Youth Catchers Gear

Youth catchers gear will be the most important baseball equipment you will buy. If you are a parent or a baseball coach, pay close attention to the catchers equipment. Your decisions shouldn’t just be about protection. You have to make sure this baseball gear fits properly.

How can you ready a young player to throw down to first in a pick off move when every time he or she comes out of the squat they have to wrestle with the chest protector that is sized improperly. Do you think this may play a role in his or her ability to succeed at the catching position? Of course it does.

As a veteran coach, I can assure you that getting the proper gear and making sure your player is comfortable wearing the catcher’s gear is essential for the success of your player.

The catcher position is probably the most thankless job on the team roster. Lost among agile shortstops and quick center fielders is the catcher, a young man or woman who suits up every day and is involved in nearly every play of the game. This position demands attention to detail, proper coaching and a real understanding of why a kid wants to be in that position.

Getting the proper equipment is essential and fitting the various defensive pieces to the player should be foremost. Don’t just buy some catchers equipment off the shelf without having an idea of who will be wearing this gear.

After the fitting, a coach and or a parent should have an understanding of the kid behind that catchers mask. In my days of coaching youth sports, the catcher was always a kid lost among the others.

Wondering if the young player was hiding behind the baseball gear always crossed my mind when I was sizing up some kids at this position. As I said, not all kids fit this description, but several players have and I’d apply this screening to many of my players who were once seated at this position. After all, it is a good place to be part of the team, but to also get lost behind the shield of protection. Not all kids were like this, but a great many young men and women found sanctuary behind the equipment.

So, you see that playing at the catchers position is more about getting the right gear. You have to make sure the gear fits properly because these kids who like to get lost behind the plate are the same ones who need the best odds for success. A player cannot be successful with baseball equipment ten years old or a hand me down chest protector two sizes too big. Catchers should get the attention needed to insure they thrive and hiding behind the catchers mask will no longer be an issue when they confront many other of life’s challenges.

Part of coaching these young players is teaching techniques. Like not tripping over your catchers mask. I remember teaching one young man to throw off the mask in order to look for a foul ball. In doing so, early in my career, I discovered the catchers mask didn’t fit right. The poor kid was chasing a foul ball and the mask was nearly fell off on its own. That’s when I decided the proper use of this stuff was going to be an important aspect of my coaching philosophy. The fit. I was going to focus on the safety and the psychology needed to help my catchers to succeed. Nearly every team I went to had catchers gear, but rarely was this important baseball equipment fit to the player in that position.

This is a huge self esteem issue with kids in youth sports.

On every team I coached, my players were taught to look to the catcher as the team leader. Primarily, this is because there is no other player on the team, except the pitcher, who is involved in every play of the game. When other players look to the scoreboard to remember the number of remaining outs the catcher has the information stored in the brain.

You want your catcher up and out from behind the plate. The right shin guards are crucial if you want your catcher running down the first base line to back up a throw. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve seen shin guards so poorly fit that the catcher nearly falls trying to do their job. If you expect your catcher to block the plate, you can hardly expect the young player to accomplish this task if the gear is loose fitting or improperly adjusted. This is just ignorance on the part of parents and poor attention from coaches.

Expect to spend from $150-$900 for youth catchers gear. Many will want to purchase their own equipment as the old adage about one size fits all is no longer the case. Most of the time your team will have gear, but if you are a parent, consider the opportunity to invest in your players success by purchasing catchers gear that fits.