by Coach Griff
Pitchers aren’t the brightest bunch, despite their best intentions.
As a catcher, your job will be to guide them through what pitches to throw in what situations.
As you build a relationship with each pitcher, and learn their strengths and weaknesses, pitches will happily relinquish this to a catcher they trust.
When pitchers fall behind in the count, they are more likely to give up a hit.
When they get ahead, the odds are stacked massively in your favour.
Understanding the balance of this dynamic and how it changes each pitch will guide your decision on the next. As they get further ahead, you can call increasingly difficult pitches to hit, especially once they’re on two strikes.
When pitchers throw 4 balls to a hitter, they have a 100% chance of making it to first base. It’s a much higher percentage than when they swing the bat.
Even the best Major League hitters, in the best possible counts, still only hit .407 in the best of circumstances. Less than half the chance of a walk.
You are always better off calling a slow, easy strike (over the middle of the plate) that encourages the hitter to swing than trying to get them to swing and miss on three balls.
There is no perfect way to call a game, and sometimes the best possible pitch (thrown to perfection) will get swatted over the fence.
Calling a game is about making the decision you believe to be right at the time, and making continual adjustments based on the hitter’s approach to that at-bat.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdBILI84Uds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tYYcmyCkZ8
Being on the same page with your pitcher will always make things easier.
To ensure you’re always aligned, catchers signal to pitchers what they’d like the pitcher to throw (typically) through the use of their fingers.
As a general rule of thumb:
1 = Fastball
2 = Curve
3 = Slider