Hey there swing smarter family. Joey Myers here from hittingperformancelab.com and today's episode is an absolute master class that no baseball or softball coach, parent, or athlete should miss. Joining me is coach Jerry Weinstein, one of the most respected minds in the game, period. With over six decades of coaching experience at nearly every level from team USA to the Colorado Rockies, coach Weinstein is a living encyclopedia of catcher development, game management, and baseball strategy. You've probably seen his wisdom all over x, formerly Twitter at, at j juan catching, where he shares daily gold nuggets for catchers, coaches, and baseball lifers alike.
But here's the deal. This episode isn't just for catchers. We unpack what makes a great game caller behind the dish, how youth catchers can build leadership without burning out, why the one knee catching revolution is more than a fad, and how busy parents can actually support their athletes development without becoming overbearing or overwhelmed. Whether your kid's just picking up the gear, calling their own pitches, or you're trying to get more strategic as a coach, coach Weinstein drops practical field tested advice you can use this week. Plus, we hit on hot button topics like framing in the age of robo umps, effective velocity with his longtime friend, Perry Husband, and how to handle pressure with maturity even at 12 u.
So if you've ever wondered what really matters behind the plate, this episode will flip the lights on. Let's jump in. Hey, coach. Can you hear me okay? Yep.
Gotcha. Cool. Are you at home now? I am for a few days. Yep.
Are you? And then you so are you based? Where are you based out of? Is that Chicago? No.
San Luis Obispo, but I've I've, you know, I work remotely or I go in periodically with a big club. I was just in, just in Sacramento with them. Okay. Very nice. Well, yeah, that's a pretty cool deal.
You said you were a spring trading. That's got you got the free pass over there. I'm sure they're paying your way food and the whole thing. So you get to teach. You get to teach for a living.
That's that's my my contract. Right? Very cool. Well, hey. I I got a lot of questions to ask you.
A lot of good questions. None of these are gonna be we're attacking you or any of that, so don't don't worry about that. And I'll get this all done and published. Hopefully, maybe not next week, but the week after, we should get that because I have coach Zen Penny, who's another hitting instructor I'll have next week that I'm gonna publish his. So we'll get yours in in a couple weeks or so, and I'll get you all the information and Yeah.
Perfect. Sound good? Yep. So first first question or two, I just more of self just in interest in catching. So I was an outfielder.
I was as far away from catching as possible. And, you know, I played back in the day when catchers stood on two feet and just crouched down like a normal catching position. So what really prompted, I noticed over the last probably five, ten years, the the this, like, one knee thing? Like, what what changed in these last five or ten years with that? Well, better performance.
That's that's why, you know, professional baseball is very baseball in general is very slow to to change. It's a pretty static situation. And and overnight, just about everybody went down on a knee. This was, first day of spring of, Major League Baseball this year. Every catcher caught on a knee.
Mhmm. And the reason they did that because they perform better. It's easier on their body, requires less flexibility, balance, strength, and, they get better performance. It's very, very simple. They they don't do stuff that that doesn't help them win games.
They just they're it just doesn't happen. Sure. I know you've probably seen some of the detractors or the the cons of, I guess, the the knee down. Why can you address maybe some of those objections? I know some of them are I think some of them where they have a hard time blocking certain balls or blocking balls in general, maybe certain sides, maybe strikes depending on where the umpire is at on their side or a little bit more deceptive.
Can you address some of those? Well, I can't I can't address what individual people think. I just don't know what what they're basing their their decisions on. I just know that the data supports, receiving, blocking, and throwing from a one knee situation relative. You know, the the play the biggest the the biggest, objection to one knee is generally in in the in the blocking situation because, the and they assume that just because you're on a in a traditional two foot stance that you would block the the same pitch, but the fact of the matter is you probably wouldn't anyway.
And and the fact of the matter is also that when you're down on a knee, you're closer to the the ball in the dirt. You don't have to make that transitional move to get down. And, it just the the data supports it. And, you know, and if you're if you're if you believe in fact based decisions, you'd you'd look at the data, and that's I have no dog in the plight. I don't care if you catch standing on your head.
If if it gives you a better chance to block, throw, and and receive, and it helps us reduce the, run expectancy, then I'm all for it. And it's very it's very individualized. And I I I if a guy catches better in a traditional stance, I I have no problem with that. It's it's all, based on on the, quantifiable data that tells us we're saving more runs by using a particular technique. Mhmm.
