Xan Barksdale of catching-101.com concludes his masterclass on how to teach catching (in the catcher position) for youth baseball coaches and parents. This episode is Part 2 of a two-part series. Miss the first part? Catch Part 1 here.
Also, Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv answers the Ask Justin Question Of The Week from Dominik regarding how to hit the outside pitch. Have a question? Get it answered—free! Submit your own question to Justin.
In this 42-minute episode, you'll learn:
- whether the catcher or the coach should call the pitches (the answer is not what you'd expect!)
- if 9-12 year-old catchers should bother calling for location
- whether catchers should take a big or small step towards second base when trying to throw out a stealer
- what three things high school catchers need to focus on, and in what order
- the art of calling pitches
- the priority of aspects to teach high school catchers
- a tip to help receive pitches properly, and a drill to teach that
- where to find other helpful catcher drills
- a tip for catchers in bullpen sessions
- how to help catchers improve their ability to throw out runners, including footwork to watch for
- a tip to help catchers improve their consistency in throwing to the ideal spot near the base
- when catchers should have mound meetings with their pitchers, and what they should say
- how to encourage young kids or shy kids to assume more of a leadership role
- two catcher metrics that should be captured, and a recommended pitcher-catcher relationship metric to track
- Xan's YouTube Channel
- catching-101.com
- Baseball Prospectus' new catcher stats
- SpeakPipe for using the Ask Justin page on iOS devices
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