The 3 Catcher's Stances
THE 3 CATCHERS STANCES
There are three basic catchers stances. There is the sign stance, the receiving stance with no runners on base, and the receiving stance with runners on. The most important concept to all these stances is that the catcher is comfortable to make athletic plays. With all the different movements a catcher might have to make it is very important he is in a position to make strong movements. A catcher has to make close pitches look like strikes, block a ball in the dirt, throw a runner out when trying to steal, hold the runner to a small secondary, protect the umpire, and give your pitcher the confidence that there is no such thing as a wild pitch. Your pitcher cannot be afraid to throw a ball in the dirt. If your pitcher can’t trust you to block the ball he will leave the ball up in the zone. And we all know what happens when the ball is left up in the zone, it gets smashed.
Sign Stance: This is a relaxed stance with the feet close to each other. The feet should be close enough that while standing up you can click your heals together. Your weight should be on the balls of your feet and your thighs parallel to the ground. Your chest should be tall not hunched over. The sign will be given with the throwing hand against the cup. There is a seam on all baseball pants that runs along the inside thigh that meets at the bottom of the zipper. The big knuckles of the hand should be lined up with that seem. When giving the sign the fingers should point straight towards the ground, not pointing towards the pitcher or towards your own heals. The glove hand should be tucked under your left knee just under the bottom knee guard. If you were to take your glove off in this position your left pointer finger should be pointing at the pitchers feet with an open hand. A catcher must also understand that the signs he gives is a language being spoken between him and the pitcher (at higher levels the middle infielders will be involved in this communication as well). What I mean is that the old number one doesn’t have to be fastball. If my pitcher knows that “two” is a fastball than that’s all that matters in that situation. I tell my catchers that the word fastball is different in English than it is in Japanese. But all in all it means the same thing. When there is a runner on second base the catcher should use more than one sign, or a coded message, so the runner can’t pass the signs to the hitter. I strongly urge my catchers to not use “second sign” because that is usually the first thing that runner is going to look for.
Receiving Stance with no Runners On: Once you have given your sign it is very important the catcher gets into his receiving stance the same way every time whether the location is outside or inside or whether the pitch is a fastball or an off-speed pitch. You should move the same foot first for inside or outside, and set up low or high whether the pitch is called for in the dirt or up in the zone. At higher levels opposing teams will watch the catcher while trying to pick pitches, and believe me catchers will give away pitches based on his stance. Again the receiving stance should be a comfortable stance but most likely his feet should be wider than his shoulders. This promotes a strong base. The full foot should be on the ground for stability with the weight on the inside front part of the foot. The chest should be tall for a larger target and the butt should be resting by the heels of the feet. The glove should be giving an open target while the forearm rests on the left knee. This will keep the glove arm relaxed. The longer you suspend the arm in the air the tenser the arm becomes. A tense arm causes stabbing and jerking. The throwing arm should be resting behind the shoe not along the back. If you put your arm behind the back it opens up the rotator cuff and leaves it prone to injury on a foul tip.
Receiving Stance With Runners On Base: It is almost the same as receiving with no runners on except for a few points. In this position the catcher has to be ready to block or throw while still getting his pitcher the full strike zone. From the receiving stance with no runners on the catcher will lift his but around two inches higher from his relaxed position. Some catchers find that widening the feet slightly will help with this. The important part of this stance is the shoulders do not rise any, only the butt. Most young catchers want to lift their whole body; this we don’t want to do because the target they give also rises. We want to maintain the target at the bottom of the strike zone while putting ourselves in a position to throw and block. So instead of thinking lift the butt straight up, think of taking the butt two inches towards the backstop. This puts the catcher in a position ready to move while maintaining the low strike zone.
If you would like any more help on this topic I would be more than willing to come out and help your catchers and coaches. Feel free to ask any questions through the comment blog and I will answer them as soon as I can.
Once your catchers get their stances down it makes it much easier to teach them receiving, throwing, and blocking. Remember it always starts at the feet.
