Diamond Tips – Pitch Framing

As a former umpire, I have logged a lot of time calling games from behind the plate. From that vantage point, if a catcher moves his entire arm to bring his mitt into the strike zone, I would rarely give him the call. Teach your catchers that framing a pitch is done by rolling the wrist, not bending the elbow and pulling mitt into the center of your body. Imagine catching around the baseball, and rolling the wrist into the strike zone. Inside pitch, roll wrist in. Outside pitch, roll wrist out. High pitch, roll wrist down. Low Pitch, receive ball with thumb parallel to ground, and pull up.

Work on that in practice, and see how many borderline calls you get.

—tim