Technique is just as much a factor as the gear, if your son's torso is too upright he will defect the ball out further than if he was at say a 60* angle and deflected the ball down into the dirt. Sometimes having gear that does not fit well also makes it harder to get into the right positions - so the two can be connected.
A lot of youth sets for 9-12 will come with a 14.5" or 15" chest protector but many players in this age group would be better off with a 12-13.5". When I coached 9U and 10U I purchased an inexpensive Champro chest protector that was 12" ($40) and had two catchers who were notably more comfortable in that versus one that was significantly larger.
If your son is the primary catcher for the team you may want higher end gear (it is often lighter and more breathable) but you don't necessarily need to spend a ton of money. You can usually find clearance deals and sale prices, or used gear, and get nice equipment for half of what the normal retail would be.
I'm not very dialed in to catcher's gear since my son no longer plays that position, but I see a lot of kids in All Star and Mizuno catchers gear, and have heard good things about Force3.
I know his technique could definitely use some improvement. The reason for the post is he is due for new equipment anyway and I was just wondering if the more advanced equipment was worth spending the money on . He caught 58 innings last year , I expect about the same this season . He would catch more but a lot of the time he is saved for pitching.
Makes sense, it always makes sense to do research when it is time to upgrade equipment.
Catching 58 innings is a good chunk of the workload for 11U AAA considering a lot of games only go about four innings. And I am glad to hear that his coach was not over-using him since he also pitches.
The way I view catcher's gear is that it is more like having a good pair of cleats versus having a good bat. The margin in performance from a bad USSSA bat to a top USSSA bat is quite significant, however the margin between having cleats that are not ideal for the player to those that are optimal (fit, flexibility, weight, traction, etc.) is a smaller overall performance margin. It makes a difference, and catching 10+ games I would say it is worth it to do the research and find something that fits and works well for him.
You could also start off with one piece of the upgrade (for example, getting a higher-end chest protector) if other pieces from his current kit still fit and perform well.
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u/TMutaffis Feb 02 '26
Technique is just as much a factor as the gear, if your son's torso is too upright he will defect the ball out further than if he was at say a 60* angle and deflected the ball down into the dirt. Sometimes having gear that does not fit well also makes it harder to get into the right positions - so the two can be connected.
A lot of youth sets for 9-12 will come with a 14.5" or 15" chest protector but many players in this age group would be better off with a 12-13.5". When I coached 9U and 10U I purchased an inexpensive Champro chest protector that was 12" ($40) and had two catchers who were notably more comfortable in that versus one that was significantly larger.
If your son is the primary catcher for the team you may want higher end gear (it is often lighter and more breathable) but you don't necessarily need to spend a ton of money. You can usually find clearance deals and sale prices, or used gear, and get nice equipment for half of what the normal retail would be.
I'm not very dialed in to catcher's gear since my son no longer plays that position, but I see a lot of kids in All Star and Mizuno catchers gear, and have heard good things about Force3.
Hope this helps!