How to Find a Catching Coach Near You

Finding a catching coach can be overwhelming when you don't know where to look or what to look for. 

Let's get you started by answering 3 main questions:

1. Are you open to online coaching? (We'll talk through this later on)
   
   The internet allows for coaches across the country (or the world!) to be “near you” and easy to access.
   
   
2. What type of coaching do you want?
   
   1:1 Coaching, Group Coaching (like Camps), and online courses are the three main options here.
   
   
3. Who's in your area? (Especially if you're wanting in-person coaching)
   
   Ask for recommendations from other coaches, players, or parents.
   
   There are likely baseball training facilities around your area you can call and ask for catching instruction.

What to Look For in a Catching Coach (5 Questions to Ask)

There's 5 main questions I tell parents to ask when looking for a catching coach:

1. Do they care for their players?
   
   If they don't care about the players as a person, do you want them to coach your son?
   
   
2. What is their communication and teaching style like?
   
   Do they yell "Do better!" or do they take the time to articulate what your son is doing well, what they need to fix, and how to fix it?
   
   
3. Do they have raving fans (of other people just like you)?
   
   If your coach has loads of raving fans with testimonials, you can assume they're a really solid coach. 
   
   
4. Do they have deep knowledge of the game (and the ability to explain the “why” behind what they teach)?
   
   Catching is a complicated position and there's a lot of common misunderstandings about the position. Can they explain what they're trying to teach and why? Can they explain it in a way where you truly understand it?
   
   
5. Do they teach things one at a time?
   
   If a coach tries to teach too much at once, nothing gets communicated effectively. This is called "Channel Capacity" - take a look at this video:

@catchingmadesimple Communicating 3 things at once will mean they understand 0 things. One at a time #catching #coach #baseballcoach #communication ♬ Roxanne - Instrumental - Califa Azul

Choose the Best Catching Coach For Your Son in 3 Easy Steps

If I had a son, there would be 3 main things I would want to think through when choosing a catching coach for him:

1. Watch their free content

As a general rule, whoever provides the best free content will also provide the best paid coaching.

With the internet, there is an abundance of catching coaches online, and you can get a good feel for who someone is and how they teach based on their videos.

If I were you, I would watch their free content online. Then, once I found a coach I liked and wanted to coach my son, I would find out how to get access to that coach. Luckily, with the internet, online coaching gives access to people across the globe.

Here are some other catching coaches I have found to be great at what they do.

A great way to evaluate coaches is to look at referrals and reviews. If they have helped someone else like you, they will be able to help you too.

2. Test that catching coach out

Once you find a coach you like and trust, test them out!

If their free content has helped you, you can trust their paid content will too.

Book a lesson, start a program, or do something with them!

Remember, you can literally "buy" faster skill development with a coach.

That's why coaches are valuable.

When working with a coach, you're buying skill, speed, and certainty that you are working on the right things.

And can you really evaluate a catching coach until you've actually worked with them?

P.s. Take the free 7 Day Stance Challenge here to get a stance like the pros in 5 minutes a day.

3. Go deeper with that catching coach

If you like the coach, they helped your son, and you think the impact on your son is worth the investment, keep going!

Catching (like life) is not a one-time thing.

It is a constant journey to master the fundamentals, the mental game, and the art of showing up with confidence every day.

Catching Camps vs Lessons (Pros & Cons)

The biggest limit for many parents looking to get their sons help with catching is not having any options near them. 

But if you do have options, here's how to think about them:

Pros & Cons of Catching Camps

Pros: Catching Camps are great because you:

• Expose yourself to what other catchers are like at your level
• Receive quality instruction at an affordable price.

Cons: Catching camps can fall short because you:

• Don't get as much personalized attention
• Have reps are split up with other catchers 

Pros & Cons of Catching Lessons

Pros: Catching Lessons can be great because you:

• Get personalized instruction
• Get reps for the entire lesson (and don't have to split them up

Cons: Catching Lessons can fall short because you:

• May have to pay more for 1:1 instruction
• Don't get the group coaching environment

In Person vs Online Catching Coaches (Pros & Cons)

Another decision you'll have to make may be around getting virtual coaching vs in person coaching. 

Many parents understandably doubt the effectiveness of a virtual coaching program, especially if they have never experienced one before. 

