My catcher-beast...

[Lenski]

IMO, she pulled this pitch back into the zone. Who knows whether that influenced the call or not.

1. The middle of her body is aligned with the middle of home plate.
2. The pitch is clearly in the other batters box and outside of my dd's right shoulder.
3. My dd does not try to receive the ball with a barred arm nor does she lean so far to her right in order to get her right shoulder behind the ball.....considered a weak receiving position in this thread because her arm is not barred nor is her body and head behind her arm. She blows this theory out of the water.
4. She does not pull the pitch into the zone. She catches the outside of the ball and sticks the pitch with a push force. It is not a subtle move. She manipulates the ball a good 12 inches or more plus brought it down a bit, but since she remained quiet, and utilized soft hands with a strong arm position, she made the pitch look believable to the umpire, much more believable than if she had shifted her body to the right by a foot or more and received the pitch with a barred arm.

 

[Lenski]

Cross body is a weaker position period. If you move EVERY pitch, to center and stick, movement isn't an indication of a pitch being either a ball or a strike. Of course, the more accurate the pitcher, the less you have to move, and the less you have to move the better.

Weaker than what? Cross body with barred arm is weaker than cross body with with bent arm (elbow lower than wrist). Why? Because when you bar your arm you take the bicep and tricep out of play. Who said to move every pitch to center and stick? Movement pertains to perception. When you move to receive a ball the perception is that you HAD to move to receive the ball. That's why i taught my dd to remain quiet on pitches within her frame, so that means if she's set up dead red she does not have to move if the ball is river-in.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

When you move to receive a ball the perception is that you HAD to move to receive the ball.

I disagree. We teach the kids from a young age to move to the ball, even while playing catch. It is simply good mechanics. Yes, you can catch the ball outside of your shoulders, but you should only do that if you have to.

No one is advocating attempting to move a foot in either direction to try and stick a pitch. The NECC-taught shift is pretty small, really only gets the shoulders over to cover the river. IMO catching the ball outside the shoulders and pulling it back in is less quiet than a slight/small shift with the ball caught between the shoulders.

I'm with Eric - if it works, it works. There is certainly enough room for multiple approaches to the position.

 

[Eric F]

Pitches at 0:42 and 1:20 are in a location that require a reach towards the left side of her body. On both, the mitt is turned to catch the outside of the ball, and the arm goes straight. 0:42 pitch appears to include a little body lean. IMO, she looks great on both.

 

[Lenski]

Pitches at 0:42 and 1:20 are in a location that require a reach towards the left side of her body. On both, the mitt is turned to catch the outside of the ball, and the arm goes straight. 0:42 pitch appears to include a little body lean. IMO, she looks great on both.

It's an optical illusion. Go to YouTube and put it in full screen mode and you will see that the arm is not straight with either pitch. Right before the bat contacts the ball her arm is bent and in a strong position. After the ball is hit the arm continues to extend but never bars due to the anticipation of the ball going into the mitt. Also, there is no lean. She is turning her shoulders while keeping her head as quiet as possible. She is doing what she was taught to do.

 

[dadofadirtlover]

I'm with Eric - if it works, it works. There is certainly enough room for multiple approaches to the position.

In case you missed the memo, Lenski will not drop this until Eric agrees with him. It's been stated and restated that Eric respectfully disagrees with his approach, but he's still locked in on convincing Eric that his point is not just different, but flat out wrong. I can see this one going another 300 posts easily. Get your popcorn ready...

 

[Eric F]

I could be wrong about what I'm seeing. As I have said before, If you like what she's doing and it's successful, that's great.

I like what my DD is doing, too, and IMO it gives her the best chance to be successful in keeping strikes. I see it being confirmed every game she's behind the plate.

 

[BuckeyeGuy]

I can see this one going another 300 posts easily. Get your popcorn ready...

I think we're past popcorn time...

 

[Lenski]

In case you missed the memo, Lenski will not drop this until Eric agrees with him. It's been stated and restated that Eric respectfully disagrees with his approach, but he's still locked in on convincing Eric that his point is not just different, but flat out wrong. I can see this one going another 300 posts easily. Get your popcorn ready...

Actually, I have said that we agree to disagree and if you like what works for you than great.

 

[Greenmonsters]

1. The middle of her body is aligned with the middle of home plate.
2. The pitch is clearly in the other batters box and outside of my dd's right shoulder.
3. My dd does not try to receive the ball with a barred arm nor does she lean so far to her right in order to get her right shoulder behind the ball.....considered a weak receiving position in this thread because her arm is not barred nor is her body and head behind her arm. She blows this theory out of the water.
4. She does not pull the pitch into the zone. She catches the outside of the ball and sticks the pitch with a push force. It is not a subtle move. She manipulates the ball a good 12 inches or more plus brought it down a bit, but since she remained quiet, and utilized soft hands with a strong arm position, she made the pitch look believable to the umpire, much more believable than if she had shifted her body to the right by a foot or more and received the pitch with a barred arm.

Pull, push force, shape - call and define it as you will, but the ball is moved from where she catches it. When a catcher does that, they are playing umpire and either decide to move balls or not move strikes after pitch receipt based on their perception. Her judgement won't always be right i.e., both false positives and false negatives, but there are umpires that will call any "moved" pitch a ball. Obviously not the case in the video shown - blue took hook, line, and sinker!

Regardless of how we want a catcher to receive, and clearly we've seen at least two schools of thought expressed in this thread (without questioning anyone's intelligence or heritage I might add!), IMO, if a catcher doesn't receive every pitch consistently, its a tip off to the umpire, hey, I don't think this is a strike so I'll give it a little help and try to fool you and an automatic ball for many. Catch it and stick it (which doesn't mean a locked arm), and let blue do their job to the best of their ability.