Blocking And Framing--Or The Lack There Of

[CPSBDad]

For some reason DD just won't frame a pitch. She knows why, knows how to, but is too quick to throw the ball back to the pitcher. Same with blocking. She's got fast hands and reacts to a poorly thrown pitch quickly--usually stoping the ball.

Last night she was catching for this girl at a pitching lesson. I tell her this is a great time to work on blocking and framing ( not talking about pulling a ball into the zone ). Nothing.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'd say this is the one area she really needs to work on as a catcher, especially if she wants to take over #1 catching position. We know there will always be room for improvement in other areas.

 

[RichK]

She knows how and why to frame but won't do it...easy thing is to tell her, just do it, right? But that never works : >

If she's framing properly there should be a slight move forward and in (with top of glove, a sort of bending inward -- not a side-to-side move) as part of the frame. Make sure she gets that right first. Then, one thought about how to "practice" framing....set up a bucket of balls beside the pitcher, so your DD doesn't have to throw it back to the catcher. The idea is she'll catch a pitch, frame it, then drop the ball on the plate. Idea being she begins to train herself to leave her glove out there rather than pulling it back immediately for throw back to the pitcher. Just a thought.

As far as blocking, going after the ball with your glove only is a problem -- regardless of result. In fact, even when she starts blocking more consistently you'll probably have to break the habit of her still trying to catch the ball with her glove. Only way I can think to encourage blocking is just to require it and practice it

My oldest DD was a catcher. At second year 14U she went to an A team where it wasn't an option, and the other catcher did it well. She learned, became consistent with it and never looked back.

 

[MsDinosaur]

RichK has good advice. I like that idea of dropping the ball to break her bad habit of the immediate throwback!

I would make her practice the framing with/for you at home too. She doesn't have to wear gear at all. Just stand in front of her with tennis balls, throw them to the A, B and C framing positions and make her catch them with the proper hand positioning (she has to judge the path of the ball and get her hand in the right spot before the ball gets there so that she can catch the outside of the ball) and hold it a beat. ---After she catches the ball, the ball itself doesn't move, she just sort of folds her glove around it so that the edge of the glove makes a nice clean match with the edge of the strike zone.

LOL, DD was so proud of her framing when she was younger that she really wanted to show it off. We had to explain that it's disrespectful to the ump to hold it there too long. Can't be too fast, can't be too slow, have to be juuuust right.

You can do a lot at home with blocking too. Tennis balls are too bouncy for the living room IMO, but rolled up socks work great and are a confidence builder because they won't go bounding away. It's so much easier to know how to block than to actually do it live. I don't know of anything to do but practice, practice, practice and one day, the switch will flip and it will just be part of her muscle memory.

 

[Greenmonsters]

For some reason DD just won't frame a pitch. She knows why, knows how to, but is too quick to throw the ball back to the pitcher. Same with blocking. She's got fast hands and reacts to a poorly thrown pitch quickly--usually stoping the ball.

Last night she was catching for this girl at a pitching lesson. I tell her this is a great time to work on blocking and framing ( not talking about pulling a ball into the zone ). Nothing.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? I'd say this is the one area she really needs to work on as a catcher, especially if she wants to take over #1 catching position. We know there will always be room for improvement in other areas.

I'm thinking that this isn't a mental block or lack of training issue - it sounds like its more of a passive agressive/rebellious response to being told/asked to do something?

 

[CPSBDad]

Greenmonsters, I don't know about that. She tells me she thinks about it in games, but she doesn't do it for some reason. Sometimes she does it when she is catching for some girl at their pitching practice and I tell her, "that's it"! But then she goes back to the quick throw back.

I like the suggestions above. I'll show her this thread when she gets home later today.

MsDinosaur, too funny about showing off her framing. I've seen some extreme framing in my time. The pull in one's I think are the worst. I told DD, that's not how to frame. Glad your's does it.

 

[Michael N]

My DD does pretty much the same thing and she is close in age . She knows what she is supposed to do but I think she just falls back on old habits when bored or stressed. Gonna have to try the dropping the ball bit .

They say it takes a thousand reps to make a muscle memory and every time they do a wrong rep ..... It wipes the slate clean

 

[guero_gordo]

DD did this when she was new and nervous, couldn't ram the ball down the pitcher's throat soon enough. Runners on base might have made it a little worse.
In her case, stressing that she needed to control the pace for her pitcher was part of it.

The other thing was stressing "stick the pitch and wait for the call", which, along with good receiving, started getting her more strikes.

We followed the NECC progression for receiving, starting with tennis balls and no mitt. Catch, fix, and hold.

 

[Greenmonsters]

Greenmonsters, I don't know about that. She tells me she thinks about it in games, but she doesn't do it for some reason. Sometimes she does it when she is catching for some girl at their pitching practice and I tell her, "that's it"! But then she goes back to the quick throw back.

I like the suggestions above. I'll show her this thread when she gets home later today.

MsDinosaur, too funny about showing off her framing. I've seen some extreme framing in my time. The pull in one's I think are the worst. I told DD, that's not how to frame. Glad your's does it.

CPSB - Ok, got it, that's good news then. Simple fix, just need more reps doing it right. Catching pitching lessons is an ideal time to work on it. Catching a pitching machine works too. Repeat perfectly approx. 1000-10,000 times until you don't have to think about it and it becomes a reflex action

 

[guero_gordo]

Another thing that occurred to me after re-reading the OP, if she's learning both skills at the same time, maybe just focusing on one or the other in bullpen will unwind her mind a bit.

Some good context on pitch recognition:
Blocking Is The Easy Part | The New England Catching Camp