touching a catcher's back

[ozzy6900]

I never agreed with umpires putting their hands on F2. I try to break rookies to our association of this habit because I have been told by many F2's that they really don't like this.

Now I've heard everything from "I use it to figure out where I set up." to "I want to make sure where the catcher is going." You should be able to tell where you set up without touching F2. I usually tell my students that if you need to reach out and touch F2 to set up, it's time to get a seeing eye dog! As far as "knowing where the catcher is going" just step back and keep your eye on F2. He usually moves to the right but by dropping back that step, you can adjust for any move that F2 makes.