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Why it’s different

In blocking a fastball with minimal movement, my goal needs to be to get to the ground as quickly as possible, while positioning my body in a way that keeps the ball as close to me as I can, preferably directly behind home plate. I am less concerned with the ball’s direction after contact with the ground, because in most cases the ball will skip off the ground and follow the same directional course it was previously on. It’s one of the biggest reasons we never need to, nor want to, gain ground on a fastball in the dirt. More often than not, I’ll be late to the ground and will push the ball further away from me upon contact.  A curveball, however, adds a couple variables to the equation. Spin and degree of downward movement. The rotation of that particular pitch can cause the ball to kick back in the opposite direction from where it came and the degree of downward movement is significantly steeper than that of a fastball and it will create a bounce upward after hitting the ground.

Look at this clip of Detroit Tigers’ catcher Alex Avila on a Justin Verlander curveball. Avila attempts to get to the ground by replacing his feet with his knees. He lines up his hands with the ball and thus the middle of his body with his hands. Theoretically, he should be in a half-way decent position to make a good block on this ball. There is one problem, however. The ball does not skip straight into Avila. The downward direction of the ball forces a bounce and the spin of the ball forces it to carom off the left side of his chest protector instead of the direction it’s momentum was carrying it prior to hitting the ground. The ball will almost always bounce in the opposite direction from where it’s initial flight path may have suggested.

What’s our new approach?

When blocking a curveball we need to cut down the distance between us and the ball before it makes contact with the ground and eventually our body. We also need to anticipate the direction of the bounce to position our body accordingly. In doing this, we minimize the chance that the ball will bounce over us or bounce off of the side of our chest protector when attempting the block. There are a few things we need to address before we attack the ball with our body.

One, we still need to lead the block with the fastest moving part of our body, our hands. This will continue to ensure that the middle of our body is lined up with the ball. Because we are cutting down the distance that the ball has an opportunity to travel, we’ve lessened the chance the ball will kick off to one side or another.

Secondly, we need to ensure that we follow our hands with our hips; not our knees. If only our knees follow our hands to the ground and as a result our hips sink back, it will force our chest to straighten up and give the ball an opportunity to kick off our body to the side. We need to keep the “roof” on top of the ball throughout the block to force the ball to the ground after it hits us. This will give us the ability to keep the ball close enough to make a play on it should a runner take off.

Lastly, we need to continue to realize that there is a reason we don’t attack a fastball with our body like we will a curveball. We don’t have time and the trajectory of the ball is significantly more predictable. Having said that, regardless of the pitch type, our chief concern should be getting to the ground in a proper blocking position as quick as we can. There is a drop in velocity from a fastball to a curveball, but it doesn’t mean we have more time to read the pitch in the dirt. Because a block of a curveball takes more time with the aggressive move forward, we still need to recognize the pitch in the dirt early enough to get our body in the correct position to stop it. If we wait on an off-speed pitch, we will still be moving when the ball hits us, and that is never conducive to keeping a ball close to our body.

What does it look like when it’s done right?

Below is a clip of Francisco Cervelli of the New York Yankees executing a very sound block of a left-handed curveball. His hips follow his hands, he gets around the ball to prepare for its eventual kick back off the ground and he keeps his upper-body over top of the ball throughout the entire block.

Importance

As we go through blocking drills it is important that we continue to build muscle memory for a proper block of each of the pitches we might see behind home plate. Because the approach to blocking curveballs differs from that of a fastball, we need to make sure we spend an ample amount of time on each, reinforcing the solid mechanics of this particular skill. I never want to fire a “fastball block” on a curveball and I certainly never want to send a “curveball block” on a fastball. So we need to do all that we can to build each blocking technique as a separate skill. Once we can get our body to react properly to each pitch-type in the dirt, the only thing left to do is make the correct read of the pitch and either receive or block it with the appropriate set of mechanics.

Note: Ladies, this blog entry absolutely pertains to you too. The mechanics of this block in softball are the same as those in baseball. Though, we may be talking more about a drop ball or a change-up than a curveball in your case. A curveball in the dirt in the fastpitch world is not going to come in along the same trajectory as a curveball in the game of baseball. Very different angle and flight path. Because of the underhand windmill and the fact that there is no elevated mound in softball, there isn’t nearly as steep of a downward drop on a curveball. However, we still need to make sure that we cut the distance down on any pitch that will bounce upwards once it hits the ground.

