👀 Noticing ⚾ Playing catcher 🤒 Contagious

catching

2 4.1

A player who stands behind the batter and takes the ball in baseball

noun
/ˈkæʧɪŋ/

: posición de receptor

When he left for the Navy in 1945, Owen was considered the answer to the Dodgers' catching problem.
pass-catching
catching duties
catching position

Examples

Grandal is one of the best catching prospects in baseball, an offense-first guy whose defense is improving.

Blog text (11)
I'm sure the catching coach is working on Hector's ball-blocking.

Blog text (29)
I do agree with you that this is more a pitching problem than a catching problem.

Blog text (5)
But is he going to be signed to be the first string, backup, or share of catching duties?

Blog text (30)
Winner does the pitching, loser does the catching.

2001 Maniacs (2005)
And if you're good at throwing, the catching takes care of itself.
He went to catching clinics.

Academic text (2010)
Elander could end up being the best of the Braves' catching prospects.

Blog text (26)
The White Sox could give the catching job to Tyler Flowers, while Pierzynski could replace Napoli in Texas.

Blog text (6)
During the game, she excelled at catching every pitch thrown to her.

Compounds

catching pen

Jargon

5.5

A small fenced area for holding animals briefly to sort or check them

Surface Forms

catching singular

catchings plural

Morphology

catching = catch (transparent) = catch + ing

Derived via '-ing' from 'catch' to denote the activity/role of catching (in baseball, playing as catcher); this is a regular verbal noun/gerund formation and is inferable for learners familiar with the sport sense of 'catch'.

Etymology

Catching, meaning the job of the player behind the batter in baseball, comes from the verb catch, which means to 'take' or 'grab' the ball. A catcher is the player who does this, so catching is the act or role of taking the ball.