And what I like my my big technicality, so I'm a hitting guy, and I love a safe a safe swing, swing that doesn't wear the body down, namely, like, the lower back or even the cervicals in the spine. So when you say that this is a lot safer on their body, I I would I assume hips hips and ankles, things like that? Yeah. I just think that, when you when you have to support your weight on two feet and and have two points of contact relative to three points of contact that, there there's less stress on your body. I think that's one of the biggest reasons that that catchers adopted it from, from Jump Street that just after the game, they weren't they weren't as fatigued, and it just didn't require as as much, effort to catch from from a a knee down situation.
There was more stability unless unless you didn't have to balance this, the balance component of of that particular stance was not as as, as, stringent as it is within a traditional sense. But, again, very individualized. You know, Higashioka catches primarily in a in a very low profile, two foot stance. He mixes in one knee down, and and now Rheo Mutoh is throwing more from a traditional two foot stance. And, but again, there there's a a large standard deviation relative to what guys are doing with that with that one knee stance in throwing situations.
A lot of catchers are now transitioning from that one knee to more of an angled, knee up and and and traditional stance when the runner breaks. And and so, if you're watching up baseball and pay close enough attention, you'll see a lot of things that, how people organize their body, and it's very, very different based on their their physical constraints and physical abilities and so on and so forth. But the bottom line is is production, and and they're gonna whether it's a hybrid where I catch on a knee down with no runners on base and a traditional stance with runners on base or or or in certain situations. But what we're seeing right now is predominantly knee down stances. Are you seeing pretty pretty big cut or drastic cut in the pop times from single knee to double knee up?
No. Basically, the same because you're you're people say, oh, he's down on the knee. How can he throw? Well, they don't catch the ball down on the knee. They make a transition move.
The runner breaks, and they come off that knee. Mhmm. The guys that are are locked down on that knee, they they don't throw very well. But the ones that that and there are very few in the big leagues that do that, and and and the ones that do it, they're working not to do it. And so they're you're seeing a lot of transition moves to get get up into a more of a two foot stance when the runner breaks.
So I think one of the things where you can be vulnerable is to the fake break, but we don't see very many fake breaks in in, in big league baseball because the hitters don't like it because it breaks their their concentration or focus when they get a lot of movement on the bases. So, consequently, we don't see a lot of fake break action, but I think we probably could or should or do see more of that in, amateur baseball. And so that to my question on that, so amateur baseball, you're gonna see all kinds of different things. And so what would your what would your advice be to a youth catcher that may be listening to this that's seeing those late break runners? When when you're seeing fake breaks or delayed field type things, and I I just think that you have to evaluate the situation.
And and when you make that transitional move, it has to be smooth and minimal enough where you're not detracting from the umpire's ability to call it a strike. Gotcha. So stick it. Stick stick the call, basically. No.
No. No. Basically, minimum body movement. So you're not really jumping up when that runner breaks that you make a minimal, maybe a knee up move or or a a minimal move to to make to get to that transition to be able to throw. But you're and the receiving pieces, it does doesn't change a lot for you in terms of of, of of holding the pitch.
I think that's what you're referring to, sticking pitch or whatever. In in a running situation, you know, there's going to be, a transitional move to get your body in the line to make the throw. You gotta make sure that you don't pop straight up and block the umpire out because in that case, he's if he doesn't see it, he's gotta call a pitch a ball. And I think that sometimes you have the opportunity to in those situations where it's a running situation and maybe you need the pitch that there's there's kind of a transitional move where it's a catch load and throw rather than gaining alignment momentum so you have a chance to get the pitch and also throw the runner out. Unfortunately, with the really premium blue chip runners, that's probably not an option unless they don't get a really good jumper.
You get a particularly good pitch to throw on where you can make a good transfer or, your pitcher has got a good leg and and gives you a chance to throw him out because he's quicker to the plate. Mhmm. Gotcha. My last kind of interest question before I get to some of my list of questions is, would you guys think of the ABS system? Some of the guys you talk to, what do you think about it?
I I I kinda like the challenge piece. The the straight ABS system is, I'm not not a big fan of. I don't think the hitters will be a big or the, the pitchers will be a big fan of. It'll it'll really, shrink the strikes. So the strikes are shrinking right now because, the, umpires are not calling fringe pitches strikes, at at the same rate they were in previous years.
Last year, the SL plus on True Media strike looking plus was a 0.1. This year, it's down to 96, which is a considerable drop of balls that are not swung at, that are not being called strikes that are fifty fifty shadow or straballs because, there's there's no buffer zone anymore. It used to be that balls that were close to the strike zone, if the empire called it a strike, he'd get credit for getting it right. If he called it a ball, he'd also get credit for calling it right. And now there there there is no buffer zone.
