We’re excited to welcome New York Yankees quality control coach and catching coordinator Tanner Swanson to this week’s podcast. A special thanks to this show’s sponsor, Athletic Greens. Head to https://www.athleticgreens.com/cressey and you’ll receive a free 10-pack of Athletic Greens travel packets with your first order.

Show Outline

• How Tanner evaluates a catcher’s ability and what key competencies he analyzes to draw conclusions on players behind the plate
• How Tanner’s methods for analyzing players and principles for building elite catchers have evolved as he has progressed through his coaching career
• Why the focus with youth catchers should be on developing a general scope of catching-specific abilities and how this general foundation of skills allows for premium skills to be leveraged later on in development
• What new age data says about the importance of receiving skills
• How new metrics on receiving are changing how we define high-level catchers
• How the player evaluation and scouting of catchers is evolving as more information is available on catchers beyond pop times
• Why catchers’ performance is significantly impacted with runners on base and what this insight says about how we currently coach catchers
• Why coaches should consider whether we are teaching catchers to receive out of their best blocking and throwing position, or to block and throw from their best receiving position
• How catchers can find their optimal stance and balance functionality with comfort behind the dish
• How factors stance and pre-pitch glove rhythm influence a player’s ability to receive
• Why new age catching is more than a lazy set-up behind the dish on one knee and how catchers can find their best position to both block and receive
• Why the toughest challenge in catching is getting caught in between pitches and how finding the most effective stance and approaching blocking as an extension of receiving mitigates this challenge
• How the sheer volume and frequency of work for catchers offers a unique opportunity to watch adjustments organically play out and fine tune strategies that are meaningful for individuals
• How coaches can preserve a player’s uniqueness behind the dish while still instilling the nonnegotiable characteristics of being a catcher, such as starting in a good position, mastering timing, working below the ball, and dominating the bottom third of the strike zone
• Why present-day catching demands players have authority over the bottom third of the strike zone and what the increase use of high fastballs and secondary pitchers means for catchers
• How catchers can best prepare to handle the physical and mental demands of their position, arguably one of the most demanding roles in sports
• Why the game of baseball is moving away from catchers with weak bats and how catchers can develop a true edge at their position

You can follow Tanner on Twitter at @TannerSwanson and learn more about him at www.D1Catching.com.

Sponsor Reminder

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