Other than long toss what can catchers do to work on their throwing velocity? My 13 year old has high potential as a catcher (good blocking ability, quick release, good baseball instincts, good hustle backing up plays, great at receiving pitches, etc.), but has sub-par velocity on his throws. Is it time to start seeking the help of a catching instructor? Anybody know of any (we're about 25 miles NW of of Atlanta)?

Does your son have trouble with velocity in general(arm strength) or does he struggle more with throwing form the catcher's posistion?

I ask because it may not be an arm strength issue at all, but a footwork or mechanics issue. Some kids with very strong arms will struggle making "that throw" if they not taught the proper way to throw it.

I personally am not all that familiar with arm strength excersizes other than long toss and med band work. I do know that proper instruction in throwing mechanics from behind the plate can help him improve. Before I would look for a catching coach I would suggest looking at the website of the guy at the top of this page. A small investment in his DVD and a few conversations with him could certanly help you to know you are on the right track. I have it and can't say enough about it.

Catchingcoaches DVD is worth every penny. I can't say that about some that I have purchased. When my son will walk up and put it in himself and go to the section he wants to view, for fun, I know I've made a good purchase. I'm not trying to sell you and I hope this plug is ok. I figured it was since he has an ad on the site. I am just speaking formn my experience with the man and his product and teaching style.

Good luck.

a few q's


is he long tossing?

what is his velocity?

is he playing 90' bases?

can he make the throw on a line?


I wouldn't expect too much from instruction in the way of quick veocity increase except to fine tune throwing mechanics IF they are not already sound .. as arm strenght/velocity just takes time

you can also use the wayback machine to acess a great old topic

catcher arm strength

on page 2 pg lists some top catchers & their pop/mph

if top 18U guys are 75-83 mph, a guess for a 13U might be 64-67
(? 4-5 yrs younger .. just guessing)

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is he long tossing?

Yes, but not real often now that our season has started. I figure with three or four games per week he needs some down time to let everything recover.

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what is his velocity?

Don't know that, never 'gunned' him. I do know that I've got two other kids on the team whom I consider to have excellent arms, and the son's throw isn't as strong.

quote:

is he playing 90' bases?

It's kinda strange this year, some of the parks we play at have 90' bases and some have 80' bases.

quote:

can he make the throw on a line?

The short answer is no. However, now that it's been brought up, when he's just playing catch from that distance he makes a stronger throw than when he's catching. Guess it's time to dust off the video camera and see if I notice anything.

quote:

I wouldn't expect too much from instruction in the way of quick veocity increase except to fine tune throwing mechanics IF they are not already sound .. as arm strenght/velocity just takes time

Agree. My feeling is that he needs to get very serious NOW if he's going to reach his potential for HS ball. He keeps saying he wants to play for Ga Tech, we all know what a long shot that will be. And BEE, I appreciate your input, as I can point to your son as motiviation for mine to work hard.

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Catchingcoaches DVD is worth every penny.

I'm ordering one this afternoon. Thanks for the recommendation.

(If all else fails he's a pretty decent 2nd baseman, but catching is where his heart's at)

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by stlmm: when he's just playing catch from that distance he makes a stronger throw than when he's catching.

you may find that in an effort to be too quick he's sacrificing more load than he really needs to .. some video should help.

I'd think a little more load & leg for now ... even if it's a bit slower it'll be building arm strength/confidence. also get in the habit of a "crisp" throw on line back to the pitcher... don't take his head off or anything (unless he crosses you up) but snap it into his glove .. it's really tough to make a great throw to 2b under pressure when your last 10 tosses have been 55 ft lobs. also at that age too often the coach's pregame warm-up shortchanges the catchers, so you may need to squeeze in your own routine to get game-ready

he has plenty of time so try not to be impatient expecting overnite results

I PM'd too

Got a video tonight in the front yard. I counted frames to calculate release times, ranged from 0.80 (on a high pitch) up to 0.95 (on a low pitch).

http://www.geocities.com/stylemismatch/baseball/tjh_catching.wmv

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also at that age too often the coach's pregame warm-up shortchanges the catchers, so you may need to squeeze in your own routine to get game-ready

Agree (and I'm the coach). Yes it's very tough to get in enough warm up for pitchers and catchers in just 30 minutes (along with dealing with the lineups, umpire meeting, kids arriving late, parents, etc. etc.)

he looks pretty good on that pitch

maybe stay down just a little more (knee flex) to involve some more legs ... make the catch/transfer a little deeper/in closer .. also pull the glove thru WITH the throw like a pitcher would (not just hangin out front & ahead)

hope that helps a bit

I'd like to see his throwing hand stay closer to his glove and transfer the ball to his throwing hand higher...closer to his face/ear.

Also, as far as throwing mechanics...I'd like to see him use a stronger front side. His front arm simply flails out of the way which affects his velocity.

Agree with Redbird -
he loses tenths by dropping the glove for the transition. The glove and hand should snap straight back to the ear to load for the transition and throw. That pitch was high so he raised up, but he also "pre-set" for the throw before the ball arrived - good coaching will tell him to stay put.

On the front side - Redbird again is right on. Glove should tuck under armpit. More accurately, the body should move to the glove on the throw, and the glove ends up tucked under the armpit. This would keep him much more linear to the bag and dramatically enhance his accuracy.

Footwork looks pretty good.

Make sure he is long tossing correctly. My son was taught as follows:

Imagine a fence about 20 or so feet tall - the ball should not go above that line for at least 50% of the workout. If he getting a lot of air under the ball he is working different muscles.

As far as intructors - drop quill girl a PM, she looked into this about 6 months ago - you can probably find her topic in the Georgia Forum.

quote:

As far as intructors - drop quill girl a PM, she looked into this about 6 months ago - you can probably find her topic in the Georgia Forum.

Actually, son and I paid a visit to the same instructor QG's son saw, and I'd like to thank Bee for setting us up. It was time well spent.

As I suspected, while the son was basically sound in most all aspects of catching, he needed to make a few adjustments, which someone who really knows what he's doing didn't have any trouble spotting. And a simple change in footwork did wonders for the aforementioned throw to 2B.

I'm glad things went well..
he's gained alot of knowledge from some very good instructors over the yrs, so keep in touch & forward video to him if questions arise and you can't get face to face.

he slipped away to SanDiego to do some training for some upcoming tryouts, that's his story anyway

make sure to get the front foot down before release

do any of you train with weighted baseballs?One thing I do to help arm speed from a catchers position is throw about 90ft with a weighted ball from the squat,then load and throw

Make sure he is throwing with proper mechanics. Have him work on throwing on a line about 20 feet past 2nd base from behing the plate. Do about 5-7 throws from there and about 5-7 at the normal distance.

There is a difference between throwing hard and on a line as opposed to far with a lot of arch.

EDIT: Just watched the video and something just did not look right but I couldnt figure out what it was...After watching it about 10x I realized exactly what it is. Everything looks ok except he has an EXTREMELY weak front side. He doesnt really plant firm with his front foot. He fires his hips before he really gets his front foot down. Also, his front arm is just flopping around limp as he is throwing. Obviously he doenst have the arm strength to get away with this.

Proper mechanics will help with velocity and decrease throwing times to second base. Make sure the front shoulders isn't flying open, instead focusing on driving the front shoulder. At 13 years old, bands are the best way to strengthen the arm without the introduction of a training program. Contact me with any other questions

Brian
www.poweralleyonline.com