I’ve been able to get by on gloves since I have a lefty kid and then I simply use my righty catcher glove for all of my on-field drills to keep it broken in for any other catchers I use that may not have their own glove. I’ve also found that catcher mitts only tend to become critical and girls’ hands generally only become strong enough to handle a “full” catcher’s mitt around 12U/14U and up which is when parents start becoming willing to put more money into equipment. I realize that last line about catchers’ mitts may be heresy to someone who has successfully taught catchers the number of years Coach Weaver has, but just thought I’d lay it out there. My daughter only used a catcher’s mitt after I forced her to – she was using an IF lefty mitt with a pitcher that was throwing high 50s/low 60s. Just get it in the pocket, I guess.

Recommendation – Akadema sells a lefty catcher glove that is dynamite and not too expensive.

FWIW – part of what pushed me into lefty catchers was that I had three or more lefties on a 12U team one year and had several righties that could only do outfield. Burn one lefty at pitcher (always nice), one at first (almost mandatory), what to do with the last kid? Catch! And then lo and behold, hey, it worked!

On a related lefty/righty front, I’ve got a lefty kid with a prototypical 1B/3B body but a couple of other kids whose best position would really be 1B. I’ve been trying her out at 3B and it’s not the kickback for the 5-3 throw that bothers her – it’s just looking at the field from the opposite side and knowing her ball/base/backup priorities.

Has anyone else done timing drills on bat/fielder/1B transitions with lefties and righties at all infield positions? I did that one year, and my best lefty was faster than a number of my righties at 3B, but didn’t work at SS or 2B. That timing drill has driven a lot of my choices ever since.

I had another coach email me today telling me that there was never a left handed catchers mitt to be seen in his town either. Certainly doesn’t help.

What my town has done is to keep one in the concession stand at the field so if a lefty is scheduled to catch they just go get it for the game.

As far as the “it just ain’t right” argument, I find that works against people with that bias. Their players tend to be awkward around lefty players anywhere but at 1B/OF, and that awkwardness makes them tentative or a hair slower than usual.

Regarding the tail of the ball into a 2B throwdown – I’ve coached my kids ad nauseum on backspin on the ball except on sidearm throws, so tail doesn’t tend to show up for us. Regardless of righty or lefty catcher in our games, accurate placement rather than tail is what kills us.

And on the tag play at home plate – tell the lead-off/slapper/fastest-runner on the opposing team that got tagged out on a 2-5-2 play to end their tournament against us last weekend that a lefty catcher has a natural disadvantage there.

You are so right. I actually had a paragraph on the topic I removed till I did a little more research. I sent an email out to many fastpitch coaches asking how many of their players hit as lefties. I know the average number will be much higher then in baseball.

Again, having the lefty behind the plate is not a liability in regards to throwing to 2nd.