After blocking, then receiving. Are strikes staying strikes? Does he give the umpire the chance to call a borderline pitch a strike.
So, in your opinion, blocking is more vital than receiving....that doesn't make sense to me. Can you define "receiving". My observations have shown that the most vital thing is to catch the ball, then if you can't catch it block it. But the first step is catching...unless you mean "receiving" as the ability to get borderline calls based on how you caught...but again, catching the ball is the key....you can be the best in the world at blocking but if you are having to block the ball because you couldn't catch it doesn't that affect the ball/strike calls?
Well, to start off with, you don't block catchable balls. You may drop them, but if you are good at receiving, even if you drop the ball occasionally, and you have shown you know how to receive and frame or funnel and work a strike zone, a good umpire will still reward you with a strike. Umpires like kids that know what they're doing behind the plate. Keep the umpire clean and bruise free and you've made a new friend that, more than likely, you will have again several times during the season. You should only be blocking balls that are not catchable
*sigh* yeah, you would think that you only block a ball that is not catchable, but it doesn't seem to be working out that way for our young team.
Thank you for the input though.