Catchers & recruiting

[catcherzrule]

Have a few serious questions to ask...

To get recruited by a good D1 school, how important is it for a good, very good, catcher to also hit well?

I have looked at many D1 rosters, and many times seen the catchers with lower batting averages. BUT, to get there, they had to hit, right? How far can their defense, leadership, intelligence on the field, really take them?

I know the old line, "defense wins championships," and to some degree that is still true in many sports. However, the lure of the "big bat" in softball over the last 5+ years, makes me wonder about that old cliche in our sport.

Thanks for the time.

[BAM2]

Hey Catcherzrule,
My DD was very Fortunate enough to Verbal last month. She's a catcher and 1st baseman,
Feel free to call me and I will be more than Happy to share any of our findings, and hopefully answer any questions you might have.

Chris Kumiyama
Alyssa Kumiyama 2017 University of South Carolina
562-824-6066

Have a few serious questions to ask...

To get recruited by a good D1 school, how important is it for a good, very good, catcher to also hit well?

I have looked at many D1 rosters, and many times seen the catchers with lower batting averages. BUT, to get there, they had to hit, right? How far can their defense, leadership, intelligence on the field, really take them?

I know the old line, "defense wins championships," and to some degree that is still true in many sports. However, the lure of the "big bat" in softball over the last 5+ years, makes me wonder about that old cliche in our sport.

Thanks for the time.

[rbi]

Just when you think you have it figured out, something new comes up in the world of verbals.

I will just say this, hitting answers a lot of coachs questions, AND one coachs garbage could and very well is another coachs treasure

[ron2691]

Catching is somewhat of a natural art and the "good ones" have certain natural tools that cannot be taught, i.e. arm strength, aggressiveness, awareness and communication skills. Hitting is more mechanical and can be taught but thats not to say that natural tools are not important as well, i.e. hand speed, vision. I believe college coaches would tell you that it would be easier to teach a good catcher to hit rather then teach a good hitter to catch.

[Old Darter]

Don't look at a catchers batting average.

1. Most are power hitters and not hitting for average. Look at Slugging %, RBI's, extra base hits.

2. Remember, every pitch thrown during a game, a catcher does a squat. Every game. All season long. And don't forget practices and pitchers workouts. If you've never been through a D1 season, you don't realize what that schedule does to a catcher. Even the top catchers, by the time they are upperclassmen, are worn down at the end of the season and the result is a lowered batting average. Their legs are just flat dead. At that point, yes, they are more valuable behind the plate than at it.

3. Always exceptions!

[Pale Rider]

...Yes by the end of the season they can be getting tired, but diet, and making the most of the time off between games...Mine stays pretty stout

[jonriv]

I am not sure with the idea that cather's are born, not made. Catcher's tend to get the short end of the coaching stick. It has been my experience that most HS and TB coaches spend little to no tima at all working with their catherc. Relegating them to reciving the ball from infielders during grounder drills. One of the reasons that a good catcher really stands out.

Hitting will always get your noticed, but the big thing for Catcher's is POP time. POP time is trained- there are many girls with very strong arms with lousy POP times. Learning a top-notch quick-release is key.

[doubleD34]

I am not sure with the idea that cather's are born, not made. Catcher's tend to get the short end of the coaching stick. It has been my experience that most HS and TB coaches spend little to no tima at all working with their catherc. Relegating them to reciving the ball from infielders during grounder drills. One of the reasons that a good catcher really stands out.

Hitting will always get your noticed, but the big thing for Catcher's is POP time. POP time is trained- there are many girls with very strong arms with lousy POP times. Learning a top-notch quick-release is key.

Pop time is not really relevant.... my DD throws from her knees everytime....but almost every runner is off the base before ball is released.....lol the main thing is to be that leader. its there field they see everything... without them everyone is lost.. also a big bat doesnt hurt.....lol

[jonriv]

I believe most college coaches will disagree with your regarding POP time. Many cathers will not even get a look if there POP time is not below a certain level. Also, many college teams have a plyer/asst coach time the POP time of the opposing catchers to determine who they think will have success stealing against them.

Again- I know a lot of girls at catcher that caught a lot of runners at lower levels with "just" a strong arm, but were run on at will later on because no one ever worked on their release

[jonriv]

Something I found online that seems to match what I have heard already:

Knowing your catcher’s touch to touch times is crucial for not only throwing runners out but also in deciding if their throws are getting better. Learn about touch times and how to improve catcher’s release times.

As coaches we want our catchers to throw faster to every base in order to pick off runners or throw them out stealing, but simply throwing faster by itself is a little too vague unless we measure it. The best way to measure a catcher’s throw is to measure what we call her “touch time” which is the time it takes for the ball to touch her glove on catching the pitch to the time it takes her throw to touch the glove of the fielder she’s throwing to.

To time your catcher’s touch times start the stopwatch when the pitch touches your catcher’s glove and stop the watch when the throw touches the fielder’s glove. Be sure to time your catcher at least 4 times so you can get an average time and allow yourself a few attempts to get the hang of it.

Once you get a touch time for your catcher from Home to 2nd you can see where she compares to catchers at various skill levels on the following list:

•EXCELLENT = 1.6 seconds or less
•GOOD = 1.8 seconds
•AVERAGE COLLEGE = 1.9 to 2.1 seconds
•AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL = 2.3 seconds