Jocelyn Erickson: Left-Handed Catcher Making History
Jocelyn Erickson is the first prominent left-handed-throwing catcher in AUSL history. Here’s what every youth catcher — lefty or righty — can learn from her.
We have been watching Jocelyn Erickson’s first professional season with the Chicago Bandits. Through most of July, she has been proving something every left-handed kid has heard is impossible.
Erickson throws left-handed. At catcher.
In professional softball, that is nearly an anomaly — a thing so rare it barely exists. The position has belonged almost entirely to right-handed throwers, and the conventional logic sounds reasonable: a lefty wears her glove on her throwing side, which, on paper, slows the transfer to second base. Every coach who ever sent a left-handed kid to the outfield cited that logic.
On July 12, Erickson went 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI against the Portland Cascade. The Bandits are 13-8 and have clinched a playoff berth ahead of the July 20 postseason cutoff.
That performance followed a feature from MLB.com spotlighting Erickson as the first prominent left-handed-throwing catcher in AUSL history. A July 10 TV spotlight from WCJB in Gainesville called her the definition of “clutch” in her first pro season. Those are not soft compliments. The AUSL is one of the country’s top professional softball leagues, and it does not give roster spots to players who need time to find their footing.
She earned it on her own terms. The Chicago Bandits selected her fifth overall in the 2026 AUSL College Draft. She signed her rookie contract May 29, rejoining former Florida teammate Skylar Wallace on the roster.
The résumé she carried into that draft is hard to argue with. At the University of Florida — where she transferred after starting at Oklahoma — Erickson won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award in 2025 and again in 2026. The Gold Glove, presented by the NFCA, is the top defensive honor in college softball. In her Gold Glove sophomore season, she posted a .997 fielding percentage. Across Oklahoma and Florida combined, she hit .360 with 58 home runs and 251 RBI, starting 228 of 255 games. She did all of it throwing left-handed.
Through 19 AUSL starts entering July 12, she was hitting .245 with a .740 OPS and 8 RBI. Add the home run and two RBI against Portland, and the case is still building.
What a catcher can learn from this
If someone has told you that left-handed throwers cannot play catcher, Jocelyn Erickson is your answer.
The position is not defined by which hand holds the glove. It is defined by arm accuracy, footwork, game IQ, and the willingness to lead a staff from behind the plate. Erickson won two college Gold Gloves doing exactly that — throwing left-handed. She was the fifth player taken in a professional draft. She holds down the starting job on a playoff-bound team.
None of that happened because she was an exception to the rules. It happened because she was better at the things the rules cannot measure — preparation, command of the strike zone, the reads she made on her pitchers, and the trust she built with the women throwing to her.
The work still has to be there. Erickson did not get drafted because of her throwing hand. She got drafted because her accuracy, her footwork, and her game were better than almost everyone else’s.
If you can block the ball in the dirt, call a game, and make the throw — the hand you throw it with is a detail.
That could be you.
Try this at your next practice
- Barehand transfer drill. Work on your exchange speed from mitt to throwing hand independent of which hand you throw with. Set up without a runner — just receive, transfer cleanly, and grip the ball. Five minutes before every practice. The goal is a consistent grip, not a fast clock. This is what makes or breaks any catcher’s throw to second, lefty or righty.
- Accuracy wall throws. Tape a target on a wall or fence at second-base height and throw at it from catcher’s distance. Ten throws, accuracy only — not velocity. Catchers are evaluated on where the ball goes, not how hard they throw it. This is the drill that builds the arm accuracy Erickson’s career is built on.
- Blocking with a purpose. Have a coach or teammate throw 10 balls in the dirt — glove side, throwing side, and straight on. Focus on body positioning to keep every ball in front of you. The block is what earns a pitcher’s trust. That trust is what earns a starting job.
Sources: AUSL’s Jocelyn Erickson is a rare left-handed catcher (MLB.com) · TV20 Sideline Spotlight: Jocelyn Erickson in the AUSL (WCJB, July 10 2026) · Jocelyn Erickson player page (theausl.com) · Chicago Bandits ink Jocelyn Erickson to rookie contract (theausl.com)
