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The Art of Catching: With Three Canadian Junior National Team Catchers

October 17, 2014

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By Alexis Brudnicki
PBR Ontario Lead Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. – Being a backstop may be all-encompassing and fairly complicated at times, but at its root the craft is simple – catch the ball.

That’s the philosophy Canadian Junior National Team coach and former big-league catcher Chris Robinson tries to leave with each of the young men he teaches. On the fall trip to Orlando where Team Canada matched up against instructional league competition, Robinson had familiar faces in Darren Shred and Andrew Yerzy, and first-timer Ben Komonosky to take under his wing. All four are pictured below.Chris Robinson instructing the three JNT Catchers

“Catching the ball,” Robinson said of the skill he stresses most. “I’ve had Yerzy and I’ve had Shred before and they’ve done a lot better job with it this trip, whereas last trip it was, ‘Oh well we dropped it.’ You have to take so much pride in that and it should really bother you if you don’t catch the ball.

“If you turn on a game in the playoffs right now or you turn on any game in the big leagues whether it’s the playoffs or not, and how many dropped balls do you see? It just doesn’t happen. So that’s the one thing I’ve been trying to stress with these guys throughout is to take pride in catching the baseball. Ben does a good job of it for being his first time here and Shreddy and Yerzy have definitely made strides.”

The three young backstops have learned a lot from Robinson over their varying periods of time with the Dorchester-born coach and all agree that working with catching-specific tutelage has helped their games immensely.

“Robbie seems like a cool guy and he knows his stuff,” 17-year-old Komonosky said. “It’s nice to be around a guy like that who’s had the experience and played in the pros. It’s good just hearing what he has to say and learn everything he shows us.”

Added Shred: “It’s always great. Robbie is a great guy and he knows a lot about what he’s talking about. He’s been through the minor leagues and he’s been to the show, so it’s great. He’s very knowledgeable and he’s taught me a lot of stuff.”

“It’s great because he’s a catching-specific guy, so he knows what he’s talking about,” Yerzy said. “It’s different than say [head coach] Greg [Hamilton] working with you because he was a pitcher. Robbie was a big-league catcher so he knows his [catching] stuff a lot better.”

The players have also learned a lot from each other, Shred and Yerzy passing down the wisdom they’ve gained from their past experiences with the junior squad to the newcomer in his first trip.

“I’ve just learned the communication that they use and about the experience they’ve had with Team Canada,” Komonosky said. “I realize now what I have to do to be on the team and I have to be more of a leader and talk more and take control.”

Andrew YerzyYerzy (pictured right), still among the youngest members of the team at just 16 years old, has also gotten better from being around Shred and former Team Canada catcher Luke Horanski, and has started to try to take on more of a leadership role this year.

“I’ve learned to be a leader on the field and communicate with your pitchers and make good relationships with them because it’s a big part of the game,” the young Toronto catcher said. “If your pitcher doesn’t like pitching to you, usually it’s not going to be a good thing…

“I was the same way as the new guys last year. I didn’t really know what I was doing. So if I see a guy who doesn’t really know what he’s doing I will help him out and tell him what to do.”

Darren ShredShred (pictured right), a 17-year-old native of Brampton, attempts to do the same.

“I try to show them the ropes I guess,” Shred said. “When they do certain things that maybe they do on their club teams that usually we don’t do here and just kind of tell them or show them what to do, and what Greg expects, and help them.”

The players with a little bit of seniority on the team try to help set the expectations for the fresh faces when it comes to facing professionals and adjusting to the higher level of the game.

“You’ve got to prepare them for it,” Shred said. “Not scare them, but just tell them it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be not really a grind because it’s great being here, but you come out every day and everyone is going to be throwing [at least] 93. We saw a guy at 100. So you tell them you’re never really going to have an easy at-bat and you’ve just got to get through it.”

Ben KomonoskyThere was a definite adjustment period for Komonosky (pictured right).

