Where Catchers Are Built

We believe a proper stance is key to a catcher being effective at receiving, blocking and throwing. Our initial focus with every catcher we work with will be on their catching stances; primary, secondary and single knee. We approach the teaching stance from a "textbook" starting point recognizing that every athlete has a different body type, degree of strength, flexibility and mobility. We will teach standard primary and secondary stances before introducing a single knee stance.
 

Catcher pop times get a lot of attention as it is a relatively easy measurable for catchers. As much attention as it gets, we place it third on our priority list for catchers. When you consider what a catcher does throughout a game, receiving is by far the most important skill as it makes up over 80% of their game activity. So, we focus a lot on proper receiving technique. It doesn't mean we ignore blocking, throwing or specialty plays. We just place more time and effort on receiving, followed by blocking, throwing and finally special plays.
 

The catching position is truly the "field general" on the diamond. They are the only player that has a complete view of the field on every pitch. The catcher has to be fully aware of the game situation and know what to do based upon the situation and what happens with the next pitch. Because of this mental demand on the catcher we approach instruction with the intent to teach the "why", not just the "how". Catchers need to understand what each game situation (inning, outs, count, batter, base runners, etc.), play and even pitch dictates that they do.