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Lefty Catchers II: The People Speak

On Throwing Runners out at second base

Throwing Out Runners at third base

You wrote "Add in the fact that steals of third, in the grand scheme of things, make up a very small portion of a catcher's responsibilities, and I don't see this as a problem for a left-handed catcher." I think that resting the argument here is problematic, since a substantial difference in SB% at third base is of large strategic import, and any catcher who has difficulty throwing to third will be run on with such frequency that it would, in essence, make up a large portion of the catcher's responsibility.
- Tom M.

More Advantages for Lefty Catchers

The cost of the longstanding paradigm is very real, as has been pointed out, in that it dramatically reduces the pool of left-handed *hitting* catchers, and a left-handed hitting catcher is a damn valuable commodity to possess, to the point where his defensive aptitude becomes a secondary consideration.
- Steve T.

I thought of another advantage for left-handed catchers, which you kinda touched on. Pick off throws to first base which would keep runners closer and reduce their secondary leads as well. This would probably result in fewer SBs and runners going 1st to 3rd.
- Steve P

When a throw does not come from over the top, regardless of handedness, it tails (slices). A righty throw to 2B would tail toward 1B. A lefty throw to 2B would tail toward 3B. If, however, the throw is to the 1B side of the bag, a lefty tail (toward 3B) would bring the ball into the bag as the catch was being made. It would actually be preferable to the righty throw/tail. A righty's tail would cause the receiver to turn his glove away form the approaching runner's slide (see illustration below).
- Michael B.

Left-Handed Catcher's Mitts

I couldn't help but note your fundamentally flawed methodology for tackling the issue of left-handed catcher's mitt availability in youth baseball. I'm currently enrolled at Stanford University, in Palo Alto, the site of your only research effort. Palo Alto, of course, is one of the wealthiest areas in the country, having benefited from skyrocketing housing prices and the Silicon Valley tech boom. That PA's Little League offers lefty catcher's mitts proves nothing about the 99% of leagues nationwide that operate in less advantaged areas. In Chicago, my hometown, such mitts were unheard of.
- Mike V.

I've coached for 4 years in an Austin TX T-ball and coach pitch league and have never seen a lefty catcher's mitt. Maybe the fact that you queried a California league had something to do with the "assessable as possible" approach. Austin's pretty progressive, but we don't have a mess of lefty catchers. I've not seen a lefty catcher's mitt in sporting goods stores either. - Michael B.

Additional Theories on the Non-Existence of the Lefty Catcher

One thing that's important to consider is the fragility of most HS-level coaches. Not very many coaches at that sort of level have the willingness to flout convention that would allow them to let a LH thrower play catcher. Most of the amateur coaches I've known would be horrified at the thought b/c they'd be afraid of being perceived as ignorant by others. Certainly at the college level, it would be a very tough sell.
- Craig B

Could pitchers have a harder time pitching to lefty catchers, since the target would be slightly different in appearance and pitchers have little if any experience throwing to southpaws?
- Roger L.

Personal Stories

John, you reminded me of a left handed catcher (first string) playing on another team during a state playoff game when I was in high school. Our coach told us to steal third every time we got the chance. The opportunity never came, our only hits were two home runs.
- Roy C.

In the early/mid 1970s, there were a few very talented left-handed players playing little league baseball in the town where I grew up near Pittsburgh. I was right-handed, but my father and a couple of the other fathers acquired a catcher's mitt for left-handers. Two or three of these players caught fairly regularly when we were 12, 13, 14 years old. We went to different high schools, so I'm not sure whether any of them caught after that or not. One of them was a guy named Terry Mulholland, who, as I'm sure you know, is in his 20th season as a major league pitcher. I wonder if catching my 63-mph fastball and dinky 51-mph curveball helped make him the pitcher he is today.
- Chip T.

I am slightly older than you and a lefty. In my Little League days, the first team I ever played on, I wanted to catch. And they wouldn't let me for whatever reason. I think it was simply, that "lefties can't play catcher" not from a talent standpoint, but from an unwritten rule sort of thing. Yet, when they had no one else to put back there they let me catch. I became a good enough player to play outfield until my senior year in high school when I rode the bench. My coach there was so against left-handed catchers he would stop me from warming up pitchers (he also went bananas if there were crossed bats on the ground—so much for his mental acumen). The usual excuse by now that I heard was the right handed batter nonsense. Now 56 and still playing ball I can honestly say that I have never been up at bat and felt that a catcher was about to plunk me in the head on throws down to second. It is one of the biggest myths I have ever heard. It is positively disgraceful, if you ask me. For years I played in the Boston Park League, one of the top amateur leagues in eastern Massachusetts. My first manager there was absolutely against LH catchers until he used up the first three, and then I'd get the call, seeing very limited action with a nothing special glove I happened to come across. Years later, as I slowed down and underwent shoulder surgery, outfield became quite tougher. So the local sporting goods dealer special-ordered a professional quality mitt from Wilson for me. And I began to work on catching—unfortunately at 35 instead of as a 12-year-old. I was good at calling a game — I love that aspect of it — and managing the diamond. But I was average at receiving and poor throwing, with my arm all but gone at this point. Who knows what would have happened — no pro career to be sure—had I been able to grow up and develop as a catcher with some good coaching. Bitter? Yes, I guess I am though I have certainly moved on long ago. It was always a losing battle I was fighting, and there was no reason for having to go through it.
- Harvey S.

An aside: I coached high school ball for several years, and one year had a pitcher/infielder on my team with modest talent — a real good kid but one would think not one making a career in professional baseball. The second year I had him he started out more as an infielder but somehow wound up as my catcher—not sure whose idea this was—and did a very commendable job nudging aside the hockey player who I had had behind the dish. I don't know if the kid had ever caught before. But once given the chance he was able to do the job. His name: Theo Epstein.

Final Thoughts