Is this right?

[wichita]

NECC teaches (and I strongly agree with) putting the throwing hand behind the glove for any situation where you might be throwing ("runners-on" stance). Not only does this keep the hand closer to the glove for throwing, but the throwing hand also stays with the glove when blocking.

If the throwing hand is beside the ankle, it has to travel through a lot of unprotected space when executing a block, which is a safety concern.

Hand beside the ankle is correct for the "no-runners" stance.

I like the idea of having the hand behind the glove in throwing situations as an alternative way of doing it.......but it looks to me like if you have to drop and block a pitch that hand is going to be more in the mix safety wise than beside your ankle((I have always taught to drop and block by dropping to the knees with your glove down in the 6 hole, shoulders square and slightly bent over with the chest to keep the ball down in front and notuse the off hand as to keep it out of harms way) also in this position you have both arms inside the shinguards which means its twice as likely that a foul tip will hit a body part that is unprotected .......truthfully a catcher is in the danger zone safety wise every pitch. JMHO

 

[Greenmonsters]

I like the idea of having the hand behind the glove in throwing situations as an alternative way of doing it.......but it looks to me like if you have to drop and block a pitch that hand is going to be more in the mix safety wise than beside your ankle((I have always taught to drop and block by dropping to the knees with your glove down in the 6 hole, shoulders square and slightly bent over with the chest to keep the ball down in front and notuse the off hand as to keep it out of harms way) also in this position you have both arms inside the shinguards which means its twice as likely that a foul tip will hit a body part that is unprotected .......truthfully a catcher is in the danger zone safety wise every pitch. JMHO

From the pictured position, the throwing hand is safer when moved directly down behind the glove on a block as it is never exposed to a direct hit by the ball. When you start w/ the throwing hand by the ankle and initiate a block, the throwing hand and its numerous small bones and fingers, although not involved in the block becomes exposed and susceptible to an unexpected bounce or foul tip (see Cervelli). Additionally, if the throwing arm isn’t brought inside the knees you end up creating a smaller, off-kilter (i.e., not perpendicular and less balanced), asymmetric blocking surface and will have difficulty controlling and dropping blocked balls directly in front of you. No argument that the throwing arm becomes more likely to take a blow when its intentionally brought inside the knees to block, but I don’t know of any catcher that has lost significant time or broken an arm bone from a foul tip or blocked softball. While catcher's bruises are painful, and unsightly at prom dress time, they are just one of the fringe benefits of the position.

PS If I were to note that its the 5-hole that's being blocked, would that make me an @-hole?

 

[Eric F]

For visual reference, here's the block position taught by NECC, and those of us who follow their instruction...

Forearm bruises - aka "badges of honor". That said, my 9yo DD wears Evoshield wrist guards on both arms.


(Note - Thanks to Chaz/ACC for the pics.)