Soft hands for a catcher

[absdad]

My dd just got back this weekend from a catching clinic at MSU where they went over some interesting things that we've not seen or heard of before. To have their catchers work on their glove to hand transition times, they were having them use a small fielder's training glove. They're sponsored by Wilson, so they were using this model..
Wilson A0700 Training Mitt: PADDLE

They had all the catchers go through this drill of receiving the ball, then making the transition, and freezing in their throwing stance. They had them doing it first with their own mitts, then had them use this paddle glove. If the girl would try to jab out to get the ball, they'd send it off towards the pitcher, and if they didn't execute it smooth, and quick, they'd drop the ball. After a few minutes, alot of the girls seemed to get the hang of it, and were able to keep the ball, and make the transition. This glove does not close at all, so if the drill is not executed correctly, you'll lose the ball. I could see where my dd was really starting to speed up her transition, and the coach was really encouraging them to challenge themselves and speed the transition up as fast as they can.

Has anyone else seen or done something similar to this? Curious to see if other people incorporate this into their practices. Before we left the clinic, my dd said she wanted one, and thought it would be good for fielding also, which they seem to be marketed for. I've seen these before, and just never heard of, or thought to use them for a catcher.

 

[WinThemAll]

We use tennis balls and have used this:
Rawlings 5-Tool Quick Hands Trainer | Softball.com

Very good drills!

 

[Amy in AZ.]

I bought this one and I don't care for it. Fastpitch Softball Training Glove Right I think that I mistaking got the baseball one. Anyway, I was expecting a little bit better piece of leather.

I do use the flat pancake one. A glove repair guy made mine.

 

[Daddylawman]

This is the one my daughter uses: Baseball Express Exclusive Practice Glove | Softball.com

 

[Catching Coach]

We have looked at a glove like this that All-Star makes and found it encouraged 2-hand catching which is contrary to what we teach on the throw. We teach to catch the ball, then rotate the glove to present the ball to the throwing hand that is waiting behind the glove. Once the ball is out of the glove the glove stays out front and is not drawn back toward the throwing side at all.

This training mitt, since it has no real pocket encouraged the catchers to reach around the front of the glove and grab the ball then draw the ball and glove back together towards the throwing side of the body. Once the ball actually left the glove the glove side of the body was over rotated and flaws appeared in the throwing arm slot.

 

[Daddylawman]

Coach,

Perhaps I need to be clearer. For my DD the drill is to use it for framing purposes. It is NOT incorporated into throwing drills. Basically. the idea is that, using proper technique, a pitch should hit this "mitt" and bounce on or toward the plate.

 

[absdad]

We have looked at a glove like this that All-Star makes and found it encouraged 2-hand catching which is contrary to what we teach on the throw. We teach to catch the ball, then rotate the glove to present the ball to the throwing hand that is waiting behind the glove. Once the ball is out of the glove the glove stays out front and is not drawn back toward the throwing side at all.

This training mitt, since it has no real pocket encouraged the catchers to reach around the front of the glove and grab the ball then draw the ball and glove back together towards the throwing side of the body. Once the ball actually left the glove the glove side of the body was over rotated and flaws appeared in the throwing arm slot.

Coach Weaver.. interesting take on that, I didn't think about that. At first I was a little concerned that it might encourage them to get their hand in there a bit early, and possibly getting injured. I really wish I had taken some video of this drill, so I could look back and see if they were pulling the glove back, or getting their hand in there before the ball ball was received.

Would you think this to be beneficial, assuming they were not pulling the glove back, and their hand wasn't getting to the mitt before the ball? It seemed when they performed this drill, that it did help them pick up speed in their transfer. But I don't want to introduce something, and then have it develop bad habits.

 

[starsnuffer]

I used to use these things to teach infield "soft hands" drills. These days, the emphasis seems to be more on speed (girls are just getting that much better, the errors are throwing errors, not fielding errors) so pushing/scooping towards the ball is more prevalent. This makes the devices useless.

I'll defer to everything Coach Weaver said on the subject of using them with catching drills other then to say that I agree. Catchers are supposed to catch (receive) first and foremost, and it seems silly to use a device that prevents catching. I really, really like the concept of catching the "correct half" of the ball using the three glove positions in Coach Weaver's video's. My catcher's caught on to this very quickly and it makes a ton of sense IMHO. I can't see how this could be taught using a pancake strapped to their hand.

-W

 

[absdad]

I'll defer to everything Coach Weaver said on the subject of using them with catching drills other then to say that I agree. Catchers are supposed to catch (receive) first and foremost, and it seems silly to use a device that prevents catching. I really, really like the concept of catching the "correct half" of the ball using the three glove positions in Coach Weaver's video's. My catcher's caught on to this very quickly and it makes a ton of sense IMHO. I can't see how this could be taught using a pancake strapped to their hand.

-W

Correct, I agree about the A,B,C glove positions when framing. The way this was explained at this clinic, was that this drill was purely to work on the transition to a throwing position, to throw out a base runner.

 

[SnocatzDad]

IMO Teaching a catcher to catch and transition the same way you would teach a SS to catch and transition seems great, but the SS doesn't have to worry about a foul tip 2 feet in front of her and the SS needs to transition to a throw quickly on 100% of the throws she makes and even an aggressive catcher is probably throwing down on less than 10% of the catches she makes. So to gain slightly on that 10% chance you will need to throw down your putting yourself more at risk 100% of the time. Plus the catcher has time to transition the ball because she does not catch it in a throwing position, a SS should catch the ball in a throwing position. Catching the ball with two hands isn't something I see professional baseball catchers do. I would question that what you have is a college coach who looks at catchers as somewhat disposable. If MSU is Michigan State university, I'd be suprised. I'vef heard their head coach talk about the catching position at NFCA clinics and her main goal was to find a catcher that gets the most out of the pitcher and that pop time was less important than you might think. Better to have a good battery keeping kids off the bases rather than worry about throwing out 100% of stealers.