One of the biggest misconceptions in baseball is that the ball be caught with two hands. The ball is caught by the glove, period. Two handed catching is best to get rid of the ball quicker, but not for catching the ball and only for balls players can move to make inside their body.
Two Handed Catching
Most young ball players never learn to catch the ball correctly becausemost youth coaches don't know what is correct or they do not teach catching the ball correctly. The biggest reason for this is that coaches preach to kids to use two hands to catch balls before they learn to catch balls correctly with just the glove hand and/or they do not know which balls should be caught with one hand or two hands. Teaching kids to use two hands is necessary, absolutely, but only after they learn to catch correctly with the glove first. Coaches should only teach two handed catch when kids understand which balls to use for two hands, how to correctly keep the elbow out to the side and where to place the bare hand when using two.See this video for more on teaching it here
For line drive and fly balls - bare hand sits directly under and slightly out front of the glove so the ball drops directly to the bare hand after the catch. The glove hand elbow sits out to the side.
For ground balls - bare hand sits directly on top of the glove, ready to take it out the second the ball is caught.
After playing major league baseball, Jack Perconte has taught baseball and softball since 1988 and offered valuable coaching training too. He has helped numerous youth players reach their potential, as well as having helped parents and coaches navigate their way through the challenging world of youth sports. Jack is one of the leading authorities in the areas of youth baseball training and coaching training advice.
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