What is framing and does it matter? What is selling and does it matter?

[The Man In Blue]

I'm not a big Jomboy fan, but this video is great for analyzing and discussing a catcher's framing (where they sit, where they move, and the view they give the umpire) and reaction to pitches.

NOTE: jerking, pulling, and selling are NOT framing.

 

[Strike2]

Jomboy's strength is the insight he brings to what is said during the arguments. However, when he starts to get into rules or technical analysis, he's usually out his depth. I've seen him repeatedly mix up basic concepts such as "interference" and "obstruction". In this case, he does demonstrate how/why the umpire is getting a slightly different look. IMO, on pitches with any sort of movement, the box is BS. I don't believe that the spotting of the ball is sufficiently accurate to judge fractions of an inch. It's a 2D snapshot of a 3D situation. Is it showing the ball's location crossing the front of the plate, the rear, or some point in between? MLB umpires do occasionally screw up a pitch call, but people get way too worked up over a variance in an umpire's strike zone that you almost need a micrometer to measure.

I never cease to be amazed at the level of verbal abuse thrown at MLB umpires from players and coaches that often has no justification and apparently no consequence (like what's at the beginning of this video). It's no surprise that some take that horrible example to youth ball fields.

 

[Rolling Hard]

One catcher is better than the other catcher. Very interesting video. Starting with glove down and not setting up a preconceived target might be a two edge blade. What happens if the catcher calls for a high and tight FB? Maybe they don't start with glove in the dirt?
Catcher setting up as close as possible without getting interference call is a no brainier. The fact that some teams have analytics on each batters swing so they can set up as efficiently as possible is super smart. I doubt the Angels do any of this kind of stuff.

 

[LEsoftballdad]

Did Norm MacDonald get reincarnated as an umpire?

 

[Mike-Oviatt]

I wouldn’t call that much glove movement “framing”. I know in baseball they call the moving of the glove to the middle of the plate framing (I that is how I was taught in the 80’s when I was a Little Leaguer). However i think for the purpose of this video (and what JomBoy failed to discuss) the glove position at the start of the pitch and how it is received is the key factor. One catcher has the glove low and receives the pitch coming up into the zone to look like a strike while the o the catcher starts the glove high and is coming down to the receiver the pitch making it look like a ball.

Framing in softball is the skill of the catch to receive and stick a pitch with proper wrist flection to have the ball appear in that strike zone box. Imagine your glove hand is on a steering wheel and you move and receive the pitch on that steering wheel and catch the ball so that it is always on the inside of the steering wheel (no additional glove movement to the middle of the plate required).

For additional descriptions see Jen Schroeder with Jen Schro Catching or Jay Weaver with The Catching Camp. They both explain it and have drills to work on proper framing. It is a skill that needs to be developed and worked.


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[Cannonball]

I wouldn’t call that much glove movement “framing”. I know in baseball they call the moving of the glove to the middle of the plate framing (I that is how I was taught in the 80’s when I was a Little Leaguer). However i think for the purpose of this video (and what JomBoy failed to discuss) the glove position at the start of the pitch and how it is received is the key factor. One catcher has the glove low and receives the pitch coming up into the zone to look like a strike while the o the catcher starts the glove high and is coming down to the receiver the pitch making it look like a ball.

Framing in softball is the skill of the catch to receive and stick a pitch with proper wrist flection to have the ball appear in that strike zone box. Imagine your glove hand is on a steering wheel and you move and receive the pitch on that steering wheel and catch the ball so that it is always on the inside of the steering wheel (no additional glove movement to the middle of the plate required).

For additional descriptions see Jen Schroeder with Jen Schro Catching or Jay Weaver with The Catching Camp. They both explain it and have drills to work on proper framing. It is a skill that needs to be developed and worked.


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Dave Weaver, Jay's dad was a very good man and friend.

What I have taught is that, for example, a pitch on the outside of the plate, if it is too far outside then don't try to frame it. If that pitch is borderline, attempt to catch the outside part of the ball beating it to the spot and then, rotate or bend the wrist toward the center of the plate. For the high pitch, attempt to get to the top of the pitch before the ball gets there and then catch it catching the "top part of the ball" and rotating or bending the wrist downward. Same for inside and low. The elbow should never move and there should not be any herking and jerking.

 

[DonnyS]

Great catchers make good pitchers great as well. Love it when DD pitches to the #1 catcher The #2 catcher is good but not great.

 

[The Man In Blue]

@Mike-Oviatt … that is exactly the thinking I am trying to combat. Framing is NOT moving the glove.

Framing is where the catcher sets up (notice the catcher “getting the calls” is much closer to the plate), how they set up, where they move to (or don’t move to), and how they move.

The glove movement in the video (for both catchers) is significant NOT because they are pulling or selling pitches, but because one of them is allowing the umpire a better look for a slightly longer period of time. He isn’t trying to scam the umpire, he is letting him see . He is providing a good frame to look through. Tumpane (who is usually one of the best out there) is calling low CONSISTENTLY for one catcher but CONSISTENTLY NOT calling the other way. It is solely based on what the catcher is letting him see and what the catcher is communicating through that.

Note that the catcher pulling pitches more and then holding it where he wants the umpire to think is … he is the guy NOT getting the calls.

The guy getting the call: clear view, frames well and stays out of the way, sits closer up, and then catches and fires it right back to the pitcher.

One catcher is doing his job the right way.

 

[GunnerShotgun]

You can't make a ball into a strike but you can make a strike into a ball. That's the way an umpire explained it to me one time. I pass that along to my catchers from time to time.

 

[earlg3]

I agree it's much easier for a catcher to turn a strike into a ball. A lot of umpires tend to hate when catchers flip their glove over when catching lower pitches; the same pitch caught without the glove flip would be a strike. Similar to dropped strikes sometimes getting called balls even if they were strikes, or when catchers don't set up close enough to the plate and let the ball get too deep leading to them being called balls when they wouldn't have been if they snagged it closer.

Some umpires don't care about the catcher's mechanics (and shouldn't), but there's a good amount that do, and will punish the pitcher because of it.