Here's how you can think through the pros and cons:

Virtual and Online Catching Lessons and Programs (Pros & Cons)

Pros: Virtual Catching lessons and programs can be great because you:

• Get high-quality instruction from anywhere in the world
• Develop habits to practice at home (and not only when you have a coach)
• Build strong parent-child connection through the quality time you spend working together
• Deeply understand catching since you're learning with the coach's instruction
• Get personalized video feedback specific to you
• Get daily feedback loops with your catching instructor rather than 1x/week
• Can continue to work regardless of your schedule and your instructors schedule

Cons: Virtual Catching lessons and programs can fall short because you:

• Don't get the in-person relationship with the coach
• Don't get the rep-by-rep feedback during an in person lesson
• Are limited by your own ability and resources to grow (which can always improve)

In-Person Catching Lessons and Programs (Pros & Cons)

Pros: In-Person Catching lessons and programs can be great because you:

• Get the full attention of a coach in person
• Receive rep-by-rep feedback loops with a coach who can immediately make adjustments based on what they're seeing
• Get access to whatever equipment your coach has in person (machines, training equipment, etc)
• Can drop your kid off and not have to learn anything about catching for them to get better

Cons: In-Person lessons and programs can fall short because you:

• Often don't practice during the week, so you make the same mistakes over and over every time you meet with the coach
• Miss 2-3 weeks of work if you go out of town one week for a tournament and your coach goes out of town 
• Don't typically have accountability or instruction to work on the right things during the week
• You may have to pay extra for facility costs 
• May have to travel hours (costing you time and money) to get to where the coach does lessons 

Is Virtual Catching Coaching Effective? 

Online catching lessons are extremely effective if there are a few key pieces at play:

1. You're willing to do the work at home

Because it's virtual, a lot of the responsibility falls on you to do the work. 

If you don't have the discipline to do it at home, you likely won't be a great fit. 

2. The program is set up for virtual training

Having an easy-to-follow system is critical to success. If there's not some sort of program structure to follow, you'll likely run into road blocks, lose momentum, and stop.

3. The coach knows what he's doing

This is a given, but if someone can't actually coach the skill they're trying to transfer, the virtual training is going to be really tough

Bonus: Has anyone else gotten good results?

A great way to gauge if the program will be effective for you is to gauge if the program has been effective for other people similar to you.

Look for testimonials and raving fans of the program. 

What are the Benefits of a Catching Coach?

There's 10 main benefits of working with an in person and online catching coach:

1. Increased Skill Level

Working with a catching coach will help you get better at catching! A good catching coach will help you dominate the “Core 4” skills of catching: Stances, receiving, blocking, and throwing.

2. More Playing Time

Working with a catching coach helps you develop the skillset of a catcher. As a result, it can help you get more playing time as a catcher. Makes sense, right? The higher your skill level, the more likely you are to play.

3. Stronger Mindset

A good catching coach won’t just coach the hard skills of catching, they’ll also coach the mindset. A player who has a stronger mindset will wildly outperform a player with a weak mindset. So this is a massive benefit both in baseball and in life.

4. Discipline and Daily Practice Habits

A good coach will equip players to work on things at home. And at times, they will work to keep them accountable too. The player who practices every day is much more likely to out perform the player who doesn’t!

5. Learning to Think Effectively

A good coach will help you and your son to think effectively about failure, learning, and so much more. Our thoughts shape who we are, and having a coach to help shape our thoughts can have an enormous impact on our game and our life!

6. Higher Grades

A catching coach can remind players how important their grades are and push them to work harder in the classroom. If you’re getting a catching coach, you likely want to play at the next level. If you want to play at the next level, you need to have good grades!

7. A ‘Richer’ High-School Experience

A catching coach can provide a ‘richer’ high school experience for the catchers. Like it or not, your friends and extracurricular activities have a big impact on your high school experience. If you’re the starting catcher and a critical part of your team’s success, you’ll likely have more fun, more friends, and the confidence to have a rich high school experience.

8. A College Scholarship

A catching coach can help you get a college scholarship. This will come from being a more highly skilled catcher. A catching coach has likely played college themselves though and knows what to look for and what to look out for in the college recruitment process. They also may have relationships with other coaches that could help introduce you to college coaches.

9. Opportunities After College From Being an Athlete

A catching coach can help give you the skill needed to play in college, which opens up a plethora of benefits after college. College athletes are in hot demand in the workplace because skills like preparation, competition, and team-work are so valuable.

10: Belief in Themselves

This is my favorite part of being a catching coach myself: Helping young men to believe in themselves. Believe they have what it takes. Believe they’re dangerous and a force to be reckoned with behind the plate. Believe they have what it takes to learn, grow, and get better.

What are the Main Problems With Catching Coaches?

There are a few main problems with getting a catching coach, and it's important you understand the main problems within the industry:

1. It's Hard to Find a Good Catching Coach

Since catching is such a unique position, there really aren't that many catching coaches compared to hitting, pitching, or infield coaches.

I will say, it's easier to find catching coaches now than ever before with the rise of social media, but it's still difficult to find a good catching coach, much less a coach you can get consistent access to.

