Lessons learned from my injury time ridin' the pine

Congrats on using your time wisely! You are lucky to have a coach who is willing to talk and work through those scenarios with you...keep working on the comeback!

Tatonka said:

Congrats on using your time wisely! You are lucky to have a coach who is willing to talk and work through those scenarios with you...keep working on the comeback!

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Thank you for the well wishes, Tatonka. I did try to use my time off wisely. I did a lot of running while I was off which I feel like I'm in a little bit better shape before the injury. I also got a little rest for my sore knee and ankle. I like that I had a chance to learn a lot from coach while I was recovering. I learned so much during my time off. I'm working hard on the comeback. My doctor figures I should be able to play in our next tournament. I am looking so forward to hitting the field again.

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BobInMadison said:

Some of the stats people looked at how important framing is for a catcher.

Their answer: more important than you can possibly imagine.

They decided to compare a top-notch framer in the Major Leagues, the Card's catcher Molina, to a hypothetical catcher who could hit like Johnny Bench but was an average framer.

They realized Molina would probably be the more valuable catcher. But, how low could Molina's batting average get and still be more valuable.

The answer: Molina could strike out every time at bat and still be more valuable than an average framer who was the best hitting catcher in baseball.

The reason: Molina's framing was so good it was worth an average of one pitch per inning outside the strike zone being called a strike rather than a ball, compared to the average framer.

Meaning, an extra 9 strikes per game.

That is worth more than the best hitting catcher's bat.

Of course, Molina is a good hitter as well. He can beat you with his glove and his bat.

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I totally agree with you on Yadier Molina. He's probably the best catcher in MLB right now. Granted I'm not a Cardinals fan (I'm a huge Phillies fan)...I love watching Molina play. His technique is so sound. Plus he's so much more valuable to the Cardinals because he's got so many tools on both offense and defense. If I had to pick one player from MLB today to emulate...I'd pick Molina in a heartbeat. I've tried to emulate Molina in some aspects and put some of his tools into my own toolbox for softball. I'll be the first to admit...I'm not a great blocker and I'm not great at framing pitches...especially ones that are close to the edges of the strikezone. I never really had a good teacher to teach me about framing pitches...so I never really learned...and at the 16 and 18u levels...framing pitches is key. But I had always thought I did more of a better job emulating Ivan Rodriguez who played for the Texas Rangers, who's now retired. I loved how such a short catcher could gun down runners...especially from his knees. Plus he was great on offense.

Also, I know we've talked about it before and while being reminded by Bob about that study with Molina and framing (or receiving as it should be) have you had a chance yet to watch the NECC video? If not, do it now.....I think you will really find it valuable for your game.

Tatonka said:

Also, I know we've talked about it before and while being reminded by Bob about that study with Molina and framing (or receiving as it should be) have you had a chance yet to watch the NECC video? If not, do it now.....I think you will really find it valuable for your game.

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Yes, I did get the NECC Instructional videos while I was injured and I started watching them while I was recovering. I just started being able to catch with a glove after just catching tennis balls with my bare hand. I'm not quite up to game speed yet but I am catching up quickly enough.

Another thing I have been watching is some Megan Wallis stuff from off of YouTube. She's quite good and was showing some stuff on framing pitches as well.

Interesting topic. My daughter is definitely better at framing/blocking than throwing out runners. So she’s the opposite. Sometimes it hurts her when she’s at tryouts because her arm isn’t flashy. Some coaches judge a catcher on arm strength over everything else. This hurt her immensely in first year 14u. She had one of those coaches. She had a particularly bad game early in the Spring last year. Two runners stole on her and her throws weren’t good. The opposing coach said loud enough “Keep running we will take this all day long” Well our coach heard it and immediately yanked her. She didn’t see the field defensively the whole rest of the Spring. She finished the Spring with them as a hitter. Damn near ruined her. She kept asking the coach to give her another shot as she was really working hard to improve her arm strength. Nope. Didn’t matter. Didn’t matter how good she was as a blocker/framer. And I’m not lying. She’s had so many coaches and umpires complement her on that. One umpire called her the best in her age group he ever saw control the game and runners just on her blocking and calling pitches. But put her in a group of catchers with cannons and she looks average. Thankfully her team last Spring finished their tournaments by May. She had time and another team picked her up and she played part of May and June with them and attended Nationals in July with her new team. She got her confidence back and now i would actually say her arm is good but still not elite or even great. She is getting more runners out this year. It made her grow as a player because she got mad and had to prove to herself she belonged on the field defensively. It is even something she is STILL working on.


