Help Coaching Pick Off

#10 said:

As a catcher's dad where triple digit game days are common, I couldn't disagree more. Running at the base runner can be effective when done in the right situation. If the primary concern is tiring the catcher out, may I suggest additional conditioning during the week?

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Although I agree with conditioning, why not play smarter as opposed to working harder with all of that gear on? Why not throw the ball to the baseplayer ahead and let them walk them back? It doesn't have to be a hard throw. Conditioning is much more than just running, exercising the core muscles, when it comes to catching. it also involves the thighs and throwing arm muscles as well as correct throwing mechanics. My DD is also a catcher. Right or wrong, she played anywhere from 3-7 TB games a day: mostly from the Runners on stance. Even in college, she prefers this stance. Conditioning is one thing. Making a catcher work unnecessarily under all that gear when it's in the high 80's plus, up to, and including triple digits, is just plain dumb IMO especially when you have other players that are available to do what needs to be done without such handicaps. JMHO.

ETA; I train my BR's to dance with the catchers for this specific reason. We've had few last more than an entire game behind the plate under all that gear in high temps. Granted, the few that did make it were in excellent condition but usually didn't last the day and who do you want in the championship game, the one who's overheated about to suffer sunstroke or the one who threw the ball down to conserve energy and still has a strong arm due to conditioning?

YOCOACH said:

Although I agree with conditioning, why not play smarter as opposed to working harder with all of that gear on? Why not throw the ball to the baseplayer ahead and let them walk them back? It doesn't have to be a hard throw. Conditioning is much more than just running, exercising the core muscles, when it comes to catching. it also involves the thighs and throwing arm muscles as well as correct throwing mechanics. My DD is also a catcher. Right or wrong, she played anywhere from 3-7 TB games a day: mostly from the Runners on stance. Even in college, she prefers this stance. Conditioning is one thing. Making a catcher work unnecessarily under all that gear when it's in the high 80's plus, up to, and including triple digits, is just plain dumb IMO especially when you have other players that are available to do what needs to be done without such handicaps. JMHO.

ETA; I train my BR's to dance with the catchers for this specific reason. We've had few last more than an entire game behind the plate under all that gear in high temps. Granted, the few that did make it were in excellent condition but usually didn't last the day and who do you want in the championship game, the one who's overheated about to suffer sunstroke or the one who threw the ball down to conserve energy and still has a strong arm due to conditioning?

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Why not run straight at the aggressive baserunner, make the throw, and get the out? Getting outs is playing smarter.

And how long do you think they'll last under all that gear in the high temps when the BR's are taught how to make them run out there 6-8 steps at least and not get the out because the BR's were taught properly and made it safely back to base? I'm just saying yours is a losing strategy when it comes to high heat. For every step your catcher makes toward my BR, they take a half step back towards base and have learned to dive back to base from' 4 steps away. The outs are extremely few on my BR's while the catchers that make more than 2 games in high temps are far and few between. There are a few that makde it 2 1/2 games in 94 degree heat but none I've seen so far that made it 7 in one day other than my DD and another of my catchers from a different team that went Mid- Major D1 and they ended up beating us in the quarterfinals.. The team that ended up winning the entire thing had 2 catchers of their caliber and was able to spell them between and during games. Do what you want. Believe what you want to believe. You'll find out for yourself I'm right in the long run but you'll be loathe to admit it. IDC. Just offering my advice.

#10 said:

Why not run straight at the aggressive baserunner, make the throw, and get the out? Getting outs is playing smarter.

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My DD, a senior, has been catching for 10 years, will continue catching for another 4 years, stopped running straight at the aggressive baserunner when she was 11. That’s when she figured out there’s a better way. A smarter way. You NEVER see a college catcher doing that, and there’s a reason why. Let your DD encounter that one baserunner who isn’t intimidated by this garbage one time, watch your DD make a bad throw to 2nd because she’s on the move and doesn’t have her feet set, and watch the baserunner score on the same play and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Until then, just reread my earlier post and take my word that it’s better.


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YOCOACH said:

And how long do you think they'll last under all that gear in the high temps when the BR's are taught how to make them run out there 6-8 steps at least and not get the out because the BR's were taught properly and made it safely back to base? I'm just saying yours is a losing strategy when it comes to high heat. For every step your catcher makes toward my BR, they take a half step back towards base and have learned to dive back to base from' 4 steps away. The outs are extremely few on my BR's while the catchers that make more than 2 games in high temps are far and few between. There are a few that makde it 2 1/2 games in 94 degree heat but none I've seen so far that made it 7 in one day other than my DD and another of my catchers from a different team that went Mid- Major D1 and they ended up beating us in the quarterfinals.. The team that ended up winning the entire thing had 2 catchers of their caliber and was able to spell them between and during games. Do what you want. Believe what you want to believe. You'll find out for yourself I'm right in the long run but you'll be loathe to admit it. IDC. Just offering my advice.

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Where I'm from, if a kid is getting 6-8 steps off the bag and isn't challenged, they're taking second every time. Gun that same kid by having the catcher run at them and that nonsense stops.


And quite frankly, if you're having a kid catch seven games in a single day, any advice you have has zero credibility.

TexAg1998 said:

My DD, a senior, has been catching for 10 years, will continue catching for another 4 years, stopped running straight at the aggressive baserunner when she was 11. That’s when she figured out there’s a better way. A smarter way. You NEVER see a college catcher doing that, and there’s a reason why. Let your DD encounter that one baserunner who isn’t intimidated by this garbage one time, watch your DD make a bad throw to 2nd because she’s on the move and doesn’t have her feet set, and watch the baserunner score on the same play and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. Until then, just reread my earlier post and take my word that it’s better.


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My DD is also a senior who will continue catching for another four years. She also plays 2nd and 3rd, so she has some experience with throwing accurately on the move. The last time she launched a ball into the outfield she was twelve, lol.

#10 said:

Where I'm from, if a kid is getting 6-8 steps off the bag and isn't challenged, they're taking second every time. Gun that same kid by having the catcher run at them and that nonsense stops.


And quite frankly, if you're having a kid catch seven games in a single day, any advice you have has zero credibility.

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One, I was talking about the catcher taking 6-8 steps out in front of the HP at a minimum per pitch because my BR's won't be returning to base until the ball is back in the circle or the catcher has run towards them at least 6-8 steps in front of the plate. As I said before, for every step in front of the plate the catcher makes toward my BR's, they will take a half shuffle step back towards base so our outs are few. In the meantime, it quickly tires and overheats the catchers that continue to do this. Usually the other coach catches on after awhile, but by then, the damage is done.

Two. It was one of those perfect storm situations that hasn't happened before or since. It was second year 14U at a big Double Elimination ASA National Qualifier. It had rained us out Saturday afternoon when elimination was to start so Sunday games were limited to 60 minutes finish the inning which in turn meant that games were going 4 innings at most. We started the tournament with 2 catchers but the other one wasn't happy because she wasn't getting many starts or innings behind the plate. She wouldn't and couldn't drop and block. At that tournament, the second catcher quit 3 games into it after catching a total of 3-4 innings so far that day if I remember correctly. We lost the third game when the second catcher started and allowed 5 runs to score on wild pitches in the first inning before being pulled with 2 outs. DD was put in the rest of the game and we weren't hitting well so we never caught up. The other catcher threatened to quit if she didn't start the next game. HC told them Bye and we played out to the quarters where we lost. Sometimes you just have to do what's required to let the team continue to play and DD kept insisting she was fine which I agreed with while keeping a close eye on her. That day, over a 12 hour period, I think she caught a total of 22 innings so it's not like she caught 7 full games that day. Or do you object to the fact that she had to be behind the plate a large number of games and you would never do that under any circumstances?

I think the problem here is that you said your kids don't have the skill set to properly execute a pick off play at first. I would stop worrying so much about how to stop the base runner and start worrying about teaching them the basic fundamentals of the game.

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ang2bmd said:

I think the problem here is that you said your kids don't have the skill set to properly execute a pick off play at first. I would stop worrying so much about how to stop the base runner and start worrying about teaching them the basic fundamentals of the game.

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This is the heart of the problem. Each year, our middle school starts with several girls who have never played and we never get enough field time. They do get pretty good at practice, but adrenaline or game jitters induces errors during games.

We work hard at fundamentals and make good progress, but we have a hard time protecting second base.

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Please, I'm not being sarcastic here because I know what you're saying. But this is why softball starts in December or January at the latest. I know how hard it is to get practice space but it's a necessity. Adapting to the space's dimensions is a coaching skill.