Throwing from knees

Druer, you are correct. Each athlete is different, and some can handle things differently than others. Throwing to second from their knees is not something I do with most catchers, but this girl is an exception. She has a very strong arm and is able to do it.

Throwing to third from their knees is something a 14U catcher should be able to handle. It's quick and deceptive, and doesn't strain the shoulder if done properly. Also, you don't over-use it. It's the kind of thing you do once in a game when the opportunity presents itself. I've taught several catchers to do it and they've all been successful, with no injuries or pain. Incidentally, I won't ask them to do anything I wouldn't do, and I'm a fat old man. If I can handle it I'm quite certain they can.

I wonder how many of the people who thinks it's so debilitating would think nothing of having a pitcher throw three full games in a day?

How often do steals happen in a game? The catcher would be throwing from the knees three to four times in the game. It's much quicker and with softball being such a quick game, they need that extra two seconds for the ball.

I'm currently watching a very promising catcher being taught by two baseballers, to take two steps before she throws the ball to second on a steal. I, her parents and a number of older catchers are telling them this is wrong, that we aren't playing baseball. Her father is frothing at the mouth over the issue. Softball is a fast game and needs fast players playing it,

Which way is more effective can be quantified - measure the pop time and see which way is quicker. But for those who are quicker to 2B from their knees you also need to consider 1) the cumulative added stress and wear on the shoulder, and 2) the significantly reduced ability to block balls in the dirt on the catcher's glove side because that foot is staggered far forward or the throwing side foot - essentially you are potentially trading fewer SBs for more PBs/WPs. With proper technique and practice the pop time can be reduced so that there doesn't have to be a trade off.

One clarification I want to make. On the throws to third I was describing, that is for a pickoff move, not a steal. I feel pretty much any 14U catcher and up should be able to make that pickoff throw, especially since it's usually to a third baseman playing up the line. If you "fall" into it you get some momentum going.

I do have an update on the throws to second from today's practice. We were working on it toward the end of practice, and the one catcher I'd had trying it struggled a bit with it. So I had her try coming up. She was still a little slow, but definitely better than before. Perhaps throwing from her knees gave her incentive to work on getting out of the crouch.

One other change that I've had her make since she first started with us is not staggering the feet back. She always did that before, and I think it slowed her down. From a squared up stance she seems to be able to get up and into position faster.

The jury's still out on which way she'll go. Ideally she will come up. But if she can't do it she'll have to go down.

I wonder how many posters that have been critical of the catcher throwing from her knees have a problem with a shortshop throwing to first from a knee...

fastpitchdad8 said:

I wonder how many posters that have been critical of the catcher throwing from her knees have a problem with a shortshop throwing to first from a knee...

Click to expand...

I wonder who teaches their SS to routinely throw to first from their knees??? Re throwing from the knees overall - its not the game throws that take the toll, its the 100s or 1000s more practice throws that it takes to be proficient at it.

by all means, throw from the knees.. my 12u catcher started doing it because of the same reason, one she realized she could actually throw someone out from her knees, she couldn't wait for a runner to test her. after a few times, no one runs on her at all. Just work on throwing from the knees correctly..

actually, my number 2 catcher saw how effective our number 1 was, she has started working on it.