Young pitcher with a catcher who can't catch her

It is unfortunate that at the younger ages they often put they hide the big girl behind the plate instead of getting an athlete back there. Then at the older levels catching is hit or miss with many kids still back there that should have never been in the position.

Its 9U, you're DD is ahead of the game. You'll be laughing about these days in 5 years. Remember its a process and long journey. Don't stress it, and I would worry more about the young catcher staying safe.

Coming from a catcher's parent - take this with a grain of salt...

DD started catching when she was 9 because no one else on her team wanted to. She had never put on the gear, never framed a pitch, didn't know what a dropped 3rd strike was or how to properly make a throw down. She caught for 2 pitchers who were a year older than she was and they threw fast and hard (for 10U) - but weren't always accurate. There would be days when they would have to strike out 7 batters in an inning because she dropped that 3rd strike and days where she had to run a mile because they couldn't pitch anywhere near the plate. They were 9-10-11 year olds - all a work in progress. Catching is very unappreciated and easily overlooked until you have a bad one. They are forever squatting down, wearing a ton of gear, wearing a mask and having dirt kicked in their faces by batters - and what's crazy is...most catchers love all of that!

For DD she knew she wanted to get better - and she worked hard. She would have me lob tennis balls at her face (with her mask on) until she no longer flinched or turned her head or closed her eyes. She would catch for every pitcher she knew, she would catch balls at the batting cages. She is now 14U and a pretty good little catcher. There will always be room for improvement, but I'm glad she didn't give up that first year - and I'm glad the pitchers didn't give up on her either. One of those girls is one of her very best friends to this day - and a fantastic pitcher I will add.

As some one else mentioned...a less than stellar catcher can always be an issue too. Last year at 14U DD shared the catching responsibilities with a freshman in HS. (DD was 7th grade and playing up). This girl was big and strong and right handed and the coach assumed she would outplay DD. Well...it didn't happen. DD is little and lefty and fast. The pitchers loved it when DD was behind the plate some days it was hard to watch when the other girl was back there. Passed ball after passed ball, dropped 3rd, etc. And this was 14U.

I promise things will work out...I understand the frustrations and discouragement...but it will get better...your DD will probably see a lot of catchers in her softball years...some good, some not so good. Just remind her to control what she can (her pitching) and get her some ice cream on the days when things don't go so well!

Agree with KPower - catching is really tough work. DD has been out there in full gear in 100 degree weather - never complains. I don't know how she does it. And then we get on them about popping up and getting a wild pitch. DH got upset with DD this past weekend on a pop-up in foul that DD wasn't able to get to in time. She was close but just too far. The ground was also wet from the rain the night before and it was tough to get through the dirt fast enough.

Also if your pitcher doesn't have a lot of trust/bonding with your catcher, it's going to be tougher - catcher is usually who calms down the P when things aren't going great..

Catcher misses, 2B is good for a couple errors, SS doesn’t catch the throw down to 2B, 3B air mails the bunt down RF line. Then when it looks like you DD is the only good player she will do a bonehead play to ensure that Karma is still around.

Focus on her own playing goals and let the other players do the same. All teaching moments and a good time to teach the “car door rule”. No game discussions until you are all on the road and then she can vent a little with some self reflection as well.

I have found that most of the time DD prefers to try and ignore the errors around her and not deal with the frustration of it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

nixxy311 said:

Also if your pitcher doesn't have a lot of trust/bonding with your catcher, it's going to be tougher - catcher is usually who calms down the P when things aren't going great..

Click to expand...

DD is the one who tries to calm the catcher during games. She feels responsible for being uncatchable.


Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

It is too bad that on a lot of teams you have pitchers that work their butts off to get better and the catchers just show up to catch. A good catcher needs to have just as much skill as the pitcher and should train, get lessons, etc. just like a pitcher.

My catcher puts in a lot of extra work. She works with a hitting/catching coach regularly. Also does strength and conditioning during the winter


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not much you can do in short term. As others said it will get better as you get older. A few D3K's at 9U won't keep her out of the SEC.

What DD can control is accuracy. If you throw hard but are wild you can make a catcher look really bad. If you can get it close to the target it makes is much harder
for the C to miss it. A great C can mask when a P is missing by feet, but a bad one will just miss it.

BuckeyeBW said:

It is too bad that on a lot of teams you have pitchers that work their butts off to get better and the catchers just show up to catch. A good catcher needs to have just as much skill as the pitcher and should train, get lessons, etc. just like a pitcher.

Click to expand...

Catchers put in just as much work, if not more than pitchers. For starters most pitchers can’t hit the broad side of a barn so the catcher has to chase the ball everyplace. They do all of their individual work AND catch for the pitcher at her lessons. They arrive at practice early and leave late to lug all the heavy equipment around. Catchers drag that huge bag around that wheels fell off in the first week while pitchers have their parents carry their bag so their arm doesn’t get tired. The closest a pitcher comes to running is sprinting out of practice early to get out of helping put things away. And the biggest difference is catchers parents don’t make sure everybody knows how much harder their kid is working.