Losing sight of the ball

[moe]

Forgive my ignorance, but have a question about body position as it pertains to the height of the pitch.

When a catcher is making the adjustment with runners on, in the runners on stance, to prevent the glove obstructing the view, is the body adjusted using the quads or is the glove adjusted to the height and you have to just suck it up for that fraction of a second while the catcher loses sight?

I feel I know the answer, but just need a bit of confirmation. DD is tipping alot, just micro seconds behind and I feel she isnt moving her body to the height, only the glove and she is effectively glove blind.

THanks for any input.

Moe

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

I'm still new to the NECC stuff, but IIRC he says that the glove needs to get to where the ball is going to be. That's not to say that the body shouldn't go up, but if the idea is to give Blue a reason to call a strike, I'd think you'd want to minimize that movement. She should only have the glove there as the ball arrives, so the amount of time her view is obstructed should be minimal.

 

[ahiggins1804]

According to all the D1 coaches and former D1 catchers I have spoken to and D1 camps my DD has attended there is no such thing as a runners on stance. What her and I was told is you stay in your normal receiving stance and if the ball is received above the catchers waist then they should see a quick pop up to square staying low and in one powerful motion make the throw down, if the ball is received below the waist than a powerful throw utilizing your whole body to throw down from knees. The catcher’s job is to first catch the ball for a strike and eliminate all movement until ball is received. That means no moving up as the ball is on its way to get a head start on getting in position to make a throw down. Unless you’re executing a pitch out then the above doesn’t apply.

They also said if the catcher isn't quick enough or strong enough to do this then that’s what they need to work on, not modifying your stance. They also commented on that’s the reason why you hear of all the young kids with unrealistic low pop times, because they play runner first not pitch first.

Right or wrong this is what we're hearing from people making the decisions on recruiting catchers...

 

[Eric F]

According to all the D1 coaches and former D1 catchers I have spoken to and D1 camps my DD has attended there is no such thing as a runners on stance. What her and I was told is you stay in your normal receiving stance and if the ball is received above the catchers waist then they should see a quick pop up to square staying low and in one powerful motion make the throw down, if the ball is received below the waist than a powerful throw utilizing your whole body to throw down from knees. The catcher’s job is to first catch the ball for a strike and eliminate all movement until ball is received. That means no moving up as the ball is on its way to get a head start on getting in position to make a throw down. Unless you’re executing a pitch out then the above doesn’t apply.

Right or wrong this is what we're hearing from people making the decisions on recruiting catchers...

According to my recent conversations with Jay Weaver of NECC, he has never met a more stubborn group of people committed to doing it the same way they've always done it than D1 and pro baseball coaches when it comes to catching techniques. The unwillingness to evolve is staggering, even when improved performance is proven on the stopwatch.

 

[riseball]

According to all the D1 coaches and former D1 catchers I have spoken to and D1 camps my DD has attended...

Not arguing the validity of your point but are we assuming that because a coach or a player is current or former "D1" that somehow equates to knowledge or skill?

 

[Eric F]

Forgive my ignorance, but have a question about body position as it pertains to the height of the pitch.

When a catcher is making the adjustment with runners on, in the runners on stance, to prevent the glove obstructing the view, is the body adjusted using the quads or is the glove adjusted to the height and you have to just suck it up for that fraction of a second while the catcher loses sight?

I feel I know the answer, but just need a bit of confirmation. DD is tipping alot, just micro seconds behind and I feel she isnt moving her body to the height, only the glove and she is effectively glove blind.

THanks for any input.

Moe

If the pitch is a bit higher than the target, the mitt should move to the receiving spot, while the body stays at the same height (right or left shift is fine). Raising up the body is a good way to get a good pitch called a ball. If the ball is a LOT higher (well out of the strike zone) an upward body adjustment might be necessary to make an effective catch. In that case, just catching the ball is the most critical factor.

 

[marriard]

Forgive my ignorance, but have a question about body position as it pertains to the height of the pitch.

