Catcher communicating to pitcher

The catcher is often seen as the link between the coach and the pitcher. He has an opportunity to communicate to the pitcher through baseball's tradition of "signals." Here is what a catcher should be able to communicate.

First and foremost is the pitch to be thrown. Usually a 1 is a fastball, 2 curveball, 3 slider, wiggle is a changeup or a specialty pitch. If a runner reaches second base the catcher should give multiple signals so the runner can not relay the pitch to the hitter. This is such an egregious error at lower levels of baseball. A pitcher should not deliver a pitch with a runner at 2nd if the catcher drops only one sign. If the catcher does this, he should step off and ask for a new sequence. Typical ways in which to hide the signal is using the second sign, the sign after the two, the first sign , the last sign, the sign that coincides with the number of outs. There are lots of possible ways to relay signals.

The following are ways in which the catcher helps the pitcher thwart the running game. The catcher needs to be able ask the pitcher to throw to 1st in a pickoff attempt. He could also ask the pitcher to hold the ball to create some tension with runners or give the pitcher a slide step signal. The hold and the slide step are designed to prevent a big jump by the basestealer. The catcher should also have an inside move signal if he wants the pitcher to spin in rather than throwing home. The catcher should have a fake to 3rd signal with runners on 1st and 3rd. The last and maybe most important sign is the pitchout. Not only is it effective against hit and runs but it the only legitimate way to defend a suicide squeeze.

The catcher usually doesn't call all of these things on his own. He usually gets help from the bench as to when certain things should be called. But, certainly he has a very direct impact on what the pitcher does on the mound.