Casey Bass: People ask me sometimes, Casey, why did you stop catching at such a young age? I would tell the reason is because my knees went out, my father would probably tell them it is because, I didn't have what it takes up here. Today, we're going to talk about that part of the game; how to teach your young catcher to start thinking through a baseball game, to become the field general. And we're going to do it with Russ Dickerson. So stay tuned to ClubHouse Gas!
We are fortunate enough now that we are now joined by Russ Dickerson, and Russ, is going to speak this little about catching. But Russ, what I want to talk about is the mental side of catching, it seems like the majority of major league managers came up as catchers, catchers are in the game, they've to think.
Russ Dickerson: Right
Casey Bass: When you get an eleven or a twelve year old catcher, how do you start them on the path of faking through a baseball game and managing the baseball game?
Russ Dickerson: Well, the first thing you got to do is, your catchers have to be able to -- if they are going to think as on the field manager, the very first thing they've got to do is, a) they have got to catch all the pitchers that are on your pitching staff, and they've got to learn their tendencies, their little itera-syncracies, and how their ball moves. Once they've done that for a period of time, now when they go out on to the field, in my case, because I am a thirteen year old travel coach, I let my catchers call the game.
They know the strengths and weaknesses of all of our pitchers, and what they can and cannot do, and therefore if I ever want to overrule them, I might whistle their name or I'll have them look at me, and I'll give them the ticker sign. But I want them to learn, to learn each hitter's strengths, learn the pitcher's strength, and then call the game. Manage the baseball game for me, because my responsibility is, I am not only the pitching coach, the catching coach, I am also the third base coach, and I am trying to think a little bit ahead of myself, and therefore it takes a little bit off my plate, but the catchers need to learn that, because as they get to high school, into college, into the minor leagues, more and more of that responsibility is going to be pushed onto them. So that the sooner they learn it, the better are they off they are. Just no different than us going to school, the sooner we learn things, the better off we're to advance the next level.
Casey Bass: And that really is what, separates a good catchers form a great catcher, it's not throwing a ball, it's not being nimble behind the play stopping. It's being able to handle the staff.
Russ Dickerson: I'll give you a good example, the best example that I can think of right now is Jason Varitek. Is he a phenomenal hitter? No, he is an average hitter, but what are his strengths? What do the guys look for him? He is the captain of their baseball team. They look to him, because he knows his pitchers, he knows his staff, he knows everybody's ins and outs, and therefore he manages basically the ball-club. I mean, Francona is a manager, but Varitek kind of manages that team within itself, and he manages that staff. He knows how to calm guys down, he knows how to get guys up, he knows how to - when they stick their foot up a room, when it needs to be done. And he manages that, because he is grown up with that responsibility, and he started probably as early as high school, and he carried all his way through.
Casey Bass: Now do you -- when you have got -- you say you are a thirteen year old travel coach, when you get to a catcher who has not done it before, he has not called the game before, how do you introduce them to it? You just throw them in there, and say go after, or you maybe give them --
Russ Dickerson: What we did this year, because I have got three new catchers on my spring team, we started with the process in the fall. I've started out calling the game, again, each week I would lessen my number of calls and let them call more pitches, and by the end of the fall season I was calling nothing. I didn't trump them, I didn't call them off a pitch; I let them call the entire game. Now they come in with Dugout and say, hey, you did a great job this inning, or if we made a mistake somewhere, I would try to teach them, say, hey, here's the mistake we made, here's how we're going to correct it, and then next time -- and I tell them - we have tendencies to look for the hitter. I mean, if you have a hitter standing up there, and he has got a bat that's laid off, we want to pitch inside. So I try to tell them, here's what I want you to see at the play, and when you see that call the play according to it. If I've got a guy who can't throw the ball inside, then we don't want to just keep throwing the ball inside and go ball, ball, ball, let's move the ball back over to the other side of play now. If it gets locked in there, that's where we're going to stay. Understanding your staff, understanding where they are locked in that day. Just like pitchers, pitchers don't have all their pitches everyday. They might only have two, go with those two, that's what I have got today.
Casey Bass: And how's it affecting your pitchers knowing that the catcher is the one calling the game and they have a little less confidence, or maybe even more confidence?
Russ Dickerson: The pitchers are very relaxed, because they know that the process is completely out of their hands. They know they have one job, throw strikes. If the catcher calls fast bounces inside, they have got one job, find the target, throw that pitch to that target, and that's the end of it.
Casey Bass: Well Russ, we really appreciate it, thank you so much.
Russ Dickerson: Thank you!
Casey Bass: That's going to do it for us today. We'll see you right back here tomorrow for another great edition of ClubHouse Gas.
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