Catcher chatting up batters

[mad hornet]

I love this topic!

When I was nine I went up to bat and was surprised when the catcher started singing the Lipton Cup-a-soup commercial to me. Then followed it up with the Alka-Seltzer "plop, plop, fizz, fizz" commercial. I was cracking up so hard I struck out.

Fast forward to my junior year in HS we were playing a neighboring school where I used to live. I knew all the players on the opposing team and while playing first base started chatting up an old friend we'd just walked. I had heard he got kicked off the football team back in the fall and asked him about it. Just as he was telling me the story (while leading off) our pitcher made a move and we picked him off. No one would talk to me the rest of the game.

 

[shockcoach]

Knight,

It sounds like you're not getting much support from these former catcher dads!

I used to do the same thing when I caught back in the day. Sounds like it's time to start it up again on the girls' side.

 

[Lozza]

Very, very common. They want to distract the batter.

Batters can do this to the pitchers too. I used to freak one friend out every time because I smiled at her. She'd smile back and *poof* her concentration was gone. It's was hysterical to watch. I had my former catcher stick her tongue out at my this year, it ended up with time being called because both of us lost it completly and had to be calmed down from laughing so hard ;-)

 

[Hollyrockartist]

Very common here...I keep the books and always tell our catcher to "chat 'em up back there". For those who have the attention span of a gnat, it works really well! Funny how just the most common of questions can make someone lose their focus. I have always told DD to concentrate on the pitch - her job is to rope the ball, not pay attention to the yah-yah being said to her from behind the plate.

 

[shockcoach]

One of my favorites. This also works well on your golfing buddies!

Catcher to #3 or #4 hitter: "Wow, you can hit the ball far and have a beautiful swing. Do you breathe in or breathe out during your swing, cus it's awesome"

 

[NorthMS]

In high school I used to ask chatty catchers, "can you tell your mom I will be by at 9 tonight?". That usually shut them up. Probably not appropriate for a 9 YO.

You're the type of batter I loved to go against. I had a batter say something similar to this in a tournament when I was about 15. I stood up and yelled to my Dad, "Hey, this kid says he'll be by the house tonight at 9 to meet Mom." The kid was so embarrassed, he struck out looking.

After Mom told me I couldn't do that anymore, I started using somethings along the lines of, "I wish you could, my Mom ran off when I was 2 and I haven't seen her since." The batter usually felt about 2 ft tall after that.

 

[chinamigarden]

One of my favorites. This also works well on your golfing buddies!

Catcher to #3 or #4 hitter: "Wow, you can hit the ball far and have a beautiful swing. Do you breathe in or breathe out during your swing, cus it's awesome"

It works with pool players too

 

[WARRIORMIKE]

Or you can have a catcher that does this to the girls

YouTube - ‪The Sandlot classic scene‬‏

 

[Mr.Ed]

Another old catching dad here! I talked to batters all the time. I use to tell them what pitches were comming. Loved it!

 

[knightsb]

Knight,

It sounds like you're not getting much support from these former catcher dads!

I used to do the same thing when I caught back in the day. Sounds like it's time to start it up again on the girls' side.

No doubt! This weekend during practice, I played catcher while another dad pitched. We had a quick scrimmage at the end of practice. I really gave it to those batters! We were trying to teach them to ignore the banter and focus on the pitcher.

Or you can have a catcher that does this to the girls

YouTube - ‪The Sandlot classic scene‬‏

LMAO... That is a classic.


For you DD Catcher Dads, and former catchers.... Let me flip it on you.... What would batters do that would rattle you, or get under your skin (turnabout is fair play ;-)?