It's either a ball or a strike, and the umpires are evaluated on whether they got it right or not. And and the trend is they're trending again, we're we're talking about a small sampling here in 2025, but they're trending toward, those really close pitches are more often are getting called balls rather than strikes. That will change with if they do and again, in in all of minor leagues, or in double a and triple a, they have a challenge system, or maybe it's just triple a. I'm not sure. Whereas, any of those pitches can be challenged.
So now they'll, you know, I I think that's that's it's good for the emperors. It shows how good they are. It'll be good for the the hitters and and pitchers and catchers and to showing showing them that maybe their judgment not is not always as good as they think it is. But but it'll be good for the fans because it's interesting, in when that thing comes up on the board and you show a pitch that's a sixteenth of an inch off the plate and it's called a ball and they challenge it, I think it I think it the fans will like it as well. Yeah.
I like that too. I I don't like I don't want the umpires to be completely replaced by AI. I want that human element as well, and I do like the challenge system. And I don't know if two is the answer or three or one or 10. I don't know what it is, but it was kinda fun to watch some of the whether it was I think it was during spring training.
It was a couple of catchers or one catcher, can't remember what team he was playing for. He had a hard time with it, and so he lost both strikes or pitcher, whoever it was. But there was one catcher, who I can't remember who it was. He was really good with it. And so you don't lose it you don't lose it if you guess right, you know, if you do it right, and there's a strategy to it.
So baseball is such a strategy sport. I I actually love the idea. Well, I I I know as a fact that that our minor league catchers over time, they they learn the strike zone better and and because they if they don't challenge a pitch and they come back in the dugout, they can look on the, on the, computer, see if it was a see if it was a ball or strike so they learn when they can challenge and when they can't. And certainly, certain times in the game real early in the game, maybe you don't wanna challenge, but and then maybe later in the game, you you do. But, just having the, the dashboard that you can look at, and over time, you learn what is a strike and what isn't a strike.
Mhmm. What do you think about framing and the ABS system? Do you think framing's gonna die out? Do you think it's gonna change? How do you think that's gonna affect that at the end?
We we're only talking about two challenges, and they could lose those two challenges in the first three innings. And, again, there might be some situations where, catchers in in certain situations with no runners on, maybe even bait, hitters into into challenging. And by by the way, they caught the ball or whatever. I'm not sure if that's gonna happen, but I could see that there'll be some discussion on that. And and, there'll be some gamesmanship relative to guys forcing or encouraging guys to challenge when you know it's a strike, but you caught it poorly and they thought it was a ball or you get some flat coming out of the dugout.
But it happened the the challenge happened so fast. The the dugout piece probably doesn't doesn't come into play very much. I like that. So maybe using it as a strategy to to bait or entrap players to to burn off one. Right.
Exactly. I love that. So, so a couple of my my questions here that I have written down. So pitch calling is a huge responsibility for catchers. So what are some simple strategies parents can teach their young catchers at home to start mastering this skill without overwhelming their schedules?
Well, number one, pitch call to the to the pitcher's strengths. And, I think just from a setup, especially with with young players and and young pitchers and and even big league pitchers that command is we we think the best target hitters in the world at great command and the average misses in the in the 11 to 14 inch range. And so I think sitting in the middle of the plate, and pitching to contact, we talk about the rule of 68. Really, it's the rule of 70 or 71 that, about 70% of all fairly hit balls in the big leagues are outs. And so you have to rely on on contact.
Even hard hit balls that, were to, 55, 50 six percent success rate, the the the odds are still okay. And when you get in leverage counts and if the ball's hit hard, chances are it's gonna be caught half the time and if it stays in the yard. And so, pitching to contact and pitching to the pitcher's strengths, is is important. I think that, that young pitchers and young catchers tend to pitch away from contact, and and they're trying to throw perfect pitches, and this is not a game of perfect. And so just having that, number one, with young with the younger guys, you know, just staying in the middle of the plate and and and, and not trying to make perfect pitches and and forcing swings is is a good starting place for a philosophy as relative to pitch calling.
Now it becomes a lot more sophisticated once you get into professional baseball and certainly in the big leagues. The the data the the amount of data that you have and and the amount of, of command that that professional pitchers have relative to amateur pitchers is significant. Yeah. Because it's crazy is that so I coach my son's team. He's back here behind me, but this is a younger picture of him.
So he's 12. And when you when you're pitching for a strikeout or even swing and miss, you gotta you gotta throw three pitches, right, for three strikes. Is it a lot of the kids in our league are upswingers? And it's not not by design. It's just that they don't know how to control the barrel yet.
And so throwing at the armpit or at the top of the strike zone is always in kind of an easy easy way to just throw it in there, and they're gonna swing and miss, swing and miss, swing and miss. But you're talking about if you do a perfect perfect inning or what they call immaculate inning, nine nine pitches, three strikeouts, that's still nine pitches. If you're pitching a contact, then you're talking, hey. What if what if I get out of this inning in three to five pitches? Because you got your defense playing behind you, and that's a lot better deal.
And and typically, three strikeouts in a row three times is is a challenge to do. There's gonna be some balls mixed in there. It might be some hit hit by pitches, things like that. So I I'm really kinda giving a little bit more ear to pitch into contact and weak contact, trying to get them weak contact like a Greg Maddux style. So I really like that.
Well, one of the things in in amateur baseball, you have umpires who are not professional umpires. And and when you get hitters start swinging and and a guy pounding the strikes on, they're gonna their tendency is to call them all more strikes. And when you're scattering a ball all over and it's ball, ball, ball, and then you throw a close pitch, it tends to be called a ball. And I think that they get in the strike calling mode. I think that that that's a good thing.
I love that. For coaches juggling busy practices, how can they efficiently train young catchers to manage games effectively, especially when time is limited? Well, with limited time, it's very difficult to develop catchers from a a, a pitch calling standpoint, unless you keep it really simple. Because in order to do this thing right, you have to have an after action review with your catchers and your pitchers relative to the pitch calling process. And and, and so with limited time, it becomes difficult.
I just think that that, allowing the catcher to call the game and and figure it out on his own and and not second guessing the the the pitch call. I because even in the big leagues, it's not the pitch that you throw. Oh, you should have thrown a change up there instead of a fast ball or a breaking ball instead of a change up. It's usually the quality of the pitch. It's the execution.
And, it's not the type of pitch that that gets gets you beat. It's usually the the execution. So, again, I think that, you can have those conversations during the inning between innings, but but always in a supportive mode and and, you know, what were you thinking about here? And and, at our level, there there is always one best pitch, but there also is an option line of pitches, relative to what's best to throw in a particular situation. But, on on the amateur level, I just think a well executed strike is is a good pitch no matter what whether it's a curveball, fastball, or change up, or whatever.
Right. So I think that's really what we're we're aiming for. Yeah. What we find here locally is that we have a lot of coaches that are calling pitches. And for me, I actually I'm a big fan of effective velocity.
My good friend, Perry Husband, and and so we use effective are you familiar with effective velocity coach? Or Perry Husband's one of my best friends. I've been involved with Perry for twenty plus years. I love it. I love it.
It's one of my one of my best buddies too. And so part of my challenge, I let my pitchers and catchers, I kinda give them the philosophy. We talk about the main just foundational philosophy of effective velocity. And so we give them maybe three to five different pitch sequences just as a model, and it say it's three pitch three pitches or four pitches possibly is an optional one. And I just have them look at that and memorize that and just pick one or two of those sequences at at twelve u.
And this is more competitive rec. It's not travel ball. So travel ball, you'd probably need three or four maybe sequences pass possibly. But I like my my pitcher and my catcher to actually call their own game. But there are a lot of coaches that wanna control game calling and pitch calling and especially going through high school.
So what are what are your thoughts on that? Teaching the catchers and pitchers how to do it or just let the coaches do it? Well, I I I really don't think it matters if you do it right. I think one of the things, and you talk about sequences, for me, it's more about one pitch at a time. And my the next pitch I call is gonna be based on how that pitcher threw this pitch Right.
How the hitter reacted to that pitch and where I think his attention zone is going on the next pitch. So I try not to get too far ahead of myself. And, I and that's even a a case in in professional baseball. I think you have to use your eyes. I think that we have to find a balance between the iPad and the eyes.
As far as the the coach calling the game, I have no problem with that. I think the, that the young players then they learn how the coach calls the game. And as long as you have a discourse during or after the game as to, hey. Why were you doing this? What was your thinking here?
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And now back to the show. To, change lanes and and during the game based on what they're seeing and what they're feeling, change the pitch without feeling that that there's any retribution here from the coach because you didn't throw the pitch that he called. I think it's the the player's game, and you have to give them the the latitude to make, those decisions during the game. Right. Call an audible.
Yeah. I love that. I love the idea of one pitch at a time, like, maybe having a sequence idea of that, but then you you you really don't know until you throw that pitch and how the hitter reacts and where their attention is on what you're gonna do next time anyway. Because you could think you're gonna go fastball down in a way then maybe a a splitty or or a change up in that same spot, but it drops drops off. And then you can go fastball up and in, but you could think that way.
But what if the hitter's looking in that down and away position and he swings and hit and hits it, you know, Or or he swings out in front of it or, you know, different things like that. So I I agree. I think I think it does kinda have to go one pitch at a time on that. Well, I I I think there's a lot of way there's a lot of ways to do it, but, ultimately, when we get on the youth level, if we get the hitter to swing the bat, we got a chance to get him out. It's the same thing in the big leagues.
