Nelson wants to assist future catchers

Kevin Nelson will tell you catching some of baseball's best pitchers hasn't been that tough during his eight-year professional career.

After all, Roy Halladay, Mariano Rivera, Cole Hamels, Andy Pettitte, Brad Lidge, Roger Clemens and Randy Johnson know how to hit a catcher's mitt with a surgical precision.

But one of the earliest challenges for Nelson, a Daily Herald All-Area pick at Rolling Meadows in 1999, came when he was in the Yankees organization and they had just signed Jose Contreras.

Nelson was Contreras' personal catcher in Rookie League ball in 2003. Handling the future World Series hero of the White Sox was about as easy as understanding the Cuban defector.

“He made up pitches as he goes,” Nelson said with a laugh. “I was warming him up one day and he threw a 90 mph splitter. I knew it was coming and it ended up hitting me square in the chest.”

So, Nelson understands catching isn't easy. But it's hardly a foreign subject since Nelson has made it as high as Triple-A ball three times and spent most of last spring in the Phillies' big-league camp.

Now Nelson wants to pass on what he's learned to others looking to become better catchers.

Nelson is conducting a “Professional Approach 2 Catching” camp at Wheeling High School. The camp will be two two-hour sessions Nov. 13 and Nov. 20 and will be split into age groups of 9-13 and 14-and-up.

Nelson is running the clinic along with Wheeling head coach Mike Tice, who was an assistant at Meadows when Nelson played there. The cost is $190 per player and more information is available at theprofessionalapproach2catching@yahoo.com.

Nelson said he enjoyed speaking for an hour and a half at a coaches clinic last year with Jacobs assistant coach John Sarna. Nelson talked about what he's learned from catchers such as Joe Girardi, Jorge Posada, current Phillies starter Carlos Ruiz and ex-Blue Jay Ernie Whitt.

“Rubbing elbows with these guys, you pick up a lot of stuff,” said Nelson, who also starred at the University of Illinois-Chicago. “Being around veteran catchers, you get to learn a lot of things you aren't taught growing up.

“There are just different ways to approach it. Instead of just blocking a ball or throwing a guy out, you can show, ‘Here's how you do it and here's why you do it.' That's what we're looking to do.”

Nelson also plans to work a lot on the mental aspects of catching. That's why he wanted to break up the camp into two separate sessions so campers weren't overloaded with information.

Nelson looks at this as a “hands-on” camp where fathers aren't just dropping off their sons. He wants to see them get involved so it's easier to work on the finer points of catching.

And who knows, campers might be able to someday say they picked up tips from a major leaguer. Nelson, who turns 30 in April, spent all of last season at Class AA Reading and hit .241 with 2 homers and 19 RBI in 53 games.

He hopes the strengths he shows behind the plate can fill a void with a team looking to shore up a weakness.

“I feel that I'm right there and kind of knocking on the door and it's literally a matter of opportunity,” said Nelson, who is married and just became a father 4½ months ago. “As long as I feel confident in myself I'll keep playing. The main thing is my numbers behind the plate keep getting better and keep getting stronger.

“Last year, being in big-league camp, hopefully that opened some eyes. Did I think I was going to make the big-league team out of camp? No, but my goal was to make people realize I can play and play at this level.”

And Nelson hopes to help other prospective catchers increase their ability level as well.

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com