O'Brien, however, has defied the odds. Of course, I've always wanted to be the regular starting catcher. That'd be nice. But that didn't happen. He's talking about a catcher's ability to set up for and receive a pitch so smoothly that an umpire might call a pitch just off the plate a strike.
Most catchers lunge at a ball, or at least stab at it a little.
No movement, no jerk, no reach. He's the best catcher I've ever seen at making pitches look like strikes. That kind of thing isn't always appreciated, but it makes or breaks a pitcher. O'Brien is not one to boast. He is a simple sort, born and raised in Tulsa, where he picked up the catching gear at age five and never put it down.