Copyright © 2011, New England Catching Camp LLC

Go on YouTube, search for blocking or throwing drills and you will find an entire library of this useless garbage. The general idea is that if a catcher can get to the ground quickly, get back up and drop back down to the ground over and over again, that it will somehow teach the brain to execute a block quicker in a live-game situation. There is also a huge misconception that the more times a catcher can get into a throwing position within a small period of time, the quicker they will be able to get rid of the ball or repeat the skill with success. The reality, however, is that the only thing coaches accomplish during these drills is that they get their catcher to work up a nice sweat during practice and their blocking/throwing mechanics suffer exponentially.

The biggest mistake a coach can make with both of these skills is to make practicing them a conditioning exercise.  In my travels with the camp around the country, I work with catchers at the youth level as well as those in the high school, college and professional ranks, and I see it nearly everywhere I go. Coaches throwing ball after ball after ball at a catcher in rapid succession. The first block/throw is usually pretty decent, but each rep thereafter continually gets worse and worse, until the catcher is struggling to simply get back to their receiving position to restart the next block or throw. Each and every rapid rep following the original one contributes to building bad muscle memory. The second the mechanics deteriorate the drill becomes destructive to the overall goal of helping these catchers improve their skill-set behind the plate. And yet I see the coaches continue to throw the ball.

The brain has this funny way of only remembering the last position we were in or the last movement pattern we put our body through. Eventually the brain will begin to adopt those inefficient, unbalanced and incorrect positions or patterns when applied to the full-scale skill in actual games.

In order to understand what drills we should be doing instead, we first need to understand what some of these coaches are actually trying to accomplish. Each of these skills are extremely time-sensitive. We are dealing with anywhere around .40 to .60 seconds of reaction time during a block and our goal should be able to get rid of the ball as quickly as we can during a throw, while maintaining efficiency throughout each skill. There is a thinking that if we increase the number of reps-per-minute that we will increase the body’s ability to perform these skills faster during a game. That is simply not true. All we are doing is accelerating the breakdown of the mechanics during a time when we should be building the proper progression of each of these skills.

The best way to increase the body’s ability to perform these skills at a high level is to build good muscle memory using proper mechanics. If we are trying to help the catcher gain quickness to the ground during a block of a ball in the dirt, our goal should be to perfect the mechanics of the block to a point where our only challenge is making the decision of block or receive. If our brain reads “block”, we have done it right so many times that there is only one natural response, a mechanically sound block. But if we take away the catcher’s ability to fix the block before resetting him or herself in a proper receiving position before the next rep, not only are we contributing to the mechanical failure of the blocking and throwing skills, but now we are reinforcing bad receiving skills as well. Every rep after the first one will begin to pull the catcher away from a balanced receiving stance. Now we are not only giving the brain an incorrect idea of the position we are truly starting these skills from, but we are hurting the one skill we a required to perform behind the plate most often.

With blocking if your goal as a coach is to help a catcher improve their overall athleticism and quickness, find a local strength and conditioning program for them. If your goal is to improve a catcher’s ability to react to a pitch in the dirt, find ways to decrease their available reaction time during a focused and purposeful drill. This can be done a number of ways. One, increase velocity during the blocking drill. If you are already throwing at max velocity and you still feel that your catcher isn’t being challenged, the solution is simple. Move up. But don’t ever let go of a ball during the drill without the catcher in a proper receiving position. We need to continually create realistic, game-speed training environments, but only after a positive result of the skill has been achieved at a slower rate. Once the catcher has the proper blocking sequence down, start mixing up the pitches they need to block with ones they need to receive (Pitch Recognition). After that, start finding acceptable ways of decreasing the reaction time available to the catcher during that particular drill.

In regards to throwing drills. Our goal should always be to build the proper sequence of the throw. When we focus all our energy on getting to one stagnant position as fast as we can, over and over again, all we are doing is building muscle memory of a completely unrealistic movement pattern. The throw should be a sequence of small explosive movements, which when combined allow the body and ball to stay in constant motion, building momentum in the direction of our target during the throw. If all we are concerned with is finishing each rep so that we can begin the next, we will have a very hard time constructing a flawless mechanical sequence. Therefore, each rep is contributing to flawed muscle memory and an overall inconsistent throw both in accuracy and velocity out of our crouch.

