pop times

[riseball]

Why is that? If your reaction time is about the same to both sounds and you're standing an equal distance away from both the catcher and 2B, wouldn't the stopwatch give a pretty fair reading?

I got the chance to watch Jenny Topping do a few throwdowns this past weekend. "Wow" is all I can say. She's obviously got a rifle for an arm, but the pinpoint accuracy of those throws was what truly amazed me.

It is only useful for you to compare catchers under a controlled situation. It is not useful for us to compare my catchers to your catchers since how I use the stopwatch and my conditions will vary from your use and conditions.

I have seen this quite often at camps/showcases with multiple coaches timing pop times and home to first. Variances of up to .5 seconds which is huge are not uncommon. I have found that if you do it under game conditions and use video the results can be quite humbling.

 

[Eric F]

Excuse my ignorance...Is "Pop Time" Glove to Glove?

Thanks in advance,

T

Yes. "Pop" in the catcher's mitt to "pop" in the glove at 2B. This measurement will be affected by footwork, transfer, release, and throw speed. All of these are components to be trained for efficiency.

 

[ScottyDont]

My DD has a sub-2.7 pop time and is D1 committed at 5'3". Height is not as big a deal as it used to be, at least for coaches who are looking for athletes instead of tanks behind the plate. She also runs 0-60 in 2.71 and has a 4.1 GPA, which for some coaches are much more important.

I agree that pop times vary wildly from timer to timer and catchers' throwing ability really needs to be seen in game situations whenever possible.

 

[Jquick823]

The catcher I referenced does play D1 just not "BIG" D1. I'm not saying you don't see smaller girls at those levels or top schools but times alone are a piece of a very large puzzle.

 

[JAD]

Why is that? If your reaction time is about the same to both sounds and you're standing an equal distance away from both the catcher and 2B, wouldn't the stopwatch give a pretty fair reading?

Measuring POP times with a stopwatch is like timing a 40 yard dash. There is a lot of human "variance" based the person operating the stopwatch. Get four people with stopwatches and have all of them measure POP times together. I bet you get 3 different results with a .2 spread between the high and low.

 

[Ramchicken]

Maybe I'm naïve but what does height have to do with pop time and being a top level catcher ? It's like saying that if a girl is under 5' 10" she can't pitch. My DD is a catcher on a 18u Gold team and has been All State as a freshmen and sophomore and is a slapper who can run and steal bases, but she is only 5' 2" so I guess she should be stretched to be good.

 

[ScottyDont]

Height for a catcher is similar to a pitcher...very few of the top D1 programs will even look at a short catcher unless she is something truly spectacular (and even then, she had better play for a top-notch Gold travel program with a ton of exposure). It's not fair, but that's the way it is. They look for a certain body type, probably because they want to ensure that the player will be able to withstand the grind of catching every day, getting run over, firing the ball back 150-200 times a day, etc. It's a big investment for the school, as we all know.

Like I said, it's not fair...but they don't look at 5'8" quarterbacks or 225 pound offensive linemen, either.

 

[iMlearning]

height

What would be considered a desirable height then for a catcher? DD'S only 5'6 but built Ford Tough

 

[Ramchicken]

Point taken. I was just curious about the height thing with a catcher, and also all I was pointing out that not all players have to have the prototype body to do a good job is all.

 

[guero_gordo]

The funny thing about height is that whether or not it is valued at D1, most TB coaches consider it a defect.