Catcher blocking sight

[Thomas Van den Eynde]

Last weekend I was UP with an unexperienced catcher. He sat very tall and held his hand stretched behoren him. When he asked an inside pitch he was blocken so much of my sight that I couldn't see the homeplate. When I tried to get into a position where I could see homepage, I stond almost straight and I couldn't see the pitcher because to my eye he was behind the elbows of the batter.

I told him twice he was blocking my sight to no avail.

Any tips/help on how to deal with this problem? 

[JSam21]

7 hours ago, Thomas Van den Eynde said:

Last weekend I was UP with an unexperienced catcher. He sat very tall and held his hand stretched behoren him. When he asked an inside pitch he was blocken so much of my sight that I couldn't see the homeplate. When I tried to get into a position where I could see homepage, I stond almost straight and I couldn't see the pitcher because to my eye he was behind the elbows of the batter.

I told him twice he was blocking my sight to no avail.

Any tips/help on how to deal with this problem? 

You just have to work to see. I'm not sure what your experience level is, but home plate doesn't move. We should know where the plate is. Focus on seeing the pitch out of the pitcher's hand and not so much on seeing the plate. 

[agdz59]

4 hours ago, JSam21 said:

You just have to work to see. I'm not sure what your experience level is, but home plate doesn't move. We should know where the plate is. Focus on seeing the pitch out of the pitcher's hand and not so much on seeing the plate. 

And whatever you do - DON'T adjust to the outside or even directly over the catcher - you will be taking hot shot foul balls directly to your head, neck and body.  Stay in the slot and do the best you can.

[Richvee]

There's basically two options. Move up and back, or down and in. I prefer down and in. I mean way down. Lower than the catcher's head. Not optimal, and no matter where you move, you're not going to be able to track the ball from the pitcher's hand to the glove, so I find down and in to work best because I can see the release, then watch the plate area to pick up the ball and the catcher's glove. Again, far from optimal, but it's sometimes the best we can do. 

[grayhawk]

1 minute ago, Richvee said:

There's basically two options. Move up and back, or down and in. I prefer down and in. I mean way down. Lower than the catcher's head. Not optimal, and no matter where you move, you're not going to be able to track the ball from the pitcher's hand to the glove, so I find down and in to work best because I can see the release, then watch the plate area to pick up the ball and the catcher's glove. Again, far from optimal, but it's sometimes the best we can do. 

I agree. Down and in is also better when the batter's elbow comes in late which takes away the view in the up and back position.

[SeeingEyeDog]

@Thomas Van den Eynde, it's not F2's "job" to allow PU to see the pitch. F2 takes his position legally in the catcher's box and PU sets up as best we can to see each pitch. As other's have indicated, you will see MLB umpires work directly over the catcher. That positioning is for MLB umpires only. @MadMax has written pages on why those of us working amateur baseball should not do this.

In my association, we do a lot of pre-season cage work. In addition to the basic timing and judgement exercises, one of the other things we do is "squeezing" exercises. Squeezing being a Craft word for F2 setting up on the inside of the plate such that our vision of the pitch is sub-optimal. Find the pitch...find it. Maybe it's an ideal slot, maybe it's a sliver of a keyhole. Maybe you have to widen your stance and drop lower than normal. Maybe you have to move forward a half step. Ultimately, there may not be a view where you see the entire pitch...maybe you see the last half of it, or the last third of the pitch or even less. Most importantly...remember to breathe, remember your timing and remember your crisp mechanics. This is the part of working the plate we call Wednesday...which is to say, it's a common occurrence that challenges us and we just have to work a little more to get those pitches. We don't want to give any overt indication that we are challenged or compromised by this.

In closing, if you're working the plate, tell your partners in pre-game, "I'm working on seeing pitches when I am getting squeezed. How do you guys handle those situations?" And then in post-game, ask your partners how you did in squeezed situations. You'll get there, brother. It takes us out of comfort zone, no question. Give it some time, work at it and you will get more and more comfortable with it.
 

~Dawg

[Kevin_K]

Sometimes you can't get a good look and you will not be able to track the pitch from hand to glove in your preferred stance. It's uncomfortable and I don't like doing it, but it will happen from time to time.

As others have mentioned there are three options in making an adjustment. 

