Catcher Myth #34 - Catchers Should Set Up With Glove Foot Forward For Quicker Throws. This is still a very popular myth. You see this a lot with right hand catchers. As they set up to receive the pitch they pivot sideways with left foot/hip forward and extend their left (glove) arm. The belief is that they now have their body in a better position to throw. While this type of stance looks tougher and can raise the intimidation factor, when compared to setting up square in stance, there is actually little or no difference in throwing times. So what does it hurt then? You have the same throwing times and look a little more intimating right? Whenever I see a catcher come in for evaluations and see this sideways stance the first thing I do is throw pitches in the dirt” towards the side with foot forward. They cant turn their bodies back to block inside pitches! (Outside for lefties playing fastpitch) When w watch catchers set up sideways, we typically see the left foot (Again, for righties) coming forward, their knee drops and the torso pivots towards the plate. A pitch in the dirt towards that forward leg with knee down cannot be blocked. Younger catchers can stab at slower pitches with limited success. Catchers will not keep up with blocking faster pitching in this manner. As they react to the pitch and try to block, they start to pivot their right foot and drive their knee to the ground as they reach out with their glove. Once the knee is anchored in the ground any additional rotation is done with the hips and shoulders. Since a catcher will have an additional 30-50 degrees (On average) to rotate and they are not able to make up the ground they lost by setting up sideways. They have to chase the errant pitch in the dirt to the backstop and watch runs score. I know of a catcher who let 3 inside pitches in the dirt get past them to let 3 runs score in a single inning. The coach finally pulled this catcher out of the game! Blocking to the opposite side of the plate requires the catchers to dive forward and stab at the ball. Even if the pitch is blocked, recovering and throwing out runners attempting to steal is nearly impossible. I have timed catchers throwing from a sideways (Throwing) stance, worked with them on setting up square to the plate and checked their times again. They have never given up times in their throws once they were comfortable with the technique. (if they haven’t gotten quicker) And they have the added bonus of being able to block pitches (And prevent runners from advancing) in any direction. The bottom line is that if none of your pitchers NEVER throw in the dirt, (And we know coaches who have their pitchers put them in the dirt on purpose to lure runners off base to be picked off by their catcher) then go ahead and set up sideways. BUT... If any of your pitchers EVER DO throw in the dirt, dont risk giving up runs for something that really doesnt improve your throwing. Learn to utilize stances that maximize all if your ability without compromising any of them.
Posted on: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 19:29:43 +0000
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