I was at a College Showcase recently and observed something first hand that I have read about before. I am standing behind a backstop speaking with a group of college coaches while a showcase game is going on. The batter hit a fly ball to deep left field that the left fielder had to make a short run to get. The fielder caught the ball and threw it back in. One of the college coaches then remarked in an annoyed tone, "Wow, ... Read More

Read Jay's latest column at Baseball Digest. We are a little over a quarter of the way through the 2009 Major League Baseball season and the story lines have certainly been plentiful. The two Big Apple franchises took major steps into the modern ballpark era, Zack Greinke had us wondering whether a pitcher’s ERA can actually dip BELOW zero, Manny was busy being A-Rod Manny and Tampa Bay hasn’t surprised anyone this season. With just over a month remaining until the 2009 ... Read More

A few years ago I was talking to a baseball coach with more then 40 years of coaching experience about the whole issues of left handed catchers in baseball. I was trying to get him to explain the reasons he was against it at any level of baseball. With every reason he gave me I challenged him with why I thought his reasons did not hold much water. The more he struggled to come up with valid reasons, the more ... Read More

As all of you have most likely heard....Angels' 22 year-old starter Nick Adenhart and two others were killed early Thursday morning in a hit and run car accident. This is truly a sad time in the world of baseball. We all have a great respect and love for this game because of the effect that it has had on all of our lives. Whether it is the broken heart of a lost season or the fond memories of watching your first ... Read More

Many times coaches ask what are the most significant adjustments players will have to make when they move from the 60ft basepath field to the full size 90 ft base path field.  While there are many adjustments for players at all positions if your son is a catcher he will see the huge increase in the distance for the throw to 2nd. The 60ft diamond throw is 85ft, on the 90ft it is 127ft, almost a 35% farther throw. Catchers that have ... Read More

Baseball Digest, America’s longest-running, baseball-only publication, with its first issue appearing on newsstands in 1942, has just launched it's website  BaseballDigest.com. Jay Weaver, Senior Instructor for the New England Catching Camp will be a featured columnist for the site.  You can read Jay's first column "Small Moves That Could Yield Big Returns in 2009" at http://baseballdigest.com/

The NECC was excited to have the Lowell Sun do a story on our program filmed 2/21/09. Click the link below to see the story. NECC Story on Lowel Sun Online

.....you also time the pitcher from “break-to-plate”. Break-to-plate is timed when pitcher makes a move that commits him to throw to home and then the watch is stopped when the ball hits catchers glove. This shows how fast the pitcher gets the ball to the plate. I was in the stands with some college coaches at a showcase watching the games on the 2nd day of ... Read More

In the summer of 2000 the New England Catching Camp held its first summer camp. We had 16 baseball catchers attend. They ranged from 9yrs to 13yrs old. Eleven of the attendees were from my home town of Hudson NH. I was very excited that so many kids were interested in coming to our camp. Fast forward to the summer of 2008 where we had 90+ catchers, ages 8-18 from 25 states. Of the 90+ catchers more then 30 of them ... Read More

It is always a costly venture for a college coach to come and see you play during the season. Many colleges have cut the budgets for trips related to scouting potential recruits. This has brought about the increased use by college coaches of recruiting skills video as a way of getting an initial look at players they may otherwise not have been able to see play. While skills videos are important for both baseball and softball players of all postions ... Read More