Catchers and throws to third base

In the summer of 1998, I had the pleasure of coaching under former 8 year major league catcher Ed Ott.  “Otter” played for the Pittsburgh Pirates where he helped win a World Series in 1979 and finished his playing career with the California Angels.  Before one game, I was talking to our catcher about some of the opposing hitters and I asked him if he had picked up any catching tips from Otter.  He said that he had and gave me an example of a small tip that has improved his throwing times to third base.


As the photo to the right shows, an obvious problem a catcher has when a runner tries to steal third base is that a right handed batter is in his direct path towards third base.  As a result, a catcher must clear the runner before making the throw to third.  The YouTube clip below shows what I’m talking about.  Around the 2-4 second mark, the catcher steps behind the batter before throwing.

• A catcher obviously would not do this with a left handed hitter batting.
• Setting up farther back can have an impact on the catcher’s ability to keep a pitch in the strike zone (framing).  The farther back the catcher is, the more gravity will pull the pitch down.  A catcher’s first priority is his receiving so he’ll have to weight the pros and cons of each depending on the situation.