FOCUS SKILL- POP TIMES
Pop-time. Two innocent, simple words that every catcher’s career ultimately hinges on. Competitive coaches, college coaches and even some H/S coaches want to know what a catcher’s pop-time is. Many do not even know what this term means or how to measure it.
Simply put, “Pop-Time” is the time it takes a catcher to receive a pitch and have it caught at second base when throwing a runner out at said base. To truly measure pop-times accurately, the stopwatch starts as the pitch hits (Pops) the catcher’s glove. The stopwatch stops when the thrown ball hits (Pops) the glove at second base. So pop time is actually pop-to-pop time.
An article by Cindy Bristow describes pop-times for girl’s fastpitch. Note these are game times with catcher properly catching the pitch first in her crouch then coming up to throw.
EXCELLENT = 1.6 seconds or less (Olympic Level Catchers)
GOOD = 1.8 seconds (Top College Level catchers)
AVERAGE COLLEGE = 1.9 to 2.1 seconds
AVERAGE HIGH SCHOOL = 2.3 seconds
Ed Herrmann’s website describes pop-times for baseball:
A solid Major League time is under 2.00 seconds
Most Major League catchers are in the 1.80 - 1.98 range,
On average in college, times under 2.10 will often work
At a recent Advanced Skills Clinic dedicated to throw downs and pop times we shot radar and took pop times before and after the instruction session. The session covered simplifying ball handling techniques, footwork as well as utilizing major muscle groups when throwing. (Rather than just using the arm)
An interesting pattern emerged. 80% of the catchers had their throwing velocity decrease and their pop-times actually decreased as well! It is expected whenever learning new throwing skills that velocity drops off until the catcher makes their new throwing style automatic. (They don’t have to think about it, their muscles remember what to do on their own…) So why didn’t pop-times suffer? The catchers were able to adapt quickly to the more efficient methods of ball-handling.
They keys to achieving good pop times are threefold.
1. The catcher must eliminate wasted motion and maximize speed in ball handling and footwork. (The ball must get in the air as quickly as possible)
2. The catcher must utilize all major muscle groups to throw with maximum velocity. (The ball must go as fast as possible when thrown)
3. The catcher must make an accurate throw.
When throwing a runner out, there are other factors that come into play. The speed of the pitch will affect the catcher’s ability to throw a runner out. A slow moving change up obviously takes slightly longer than a fastball to get to the catcher’s glove. The shortstop must understand their role and be there ready to catch the ball and make the tag. We tell our students that when the runner goes, the catcher throws! (Thanks to Coach Dave Weaver for this saying) If the shortstop is not there, then center field backs up the missed opportunity.
At ACC, we work with our catchers to minimize wasted motion, simplify and improve footwork and ball handling techniques. We also focus on throwing techniques to help our catchers get the maximum velocity from their bodies. We follow up with game observations (whenever possible) to make sure what is taught in lessons works on the field.