re: Whoever started coaching catchers on 1 knee

Thxs for sharing.

Do a film review and you'll see that the number of times a guy has to block a ball from a knee is far less than the number of times a catcher has to steal a strike at the bottom of the zone., and for the record, athletic guys can still move and block balls effectively.

Need receipts..? Well in 2017 and 18 , pitches taken by hitters in "borderline area", the strike rate was 35.2% and 35.5%. After adopting the knee down approach, in 2019, that number jumped to 43.6%, and in 2020, it was 45.2%.

In in 2022, the number of passed balls and wild pitches fell off a cliff. From 6.9 per 1000 pitches to 5.7 per 1000. Comparing a 10% gain in called strikes to a 0.7% passed ball rate, a reasonable person can see the gain here and deal with the occasional mishap. Conveniently, this is about the time nearly all MLB programs implemented the one knee set up. Also around this time, they moved to the electronic pitch sign delivery, so you get fewer cross ups.

One can't empirically say with certainty that the one knee set up is solely responsible, but YOU have to deal with the fact that the game is changing, and you have to accept it.

Anyone with youngsters playing the game, if you're not training them to the latest, age appropriate techniques, you're doing them a disservice.

I caught in the 90’s and we did it then. You catch spring summer and fall ball and not take a break sometimes. Everyone knows who can steal and who can’t. If there was a threat of running then you’d just squat. Plus it’s an art to it depending on right or left handed pitching determines what leg you take a knee. Then you can slide laterally for the block. But I’m sure you know more than 3 decades of baseball coaches pro to high school.

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Yep, and our man Skip hates it just as much as we do.

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Not a good example though. Yes, Skip is a former catcher...but he himself also later had to get double-hip replacement surgery, presumably from having to squat so much over the years as a catcher. This so-called "new" catching technique should be less stressful on the hip joints.

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this is false Moving toward or away from the kickstand is a better blocking reaction and efficiency The only drop off is what would generally be a wild pitch well outside the catchers box. Look I am over 50. My kid catches and I argued w him for years. Then I researched it. I also watch the best young catchers around and blocks and controlled blocks are better than ever

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I call bullshite.

Proof: my eyes, the recent run of runners taking bases and scoring from balls bouncing to the backstop at all levels of the game.

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I had the pleasure of watching one of the best HS catchers I’ve seen this last weekend he had knee down and a modified kick stand set up. He was a stud.

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Name?

I was arguing/discussing this with my 8 y.o. grandsons coach the other day. He called his "buddy' who is catcher for a "major college" program. He said they all teach that as the correct way!
Grandson was constantly missing balls outside!

It was manny sanguillune. Pittsburgh pirates 1970s

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All the catchers in the history of baseball from 1870 - 2019 were neanderthals who knew nothing.

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Saying that's how it was always done is the laziest argument of all time.

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Indeed, same sort of stuff was being said when catchers (Johny Bench specifically) first started using hinged gloves and catching with one hand unlike all the Neanderthals (with a few exceptions) from 1870-1970.