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BobInMadison said:

Some of the stats people looked at how important framing is for a catcher.

Their answer: more important than you can possibly imagine.

They decided to compare a top-notch framer in the Major Leagues, the Card's catcher Molina, to a hypothetical catcher who could hit like Johnny Bench but was an average framer.

They realized Molina would probably be the more valuable catcher. But, how low could Molina's batting average get and still be more valuable.

The answer: Molina could strike out every time at bat and still be more valuable than an average framer who was the best hitting catcher in baseball.

The reason: Molina's framing was so good it was worth an average of one pitch per inning outside the strike zone being called a strike rather than a ball, compared to the average framer.

Meaning, an extra 9 strikes per game.

That is worth more than the best hitting catcher's bat.

Of course, Molina is a good hitter as well. He can beat you with his glove and his bat.

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Source please, because I'm pretty sure this is 100% BS.

GoRight said:

Interesting topic. My daughter is definitely better at framing/blocking than throwing out runners. So she’s the opposite. Sometimes it hurts her when she’s at tryouts because her arm isn’t flashy. Some coaches judge a catcher on arm strength over everything else. This hurt her immensely in first year 14u. She had one of those coaches. She had a particularly bad game early in the Spring last year. Two runners stole on her and her throws weren’t good. The opposing coach said loud enough “Keep running we will take this all day long” Well our coach heard it and immediately yanked her. She didn’t see the field defensively the whole rest of the Spring. She finished the Spring with them as a hitter. Damn near ruined her. She kept asking the coach to give her another shot as she was really working hard to improve her arm strength. Nope. Didn’t matter. Didn’t matter how good she was as a blocker/framer. And I’m not lying. She’s had so many coaches and umpires complement her on that. One umpire called her the best in her age group he ever saw control the game and runners just on her blocking and calling pitches. But put her in a group of catchers with cannons and she looks average. Thankfully her team last Spring finished their tournaments by May. She had time and another team picked her up and she played part of May and June with them and attended Nationals in July with her new team. She got her confidence back and now i would actually say her arm is good but still not elite or even great. She is getting more runners out this year. It made her grow as a player because she got mad and had to prove to herself she belonged on the field defensively. It is even something she is STILL working on.


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Interesting story about your daughter in her journey as a catcher. I'll tell my story...

I didn't start out as a catcher when I first started playing softball. I started out as a pitcher although I could play some third and short. I started playing at 11 years old. I had gotten to be a good pitcher and had some decent stuff...especially a plus level fastball and change up although I learned a decent rise and drop ball. Everything was going swimmingly until I got to my freshman year. I tried out for the varsity team and much to my surprise...I made the varsity team as a freshman. But little did I know...I wouldn't get a chance to play when we made it to the season. I would never make the field because as a pitcher, I had three other pitchers in front of me all vying for circle time...so I was the odd man out. Entering our regular catcher getting hurt. She would blow her knee out while we were in practice and we wouldn't have a catcher for our upcoming season...so I was asked if I would become our team's catcher. I accepted and my trial by fire would start. I never had an issue with arm strength as I could get the ball down to second to intercept the runner coming in...but I couldn't place the ball where I wanted it. Thankfully, I could throw the ball in the vicinity of the base and either our shortstop or second baseman would get to it. I eventually learned how to place the ball where I wanted it to go. I found a spot I would like to throw to in an attempt to make either the shortstop or second baseman's life a little easier. I did learn how to somewhat block and receive. As far as receiving, I can catch the ball...but I suck at framing the ball to make a ball a strike on a corner. I'm also bad at blocking. It's not the keeping the ball in front of me that's the problem...its the reading what the pitch is and trying to move quickly to get the ball. My movement was once compared to a dancing elephant. Made me laugh trying to picture it. I'm still really trying to work on my receiving and blocking.

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