Catcher with issues

[mosftballdad]

I am an AC on a mixed first and second year 12u tb team. Our number 1 catcher won't scoot up closer to the batters which is costing us some calls. She ends up catching the ball too deep and has to turn her glove over. The other issue is emotional. If she makes a good throw and the SS doesn't catch or if they don't get the call she pouts. If she misses a ball in the dirt she pouts and with hung shoulders stomps back to the ball regardless of runners. If she walks or gets out she pouts and yells at the other girls if they say "don't worry about it, get 'em next time."

We are at the point of benching her if she can't get her head in the game. I call most of the pitches now and told her 10 times in one inning to move up, most of the time she didn't. I am also on the bench when we hit and deal with all the drama. Any creative ideas to get her to do what is needed? I would hate for her to be benched but the attitude and lack of doing what is asked cannot be tolerated any longer.

 

[chinamigarden]

Until she listens she isn't your #1 catcher. If a Shortstop insisted on playing the position on the grass, how long would you put up with that?

 

[CoachKevin]

#1 How much time do you work on catching with her during a practice? This is usually one of those forgotten positions during practice. I would have pitcher/catcher practice 1 hour before team practice. The pitchers would get in their workout and we would also work with the catchers during that time. Everything from proper positioning/giving signals/blocking/passed balls/throwing to different bases ect. It worked out very well for us.

#2 If you do work with her and she still isn't doing what is asked or showing attitude.... bench time will fix it. either she will do what is asked or go on to another sport.

 

[Jr10234]

I had this problem a couple years ago. Discussed the issue with the player and found she was afraid of getting hit by the batter. We did situations with a batter in the box to show her how close she could be without any risk of making contact with the batter. That was the only issue with any catcher I've had over the years.

 

[Jesse]

Why won’t she move up? Is she afraid of getting hit with the bat? You need to demonstrate to her why the bat won’t hit her if she’s properly positioned. Show her in slow motion the bat’s trajectory. Then place a bat or some other object right behind where her feet need to be, and don’t let her back into it. Physical reminders help. I actually had the opposite problem – my catcher wants to get up and reach toward the ball when it’s pitched short. Had to nip that in the bud real quick.

As far as attitude, I’m not sure how to fix that. I had a pitcher fall apart on the mound yesterday, and I told her, I’m giving you a break, but only because you’re getting upset. If you weren’t getting upset I’d leave you out there because I’m happy with the way you’re pitching. You need to work on this, because you have the potential to be a good athlete if you can control this (pointing to her head). I also gave her the “good athletes have short memories” talk. After the game, I asked for a show of hands from girls who were too hard on themselves. About half the team raised their hands. I said, we need to work on that don’t we. If you’re playing through tears because you’re beating yourself up, or you’re mad at the coach, or the umpire, or whatever, you’re letting your team down. You can’t beat yourself up over every little mistake, and you can’t let little mistakes snowball into big ones.

I think we’ll talk more about it in practice tomorrow. There are several girls on the team struggling with this.

 

[mosftballdad]

She has had her hand hit prior to being on this team. I did put her in her position with a batter in the box and showed her how close she could get without getting hit. Still nothing. I am afraid that she will only get the message by not catching, which she loves to do.

 

[MsDinosaur]

However, the pouting--no way. To the bench after a warning. However, if you let it go this long, some of it is on the coach. Got to nip that on the first occurrence.

I agree. You can't have pouting, especially not from the catcher. She's the one player who faces the rest of the team. She sees everyone and everyone sees her. Catching isn't just about the physical skills; a catcher has to be mentally tough too and has to be someone the other players can trust.

 

[mosftballdad]

I have addressed the pouting issue on several occasions and the head coach has given her warnings in game but the next game it's back to the old ways. Velocity is not the issue with the pitchers, they both throw about 50mph. I agree that the umpire should call it at the plate and not at the glove but they do. This weekend we had umpires that let batters stand outside the batters box into the catcher's area. When questioned the answer was "that's not how I see it". We switched catchers between innings with one that had a lesser arm but would be up in the box and we started getting the calls like we should have been all along.

There is a player/parent meeting that will happen after practice this week to address this issue. Hopefully she will comply. Thanks for all the comments.

 

[redhotcoach]

I have addressed the pouting issue on several occasions and the head coach has given her warnings in game but the next game it's back to the old ways. Velocity is not the issue with the pitchers, they both throw about 50mph. I agree that the umpire should call it at the plate and not at the glove but they do. This weekend we had umpires that let batters stand outside the batters box into the catcher's area. When questioned the answer was "that's not how I see it". We switched catchers between innings with one that had a lesser arm but would be up in the box and we started getting the calls like we should have been all along.

There is a player/parent meeting that will happen after practice this week to address this issue. Hopefully she will comply. Thanks for all the comments.

Oh boy! A player/parent meeting, because every team should ask the parents what they think. They are always the rational ones.

Throwing 50 at 12u is a pretty good clip. Shouldn't be dropping too much out of zone from plate to catcher, unless they throw pretty hard and have a lot of movement. Let me guess, the catcher has a problem idea was started by a pitcher's parent.

 

[mosftballdad]

No...the issue was started by the head coach who doesn't have a child on the team. The parent meeting is not to ask their opinion but to let them know if these two things aren't fixed she won't catch and could be benched. She is a power hitter having hit one over the fence earlier this year. We would like to keep her but not at the expense of the attitude invading the team.