1. Moving into the kill zone is the worst of the three. It increases the likelihood of being hit with a foul ball significantly. See below.
2. Get under the batters elbow and track the pitch from a lower angle. When I do this I find that the top of my zone can be inconsistent to where I am uncomfortable calling anything above my eye level a strike.
3. Stand more upright so you can see over the batter's elbow. You will lose the pitch until it appears just before F2 catches it. Not being able to see the pitch for a significant part of its path is also uncomfortable. When using this method, where F2 receives the pitch will be a great help in determining if it's a strike.

None of these options are great, but sometimes you are going to need to make an adjustment to help yourself in seeing the pitch.

 

[Thomas Van den Eynde]

Thanks for your advice. I'm just starting umpiring, so I can use any good advice, especially on mechanics.

Would you talk to the catcher or not (as it our problem, not the catchers)?

[The Man in Blue]

22 hours ago, Richvee said:

There's basically two options. Move up and back, or down and in. I prefer down and in. I mean way down. 

 

[Richvee]

2 hours ago, Thomas Van den Eynde said:

Would you talk to the catcher or not (as it our problem, not the catchers)?

I think it's age dependent. It also depends on the catcher himself. I don't think I'd say anything to a catcher below high school varsity. Even the HS varsity level, he's got to be personable where you're already having small conversation with him, and he's got to be good. (Aware of his surroundings, blocking pitches well, catching and presenting well). So if circumstances are right, maybe you can try "He Steve, when you set up inside I'm having a real tough time getting a look. Maybe if you just move the shoulder a little I can help you out on some of those pitches. "

Personally, I've only tried this a handful of times with mixed results. 

[umpstu]

5 hours ago, Thomas Van den Eynde said:

Thanks for your advice. I'm just starting umpiring, so I can use any good advice, especially on mechanics.

Would you talk to the catcher or not (as it our problem, not the catchers)?

How is baseball in your part of the world? Got to see the European Championships a few years ago and it was pretty good.

[umpstu]

2 hours ago, Richvee said:

I think it's age dependent. It also depends on the catcher himself. I don't think I'd say anything to a catcher below high school varsity. Even the HS varsity level, he's got to be personable where you're already having small conversation with him, and he's got to be good. (Aware of his surroundings, blocking pitches well, catching and presenting well). So if circumstances are right, maybe you can try "He Steve, when you set up inside I'm having a real tough time getting a look. Maybe if you just move the shoulder a little I can help you out on some of those pitches. "

Personally, I've only tried this a handful of times with mixed results. 

I'll also tell the catcher that if he moves over a little that, even though it might look like he's reaching off the plate, I'm way more likely to give him that pitch since I can see it.

[The Man in Blue]

11 hours ago, Thomas Van den Eynde said:

Thanks for your advice. I'm just starting umpiring, so I can use any good advice, especially on mechanics.

Would you talk to the catcher or not (as it our problem, not the catchers)?

 

This is a really good question.  We talk about "working with catchers and them working with us," so I don't have an issue in theory with talking to a catcher about his framing . . .

Framing is the way the catcher sets up and moves, leaving us a frame to see through.  Think of the batter, the glove, and the catcher being 3 parts of a picture frame.

Selling is the "art" of moving the glove to try to buckshot an umpire into giving a call.  Moving the glove is NOT FRAMING.

However, at the "youth" levels (anything 16u or less) I am talking to the catcher AND his coach, so that I am not coaching the catcher.  I am giving the coach the information with the catcher listening, then they can do with it what they want.

This is strictly YMMV and a "read the room" situation.  If the catcher or coach are unapproachable or confrontational, then they just need to figure it out on their own.

I figure if they can ask us, "Where was that?" then we should have no problem saying, "I can't see anything when you keep standing up in front of me."

[Thomas Van den Eynde]

9 hours ago, umpstu said:

How is baseball in your part of the world? Got to see the European Championships a few years ago and it was pretty good.

That's a though question. The top countries (The Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Germany) get in important input of minor league players (from all levels). The rest of the teams that play in Europe can compete with their level. Belgium however stays behind. We rely almost complete on 'homegrown' players.

(When the European teams play the WBC, their are completely different teams: filled with Major League players, who never participate in European tournements)