So finding a catching coach is difficult in general. 

And finding a good catching coach your son loves to work with and gets you great results can be challenging too.

2. Most of the Good Catching Coaches Don't Coach Full Time

Many parents will tell me this exact sentence: "We was working with _______, but he just left to go play his season."

Many catching instructors are only coaching part time because they're trying to keep playing or want to coach for a college or professional team.

This can be challenging because you build up rapport and momentum with a catching coach only to stop all lessons and communication when they leave for 'bigger and better' things.

3. It Can be Expensive to Get a Catching Coach

The unfortunate reality of youth sports is that it's expensive. 

Many private instructors have very high hourly rates, which can price out many families from getting the help they need. 

Check out the next section on how much a catching coach costs and the 8 factors that drive the price up and down.

How Much Does a Catching Coach Cost?

Generally speaking, you can expect to pay anywhere from $30 to $250 for an hour lesson based on 8 main factors:

1. Quality of Instructor

As the quality of the catching instructor goes up, the price of the coaching goes up as well.

For example, a lesson with Yadier Molina (one of the best catchers of all time) would be more expensive than a lesson with a local high school catcher.

As the quality of instruction goes up, so does the price.

2. Location

If you are renting a facility, the price of the catching lesson will likely go up.

That’s because on top of the catching instruction, you also need to pay for use of the facility.

Depending on how much the facility costs and how long the lesson is, you can expect to add $30-$60 per lesson for use of the facility.

Some lessons factor this into the pricing already.

3. Additional Video Coaching

If there is additional video coaching offered, you can expect the price to go up as well.

Video analysis coaching is one of the most helpful ways a catcher can get better, and often is an extra charge.

When I transitioned to catcher, video analysis sped up my development a lot.

4. Demand of Instructor

As more people want instruction from a particular coach, you can expect the rates for that coach to rise.

As a coach does a great job with his or her clients, word spreads, demand rises, and price rise as their calendar fills up.

A common factor for the level of demand is the number of other instructors in the area.

If there are fewer catching instructors in the area, your demand will be higher.

But regardless of how many instructors there are, the instructors who deliver the best results will always have the most demand.

5. Frequency of Training

You can expect to pay more for a one-time lesson than a recurring, scheduled lesson.

This is because the 'lifetime value' of a recurring customer is more than a one time lesson.

For example, a $40 lesson every week for a year comes out to be over $2,000 for the year. Whereas a $100 lesson once a year comes out to be $100 for the year.

If your training is more frequent, you can expect to get a better discount.

Not all coaches do this, but if they're smart they will!

6. Length of Training (Lesson, Camp, or Program)

If you are doing a longer lesson, you can expect to pay more money.

But, you could expect to get small discount for a longer lesson.

For example, a 30 minute catching lesson might cost $40, but an hour lesson might cost $70 (a $10 discount).

7. Relationship with the Instructor

Your relationship with the instructor can influence the price.

If the instructor has a strong personal relationship with you, they may cut you a deal because they like you.

It is still best practice to pay for the coaching, but they may give you a steep discount depending on the level of your relationship.

8. Number of People Getting Trained

A private, one on one training, is more expensive than a small group training of three or four catchers.

For example, a one on one catching lesson may cost $80 an hour, but a group lesson of four catchers may only be $50 an hour.

This saves the parents $30 each and helps the coach make $120 more than if they were to do a private lesson.

A Personal Story About Choosing a Catching Coach

When I was in college, I transitioned from an infielder to a catcher my Junior year of college.

I literally had to learn to catch from the ground up, which is why I love teaching catchers now.

When I decided to make the transition, I read everything I could find on catching, learning to catch, developing skill at the position, and more.

I watched hundreds of hours of videos.

By FAR, the thing that sped up my development the fastest was getting a coach.

We worked together in person, then I’d go do the same drills we worked on back at my school by myself.

I’d often bring my girlfriend (now wife) out to feed me balls in the batting cage since it was over Christmas break.

And I got better in 6 weeks of coaching than I had in 6 months of working by myself.

So if you're wondering if getting a catching coach is worth it, here's what I can say from my experience: Getting a catching coach was the best decision I ever made in my catching career.

If you can't afford a catching coach right now, consider taking the Catching Scorecard to see where you stack up and what you need to work on. 

What Does Coaching with Catching Made Simple Look Like?

"Alright, Coach Bougie, I understand what working with a catching coach generally looks like. What does it look like with you?"

If you want to work with me, you can expect to start with CatchCORE, a 4-week catching fundamentals bootcamp.

It's a daily, personalized virtual coaching program walking through the 4 most important skills in catching: Stances, Receiving, Blocking, and Throwing.

If you want to learn more about CatchCORE, click the button below: