Catcher Catcher is a position for a baseball or softball player . When a batter takes his turn to hit , the catcher crouches behind home plate , in front of the ( home ) umpire , and receives the ball from the pitcher . This is a catcher ' s primary duty , but he is also called upon to master many other skills in order to field his position well . The role of the catcher is similar to that of the wicket - keeper in cricket . Positioned behind home plate , the catcher can see the whole field ; therefore , he is in the best position to direct and lead the other players in a defensive play . The catcher typically calls for pitches by means of hand signals ; therefore , he / she must be aware of the pitcher ' s mechanics and strengths , as well as the batter ' s tendencies and weaknesses . Foul tips , bouncing balls in the dirt , and contact with runners during plays at the plate are all part of the catcher ' s job , so protective equipment must be worn . This includes a mask , chest and throat protectors , shin guards , and an extra - thick glove . Because the position requires a comprehensive understanding of the game ' s strategies , the pool of former catchers yields a disproportionate number of Major and Minor - League managers , including such prominent examples as Connie Mack , Steve O ' Neill , Al Lopez , Yogi Berra , Mike Scioscia , and Joe Torre . The physical and mental strain of being involved on every defensive play can wear catchers down over a long season , and can have a negative effect on their offensive output . Due to catching ' s strategic defensive importance , if a catcher has exceptional defensive skills , teams are often willing to overlook their relative offensive weaknesses . A knowledgeable catcher ' s ability to work with the pitcher , via pitch selection and location , can diminish the effectiveness of the opposing team ' s offense . Many great defensive catchers toiled in relative anonymity , because they did not produce large offensive numbers . Notable examples of light - hitting , defensive specialists were ; Ray Schalk , Jim Hegan , Jim Sundberg and Brad Ausmus . Schalk ' s career batting average of . 253 is the lowest of any position player in the Baseball Hall of Fame . That he was selected for enshrinement in 1955 was largely a tribute to his outstanding defensive skills . Catchers are often able to play first base and less commonly third base . In the numbering system used to record baseball plays , the catcher is assigned the number ' 2 ' . ( See " Baseball scorekeeping " . ) History and progression of the position . In the middle of the nineteenth century , the game of baseball began to evolve from a sport played by amateur s for recreation into a more serious game played by professionals . One of the most dramatic changes was the transition of the pitcher ' s delivery from an underhand motion to an overhanded throw . Before the American Civil War , the pitcher ' s role was to initiate the action by offering an underhanded throw to the batter , in much the same way that a basketball referee offers up a jump ball to begin play . Since this type of pitching often caused the batter to hit lazy , foul pop - ups , catchers played their position approximately twenty to twenty - five feet behind the batter , and wore no protective equipment . As the game progressed towards professionalism and became more serious , pitchers began to attempt to prevent the batter from hitting the ball by throwing faster pitches . With the introduction of the called strike in , catchers began inching closer to home plate due to the rules requirement that a strikeout could only be completed by a catch . The rules governing the delivery of pitches proved to be hard to enforce , and pitchers continued to stretch the boundaries of the rules until by the 1870s , the release point of pitches had reached the pitcher ' s waist level . These developments meant that catchers began to take on a crucial defensive role , as a pitcher ' s deceptive deliveries could only be effective if the catcher was capable of fielding them . The progression of the catcher positioning himself closer to the plate would lead to changes in pitching deliveries that would revolutionize the sport . In the 1870s , pitcher Candy Cummings was able to introduce the curveball because his catcher , Nat Hicks , fielded his position in close proximity to home plate and was able to catch the deceptive pitch . Other specialized pitches such as the spitball and the knuckleball followed , which further emphasized the defensive importance of the catcher ' s position . The rising velocity of pitches in conjunction with catchers moving closer to home plate significantly increased the risk of injuries for catchers , especially face and hand injuries . By the late 1870s , catchers began to use padded , fingerless gloves to protect their hands , and in the first protective catcher ' s mask was used . The first catchers to use protective masks sometimes had their courage called into question , but the effectiveness of the masks meant that they became widely accepted . In the 1880s , the first padded chest protectors came into use , and in specialized catcher ' s mitts used on the non - throwing hand began to be used . At about the same time that catchers began fielding their position closer to home plate , baseball teams began using a less rubbery ball which led to a decline in the number of runs scored . In the 1860s it was common for teams to score fifty or sixty runs in a game . The combination of the new , harder ball and the continuation of the rise in pitcher ' s release points helped usher in what became known as the Dead - ball era . The decrease in run production placed greater significance on stolen bases and bunts , which in turn emphasized the crucial defensive role played by catchers . Together , the rules changes and the new protective equipment transformed the catcher ' s defensive role to the way that it is presently played . Historically , a good catcher did not have to be a good hitter . Shortstop Mario Mendoza , who played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1982 and for whom the Mendoza Line was named , stated in 2010 : " In my day , you didn ' t have to hit much if you were good defensively . If you were a shortstop or catcher , there weren ' t many guys at those positions who could hit and play defense " . Since the 1960s , however , such mediocre hitting has become more rare as teams increasingly demand players with ability to both field and hit . " [ N ] ow everybody in the lineup has to be a good hitter " , Mendoza said . Catching pitches . The catcher is usually the first to notice the tendencies , quirks , and peculiarities of each home - plate umpire . Some umpires favor high strikes , pitched balls that are technically above the strike zone but appear , to the umpire , to be good . Conversely , some umpires will call low pitches strikes even when they are slightly below the knees . Other umpires have an inside bias or an outside bias ; some umpires have more than one bias ; some are uniformly lenient ; some have very restricted notions of the strike zone , and the pitcher will constantly feel that his pitches are unfairly judged . The catcher can exploit an umpire ' s tendencies by taking him into account in how he chooses to receive the ball . The catcher can help his pitcher get more strike calls from the umpire by using a technique called " framing " . This practice is a matter of a catcher keeping his mitt inside the strike zone , or as close to it as possible , when receiving the pitch , thereby giving the plate umpire the impression that the pitch is in the strike zone , even if it is not . When framing , a catcher will also hold his mitt still for a second or two so that the umpire has an opportunity to thoroughly consider his call ( and , hopefully , let his innate biases influence his decision in a direction favorable to the catcher ' s team . ) The catcher , when receiving a borderline pitch , usually has several options in how he makes the catch . He can catch the pitch in the webbing of his mitt or in the heel ; he can catch the pitch on his forehand or backhand , as necessary ; he can catch a low pitch with the mitt pointed upward or downward . These choices help the catcher to create a favorable presentation ( or frame ) for the umpire . A variation on " framing " is called " pulling pitches " . The general approach is to catch the half of the ball that is outside the strike zone and show the umpire only the half of the ball , lodged in the mitt , that is closer to the zone . The illusion is often enhanced with a slight ' tug ' of the mitt ( of an inch or two ) toward the strike zone . By rule the catcher must station directly back of the plate ( generally in the catcher ' s box ) the moment a pitch is thrown but may leave at any time to catch a pitch or make a play . The moment an intentional ball leaves a pitcher ' s hand , the catcher must have both feet in the catcher ' s box . The catcher is the only defensive player who is allowed to be in foul territory when a pitch is thrown . Calling the game . Calling the game refers to the act of catchers to decide the type of pitch delivered to home plate . Catchers comprise a high percentage of baseball managers . 15 of 30 Major League Baseball managers were former catchers . Because the catcher is considered a captain on the field ( and some , such as Thurman Munson and Jason Varitek were in fact team captains ) , he is often in charge of planning defensive plays . The catcher will give signs to the pitcher for what pitch is to be thrown . The majority of the time it is done through a number system . Each number will represent a different pitch , and then the pitcher can either agree or disagree with a shake of his or her head . These signals get more complicated when a runner is on second base , because the runner ' s vantage point when he takes his lead gives him a direct view of the catcher ' s hand and a simple signal can be relayed by the runner to the batter . Signals are not always done by the number system . Varitek was known for giving signals by touching certain parts of his chest protector . The selection of which pitch to use can depend on a wide variety of situations such as ; the type of hitter that is being faced , whether there are any base runners , how many outs have been made in the inning , or the current score , among others . The responsibility for selecting the type of pitch was traditionally made by the catcher . However , current form is to have the manager or a coach relay the pitch selection to the catcher , via secret hand signals to prevent the opposing team from having the advantage of knowing what the next pitch will be . Throwing . A catcher nearly always throws with his right hand . Since most hitters are right - handed and stand to the left side of the plate when batting , a catcher who throws left - handed is forced to take some time to sidestep ( or otherwise avoid ) the right - handed hitter when he throws from behind the plate . In addition , a lefty ' s throw would tend to come in on the shortstop side of the bag , while a righty ' s throw would be on the second base side of the bag , which is where the runner is coming in . Consequently , players who are left - handed rarely play catcher . Left - handed catchers have only caught eleven big - league games since 1902 , and Jack Clements , who played for 17 years at the end of the nineteenth century , is the only man in the history of baseball to play more than three hundred games as a left - handed catcher . However , some observers , including the famed statistician Bill James and ESPN writer Rob Neyer , have suggested that the real reason that there are no left - handed catchers is because left - handed players with strong throwing arms are almost always encouraged , at an early age , to become pitchers . Benny Distefano , the last lefty thrower to catch a big - league game ( in 1989 ) , noted that lefty catchers have difficulty on bunts up the third base line and on fielding throws home for plays at the plate . Blocking balls in the dirt . To block balls that a pitcher throws on a bounce toward home plate ( pitches that are said to be " in the dirt " ) , the catcher will slide his body to the left or right , as necessary , to place himself directly in the path of the ball . Once in position , he drops to his knees , places his mitt between his legs to prevent the ball from passing through , and leans forward to deaden the rebound when , and if , the ball bounces off his thigh or torso . Although inexperienced catchers may try to catch the errant pitch with his mitt , coaches often prioritize the catcher ' s ability to " keep the ball in front of him " than to make a catch with his mitt . Ideally , the catcher will be able to knock the ball to the ground where it will stop within arm ' s reach . To perform this properly , without the ball being deflected in an undesirable direction , the catcher must angle his body so that his chest is always leaning forward , toward home plate . This maneuver is often difficult , and its difficulty depends largely on how fast the ball is traveling , where it first hits the ground , the firmness of the ground it hits , and the manner in which it is spinning . Defensive plays . The defensive plays expected of catchers , aside from managing the pitcher by calling for pitches and catching them , include : Any failure by the catcher can have dire consequences for his team . Passed ball s are possible whenever one or more runners are on base . A failure to catch a ball thrown from the outfield on a play at home plate , or a failure to tag a runner , means that the defensive team fails to record an all - important out and , instead , it allows a run . On an attempt to prevent a stolen base , a catcher ' s bad throw might careen past the infielder and skip into the outfield , allowing an additional advance by the baserunner . Personal catcher . Because of the close mental relationship and trust that a successful pitcher must have with his catcher , a number of catchers throughout history have become preferred by pitchers on their teams , to the point that that catcher will almost always ( especially during the regular season ) start along with the pitcher . The catcher is then informally referred to as that pitcher ' s " personal catcher " . Naturally , the potential problem with this arrangement is that if the pitcher prefers to work with the team ' s backup catcher , then the regular catcher — presumably the better player — must be benched . However , this is somewhat leavened by the fact that , due to the physically grueling nature of the position , even " regular " catchers are normally asked to rest relatively frequently . Personal catchers are often used for pitchers that specialize in throwing knuckleball s , due to the difficulty of catching such an inconsistent and erratic pitch . Some personal catchers have included : Injury . The catcher is the most physically demanding position in baseball , more so than the pitcher . Despite being heavily padded , catchers routinely suffer some of the worst physical abuse in baseball . The catcher has the physically risky job of blocking the plate to prevent base runners from reaching home and scoring runs . Catchers also constantly get bruised and battered by pitches , foul ball s , and occasionally the bat in an undisciplined follow - through of the batter ' s swing . Catchers also are prone to knee ailments stemming from the awkward crouching stance they assume . Because of this , catchers have a reputation of being slow baserunners ; even if they have speed at the beginning of their careers , the eventual toll taken on their knees slows them down , although there are some exceptions , such as Manny Sanguillén and Alex Avila . Some players who begin their career as catchers are moved to other positions in order to preserve their running speed , increase their availability for games , and take advantage of their prowess with the bat . Prominent examples of catchers switching position in mid - career include Craig Biggio , B . J . Surhoff , Brandon Inge , and Dale Murphy ( although Murphy was also known as a poor thrower to the pitcher and to second base , nearly hitting pitchers in the process ) . Catchers often have shorter careers than players at other positions ; consequently , few catchers hold batting records that require many seasons of play to compile . Mike Piazza is the only catcher in history with more than four hundred career home runs , and no catcher has amassed three thousand career hits . ( Although 3000 - hit - club member Craig Biggio played his first three full seasons as a catcher , he played his remaining sixteen seasons at second base and in the outfield . ) The larger or heavier the catcher , the greater the health risks associated with repeatedly assuming a crouching or squatting position ; knees and backs are especially vulnerable to " wear - and - tear " injuries . Catchers also have an increased risk of circulatory abnormalities in the catching hand . A study of minor - league ballplayers showed that , of 36 players in various positions , all nine of the catchers had hand pain during a game , and several had chronic pain in the catching hand . Catching high - speed pitches can , in some cases , cause the index finger on the gloved hand to swell to twice the size of the other fingers . Ultrasound and blood - pressure tests showed altered blood flow in the gloved hand of five of the catchers , a far higher incidence than in the hands of players at other baseball positions . Equipment . Catchers in baseball use the following equipment to help prevent injury while behind the plate : Additionally , some catchers choose to use the following optional equipment : In addition to his protective equipment , a catcher usually also adopts practices that minimize his risk of injury . For instance , unlike fielders elsewhere on the field , a catcher tries , to the extent possible , to catch the ball with his gloved hand alone . An outfielder may catch a fly ball by covering the ball , once it strikes the pocket of his glove , with his bare hand in order to secure it . The catcher , however , tries to keep his bare hand , which is highly vulnerable to injury , out of harm ' s way by presenting the pitcher with a target ( the large round glove ) while hiding his unprotected throwing hand behind his back . By doing so , the bare hand cannot be struck by a foul tip . Many broken fingers , split fingernails , and grotesque dislocations are avoided by adherence to this simple expedient . Given the physical punishment suffered by catchers , the pieces of equipment associated with the position are often referred to as " the tools of ignorance " . This is an ironic expression ; the catcher typically has the most thorough understanding of baseball tactics and strategies of any player on his team . Catchers often experience knee tendonitis because of the constant squatting and bending of the knees while catching . Hall - of - fame catchers . Sixteen men who played primarily as catchers have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame :