Before we dive into the "How To," here are some important things to think about:

Why you should learn Traditional Stance first

In case you've been tempted to skip traditional stance and run straight to the one-knee videos, there's a couple things you should know first.

100% I recommend learning the traditional stances first.

Here's why:

1. You should be able to do everything well. This is not a small matter. It can make the difference between success and failure. It is always good to have more options, more tools in your toolbox.
2. Those are the fundamentals of catching. No matter how advanced the techniques may get, those are ADVANCED techniques. And you can only start doing advanced techniques when you have the fundamentals down.
3. The more wild a pitcher is, the more you would have to be sacrificing to go to a knee. The reason Major League catchers can do it is because they are catching the most accurate pitchers in the world. At every level below that, you need more and more athleticism.
4. At youth, amateur, high school, and even college levels, they are not measuring the metrics in the same way… the advantages you gain from one knee are less. There are still benefits, but they are less measurable.
5. At the youth, high school, and college levels… controlling the running game is a HUGE deal. So knowing how to do that the most effectively is important. MOST catchers throw and block better from a traditional stance. SOME improve on a knee to a point where they can do it better… but like I said above, the traditional stance is part of the fundamentals… and the one knee stances are advanced on top of that knowledge

Why you SHOULD learn one-knee stance:

Some catchers will be better on one-knee. My receiving metrics improved 10-12% on the metrics immediately upon going to a one knee stance. It helped me in particular because I am a big body, type with low flexibility.

Also, at the big league and AAA level they are tracking those metrics at a much more advanced level than they are at any level below pro.