Left-Hand Baseball Catcher

[wiuhusker]

Being left handed and having played BB in my youth and throughout HS. I was only allowed to play first, pitch or OF. I couldn't pitch so I played a lot of OF and some 1st base.

 

I asked my HS coach why no lefty infielders other than 1st base and he never could give me a good explanation. He would usually mumble something about not being able to go to the hole at short or not being able to turn two. Which is basically BS. IMO it basically comes down to tradition. For 140 years left handed people never played those positions so they don't now.

If you are charging a ground ball or fielding one hit to your right, you'd have to twist way around to make the throw to first, or to second if you are playing SS or 3B, wouldn't you? Your push-off foot is nearer your target instead of away from it so you've got to take a step to get off a quick throw rather than just throwing off your back foot like a righty can do.

The fact is it's easier for right handed infielders to get the ball to the base they want to throw to. The only exception being a righty ranging to his left and throwing back to 2nd, which is also why that is one of the tougher plays to make in baseball.

[jsneb83]

Same reason you don't see many left-handed infielders on the left side. Harder throw to make. Snap throws to first with a left-handed catcher wouldn't work very often.

That doesn't make sense, at least not for that reason. For infielders, a lefty would have to turn his body quite a bit to square up and make the throw to first, while a righty can basically just throw across his body. Looking at catchers, a lefty catcher would more easily make the throw to first because he can also throw across his body as opposed to a righty who must turn the body to square up to first. Look at a baseball diamond and you'll see that a lefty catcher has the same basic throw to first as a righty infielder does. If anything, the throw to third is harder, and if you wanted to say that throw is more important I couldn't argue with you.

 

I always figured that the main reason is that a righty catcher has a more clear shot of throwing without the batter in the way the 2/3 of the time (or whatever it is) when a righty batter is up. So there's been that bias through the years, so there are very few or no catchers mitts for lefty throwers as kids are growing up, so lefty kids don't become catchers, and that bias perpetuates itself. Maybe that'll change with online shopping as I can find catchers mitts for lefty throwers online, but I can't ever remember seeing one at Kep Hardings or K Mart or anywhere else you'd find a glove when I was a kid.

 

And it's not "absolutely none". Benny Distefano caught in 3 games in 1989. A few others have caught a few games in major league history. No regulars.

 

I look at a baseball diamond five days a week since I am a baseball coach. Throwing across your body as a catcher is different than throwing across your body for an infielder. Every little second counts when you're trying to pick the base runner off. Throwing across the body on a snap throw takes longer than a right handed catcher throwing from his knees.

 

It takes years to become a good catcher. Most catchers start at a young age and since most younger players are right handed batters, you put a right handed catcher behind the plate to make those throws to first and second easier. Even throwing to third is easier since a left handed catcher would have to turn his body and try and avoid the batter. I only have three left-handed hitters on my team out of twelve. One of which is a natural lefty. The other two throw right and hit left because it is a advantage to be a left handed hitter considering most pitchers are right handed. If I am a MLB team, Im drafting the guy that has caught for 15 years, which is most likely a righty since most youth players are right handed. Im not a gonna draft a lefty just to try and turn him into a catcher. That's my thinking as a coach. Every coach thinks differently and they may want a left handed catcher.

They also have the batter in their way that will affect their throw. They would either have to worry about hitting a right handed batter with their arm as they are throwing, or have to throw around a left handed batter as his trajectory would be right in line with the batter. Right handed catchers don't have to worry about right handed batters and left handed batters are not in line with the trajectory of the ball, making it a much easier throw. Also, having a short, compact throw like a right hander would have has more velocity when throwing off his knees than left hander's longer throw across his body. This is why Yadier Molina is one of the best catchers at picking runners off.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLGjb40S0f0

[Ratt Mhule]

The team we played tonight had a left-handed catcher. That is all

[NUpolo8]

This thread hurt my brain.