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| Keith Anderson (photo above) grew
up in Escondido, California, in the northern part of San Diego County. He has been
passionate about baseball since he was a little leaguer. While attending college,
Keith spent his summers handling pitchers in his local MABL. Now he is a catcher
in the San Francisco Giants minor league system, and his passion for the game is
even greater. Here, he shares some of the secrets of being a great professional catcher. HardBall: How have you been able to improve your catching game from high school through college and MABL and now in the professional game? Keith Anderson: I am a student of the game. I have always paid attention to older and more experienced guys. In the Giants organization, I’ve learned a great deal from Steve Decker and Kurt Manwaring. Both of these guys caught in the majors, and they helped me in every aspect of catching, especially pitch calling and controlling a game. HardBall: As a professional catcher, what do you consider your most important job? Keith Anderson: I tie myself closely to the starting pitcher’s performance. During the course of a season, a pitcher may get 30 starts. In five of those starts, he will have everything working: control, movement, velocity, etc. On the opposite side, he will have five starts where he has very little going for himself. In the other 20 starts, some things will work to his advantage, and others will not. My job is to help him get a good performance even when he doesn’t have much going. When I played in the MABL, I saw the same challenges. Sometimes a guy would have everything going, and other times nothing. Even then, I believed that I had to find ways to help him succeed. At the professional level, one thing I’ve learned is to help the pitcher quickly recognize which pitches are working for him. If he has a good fastball, but the breaking pitch isn’t there, I will help him milk the fastball. We’ll change locations, and so forth. With two strikes on the hitter, I might have him bounce his breaking ball in the dirt. Many times, that beats a hitter. So even though we aren’t confident throwing the pitch early in the count, if we beat a hitter with a curve in the dirt for strike three, we give all opposing hitters a reason to believe that it won’t be all fastballs. HardBall: Aren’t you concerned that the pitch in the dirt will become a wild pitch and let the batter reach base? Keith Anderson: Because that pitch beats a lot of hitters, the catcher must be able to handle it, and the pitcher must have the confidence that his receiver will not let the ball get away. I take pride in my ability to dig strike three from the dirt and toss out the hitter. I work on my blocking technique every day so that I can call for the pitch in the dirt without giving it a second thought. HardBall: Do you recommend blocking drills to MSBL/MABL receivers? Keith Anderson: Absolutely! Any dedicated catcher can master blocking. Just study the blocking positions we show in this issue, and practice getting into the correct position. Do this a few times a day, off season or in season, and your blocking game will become very strong. HardBall: What else do you regard as a vital part of your job as a catcher? Keith Anderson: A good catcher needs to think of himself as a receiver. The way he receives the ball can influence the umpire’s calls on marginal strikes. The best receivers know how to fight the ball back into the strike zone. They know what kind of movement the pitcher gets. They read the location early enough to anticipate a marginal pitch. Then they get the glove in the right position in advance of the ball so they can fight the pitch back into the zone without anyone realizing what they are doing. The glove movement is subtle. One example is a marginally high curve. You need to receive that pitch as close to the body as possible so that it appears to have fallen into the strike zone when it enters your glove. You can’t jerk the glove back towards your body. You must take the glove back smoothly and with as little effort as possible, and have it in position well before the ball reaches the glove. A receiver who knows what he is doing can make many marginal pitches appear to be strikes. Floating is another technique in this regard applies to pitches on the corners. That is one of the receiving tips that we demonstrate in Tips on Being a Solid Receiver. HardBall: Do you ever frame pitches? Keith Anderson: A veteran receiver once told me, “Framing is for carpenters.” A good receiver never frames a pitch the way many amateur catchers do. He never holds it for a second or two—all that does is show up the umpire. Instead, he receives the ball and returns it to the pitcher in a normal rhythm. HardBall: How did you build your arm strength? Keith Anderson: I do a lot of long toss, but there’s a right and a wrong way. I throw on a line as far as I can—no lofting the ball. I do long toss twice a week during the season, and three times a week in the off season. HardBall: How have you cut your time throwing to second? Keith Anderson: I focus on proper footwork and doing agility drills. For example, everyday I practice my footwork by doing the “T drill.” For agility, I jump up and down on a box that is four inches high. That simple exercise gives me a great deal of quickness. It is more important to have quick feet and an accurate arm than to just have a strong arm. Also, it is important to have the right mental approach to throwing out runners. You can’t nail all of them, but you need to be successful in throwing out the runners you are expected to get. In this issue, we show the foot movement that a catcher must master in order to make quick and accurate throws to second. Any catcher who studies and practices the technique we present will improve his throws to second. HardBall: What did you, a catcher, learn from Tom House, the nationally acclaimed pitching guru? Keith Anderson: I learned how to use my glove hand to better advantage. He taught me to center the glove in the box that corresponds to the chest, then to bring the chest to the glove. Too often, a player will jerk the glove down, and he’ll lose accuracy. This is a problem for pitchers, but it is also a problem for catchers, and House’s method works. This is also an excellent tip for all MABL and MSBL players. It works for pitchers, catchers, and even outfielders for that matter. My friend and former MABL teammate, Phil Thompson, worked with House to improve his pitching. But he also plays outfield, and learned to use the same throwing technique from the outfield. You don’t want to run on that guy if you face his team in the MSBL/MABL World Series! HardBall: Any other tips for MABL and MSBL players? Keith Anderson: The catcher should be loud, assertive and visual in directing plays. For example, instead of saying “cut two” only once, the catcher should say it very loudly three times in a row. He should also be visual in his command by pointing to the base at the same time. The catcher should take pride in the important role he plays for his team. He should practice his blocking moves and his throwing footwork at least a few times each week. HardBall: You are 24 years old, and have three years of professional experience under your belt, and you have been as high as triple A. What are your goals at this stage of your career? Keith Anderson: My next immediate goal is to get invited to big league spring training camp. Longer term, I want to catch in the major leagues, and when my playing days are over, I would like to coach at the professional level. HardBall: And how are you spending your off season? Keith Anderson: I am fortunate to have two baseball related jobs. I sell advertising for HardBall Magazine, and I also work as an instructor and special youth coach in the Southern California Baseball Academy. |
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| Be sure to read Keith Anderson's Tips on Being a Solid Receiver. | |||
| Credits Graphic presentation and content: Keith Anderson. Photos and text: Dan Piro. Catcher/Model: Adam Thompson, North County San Diego MABL. Web conversion: Brett Rudy. As originally seen in Hardball Magazine, Fall 2003. |
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