I searched before posting this and it seemed most if not all centered exclusively on softball... While I agree that skills and ability should be the determining factor, I can tell you that baseball and softball are different animals not just in the way the game is played but in the way it is coached for the most part unfortunately...
Discussion of LH Catchers
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I searched before posting this and it seemed most if not all centered exclusively on softball... While I agree that skills and ability should be the determining factor, I can tell you that baseball and softball are different animals not just in the way the game is played but in the way it is coached for the most part unfortunately...
Yeah. That will happen on a softball-centric discussion forum.
Baseball or softball, I'm sticking with my opinion. There are a lot of components that make up good catcher. Throwing is (maybe) the 3rd most important skill. Receiving and blocking are a higher priority, neither of which are detrimentally affected by being RH or LH. When you factor in game smarts, hustle, and leadership, the throwing hand becomes an even smaller piece of the pie. If a throwing liability becomes the determining factor in their overall performance vs. a RH catcher, then fine. What I see pretty frequently with talented players is that they figure out how to make it work.
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Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
DD is a college softball catcher (right handed). I was a college BB catcher, started coaching BB at 14, and coached softball for 10 years. If I had a young son today who was left handed and wanted to play college baseball, I would not have discouraged him from catching. I don't think that would have been the case 15 years ago when both DD and DS started playing. Live, learn, evolve. Lot's more old school history to overcome in baseball than fastpitch.
Baseball and softball are a bit different animals when it comes to lefty catcher. Like so many other things it can be more a state of mind than facts. As for softball, USA's gold medal softball team had lefty Michelle Venturella behind the plate. I've had the honor of meeting Michelle who is not only one of the funniest and most insightful speakers I've met, but she is the head coach at the University of Illinois Chicago. The biggest challenge lefty catchers face in softball is typically male coaches who played baseball and fail to recognize the value of a strong left handed catcher behind the plate. (At least this was the case for my daughter and some of the left handers I've work with)
Michelle Venturella
Mackenzie Wood
Michelle Venturella
Mackenzie Wood
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Yeah, I agree to an extent but for some reason baseball seems to be heavily rooted in history and "tradition"... I am not certain I would encourage my lefty son to put the hours in that would be required to play catcher for him to get to HS and only be told that he will not catch because he is a lefty and "a lefty cannot catch"... Maybe one day it will change for baseball but personally, I think softball is light years ahead of baseball in most ways...
Let's not forget Jenny Topping. 
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
That would've been the concern, but it was a discussion (or a fight) that I was willing to have and win. With the wrong kind of HS coach....well, there would've been travel ball where you can pick your coach!
