BLOCK & RECOVER

A block is only as valuable as the play we can make after we've executed it. If we haven't given ourselves the ability to get to the ball quickly after firing a block, runners could advance on us and put our team in a difficult position it otherwise should have been in. Assuming we did our job by recognizing the ball heading for the dirt and firing a successful block, we need to make sure that we can get to the ball quickly and be in a position to make a play as soon as possible.

There will be some differences when it comes to the games of baseball and softball. The primary difference is the speed of the game and what that allows the catcher the time to accomplish after firing a block.

In softball, if the runner takes off after recognizing that the ball is heading into the dirt, catchers will not often have the time to get to their feet before making the throw. It's one of the reasons that softball catchers have less room for error than baseball catchers. The ball can't be much further than an arm's reach away from their body. If it is, the runner will likely be safe. This is the one play where we do advocate, for softball catchers only, to default to a throw from their knees without spending the time to stand up. But again, that approach is only acceptable if the athlete has established highly efficient and healthy throwing patterns. Otherwise, they risk injury. If the ball gets further away from their body than an arm's reach, they'll have to approach the play the same as baseball catchers and hope there is still some time to make the throw. In those situations, and as a default in the game of baseball, the catcher is going to want to find the quickest path to the ball and back to their feet to make the throw to the base the runner is advancing to.

One of the critical mistakes I see a lot of catchers making is popping up off the ground immediately only to have to go back down to field the ball, and then stand back up to make the throw. This is a monumental waste of time. Now, if the ball gets more than five to seven feet away from their body, is there any way to avoid this? Nope, we just have to live with that as a result of not keeping the ball close to our body. Chalk this up as just one more reason keeping the ball in front of our body is simply not good enough. We must keep the ball close to our body after a block. What we want to do is stay low as we work to the ball so that when we stand up, we are also working into the throw and building momentum towards our target once we have the ball in our hand. The approach is called the "Plant and Pivot".

The first step we are going to take will help ensure that our body will be positioned over the ball in a way that makes it easy to pick up and immediately start throwing. That step is sending our glove and throwing hand fist to the ground, comfortably out in front of us in the direction of the ball. I say comfortably because if the ball is 10 feet away from our body, we don't want to extend our entire upper body to the ground to get our hands to actually reach the ball. That isn't necessary or conducive to moving quickly and under control. The ball, regardless of how far out in front of our body it is, should simply be lined up in the middle of both hands.

We want the throwing hand to stay in a fist to avoid the palm of our hand getting a bunch of dirt or gravel on it, which could make handling the ball more difficult once we retrieve it. Once we send our hands in the direction of the ball, we're going to swing our body to the side of it, still keeping our upper body as low as possible.

From here, we are going to rake the ball into our throwing hand using our glove, and then we can stand up and look for an out on the base paths. By approaching the ball in this way, we guarantee that we only have to stand up fully one time as we make our way to the ball.

You might ask, "But what about balls that get far away from us?" Well, on those occasions, we're either going to shuffle to the balls that aren't that far away but are far enough that the "plant and pivot" approach won't get our body over the ball. Or, we're going to have to stand up, run to the ball, and field it the same way we would a bunt and hope to make the play.

FINAL THOUGHTS - BLOCK AND RECOVER:

Remember this phrase, "A block is only ever as good as the play we can make after we've executed it." This is the brutal reality of the position catchers play. We may do everything we can to train our brain to recognize the ball heading towards the ground and then develop the muscle memory to fire a fundamentally sound block, but if we can't make a play afterward, none of it will actually matter. Saving time whenever we can is vital to our success behind the plate and adds so much value when we are able to execute these skills in a game. Blocking is the one skill that separates the great catchers from the good ones, and how we attack the ball afterward will determine how successful they will be at every level of each game.