Catching and Catchers discussion Bare-hand, scoop or paddle...which way do you teach catchers to field bunts?

cz fastpitch fan said:

I have this discussion with my catching students at Field of Dreams every week. I am a firm believer that as a catcher, there is never a time when bare-handing the ball is a good idea in a standard play. There might be that freak "do or die" play where she is fielding a wicked high bounce off the backstop on a wild pitch & the only chance on earth she has is to catch the ball in the air with her throwing hand & immediately throw it to the player covering the plate.
I'm referring to bunt coverage. I teach my students to get comfortable using two hands on all bunts, even the one that has come to a complete stop. I teach them to either use the scoop or the paddle method, which is where the catcher uses the closed backside of the glove to push the ball into her throwing hand, like using a paddle. I know that in baseball it is very common to see a fielder or catcher use his bare hand to pick up the rolling or stopped bunt. I believe baseball players can get away with that because the ball is smaller and their hands typically are larger than their female softball catchers'.

Does anybody in fast pitch believe in teaching catchers to bare-hand a bunt, and if so, then why? I'd be curious to see who teaches this method & the logic behind it. Let's start this forum off with some content for debate.

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cz fastpitch fan said:

I have this discussion with my catching students at Field of Dreams every week. I am a firm believer that as a catcher, there is never a time when bare-handing the ball is a good idea in a standard play. There might be that freak "do or die" play where she is fielding a wicked high bounce off the backstop on a wild pitch & the only chance on earth she has is to catch the ball in the air with her throwing hand & immediately throw it to the player covering the plate.
I'm referring to bunt coverage. I teach my students to get comfortable using two hands on all bunts, even the one that has come to a complete stop. I teach them to either use the scoop or the paddle method, which is where the catcher uses the closed backside of the glove to push the ball into her throwing hand, like using a paddle. I know that in baseball it is very common to see a fielder or catcher use his bare hand to pick up the rolling or stopped bunt. I believe baseball players can get away with that because the ball is smaller and their hands typically are larger than their female softball catchers'.

Does anybody in fast pitch believe in teaching catchers to bare-hand a bunt, and if so, then why? I'd be curious to see who teaches this method & the logic behind it. Let's start this forum off with some content for debate.

Click to expand...

coachtomv said:

I believe, catchers or not, that unless in scenarios like you explained above, that bare handing is slower and inconsistent.

Couple points:

Like you also pointed out, bigger ball, smaller hands.
If ball is moving, it is usually spinning and harder to handle bare handed, especially with smaller hands.
Not baseball, so much less time to gather and make the play.
In most cases as you approach the ball you step beyond the ball to barehand it, so if you step through it with the glove hand first, the player can pull the ball to the throwng hand/position while simultaneously getting the footwork to make a more athletic play all in the same time it takes to barehand it.

Every play and player is different, sometimes you just need to make "a softball play", but I believe good fundamentals stresses leading with the glove in most fielding scenarios.

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