Most of the time, you get a hitter out with his pitch. If you look at a guy like Albert Pujols, who's probably one of the best fastball hitters of his generation, 50% of his outs were on fastballs, and they were thrown within his swing zone and outside of his solid contact zone. And so, getting a pitter a hitter to swing, and you have a better chance when you you throw his pitch because there's probably a better chance of him swinging at his pitch, and as long as you're able to locate it. Right. You've emphasized the catcher's contribution to a team's win.
What's one key thing parents can do to help their young athlete understand their value behind the plate even on tough days? And here in the valley, we're in, Middle Middle California. It gets super hot during the summer, so 10 degrees, 15 degrees. So what what would you what one key thing parents can do to help their young athlete understand their value behind the plate? Well, just getting behind the plate is is valuable.
You know, to get a kid that wants to catch is is is rare to find and then, whatever he does regardless, I'm not so tied into outcome. It's a process if the kid prepares himself and and he's, he's making an effort behind the plate, that's good enough for me. That that has value. I don't I don't think there's when we talk about value, I don't think there's any value in in in being negative when the kid is working his butt off behind the plate. Mhmm.
I agree. %. Game management can feel daunting for kids new to catching. What's a quick tip you'd give coaches to build confidence in their young players during high pressure moments? Well, that gets back to the mental game and and, you know, pressure is a is a privilege.
When you're in a situation where there's some pressure, I think that's a good thing. And just learning how to be the best version of yourself in those situations, and, again, this is learning how to breathe, learning how to, play this game one pitch at a time and being in control and controllables. Those are the the the things that, really affect a a player's ability to be as good as he can be in the moment. Yep. I love it.
Busy parents often and and by the way, this a lot of my parents, I gear my content towards are the busy parents, you know, because they got all kinds, whether it's multiple sports, they got multiple academic things, things like that. So if a parent can't make every game, how can they still support their catcher's growth in pitch calling and decision making from afar? Well, I think, you know, at a at a certain point, you have to trust the coach and and and the the people that are there at the at the moment, and you you can't micromanage everything. And, I think you just the big thing is just support your kid in general and make sure that he's enjoying himself and and maintains his passion for what he's doing. And and, I I I I think it's a you have to it's a delicate balance.
You have to find the sweet spot in in terms of it's his it's his gig there. It's his game. It's not your game, and sometimes he doesn't wanna talk about it after and when he feels like, you know, that that the parents are are are so so connected to what he's doing that that everything that he does is gonna affect them. That and I think that puts undue pressure on the kid because then he's trying to sit to to, to, satisfy his parents' wants and wishes rather than his own. Mhmm.
I love that. And that one of my one of my dads in the past hitting dads would describe it as being dad in the car, but coach on the field. Right? So being able to transition, if you're the head coach or assistant coach of of your son's team or your daughter's team, that once you once you guys get in the car, that you got to transition into dad mode or mom mode, whoever whoever we're talking about, right? So that there are certain there are certain roles that you play as a parent, and I love your advice of you're not we're we're not living through our kids because that's something we can't control.
And if we're telling our kids, you know, you can control your attitude, your effort, and that kind of thing. It's it kinda goes with the parent as well. Right? Where you support your kid, you you love your kid, and tell them you're proud of them and things like that. And if they don't wanna talk about it on the way home, they don't wanna talk about it on the way home, and then you just have to respect that.
I think that it it's a process, and and I think that when you get too tied into the outcome of, you know, happy parent because a kid got three hits or the their team won or they're in a championship game or whatever, I think that that's taking detracting from what what the kid is doing out there. This is this is this is his thing. And when it becomes too much of the parents' thing, I think that can, not necessarily. I think supportive parents are great, but you gotta know your limits and you gotta know where your kid needs space and and and where it needs a little bit more diversity than everything centered around travel, baseball, football, basketball, or whatever, and and you just have to have time to be a kid as well. Right.
Right. So what's the most common mistake you see young catchers make when learning to call pitches, and how can coaches correct it without overcomplicating things? Well, I think that the biggest thing is that they they they they pitch call to get swings and misses, and they they over call they over they over call pitches. They they they they maybe throw too many breaking balls when a guy's primary strike pitch is the fastball or or too many fastballs when the primary strike pitch is another pitch. I just think that, and then and a lot of times, young catchers just call pitches they can't hit, and then they try and and and then they they sit too much on the edges and corner pitch too much.
And and when the pitcher misses, he misses out of the zone. If If he's in the middle of the plate and he misses, he's got 12 inches on either side of the the the target that he can miss and still keep the ball in the strike zone. And I think that, those are some of the and and I I don't deal with with the with the young catchers too much anymore, but, I just those are the things that in in the day were were problematic. Yeah. Yeah.
