Catcher - Calling The Game

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. As of April 2011 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.