Thoughts on Blocking (BE A WALL!)

[oswegoponysoftball]

I have found that one of the best drills for block is the wall drill. They can't see where the ball is going and they have to react. And they can also do it at home or behind the school. As far as live pitching goes, I love it and I make my catchers answer the following questions:

- What is the pitchers best pitch?

- What is the pitchers worse pitch?

- If/when she goes wild ... does the pitcher go wild high, low, inside or outside?

I do this so the catcher can anticipate the pitch which gives her a better chance of blocking the ball.

 

[KCM]

This post just happens to be posted with great timing.

I hated catching while playing baseball and I still hate being the catcher for my daughter during her pitching lessons. So I never ever have focused much on the catcher during my years of coaching, always been lucky to have an AC or parent that knew the position good enough to get us by......until this year. Our catcher has many issues ranging from slow to hard headed. I started reading and watching videos to help her....all I can say is thankfully she will not return next year and we have 2 games left of JV ball where my daughter pitches to her. Granted the catcher has improved and when she focuses she does well but far and few between.

Now my youngest daughter told me she wants to catch for her sister because she wants her sister to do well and will put in 200% to learn it by next season. So now the pressure is on old Dad to study more and these post with the videos are going to be great.

Thank you to all in this thread.