Nice. So for parents with kids who play multiple positions, how can they encourage a focus on catching fundamentals without burning out their young athlete? Because catching can be pretty pretty brutal. I have so my hitters are catchers, and they got the big old giant gear bag, and then they got the the squatting for games and games and games. We actually started taking one of our our catchers who's really good on our team, and he's playing on another team, a travel team.
And we're we have another catcher as well who's who's pretty good, not not quite as good, but we're splitting their time. You know? So, you know, how can they how can you encourage to focus on catching fundamentals without burning out the young athlete? No. I just think you have to watch the intensity of the work and how the throwing piece is the one that I worry about.
The kids, you know, they throw with too much intent too often, and then they'll end up with arm problems. And I and kids are pretty resilient. They can they can be out in the park and and play all day and and be fine. And I think you just, you just have to listen to your kids, and they'll they'll they'll tell you. You know?
You just watch what they're doing and don't overschedule, and they need free time too. They need time to do their their their video games and watch TV or just relax with their friends and just giving you know, not putting too many eggs in one basket and and encouraging, diverse activities from kids and just that's just a general thought for me. And, again, there are some there are some kids that they thrive on on playing baseball all the time on 19 different teams and play in all different positions, and it's very individualized. You just have to you just have to get a good feel for it and communicate with your kids and ask them, hey. We wanna do this, or we're trying to do this, and looking for the signs of burnout and stuff like that.
Mhmm. Yeah. I agree. And that's that's kind of the thing is the self awareness that I see I see in some coaches and I I I don't see in some coaches where they're not talking to the player. Maybe it's whether it's a relationship with them and or they're they continue to push them on even though their arm is bothering them or things like that.
So what what would your, what what's your protocol typically for the professional level for throwing? Like, what what's the you talked about high intent throwing versus not high intent throwing. So what do you usually do with your catchers? Well, it's interesting you talk about that because one of the things, you know, we have two big league catchers and one of them, you know, we feel probably doesn't throw enough. I think in in general, a lot of times, especially when you're playing a hundred plus games a year that, guys tend to to, not maybe not throwing up and just save it for the games.
I think that, you know, we've got two catchers now that are kinda splitting time and catching every other game and doing very well. And so in between in between games, we're trying to build up throwing volume with lesser intent, more high lob, long toss to build up a foundation so that we can maintain our arm strength throughout the season. And and, again, very individualized, but, every day, you know, we do it in professional baseball. We do a very good job of evaluating fatigue, and we've got numerous, hard pieces of hardware like catapult. And we know if a guy's in a fatigue mode.
And we also ask him point blank, hey. Where are you today? One to ten. How's your arm feel? And then so that they and most professional players are very good about their effort levels and recovery and and diet and sleep and and and work in the training room and and things like that so that they're paying attention to their bodies and and, doing the best they can to to maintain their levels and even increase their their skill level during the season.
But in order to do that, you know, they have to be physically able to do that. So, the intent and the and the amount of work there is is critical. And, again, you have to listen to your body on that. Yeah. You mentioned the catapult.
Is that like the same it looked like the soccer players are wearing the it looked like a training bra. Is that Yes. Is it kind of the same? Okay. Exact exactly.
Okay. And there and there's a lot of sensors out there that Driveline has a pulse sensor, and there are all kinds of sensors that, you know, relative to arm and but also physically, the catapult will tell you, you know, relative to exertion and they have they've done a lot of running or have done the, how much they've done in the weight room and everything affects everything. So Mhmm. You're trying to quantify and monitor as much as you can so that, guys do not break down because the best ability is availability. If you can't play, you're not you're not helping your ball club.
And so, again, we don't wanna underwork, but we don't wanna overwork. We again, trying to find that Goldilocks effect, you know, not too cold, not too hot, just right. And so that's and and by having diagnostic tools like we have, we're better able to do that. Yep. I love it.
Coaches often have a limited time to prep for games. So what's a fast especially like tournament games. So what's a fast effective drill you'd recommend to sharpen a catcher's game management skills before the first pitch? Well, I just familiar with his own pitcher. A lot of times in those travel travel deals, a kid will show up to pitch for it, and you never caught him before, and you've never seen him.
So just having that conversation, hey. What's your best pitch? What do you, you know, when you need to throw a strike, what's your put away pitch, you know, etcetera, etcetera. Just know knowing your pitcher would be number one. That's, at every level, the most important if you had if you had two choices, I have a great scouting report on your team or I really know my pitcher and you had a choice of one or the other, I overwhelmingly would wanna know my pitcher because, that's gonna give you the best chance to win in in my opinion.
