Quote:
Originally Posted by Rufus
I was watching the a LL WS qualifier this weekend and noticed that the catchers from Washington were "pulling" pitches into the strike zone, sometimes by seemingly large distances.
I coach catchers and one of the things I stress is that they shouldn't "pull" pitches that are not strikes and try to make them look like strikes. I've been told umpires view this as disrespectful and an attempt to deceive. By all means I coach them to catch strikes as strikes (i.e., not to let the glove move after being caught and there are framing techniques that don't involve pulling pitches).
Can you all help me understand how you view "pulling" pitches and whether or not this is a hot-button issue for you? I'm not implying/saying you would change your calls based on what the catcher is/isn't doing (you know your strike zone and if the ball was in there). My interest is in trying to figure out how best to communicate to the kids I coach how you view the whole issue of framing (good, keep strikes strikes) and pulling (not good, trying to make a ball a strike).
Thanks in advance.
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I don't care where the catcher catches the pitch. I've seen what I need to see before then. I just use him catching the ball as a timing mechanism. If I'm getting flack from the coach because the catcher is framing, I give the catcher an opportunity (between innings) to let the coach know where the pitch was and it was framed nicely.
-Josh