When a catcher is making the adjustment with runners on, in the runners on stance, to prevent the glove obstructing the view, is the body adjusted using the quads or is the glove adjusted to the height and you have to just suck it up for that fraction of a second while the catcher loses sight?

I feel I know the answer, but just need a bit of confirmation. DD is tipping alot, just micro seconds behind and I feel she isnt moving her body to the height, only the glove and she is effectively glove blind.

THanks for any input.

Moe

If you are using NECC as your teaching base - and you should be - the glove remains slightly inside and with the wristband just below the batters knee so you shouldn't be blinded by the glove in 'runners on'. Our catchers don't change this unless they get a way outside pitch called and even then they try to keep it subtle.

Glove doesn't move to go to runners on. The legs do.

 

[ahiggins1804]

I know the majority of you guys on here believe that the NECC teaching methods are the bible and you will discount any other thought that goes againist it but remember this Jay Weaver isn't the one recruiting your DD.

One would think that if his method is so good how come no D1 catchers, NPF catchers or D1 coaches are supporting this method and if there is some out there its very few.

The comments I posted above was from a pretty good list of who's who in the fastpitch world.
Here is a few:
LSU coaches and former player
Baylor coaches
Texas Tech Coaches
Oklahoma coaches and former players
Texas State Coaches
University of Michigan Coaches and form players
USSSA Pride pro team catchers (jessica Shultz and Megan Willis)
ULL Coaches
University of Florida Coaches
Unviversity of Gerogia Coaches and former Player (Kristen Sanburg)
Texas A&M Coaches and Fromer Player
Texas Tech Asst Head Coach
University of Houston Coaches

My DD has been to camps and clinic and has practice one on one with some of these folks and the general answer to the question on runners on stance was no such thing.

The reason we shoult out this question is because DD has been to the NECC camp and we have the DVD and trained from it and DD was utilizing the runners on stance and at every camp, clinic and one on one lesson she went to she was told this.

One comment that made me think was the coach from Georiga Southern that was at LSU Elite Camp last summer said how do you plan on blocking a 60 plus mph drop ball in the dirt from that high of a stance then get in the position to throw from your knees and stil throw the girl out.. His response was no chance... You just took one of the best pitches your pitcher might have out.

All I ask is someone please show me some video of a good D1 catcher or NPF catcher using this method.

We continue to want to model hitting methods off the great hitters but you discount the methods of great catchers at the D1 and pro level on there models of what is effective.

Another comment that was told to me was with the runners on stance all that is being thought is how to modify the catchers stance for catchers that aren't quick enough or have the arm strength to make the throw to second in time without cheating up.

 

[Eric F]

One comment that made me think was the coach from Georiga Southern that was at LSU Elite Camp last summer said how do you plan on blocking a 60 plus mph drop ball in the dirt from that high of a stance then get in the position to throw from your knees and stil throw the girl out.. His response was no chance... You just took one of the best pitches your pitcher might have out.

Please help me understand how this is MORE possible to do this from a "no runners" stance. From NR, your butt has to come up before your knees can go down. From RO, the blocking move is only down - knees and butt. I'm still having trouble wrapping my head around what makes blocking in softball different than baseball.

Another part of my conversation with Jay included doing whatever you need to do to keep your spot when you get to your dream school/team. If the coaches tell you to swing the bat a certain way, you do it. If the coaches tell you to receive only from a NR stance, and block from that position, you do it. Being anything other than fully-cooperative gets you a spot on the bench.

EDIT: Also, in the RO stance, throwing after receiving is faster than having to get up from a NR position.

 

[riseball]

One comment that made me think was the coach from Georiga Southern that was at LSU Elite Camp last summer said how do you plan on blocking a 60 plus mph drop ball in the dirt from that high of a stance then get in the position to throw from your knees and stil throw the girl out.. His response was no chance... You just took one of the best pitches your pitcher might have out....

Georgia Southern??? That must have been quite some time ago.