So knowing your pitcher's strengths and weaknesses and then adapting and adjusting during the game because just because historically certain things have been his strength, they they may change during the game. It happens a lot in professional baseball where we see a guy with high carry fastballs with with high induced vertical break all of a sudden today, they they don't have the carry that they normally have. So you have to adapt and adjust, and that's it. One pitch at a time and using your eyes over the iPad, you gotta be good in the moment. And, obviously, you go in with a plan, but the plan can change after the first pitch of the game.
I love it. I love it. How can parents spot if their young catcher is struggling with the mental side of the position, and what's a practical way to help them reset? So that sounds like a little bit more of the burnout type of thing. I just parents know I I would hope that parents know their kids.
They they know the the body language and the signs of, of, those types of things and and just overall communication and and less chance of that happening when they have a balanced environment relative to school, athletics, and and and free time. And so I think you just have to and you have to you have to, have a you have to be able to communicate with your kids. You have to be transparent. You tell them what you're feeling and what you're seeing, and tell me what you're feeling because we you're it's more important that it's right for you than it is for me. And so just that communication piece is, to me, is is really important, and you can't be afraid of asking the wrong question.
You just have to, you know, you have to ask questions to get the right answers. Right. Yeah. I agree. And and also to to to those coaches out there too.
You gotta let your catchers know, your pitchers know, your high high throwers, high intent throwers know that they can come to you and and let you know how their arms doing if like I said, the catcher I mentioned earlier, he had three games or four game tournament on the weekend. We were playing that Monday. And his dad actually said he'd be fine to catch Monday's game, like, the whole game. But then he came up to me at the beginning of the game. He's like, coach, can I can I just catch half the game because my legs are just super sore, you know?
And I'm okay with that. And and I made some extra moves. So I mean, it, you know, sucks to have to change the lineup and field assignments around, not the lineup, but the field assignments around. But, I'm I'm okay with that. Like, I wanna make sure that he's in a in a good state of mind, especially before the game.
It doesn't feel like he's gonna have to catch for you at our level six innings. Right? All all six innings. So if it's three innings, that's a lot easier for a guy who's got got legs that are sore. You know?
Well, I I always on the side of caution because when guys get fatigued, then they get into bad ranges of motion. That's where they get hurt. But also having, that your relationship with your kids or your players is not just about only about their athletics. It's it's still it's a lot more than that. Mhmm.
Yeah. I love that. Last last question, coach, and I love everything that you've that you've shared. And and catching to me is is like a foreign language. It's like German speaking German, so that's not something I really ever played growing up.
I played, I think, a couple times in little league. That was fun. So so I'm learning a lot in this from you, definitely. And I and I follow you on Twitter, so I I love your post as well. So last question.
Looking back at your own journey, what's one piece of advice you wish a coach or parent had given you as a young catcher that today's families could apply? That's interesting because, you know, obviously, I'm fairly old, and, I never really had a a catching coach. And there wasn't good information out there. And, you know, I wish I was born fifty years later because the information out there now is so accessible with social media, and there's so many good especially in catching in there, and it's a fraternal group, and it's everybody's not at each other's throats except when you talk about knee down or traditional stance. And and I think that everybody, everybody is there's just more information.
I I wish I, you know, at was born into but but, ultimately, it probably was good for me because then it forced me to figure it out for myself because there weren't people there with with info necessarily that that could help you at the time, or I wasn't in an environment where either even in college where I got would get information. And I think I've had to go out on my own, especially as a coach for the last sixty plus years and and and find information and and figure things out and try stuff and experiment. And and, I I think that that if anything, I would maybe have been a little different player and a little different, a different, time of, playing. Yeah. I agree.
Yeah. I I say the same thing to my hitters about hitting. You know, whenever we hit, I said, man, if I knew the stuff that I'm teaching you now back then, but then, like you said, it's it's like the butterfly effect. You don't wanna go back in time and completely change that because then you the learning process of you going through all of that and going through the challenges you did and and getting to the sticking points and having overcome that, we wouldn't have the been blessed with the the knowledge that you bring and wisdom to the game now because I think we learn more when we do bad than we we learn less when we do good. You know, when we win games, we don't learn as as much as when we lose games.
And, you know, I've been a part of I've had seasons where we've lost every game but one. We tied one, and we're we're having a pretty good season this year where, you know, we're we're primarily winning. And I'm I'm forcing our players to grow and that kind of thing. But, yeah, there's a lot of information out there, and that can be a bad thing as well. But making sure that they're following folks like yourself, I think, are are where they're gonna win out.