“I knew that the pitching was going to be this hard but I’ve never faced that, 95-plus before, so that was new for me,” the native of Regina, Saskatchewan said. “The best part so far is just being able to play baseball every day and playing with the guys, all of the best players in Canada is really cool.”

The pitching is nothing new for Yerzy but he’s not sure it will ever become old hat.

“I wouldn’t say anything surprise me still, but the velo of the pitchers always gets to you,” Yerzy said. “You see a guy throwing 98 and it’s still going to be hard to hit even if you’ve seen it before…and of course you want to get a hit every at-bat or get on base every time but if a guy is throwing 100 and punches you out on a nasty curveball you can’t get too upset at yourself.”

Each of the young backstops has their own strengths and weaknesses within their games and they are all continuing to learn and progress.

“I’m all-around right now,” Yerzy said of what he takes the most pride in, and he has shown just that throughout his time with the Toronto Mets and the junior team with big upside at the plate and a strong arm from behind it. “It’s all equal right now. I don’t think I have one tool that really stands out. Probably my hitting is what I need to work on the most.”

Shred also stressed his work in the cages, and has shown a lot of improvement at the dish over his time with Team Canada and with the Ontario Blue Jays, though he is a two-way player for the latter. His swing can get long at times, but he is consistently getting better as he works on it.  

“Probably my defence is my strength,” he said. “I’m really proud of the way it’s come. The first time I came here I wasn’t great defensively so I worked really hard. I’ve worked with Robbie a lot and things have come a long way. I’m working offensively probably just on my approach, having a better approach and just getting my swing shorter.” 

Komonosky has been strong behind the plate as well and had a 1.95 pop time at Tournament 12. In a short time he’s demonstrated his ability to hit and some strong skills behind the plate. He is currently attending Vauxhall Academy of Baseball.  

“My defence is my biggest strength,” Komonosky said. “As a catcher I’m better with blocking, I think I throw the ball pretty well. I work on throwing a lot because I used to have a really bad arm motion. I’ve worked on that a lot in the last year and that’s really helped me.”

Robinson was impressed by the junior national squad’s newest addition behind the dish early into their work together and always enjoys his time with the young members of Team Canada. 

“It’s been great,” he said. “Ben, being in his first time around, has done a really good job. We saw him at Tournament 12 and I was really impressed. I think he’s an offensive guy but I’ve been very impressed with how he catches the ball.

“That’s kind of what you look for, especially when you get into those tournaments where a passed ball or a wild pitch could mean the tournament. You need someone back there you can rely on and I’ve been very impressed by Ben.”

The best part of his experience in Orlando for Komonosky was just getting the chance to be there.

“It was really cool getting the uniform the first time,” he said. “You’re representing your country and it’s just an awesome thing…the best part is probably just wearing the Canada jersey and playing in these games against pros is pretty awesome…

“When I got the call I was really excited because I’ve never gotten this opportunity before, to represent my country. Being selected out of the best players in Canada is really an honour.”

Shred shared his teammate’s sentiment and recalled the beginning of his time with Team Canada.

“It was really crazy the first time I got the call,” Shred said. “And my first time coming into the locker room and seeing the Canada jersey and all your stuff in your locker, it’s breathtaking.”

All three catchers are hoping to continue with the squad for as long as they can, Yerzy’s internal fire fueled by the fact that he missed out on the team’s final roster heading into the Pan Am Games in Mexico and Shred looking forward to more opportunities to build his future.

“Not making it to Mexico made me work harder so I can get to Japan [for the world championships next year] because the team qualified in Mexico,” Yerzy said. “That’s the goal right now, to work as hard as I can so I can make it to Japan.”

Added Shred: “The draft is coming up and obviously I’d like to go in the draft. That would be amazing, and then I also want to commit to a school. I haven’t committed yet so I just want to go on some visits and find a good school.”

Photography also courtesy of the author. Follow Alexis Brudnicki on Twitter @baseballexis.

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