I'm sorry. I assumed you saw the reasons above for why they matter. It's because umpires use different reference marks to call the game and sometimes they reference how and where the catcher catches the ball.
Question to umpires on catchers' framing skills
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I'm sorry. I assumed you saw the reasons above for why they matter. It's because umpires use different reference marks to call the game and sometimes they reference how and where the catcher catches the ball.
- Feb 3, 2011
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The catcher's job is to receive the pitch and present it to the umpire as a strike if that's what it was. I think you're focusing too much on your "fooling" concern. Properly rotating a mitt depending upon location is not an attempt to fool the umpire, nor is a body shift an attempt to fool the umpire or to prevent them from seeing the pitch. I don't know why you'd consider these insulting to anyone. As the others have noted, what you don't want your catchers doing is pulling their mitt into the zone after the pitch. That's generally considered an insult and I concur with that.
I'm sorry. I assumed you saw the reasons above for why they matter. It's because umpires use different reference marks to call the game and sometimes they reference how and where the catcher catches the ball.
I'm not an umpire but I can tell you from second hand experience this is true. Last night at DD's HS game the pitcher was throwing outside quite a bit. After the first outside pitch and DD receiving and curling her glove as she was taught, the ump called it a ball. After she threw it back to the pitcher the ump told her, "I would have called it a strike if you hadn't curled your mitt in."
Insult might be a little strong. But if framing is a valuable skill, then you're saying one of two things --
- Umpires can be fooled by a good frame.
OR
- Umpires sometimes need the help of a catcher to call a strike a strike. They sometimes need to be shown it was a strike. They can't always see if for themselves.
Would an umpire say, ''I felt like a called a good game today, and I have to give credit to the catcher. She framed the ball well and helped me see strikes that I might've called balls otherwise.''
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So he punished the catcher and took away a strike? And admitted it? Wow.
Yep. But she quit the curling/turning the mitt on the outside and he started calling them strikes when she did. I didn't think much about other than saying to myself REALLY?! Then 4 girl's dad posted. I never thought of it that way before although it's common sense.
At the rec-ball level, the big thing I see is inexperienced/untrained catchers losing strike calls on pitches at the edges of the zone because of weak receiving skills. Simply keeping strikes looking like strikes with proper mitt and body position is one of the big factors that makes for an effective catcher.
I believe that a good frame is a subtle wrist movement at the exact moment the ball enters the catcher's mitt, used only for balls on the edge of the zone or maybe I/2 a ball diameter off the zone. And the frame should be held briefly, say 1/10th to 1/4th of a second. No frame should be used when the ball is farther off (unless the ump's zone is expanded laterally and/or vertically. Otherwise, like others have said, it seems like an insult to the PU. I agree the worst is a catcher moving her whole mitt 6 to 12 inches into the zone.
By the time the ball hits the catcher's mitt, my decision has been made. What the catcher does or doesn't do at that point doesn't matter with the exception of pulling a borderline pitch into the zone. I had a catcher recently ask me, "Was that outside, Blue?" I told her that she must have thought it was since she caught it and pulled it toward the strike zone.
The scary part is that this was in a college game.
As far as I'm concerned, a catcher can take strikes away from her pitcher, but won't get a ball turned into a strike.
The scary part is that this was in a college game.
As far as I'm concerned, a catcher can take strikes away from her pitcher, but won't get a ball turned into a strike.
Greenmonsters
Wannabe Duck Boat Owner
These two statements are contradictory unless you are acknowledging that how a catcher sets up and positions her body and glove immediately prior to receiving the ball has bearing on your call.
