My son has assumed the Catcher's position due to an injury to another player. He has pretty quick hands and reaction time. Are there any drills that he can do to "perfect" or work on his throwing a runner out at second or any other base?

See the link at the top of this page. Catching coaches online camp is a great place to start.

Here's a link directly to the throw to second info.

Throw to second

Footwork is the key in my opinion. More than anything I would work on quickness and agility drills. Ladders, sprints and jump rope.

Do a lot of footwork drills without a ball. Draw a T on the ground and practice getting feet to the proper throwing position as quickly as possible. When consistent, add the ball.

Hope this is helpful.

Tim

Once the footwork is sound, the transfer is next. Have your son recieve the ball closer to his body than he would w/out a base stealer. The ball moves much faster than the glove, so the glove will get to the ear quicker. Recieving this way takes work in itself. Have your son take a knee and dart some pitches at him from about 25 feet away.

As for the arm action after the transfer...I have a converted catcher who is great at getting the ball to its apex, at which point he feels the need to extend his arm behind him before throwing. To eliminate that, I had him kneel directly in front of an L screen. He and I then played catch. When he reached his arm behind him he hit the screen and knocked the ball out of his hand. It was painless because it was a net. But he got the idea. Within 2 or 3 minutes the first time doing that drill, his transfer to release time fell off the table.

Be sure that the footwork is sound and quick enough because decreasing transfer/release time before quickening the lower body is bad. The same is true for quickening the lower body without working on the release. The reason guys throw the ball into right center field so often is their feet are too quick for their hands and they leave their arm behind. Also causes tremendous soreness.