Keep in mind that while there are some skills in which rapid fire repetitions may actually help, receiving being one of them (the purpose being to build up our hand-eye coordination), any drill that contributes to the deterioration of the core skill and good muscle memory is not something we should ever consider to be an appropriate training aid.

Copyright © 2011, New England Catching Camp LLC

Thanks for reading! Please remember to “Like us” on Facebook! 

Just posted a video blog about blocking and how we as catchers can pay a little more attention to the sequence of the skill to help us improve behind home plate! I will follow up with a written article to compliment this video in the near future. We certainly hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!

With more and more NECC clinics popping up all over the country, our reach continues to grow. However, we are looking to also grow our Facebook fanbase! Between October 1st, 2011 and December 31st, 2011 we are challenging all supporters of the New England Catching Camp to get the word out to the baseball, softball and coaching communities about the instruction we offer to catchers around the country.

Once our Facebook page reaches 500 “Likes” we will offer a 15% discount on all NECC webstore products for one week and we will hold a drawing for an NECC Product package, including a “Coach’s Guide to Training Catchers” DVD, a T-shirt of their choosing, and the newly released downloadable video content.

If we get to 750 “Likes” we will offer a 20% discount on all NECC webstore products and we will hold a drawing for the product package and a free private lesson (Live or via Skype for those of you who live outside the area).

If we get to 1,000 “Likes” we will offer a 25% discount on all NECC webstore products and we will hold a drawing for the Grand Prize – The product package, a free private lesson AND a spot at one of our Summer Camp sessions in July or August!!! All together a $400 value!

Thank you all for your support! We hope to see you all very soon!

It took one of the rarest forms of cancer known to man to bring him down and he fought incredibly hard til the very end. None of you will be surprised to know that all the way up until his passing, he was cracking jokes at everyone in the room, putting smiles on all of our faces like he has done so many times for so many people around the world.

To our students and any of the families who my father has had an impact on….my father viewed you ALL as part of our family. You were all sons and daughters, brothers and sisters to him and his unwavering faith gave him peace and fearlessness until God decided that the catchers in Heaven flat out sucked and they needed some help from the absolute best.

Thank you everyone for all of your prayers and continued support. My dad is no longer in pain and his suffering has ended. He is probably resting comfortably on a bucket somewhere on Heaven’s ballfield. Rest in peace daddy, we all love you so much. You will FOREVER be missed by so many.

Coach Weaver, may you rest in peace...

Everyone should know that this camp will continue to prosper and impact the lives of tens-of-thousands of more catchers in honor of my father and our dream. I will do my absolute best to carry on his legacy and look forward to seeing everyone at all of our camps and clinics this year!

God bless you all,
Jay and the rest of the Weaver/NECC family

One of the most significant roles we work to develop in our catching students is their role as the protector of their umpire. We all have seen many times when a pitch goes in the dirt, the catcher misses the block, and the umpire takes the hit. This can happen more often when there are no runners on base and the catchers many times do not see the need to block a pitch in the dirt. After talking to umpires all over the country we have come to understand that a safe umpire is a happy umpire and a happy umpire is what we all want to have setting up behind our catcher.

Catchers that use 2 different stances many times are unsure how to execute a block when they are in their deep no-runners on stance. While this block is more difficult then when executed from a higher runners-on stance it can still be executed if practiced. The clip below shows the technique executed by a softball player. The technique is the same for a baseball catcher. The key is the legs and hips must be driven down and back much harder then if they use a higher runners-on stance. Likewise if the throwing hand is kept behind the leg it must be brought to the front behind the glove much faster then if the hand is kept out front behind the glove.

The bottom line is whether runners are on base or not your catcher needs to learn skills that will protect the umpire from getting hit. The temptation is to try and catch or “pick” the low pitches when there are no runners on base. My recommendation is to train your catchers to block everything. If your catcher achieves this they will also be helping their pitcher to build more confidence in them as a catcher as well.

Video courtesy of Chaz Wood with Advanced Catching Concepts Liberty Mo.

This clip shows a left handed softball catcher practicing  tag plays at home-plate. Some of the tags are made with the ball already in her glove so she can focus just on the mechanics of the tag. Others have the ball being thrown to her. The last couple show her making the tag and then making a throw to another base.

The base runner changes the angle she approaches home to give the catcher the different looks she will see during game situations.

