Nate, Freshman

Background: Nate is a talented 14 year old catcher from Canada and works out all by himself. He has a rebound net in his backyard and does all the CatchCORE drills alone. He’s super consistent and very technically sound. He’s going to be so good! 

Before: Nate was already a pretty advanced catcher, but struggled finding coaching that would help him identify where he had room to grow and give him drills he could do at home. He was ready to work, but he needed some guidance on what to work on.

After: Now he knows how to evaluate himself, he’s made tremendous progress, and is set up to play at an elite level because his movements are so dialed in. One of the biggest adjustments we made was working to be patient and let the ball travel more so he could be stronger as he received.  Keep your eyes out for this guy, he’s shown tremendous baseball IQ on our group calls too.

Caul, 12u Catcher

Background: Caul and Shawn came to me to prepare Caul for varsity baseball. He's still a year or two away from it, but they wanted him to be strong from the start.

Before: Caul was already a skilled catcher but knew he had areas to improve, even if he wasn't sure exactly what they were.

After: Now Caul’s made AMAZING progress, is prepared for all game situations, and is well prepared for varsity baseball! (Refining his arm path is the next step for him).

Here’s a screenshot in the 2nd week of working together (we’d only worked on stances and receiving at this point):

Chase, 10u Catcher

Background: Chase is one of the funniest “mate’s” I know and is an absolute gamer behind the plate! Plus, he’s from Australia… Online coaching is pretty cool!

Before: He came in not knowing too much about catching despite being a good athlete.

After: Now he’s locked and loaded whenever he straps on the gear. Plus, he won the Golden Glove for Catcher. Pretty cool 😎

Aaron, 12u Catcher

Background: These guys are AWESOME. (The pic above is a CMS hat and a Coach Rac jersey. We played together in college and started NYABC together.)

Before: Aaron was struggling to catch the ball correctly and hurt his thumb as a result. 

After: Everything changed. Now Aaron knows how to catch correctly, how to review his own videos, and even wants to make catching videos himself 🤯.

Bonus: Listen to this cool family story: Aaron, his mom, and his sister would all gather around the kitchen table after school to watch the video feedback from yesterday, watch the new lesson for today, then go practice in the backyard and send me another video to review. What a cool memory they’ll always remember.

11u Catcher Improves From Online Catching Lessons (And Likes It Better Than In-Person Lessons!)

I-dawg, 11u Catcher

Background: Brian and Isaac are a father-son powerhouse from Pittsburgh. Isaac goes by “Idog” because it’s cool 🙂. He’s an 11u catcher and they found me on YouTube looking up catching drills.

Before: His main struggles were that of most young catchers - he didn’t know how to move! He wasn’t in great stances, wasn’t moving to block properly, and was set up to “bounce” the ball when he caught every time because of his movement.

After: So they signed up for CatchCORE and made wild improvements on his movement. Now he’s locking it down in the game, more confident than ever. You can watch the case study below. 

Video: Case Study: 11u Catcher Becomes a THREAT Behind the Plate

K-dawg, 12u Catcher

Background: “K-dawg” is one of the most energetic kids I’ve ever met. Lol.  

Before: K-dawg was a talented young athlete, but hadn’t had a ton of coaching on catching. He struggled getting into good stances, blocking consistently, and catching the ball back to the zone.

After: He’s made a ton of progress, primarily in his core fundamentals (stances, receiving, blocking, throwing), and also in the “intangible” skills such as leadership, communication, confidence, and baseball IQ. Very proud of this dude!

Tristan, 8u Catcher

Background: Tristan and Rob are some of the OG Catching Made Simple Crew. They’re AWESOME. I love these guys so much. And also… Tristan is a BEAST behind the plate. 

Before: Tristan was a really solid catcher for his age already, but just hadn’t had a ton of coaching and had some “loose ends” with his mechanics. 

After: He’s mirroring the movements of the pros… and he’s 8 years old. It’s gonna be crazy to see what he can do if he sticks with it in the future. He’s the best 8u catcher I’ve seen.  

Video: 8u Catcher Drills Transformation (From Simple Daily Drills With Dad!)

Teddy, Freshman

Background: Teddy and Frank are just amazing people. The kind of people where a smile comes to your face when you see a message from them.

Before: Teddy came in with a loose chest protector, trouble getting into a good stance, and no real foundation on the core of catching.  

After: Now, the confidence from working every day and getting better behind the plate has carried over into other areas of life and school too. We’ve worked together for a little over two years now and I’m so proud of the dude. He made his HS team too :)

Bonus: One thing we say all the time is “5 minute habits, 5 year goals.” He’s proof this works.

Caleb, Freshman

Background: Caleb and Andy are from the stomping-grounds where I grew up in Utah.

Before: He came in struggling with the fundamentals (like every untrained catcher).

After: He’s dialed in his fundamentals, created a practice habit at home, and impressed his coaches like crazy!  

Moose, 14u Catcher

Background: “Moose” and Marc found me on instagram when I made a post about why I stopped doing in person lessons.  

Before: The day before, Moose was trying to throw down to 3rd base and didn’t know the footwork to do it. Marc thought to himself “Man, I really should get him some lessons, but I don’t know where to even find someone.” Then he saw my instagram post, watched the videos on CatchCORE and signed up.

After: Now, Moose is dialed in behind the dish, knows how to throw to 3rd (and many other throws), and made the middle school team when he was 2 years younger than everyone else!

Liam, 12u Catcher

Background: Liam is a 12u catcher who does 200 pushups and situps a day. WILD.

Before: He was strong for his age, but wasn’t super skilled at catching (everyone starts with low skill). Plus, he’s a bigger body so his hips were tight.

After: We added in the Mobility Made Simple Program on top of his regular CatchCORE and he has seen tremendous improvement in his stances, mobility, and overall performance behind the plate. Now he’s getting the nod to play from coaches who don’t know him at all.

Leyson, 11u Catcher 

Background: Hayden (Dad) caught in high school but knew the game had changed a lot since when he caught. Plus, he never really got taught anything when he played! They just threw him back there and let him figure it out.  

Before: But when Leyson was cut from his travel team, it lit a fire in him. He knew he wanted to catch and started to work with his dad in the cages every day before school. Then they decided to take it to the next level with professional video feedback.  

After: Now, he made a better travel team (which crushed the team he was cut from) and has become a lock down defender behind the plate, getting compliments from other coaches on the team.  

Bonus: Sawyer, his little brother is 8 years old but plays like a 12 year old from all the work with his dad and brother!