These catcher blocking drillswill help you to be a total player.So you wish to find out who wants to be a catcher? Lots of guys think it's cool to put the gear on, perhaps flash 1 or 2 signs. Some even may wish to try to throw to second base. But if you would like to learn who basically actually wants to catch, start blocking. Blocking for a catcher is among the major fundamentals. It's not ordinary to jump in front of a ball in the dirt. These baseballs hurt and we must jump in front of them. If you're not able to jump in front of these balls, this position's not for you. Are you able to jump in front of a ball over here in the dirt, have it go off your arm and then on the subsequent pitch do it again? That's a question you better ask yourself before starting catching because this is a serious part of our game.
So how will we do it? Blocking always happens from our stance with a runner on base. So we're up off our calves, we give a good target. There's 2 ways we wish to block. One, were going to drop straight down forward onto our knees. From here, our chest is over the ball, our chin is always down to our chest, our glove fills this hole between our legs and our bare hand, still closed around our finger, is tucked beneath. This is the position we want to find ourselves in. Now here is where you get hurt. Our throat is exposed when we drop down and our head comes up. This is where it can become deadly. We usually wish to have our chin down.
The other part we have got to watch out for when we're obstructing is that our hands come up. As a baseball player, were always taught to field a ball with our gloves, but as a catcher, we drop, we wish to field it with our chest. If our hands come up we leave a wide open hole between our legs. Now that is humiliating. We get a ball go between our legs. We've done everything right. We were given down to the ground. We're ready to dam it and then it went between our legs. That cannot occur. So fill that gap between your legs.
You have another choice. I just showed you the decline forward here. The other technique that's used is named the kickback. This was really the strategy I used almost all of my career. I felt I could read the ball a little bit longer. Here is what it looks like. We are up in our position and my knees are essentially going to replace my feet. So from here I'm down and that is it right there. So from that stance we can cover the ball a little bit better. Let me show you again what it looks like. Our feet are out. Our glove's behind and we're down. Our chest is instantly over. That's what I like about this stance and blocking with the kickback method is it usually kept my chest over the ball. My chin was always down to my chest and I could read the ball a bit longer.
So next time you support home plate and you are going to block, work out which technique. But no matter what don't allow that to ball get by.
So how will we do it? Blocking always happens from our stance with a runner on base. So we're up off our calves, we give a good target. There's 2 ways we wish to block. One, were going to drop straight down forward onto our knees. From here, our chest is over the ball, our chin is always down to our chest, our glove fills this hole between our legs and our bare hand, still closed around our finger, is tucked beneath. This is the position we want to find ourselves in. Now here is where you get hurt. Our throat is exposed when we drop down and our head comes up. This is where it can become deadly. We usually wish to have our chin down.
The other part we have got to watch out for when we're obstructing is that our hands come up. As a baseball player, were always taught to field a ball with our gloves, but as a catcher, we drop, we wish to field it with our chest. If our hands come up we leave a wide open hole between our legs. Now that is humiliating. We get a ball go between our legs. We've done everything right. We were given down to the ground. We're ready to dam it and then it went between our legs. That cannot occur. So fill that gap between your legs.
You have another choice. I just showed you the decline forward here. The other technique that's used is named the kickback. This was really the strategy I used almost all of my career. I felt I could read the ball a little bit longer. Here is what it looks like. We are up in our position and my knees are essentially going to replace my feet. So from here I'm down and that is it right there. So from that stance we can cover the ball a little bit better. Let me show you again what it looks like. Our feet are out. Our glove's behind and we're down. Our chest is instantly over. That's what I like about this stance and blocking with the kickback method is it usually kept my chest over the ball. My chin was always down to my chest and I could read the ball a bit longer.
So next time you support home plate and you are going to block, work out which technique. But no matter what don't allow that to ball get by.
About the Author:
Jeff Reid is a baseball coach who uses hitting drills and catcher instruction to improve his team's skills.
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