The most dynamic position in baseball, and arguably the most important in boy’s youth baseball, is the Catcher position. The Catcher has to frame, block, catch, and throw, while mentally being prepared for any situation the game throws his way. In the Falls Elite program, the Catcher not only receives pitches, but controls the infield, calls plays and pitches, and sets the tone for team leadership and toughness.
While there are many ways to measure how effective a Catcher is, some of the more position-specific metrics we look at are: release times, arm strength (in MPH), and passed ball %.
Our Catcher’s Coach (Jacob) has done a great job stressing fundamentals and ways to improve their skills over the past 6-8 weeks. On average, our Catchers have:
- Reduced their release times from 1.13 seconds to 1.01 seconds
- Set bullpen session “best” with a 0.79 release time
- Improved their arm strength from 42.3 MPH to 46.2 MPH
- Set bullpen session “best” with a 57 MPH throw
The other half of the “battery” has been equally impressive. Our Pitchers have worked very hard at consistently throwing hard strikes. Starting off our season with a great learning season from Olympic medalist and former MLB pitcher Don August, our top young arms have taken his guidance and improved their performance by:
- Adding 1.3 MPH to their fastballs
- Setting bullpen session “best” with a 57 MPH fastball
- Improving accuracy by throwing 5% more strikes
- Setting bullpen session “best” with a 72% strikes thrown rate
If you are not experiencing the same dynamic improvements, contact us for individual or team coaching lessons, or consider us as a home for your young player in 2018.