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Looking for a little advice on catching fundamentals specifically.

One of our kids catches for our team and is a pretty good glove. Problem is he keeps dinging his thumb so I am suspecting his technique is opening him up to this recurring injury.

Anyone have any suggestions? Can you tell me what a catcher usually does that creates this problem for him?

Thanks much.

Have him keep his throwing hand behind his calf or directly behind the glove. Never have him put his hand behind his body. That exposes his throwing shoulder badly.

Sounds like he is blinking or flinching!

Is it his glove hand thumb or throwing hand?

What age?

Can you post a video?

JGRaider was a catcher in pro ball.

Dinging which thumb? Throwing hand or glove hand? Throwing hand is easy, hand behind the back, just above his butt. Glove hand, his glove is probably too small.

Cheap glove???

Maybe

He needs to find a sponge to put in his glove.

Assuming it is his glove hand.
And he might need to change his catching style,teach him to use the pocket more.

my boys just turned 5, we been trying to do a little t-ball in the back yard....one of the twins is a lefty, and as hard as i try I cannot figure out how to help him with holding the bat. My left hand or right handed brain just cant make it work. Might have to call in the left handed Grandpa....

It's likely the glove. My son was having the same problem using the crappy 'team mitt'. The cheap team mitt wasn't broken in properly and didn't have the center crease in the correct location so it would not close evenly. I bought him his own and we broke it in. No more catcher's thumb.

if he's lefteye dominant, switch him over to righthanded for baseball..... I put my youngest in a righthand glove in T-ball and he continued to play middle infield thru college. If he's got the arm and mentallity to pitch, leave him alone.

he acts like he wants to bat as a right hander, but everything else is all left hand....

I coach little league. My son catches and is nursing a swollen hurt thumb. He is small, and therefore his catchers mitt is a little smaller as well. Less padding,and one of our pitchers is bringing the heat,hence the sore thumb. If they can catch the balls in the pocket,it will help the most. That takes practice and concentration. Also, tape his thumb with athletic tape, and have him wear his batting glove inside the mitt. Hopefully, you have a couple of kids that can split the duties.That will help too.

A catcher's mitt has to fit properly. Too big and sloppy will let a ball on the thumb move the digit a lot and injure it. A mitt too small offers too little protection and can also result in wrist injuries.

It's tough in junior leagues to find a proper catcher's mitt, since one size needs to fit all.

Glove hand. I believe it might have something to do with how he is rotating the glove to catch certain pitches that is compromising his thumb.

As I stated earlier, he is a really good glove. Does a better job catching more than anyone else and he couldn't be doing that if he was flinching.

I taught him to put his throwing hand down behind his calf/ankle.

Not a cheap glove. It is a pretty good glove that the other boys have started using because it is pretty good quality glove. Far better than the team mitt which is well broken in but old and HEAVY.

I adjusted the thumb keeper-strap to try and get his thumb away from the edge of the mitt.

We have been working on using the pocket more, but I think the pitches that get him are pitches to his left where he is rotating his glove hand with his thumb up to catch those inside (on right-handed batters)pitches??? But I am not sure.

I will be taping him from now on, whether he will be catching or not, just to protect the thumb and be prepared in case he is called upon to catch.

The advice regarding some added padding should help, but if his catching thumb is coming up hurt he is taking too much impact regularly on that side of the mitt. If he has good hand-eye coord, looking the ball into the crease will help. Has he learned to turn the wrist/mitt some degrees sideways to get pitches further off the plate - rather than trying too much to keep the mitt upright? This can help in using the crease and avoiding impact on mitt edges.

Catching is hard work - takes concentration on the pitch into glove (if it gets there) and then quick reaction to any play - and some bright/energetic kids may start reacting to B before A is done, The good catcher (as with all positions) calculates the situation and possibilities for the next play well before the pitch and is ready to react, but the catcher has to deal with one additional factor before he can react. Focus is a friend,

Great Post

Comes with the territory. My older son has several disfigured digits from catching, and has broken a couple of other catchers' fingers while pitching.