LH catcher positing for tag

Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch

Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.

Dec 11, 2010
4,713
113
LH catcher position for tag

Question from a guy that knows nothing about catching and whose dd doesn’t catch. I just want to know....

How should a left handed player set up for tag play at the plate? How does a right handed player set up? Is it any different? Couple of us stood around home plate and speculated last night and I have no idea what the best practice is.

Best we could come up with is same spot for both but left handed catcher swipes behind her instead of straight down? Or back hands?
 
Last edited:
Nov 4, 2015
320
43
Following. We have a lefty catcher and haven't seen much on this. Interested to see what the gurus feel is the best practice.
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
Depends doesn't it, is the ball coming from left field or right?

Saw a video once I think from the NECC and it illustrated how the lefty is positioned better to throw down to second after the tag play at home.
 
Sep 28, 2017
15
1
I went looking for video of a lefty play at the plate. Looks like at least here they are more or less receiving like 1B and shoving across their body for the tag. https://youtu.be/ui9hgDJKL0M

I always knew elite lefty catchers were as rare a unicorn tears. I was however surprised to learn there is not currently one left-handed catcher in the MLB pipeline. In fact, in the last 100 years there have only been 11 games caught by left-handers, the three modern players to have done it are Dale Long (two games in 1958), Mark Squires (two games in 1980) and the most recent lefty-throwing catcher Benny Distefano, who caught three games in 1989.

Pretty sure that if my DD was a lefty I personally would steer her towards a position with more longevity and potential.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Nov 26, 2010
4,784
113
Michigan
I went looking for video of a lefty play at the plate. Looks like at least here they are more or less receiving like 1B and shoving across their body for the tag. https://youtu.be/ui9hgDJKL0M

I always knew elite lefty catchers were as rare a unicorn tears. I was however surprised to learn there is not currently one left-handed catcher in the MLB pipeline. In fact, in the last 100 years there have only been 11 games caught by left-handers, the three modern players to have done it are Dale Long (two games in 1958), Mark Squires (two games in 1980) and the most recent lefty-throwing catcher Benny Distefano, who caught three games in 1989.

Pretty sure that if my DD was a lefty I personally would steer her towards a position with more longevity and potential.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Look up elite fastpitch catchers and you will find more LH catchers then in baseball. Including USA national team, all American and WCWS participants. The LH catcher has some advantages over the RH catcher due to the shorter basepaths and how much the short game is used.
 
Sep 17, 2009
1,637
83
Look up elite fastpitch catchers and you will find more LH catchers then in baseball. Including USA national team, all American and WCWS participants. The LH catcher has some advantages over the RH catcher due to the shorter basepaths and how much the short game is used.

Agreed. My DD was a lefty catcher. Seemed like set up at plate was the same, catch ball first, pivot drop to one or both knees, two hands on ball (rather than swipe tagging), block plate if could without getting spiked.

I like that video above.
 
Last edited:
Nov 12, 2009
365
18
Kansas City
We made that video for Dave Weaver years ago! We still reference it today for our left handed catchers. Left handed catchers have a distinct advantage on tag plays and bunt coverage! RichK explained it well. We do not encourage our catchers to block the line, especially with rule changes. Lay down the tag, and position yourself to make a double play whenever possible.

-Chaz
 

Forum statistics

Threads
42,830
Messages
679,478
Members
21,445
Latest member
Bmac81802
Top