Catchers mask keep on or remove plays at home

Question
My son is playing Legion ball and uses a hockey type catchers mask. He keeps it on for any play. A poor throw was made from the outfield which he missed. The coach told him it was his error as the mask should always be removed.
I disagree, the mask provides protection for collisions at the plate and if a catcher can see well enough on a pitch he can catch a thrown ball.

Your advice would be greatly appreciated.
Toby Laughlin

Answer
I am going to agree with your coach, but for a bit of a different reason.  

Keeping the mask on or taking it off, is like arguing where to start your hands while in the batters box.  Comfort and confidence are the most important issues at play.  Therefore, keeping the mask on for all plays is not the worst thing a catcher could do.

That saying, we still strongly recommend that the mask come off.  Although your vision is still good with the mask on, it is still slightly obstructed and that is never a good thing.  Your periph. vision is the most affected and that is what we are usually talking about when the throw goes up the line.

We also teach our players to place the mask on the third base side of the plate and toward the back half of the plate.  This forces the runner to choose to either slide into the mask or go around the mask.  It acts as an extension of our body to help block the plate and forces the runner to come to us for easier tag applications.

Our rule is the bird cage (catchers style mask) comes off on every play.

Hope that helps.  Best of luck this summer and most important, have fun.

Coach Stauffer
Macomb Baseball