as a target to throw to, but she has the catcher’s whole body.
The same thing will apply on the outside pitch. The catcher will just shift over, split the outside portion of plate with her body, glove out away from her body, and she has glove, the midline of her body to shoot for. The bigger the target, the easier it is for the pitcher to see.
Catcher Mechanics: Low Pitches
Low pitches are very interesting because the chance of them being thrown into the dirt are increased greatly. So the one thing we have to work with our catchers on is making sure they can efficiently get that ball if it does go into the dirt. We want them to rotate their wrist, so instead of having their glove in the normal target position, they’re going to go ahead and rotate it. Now if we do get the ball into the dirt, it’s easy for them to rotate over and bring it down when they go to the blocking position.
For more great catcher mechanics, tips and techniques, be sure to check out my “5 Free Softball Coaching Videos from 11 Time NCAA Champ Sue Enquist”! Sue will take you through more great tips on catcher mechanics for fielding and defense! And don’t forget to Become a Fan on Facebook, where I will share more great softball fielding ideas and suggestions, and where you can talk to other coaches and players about other important catcher mechanics and practices!