Caleb Allen
There are three basic catchers stances. There is the sign stance, the receiving stance with no runners on base, and the receiving stance with runners on. The most important concept to all these stances is that the catcher is comfortable to make athletic plays. With all the different movements a catcher might have to make it is very important he is in a position to make strong movements. A catcher has to make close pitches look like strikes, block a ball in the dirt, throw a runner out when trying to steal, hold the runner to a small secondary, protect the umpire, and give your pitcher the confidence that there is no such thing as a wild pitch. Your pitcher cannot be afraid to throw a ball in the dirt. If your pitcher can’t trust you to block the ball he will leave the ball up in the zone. And we all know what happens when the ball is left up in the zone, it gets smashed.
Sign Stance: This is a relaxed stance with the feet close to each other. The feet should be close enough that while standing up you can click your heals together. Your weight should be on the balls of your feet and your thighs parallel to the ground. Your chest should be tall not hunched over. The sign will be given with the throwing hand against the cup. There is a seam on all baseball pants that runs along the inside thigh that meets at the bottom of the zipper. The big knuckles of the hand should be lined up with that seem. When giving the sign the fingers should point straight towards the ground, not pointing towards the pitcher or towards your own heals. The glove hand should be tucked under your left knee just under the bottom knee guard. If you were to take your glove off in this position your left pointer finger should be pointing at the pitchers feet with an open hand. A catcher must also understand that the signs he gives is a language being spoken between him and the pitcher (at higher levels the middle infielders will be involved in this communication as well). What I mean is that the old number one doesn’t have to be fastball. If my pitcher knows that “two” is a fastball than that’s all that matters in that situation. I tell my catchers that the word fastball is different in English than it is in Japanese. But all in all it means the same thing. When there is a runner on second base the catcher should use more than one sign, or a coded message, so the runner can’t pass the signs to the hitter. I strongly urge my catchers to not use “second sign” because that is usually the first thing that runner is going to look for.
Receiving Stance with no Runners On: Once you have given your sign it is very important the catcher gets into his receiving stance the same way every time whether the location is outside or inside or whether the pitch is a fastball or an off-speed pitch. You should move the same foot first for inside or outside, and set up low or high whether the pitch is called for in the dirt or up in the zone. At higher levels opposing teams will watch the catcher while trying to pick pitches, and believe me catchers will give away pitches based on his stance. Again the receiving stance should be a comfortable stance but most likely his feet should be wider than his shoulders. This promotes a strong base. The full foot should be on the ground for stability with the weight on the inside front part of the foot. The chest should be tall for a larger target and the butt should be resting by the heels of the feet. The glove should be giving an open target while the forearm rests on the left knee. This will keep the glove arm relaxed. The longer you suspend the arm in the air the tenser the arm becomes. A tense arm causes stabbing and jerking. The throwing arm should be resting behind the shoe not along the back. If you put your arm behind the back it opens up the rotator cuff and leaves it prone to injury on a foul tip.
Receiving Stance With Runners On Base: It is almost the same as receiving with no runners on except for a few points. In this position the catcher has to be ready to block or throw while still getting his pitcher the full strike zone. From the receiving stance with no runners on the catcher will lift his but around two inches higher from his relaxed position. Some catchers find that widening the feet slightly will help with this. The important part of this stance is the shoulders do not rise any, only the butt. Most young catchers want to lift their whole body; this we don’t want to do because the target they give also rises. We want to maintain the target at the bottom of the strike zone while putting ourselves in a position to throw and block. So instead of thinking lift the butt straight up, think of taking the butt two inches towards the backstop. This puts the catcher in a position ready to move while maintaining the low strike zone.
If you would like any more help on this topic I would be more than willing to come out and help your catchers and coaches. Feel free to ask any questions through the comment blog and I will answer them as soon as I can.
Once your catchers get their stances down it makes it much easier to teach them receiving, throwing, and blocking. Remember it always starts at the feet.
Caleb Allen
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