Episode #78 New York Yankees Major League Catching Coach Tanner Swanson

*SHOW TIMESTAMPS FEATURED AT THE END*

In this episode Gerry welcomes on New York Yankees Major League Catching Coach Tanner Swanson.

To start, Tanner gives some insight on his playing career and his rise through the ranks of coaching. He also explains his unique experience of not being a catcher during his playing days but becoming a catching coach during his coaching career.

From there, Tanner breakdown the attributes of a catcher and explains the hierarchy of importance of qualities such as throwing out base runners, framing pitches and blocking. In today's day and age, framing is the most important and formerly underrated quality and the best way a catcher can have an impact on the game and pitching staff.

To finish up, Tanner sheds some light on his work with Mitch Garver of the Minnesota Twins and his current work with Yankees' backstop Gary Sanchez. This covers the "one knee," set-up Tanner is known for and how he introduces it to catchers.

All that and more on this episode of Muscles and Management!

Show Timestamps:

4:40 -Tanner’s baseball career and history

12:20 - How Tanner started with catchers

17:10 - Challenging the Norm

26:15 - How to Create Unconscious Competence

28:50 - Willingness of Athletes

33:20 - The Physical Abilities of Catchers

39:00 - Intricacies of Framing Pitches and Other Progression of Skills

47:15 - Sharing Knowledge and Learning From Others

50:35 - Dynamic Moving as a Catcher

55:40 - One-Knee Style

1:10:00 - Tanner’s Final Thoughts