Note: she tags the runner with the back side of the glove, and sets up off the line. At no time is she trying to BLOCK the plate. This can put your catcher in a position where she can get hurt and there is no reason to do it to make an effective tag.

Also note that as a lefty she has an advantage making a tag and throw as she is already facing the correct way to make a throw to another base.

Thanks to Chaz Wood of Advanced Catching Concepts in Liberty Mo for the filming of the clip.

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Open Letter To All Psycho Baseball Parents

by Paul Reddick

If this letter infuriates you…
If it makes you angry…
If it makes you upset…

I’ve got bad news for you.

You may be a psycho baseball parent!

It’s gonna get worse for you.
If you answer yes to any of the following questions
you ARE a psycho baseball parent!

Does your kid has a personal trainer and he not in HS yet?
Does he go to private lessons more than once a week and he’s not in HS?
Has he had an arm injury before his 12th birthday?
Is your travel baseball budget over 5k ?
Have you missed family events for games?
Do you have punishment for missing practice before the age of 12?
Have you ever lost sleep because of a child’s game?
Do you have a plan for his college recruitment before he’s in HS?
Do you think you are going to make sure he gets the chance you never had?
Do you have pitch charts on your child?
Do you calculate their Little League batting average for nothing other than fun?
Have you quit a team because you were not getting in the game?
Have you started an AAU travel team so your kid could be the star?
Do you coach a travel team and stacked it with the best talent?
Are you going to decide where he goes to school based on baseball?
If you’re the only one people can hear cheering at every game?
Have you Verbally abused opponent or umpire?
Did you change jobs because it interfered with team schedule?
Are you planning to start school later to improve chances of being on upper age limits?
Have you ever got in a fight with another parent, coach or ump at a game?
Have you ever yelled at another adult or worse… A kid under the age of 18 while umping a little league game?

I know nobody reading this would ever say yes to any of those questions, Right?
I’m sure you know a bunch of people who would though.

Let me drop some truth on you:

I get emails everyday that say something like …
“My 10 year old has a dream of playing in MLB and he is so focused and nothing will stop him we train 4 hours per day and he’s gonna play 120 games this year”

Your kid doesn’t want that!

You know how I know your 10 year old doesn’t want to train 4 hours per day and play 120 games?

HE’S 10!!!!!

He probably picks his nose when you’re not looking and loves fart jokes. If you allowed him he would eat cookies, ice cream and soda at every meal.

He should. He’s 10!!!!!

Your kid doesn’t want what you want. He wants YOU!!! All your child wants
is approval, praise, and love from you as a parent. UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

Too many people mistake their kids desire to please them with their interest in sports.
He’s trying to connect with you! You could be doing anything with him…its not about sports.

Try this every once in a while…

Take him our for ice cream.
Ask him what else he thinks is cool.
Go for a Jog together (maybe end with a race).
Take the dog for a walk together.
Try learning a new skill together.
Do stupid stuff to make your kid laugh.
Go see a move together.
Try and eat a whole pizza together.
Go volunter and help others.
Help out Challenger baseball…if you really want to see what the game is about.
Take him to the mall give him $50 and tell him to buy something for his mom.
Play video games with him.

…and the following mandatory!!!

Look your child in the eyes 3 times a day, tell them you love them and give them a hug!

There’s only been about 15,000 Major League Baseball players in the history of the game, odds are your kid is not one of them. You will never manufacture your child’s ability.

You’re playing with a very dangerous and fragile element…your child’s self worth
I’m not getting all airy fairy but, for every kid I’ve seen get a D1 scholarship or get drafted I’ve seen 100 who wound up hating their parents and getting into trouble.

Am I saying you should not work hard for your goals? NO
You should teach your child to set goals and to go for them with everything they have.
But, there has to be a balance.

You have to be the voice of reason. You’re the adult. Act like it.
Your child playing 100 games a year is not going to make him a pro player or D1 prospect.
He’s more likely to burn out, wind up hating you…or worse you’ll put him in a situation where he quits or continues to play just to satisfy you.

Yogi Berra did not play an organized game of baseball until he was 17.

Your kid is going to grow up to be a husband, father, have a career, maybe become a leader.
What kind of man is he going to be?
Don’t screw him up! all your kid wants is love. He’s your kid, give it to him!
—-
Paul Reddick is the Director of the Yogi Berra Baseball School, Author of the Picture Perfect Pitcher, and the creator of the 90mphclub.com