And anybody that you're associated with, you know, like Perry has been and, that's kind of what I my journey online has has done is, you know, Perry, and then Perry knows people. And I and I love and anybody I meet that that, like, that's friends with Perry is a friend of mine as I always say. So, coach, I appreciate your time. Where where can people find you? Do you have anything?
I know I know you're you're working for an organization, so it's not like, you know, some some people come on and they have products or they have anything like that. So, I mean, anything. Whatever you have, if you have coordinates or I I I, yeah, I just, on on, x or Twitter or whatever, I I put something out every day and and, you know, just just my opinions. You know? Now it's not, it's not the gospel.
It's not a sermon from the mount or etched in stone or anything. And then, I've I've got some stuff on weinsteinbaseball.com, and and then Twitter is jw,capitaljw,lowercaseon, and capital catching. And so if you're interested in, in info and and, use it if it works for you. And if it doesn't, don't use it. But that you know, I just kinda get stuff out there.
Some of it's okay. Some of it, you know, you you just have to talk to some people like it, some people don't, some are in between. But, that's I'm not a big promoter of of, stuff that I've done in terms of books and stuff. I do have a catching book on Weinstein catching. Okay.
Good. Good. Yeah. All good stuff. And that's and and people will be interested.
And, like I said, if be fair a friend of Perry's, a friend of mine, and, from all the tweets that I've seen of yours, I think it's great. Go golden nuggets. This is kind of a low lower in my knowledge threshold on catching. I haven't really dove into that a lot. So, you know, as long as I can learn from somebody who's been doing it, like you said, sixty years of coaching, I mean, that yeah.
How can you how can you go against that? Well, one thing you gotta realize that of all the positions on the field, the the number one position in defensive run saved is the catcher. He just has so many touches during the course of a season, and, and everyone can affect the outcome of the game relative to runs saved or runs lost. And so, yeah, every good team that wins has has a good catcher, so, develop your catchers. Well, Well, I'll tell you this, coach, and this will be the last thing I'll let you go, is, this year in the draft for for our twelve u team, I was I've been using a lot of AI recently, over the last couple seasons, Shad GBT.
And so I went into I went into this draft with a with an actual plan. I didn't do that in the last ones. I was just trying to get thumpers and guys, you know, decent arms or whatever. But this time around, my whole goal was to control the run game this year because I felt like that was the biggest thing last year that we lacked and that I kinda found out in our all star season. And so as I'm making my list of players from our evaluation to draft early, you know, deciding on who we're gonna pull in the first through third rounds and then the the fourth through this six or seventh rounds.
I would I wanted to get a couple left handed pitchers just for that ability to be able to pick pick runners off at first base, which you're gonna have most most of your opportunities are gonna be over there. And I I did have catcher on my mind. Like, I wanted to get a a really good catcher at first. My assistant who we ended up getting his son is a catcher. He's our best catcher, but I wanted to get a backup one as well.
I wanna get another one that was decent. And so it was funny through AI as I'm working through it. I would say, okay. First round, I'm thinking about getting this lefty pitcher. He can hit two, you know, decent arm.
And so you sure you don't wanna get another catcher? No. I wanna get I wanna get the left handed arm. So you you sure you don't wanna get another backup catcher? It kept saying.
And so I took its advice, and I we got another backup catcher, and it's, like, so much better so much better this year with two decent catchers. One's really good. The other one is is almost just as good. He's he's he's trained. He's getting both of them go to a catching coach in town, and I and I know I know the catching coach.
He's really good. I played with him at Fresno State. And it's been it's been great, and I hear the biggest gripe from all the other teams is we need another catcher. So I learned this year firsthand how important a catcher or two are. Yeah.
Well, I I think, yeah, I'm partial to catching too. I think they really, have a significant effect on the outcome of the game. Yep. I love it. Well, coach, hey.
I'm I'm truly blessed. Thank you so much for for sharing what you shared. And like I said, I'll get this stuff over to you. We'll probably get this thing published not next week, but the week after. And, I'll let you know all that, and I'll I'll kinda give you a little blurb that you can sit and just copy and paste out with, with the link to everything.
So Okay. Again, coach Thanks. If you if you say, see Perry before I do, say hi to him for me. I I haven't I talked to him, but I haven't seen him for, since I was managing in the Cal league, and we'd go into Lancaster, and he'd come out and spend some time with our hitters. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. He's a great guy. Great guy. I get I get lost in hours and hours of conversation with him.
So it's having to find the time because I love it. It's not it's not that I don't like spending three hours on the phone with Perry because by the end of that, my brain's fried in a good way, and I've learned so much more. So Yep. Good man. Alright, coach.
Buddy. Thank you, sir. Have a good rest of your week. Alright. See you.
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