LL 9-10 - Crash Course for Catchers?

[Cumberland Blues]

I'm coaching a 9-10 LL team again this year.  Against my loud protests - our league decided to bump most of our best 10yr olds up to the 11-12 Majors division.  This has left most of our minors division teams really short on pitchers & catchers.  I've had pretty good success working w/ kids who have never pitched before, getting them so they can at least get through an inning or two here and there without embarrassing themselves.  While on the catching side, I've always been fortunate to have good athletes who wanted to catch and were pretty good at it without much intervention on my part.  This year, I have a very young team - with only 2 kids who have ever caught before (one of whom is also my only pitcher who has more than 1 inning of experience), and 2-3 reluctant volunteers who are not the most athletic kids by any stretch.  Anyone got any good tips for breaking in new catchers?  I'm conceding that we're going to give up a zillion SB this year - I'm mostly concerned with improving receiving skills and minimizing trips to the backstop so we don't have too many 40 minute innings.

 

[Doug Beerabelli]

If they can block a wrench, they can block a baseball.
 
 
EDIT:   found this:   http://www.stack.com/2014/06/08/youth-catcher-drills/

 

[leftfieldlegacy]

I'm coaching a 9-10 LL team again this year.  Against my loud protests - our league decided to bump most of our best 10yr olds up to the 11-12 Majors division.  This has left most of our minors division teams really short on pitchers & catchers.  I've had pretty good success working w/ kids who have never pitched before, getting them so they can at least get through an inning or two here and there without embarrassing themselves.  While on the catching side, I've always been fortunate to have good athletes who wanted to catch and were pretty good at it without much intervention on my part.  This year, I have a very young team - with only 2 kids who have ever caught before (one of whom is also my only pitcher who has more than 1 inning of experience), and 2-3 reluctant volunteers who are not the most athletic kids by any stretch.  Anyone got any good tips for breaking in new catchers?  I'm conceding that we're going to give up a zillion SB this year - I'm mostly concerned with improving receiving skills and minimizing trips to the backstop so we don't have too many 40 minute innings.

If many of the teams are in the same boat maybe you could get together with the other coaches and suggest to the league that they place a moratorium on stealing for the first half of the season. The catchers can have some time to learn the position without making every low pitch a race to the backstop and where every walk ends up on third base. This was done one year when my son played. I think he was 8 or 9 at the time. Expect some push back from the coach who has the one kid who can actually catch and reach second with his throws. 

 

[Fred not Lynn]

10 Year old catchers pretty much never throw anyone out. A single is a double - just plan on it.
 
If you're really into winning games, get your catchers and pitchers to spend WAY too much time on the catcher-to-the-backstop-pitcher-covers-home play on passed ball/wild pitch. If you're more interested in developing ballplayers, balance your practice time appropriately.

 

[Skiponzo]

I run a drill where I put 3 balls along the backstop wall without the catcher seeing. Them have pitcher and catcher in position and pitcher pretends to throw. Once he "releases" catcher has to turn find a ball and throw to second. Gets them to quickly identify where the ball is and make accurate throws. You can add base runners as well.

Despite this what Fred says is true. Expect most singles to end up as doubles.

 

[DeJesus Built My Hotrod]

Teaching blocking skills at this level is huge.  The mantra "knees replace feet" should be in every catchers head and you have to teach them - and each and every one - not to pick at the ball with their glove.  You also have to teach them to trust their equipment and not to turn their head when a ball is bounced (lest it hits them in their exposed areas like their neck).    It is worth spending some time bouncing balls in to them center, left and right.  I know some guys like to run drills where the player knows where the ball will go but I prefer to just throw it randomly - the pattern drills aren't what a player will see in the game unless a pitcher is consistently wild to the same spot.  I've seen it but its rare.   Anyhow, there are lots of great drills out there on blocking skills on line.
 
A guy I know who raised his son to be a catcher used to run a clinic where he would come out in front of a bunch of other coaches and throw balls at slightly harder than soft toss speed at him to show that the players can learn that the equipment works.  I don't know if I would feel comfortable doing that but it was convincing.

 

[Cumberland Blues]

Thanks guys.  Yeah, I'm most interested in getting them to be effective blockers - because most of my pitchers are just as inexperienced as the catchers.  If we throw out a single base stealer at second this season, I'll be pleasantly shocked.
 

If many of the teams are in the same boat maybe you could get together with the other coaches and suggest to the league that they place a moratorium on stealing for the first half of the season. The catchers can have some time to learn the position without making every low pitch a race to the backstop and where every walk ends up on third base. This was done one year when my son played. I think he was 8 or 9 at the time. Expect some push back from the coach who has the one kid who can actually catch and reach second with his throws. 

 
We'll definitely do this for intra-town games because we're all in the same boat - but we're a small, rural league so we play a bunch of games against teams from other towns in the area too.  I expect those teams to run mercilessly on us (as they tried to last year when I had good catchers, and we cut them down).  We can usually talk other towns into at least a moratorium on going home from 3rd on WP/PB - that's just a recipe for a disastrous collision with inexperienced players.

 

[Skiponzo]

A blocking drill I've been using is a variation of what Dejesus does. Throw it at them in various locations and speeds telling them to drop and block it with their body vice glove. I normally give them a glove that is just a flat piece (can't close it) so if they try to use the glove it's only as a blocker. Then I have them slowly creep toward me and inch at a time. This teaches them to move into the ball vice falling away from it.

 

[Fred not Lynn]

Make sure your catchers know not to try to throw out a guy stealing 2nd when there's a guy on 3rd....10 Year olds always fall for that trick.

 

[Heinie Wagner]

Make sure your catchers know not to try to throw out a guy stealing 2nd when there's a guy on 3rd....10 Year olds always fall for that trick.

 
Our town's AAA league (very few 9's, mostly 10's, 11's who don't get selected for majors) doesn't allow stealing home for the first 10 games. Many coaches don't see this move, taking home on the throw to 2nd as a "steal" so most coaches will have catchers not throw, despite the fact that even the best catchers at this level can use all the practice they can get at throwing to second in game like situations.
 
Another classic is when there's a runner on third and the batter walks, don't stop at first, just go right to second, most teams will just watch this happen at this level rather than trying to get the out. It's great when a manager moves up the next year from AAA to majors and tries this, it doesn't work so well with the older kids.