I hate to break this to you, but it’s unlikely that you’ll end up being a catcher.
Let me explain further.
You see… catchers are on the field more than any other player on the team. That means they will have ample opportunities of playing time in any given game especially if your team plays nine innings instead of seven or eight. Catchers are also expected to have better defensive skill sets due to their increased amount of playtime so it’s not uncommon for catchers to be amongst the best players on the field during games. Unfortunately, you’re probably not going to be one of them if you’re looking into becoming a catcher.
There are only 60 full-time Major League Baseball catchers competing at any given time, and that’s only if you include the 30 teams.
Why is it so unlikely for one to become a professional baseball player?
Simply put, it’s just too competitive. Not everyone can succeed at this level of competition even if they try their hardest from a young age to get good enough to play in Major League Baseball. You have to have an incredible amount of natural talent and be extremely diligent about your craft in order to become a player in MLB, not mention having a bit of luck on your side if you hope to make it past the Minor Leagues after being drafted.
Now you could always say “Well no one said I couldn’t still enjoy playing baseball while going through the process of becoming a catcher right?”
I mean you could do that, but there’s so many considerations to take into account such as:
It would be a long time before you even get drafted. If your heart is set on becoming a catcher you’d have to dedicate yourself fully to baseball and focus solely on becoming better at it. You’ll also need to learn how to catch and throw at the same time while taking the necessary classes and courses of study in order for you to become eligible for college scholarships of any kind if you want one. This will require more than just baseball practice along with everything else that comes along with being a high school or college student. Even then, getting into college is no easy feat either since not everyone can pass entrance exams like the SAT (even if you try to memorize it for hours at a time). You can always make yourself eligible for college through other means such as athletics, art, music, or any other kind of talents in which colleges are looking for in prospective students. But make no mistake about it, if you’re not talented enough to be an All-star caliber player then chances are that’ll hold you back from getting into the best programs even after all that hard work and dedication.
If your heart is set on becoming a catcher then I’d say go ahead and get started because only you know how far it is exactly that you want to take this passion of yours. Just understand what really goes into making the transition from player to professional baseball player so it doesn’t come as too much of a shock if and when you’re not able to make it as one.
