Blocking - no runners on

How do you buy a strike when you pick it out of the dirt? If you get a strike on a ball in the dirt the batter swung or the ump is horrendous.

Catchers should block everything because it's the best way to get a good relationship with the ump. If you try to pick to many and they get hit they get ticked. Why make the guy who calls balls and strikes upset?

Plus it's good practice. Blocking drills in practice and bullpens are great but still not quite like doing it in a game.

Everyone is trying to get to the MLB level who plays baseball but we need to understand they can do things that 90% of all players at all levels cannot do.

When you've been at the top, you're established as a good/great defensive catcher. But in HS, college, etc, I think you're better off blocking your butt off. It's been my experience, you are being watched and evaluated at all times. While it may be normal to HS SON to not block, it may look like laziness/indifference to a college coach or scout.

As Coach2709 said, absolutely nothing replaces the experience you get from game speed reps, IMO.
GED10DaD

Block everything you can get to. Like coach2709 says, umpires enjoy calling a game knowing that they have someone in front of them that is willing to take a bruise for the blue. In our county, the umpires all talk and they know who the players are.

But as far as speeding up the game, isn't the on-deck batter getting those balls to the fence?

You never know who is watching, so why wouldn't you want to show you got game?

Block, block, block. When you son goes pro he can pick with nobody on. Game speed blocking will also give him confidence when there are runners present.

Block everything. protect the umpire so that he can hang in there & do his job.It keeps the tempo of the game moving.It keeps your pitcher in a positive mind set in that he does not see his errant pitches rolling to the backstop.It give the pitcher confidence in your ability & allows him to throw all his pitches aggressively & with trust even with a runner on 3B knowing that you will block it.Finally it will condition your skills. Blocking balls in the dirt is a conditioned response.Anything that breaks that response will diminish it's effectiveness.

JW

Another one of things coaches look at that actually have no bearing on a catchers blocking ability. The MLB catcher was absolutely right. Not blocking pitches off to the side with no runners isn't about the lack of need to catch the ball, but rather about preventing dings to the catcher that serve no purpose except to make a coach happy. How many coaches tell their catchers to protect themselves? Maybe 1 in a 100 because alot of coaches are clueless about the position. Ball coming sraight in with no runners on should be blocked because it is the safest method for the catcher and protects the ump.

Cathers get dinged enough during the normal course of a game and blocking drills without needing the extra damage from useless blocking. If the catcher doesn't block well enough in the game with runners on, get his butt out and put someone that will. If you don't have another catcher, that is the on the coach.

Real simple rule for catchers...balls can bounce over you,go around you but no ball better ever go under or through you or your butt is mine. If a runner is on, you better sell your soul to block that pitch.

Yeah, I know all the stuff about toughening em up,etc. If toughness is an issue, the coach made the mistake putting the wrong kid behind the plate to begin with.

This goes right along with coaches believing Knee Savers make a catcher lazy. Wrong again...the kid was lazy already, you just didn't spot it.

All that being said, the cather has to do what the coach wants...just realize the coach doesn't always know why/when to block just that catchers are supposed to block. As far as giving the pitcher confidence in the catcher that nothing will get to the backstop, that is really the main reason catchers may want to block everything until he and the pitcher get confidence in one another.

As far as college coaches and scouts coming to look at a catcher, they already know something about that kid and are watching for alot more than blocking ability. Blocking everything will be a benefit for the kids under the radar that may get seen by coaches/scouts that are there looking at other players; understand the under the radar kid better show a whole more than blocking to get a coach/scout interested. If the under the radar kid can flat out hit and has good receiving skills/hands, he'll get someone's attention. Easy to motivate a kid to block, much harder to teach a kid to catch a 95 mph fastball with movement.

JMHO

Gotta agree with Abrams on this one; to a degree anyway. Most of the folks that say "block, block, block" aren't or weren't catchers. That said, the catcher should ABSOLUTELY protect the ump EVERY TIME (even if it means some bruises), but the rest? Let 'em go.

No ump worth his salt is going to call a pitch a strike if it is bouncing at 58 (or worse, 55) feet anyway. Do you want a catcher with a dead arm (from blocking a ball that catches his bicep) in the 6th inning with the lead run on first? Probably not. One final thing; both of our sons have been to a number of catching instructors over the years. The former pros were ALWAYS the first to say that one should know when to protect themselves and know when they need to block.

I respectfully disagree with the previous two posts.This is not going to be a popular post.

Where do you draw the line on "taking the path of least resistance"? When I hit a routine ground ball to 2nd, do I run 3/4 speed so that I will not increase my chances of pulling a muscle? When I get caught in a rundown, do I let them tag me out to reduce the chances of an injury or do I work hard to escape or induce obstruction .

You want respect in this game you play it one way, the right way & at your best speed.You start making exceptions & ignoring the little things,IMO you are asking for trouble.

As a catcher in professional baseball, developing trust from your teammates(especially pitchers) is gigantic.One way to do it is to work hard ALL the time.Attempting to block every blockable pitch is one of the ways to gain that trust & respect even it means you will endure some extra bumps & bruises. You set the example of how to play & prepare for your entire team. That is what a WINNING player does at any level. He creates an attitude,environment & mindset that can affect everyone on the team.

In professional baseball you are auditioning for your team & 29 others. Pro scouts are at every game evaluating players.As far as scouts in professional baseball not differentiating between a guy who occasionally olays balls verses a guy who blocks everything, don't count on that. Make up & character are as important or more important as the physical skillset.Often the guy that works hard to block everything when it is not necessarily called for gets the "comes to play gamer" label that can make the difference.

As a player do you want to take a chance that someone is going to get a false impression of your skills or make up?You only get one chance to make a "first impression".

Finally,good character without physical skills won't get you very far.Good character allows you to develop you skillset.If you don't block every ball that is thrown, does that mean that you have poor character? Asolutely not, but often perception becomes reality. Why not allow no doubt about your character as a result of how you take care of your business.

JW

To a degree I agree with Jerry; the real issue is how I see the position coached way too often in HS and what is expected by coaches that often don't understand the position. "blocking every blockable pitch"....no, that is never said by any HS coaches I have ever seen; everything must be stopped without exception at all times. Even warming up between innings...actually I'd rather see that than 100% in the bullpen.

HS Practice...1/2 hour to 1 hour doing drills; mostly blocking. Catching batting practice 1 hour blocking everything in the dirt. Bullpen 1 hour catching, blocking everything while pitchers learning new pitches. 6x week except gamedays. 2.5-3 hours of practice daily with enough blocking done for any coach to know if the kid is right to put behind the plate.

Another law for catchers (and pitchers) we used in college...13 ball area. Plate is 7 baseball wide; add 3 balls on each side and you have 13. That area is what was demanded of the catchers to absolutely own without exception. Pitchers, if you can't stayed focused enough to hit that area you will have a prayer meeting with the coach if the catcher doesn't heal you first. If the catcher sets up 1 ball outside, you lose that ball on the other side of the plate as part of the 13 and gain it on the outside. Simple concept that worked really well in college and simple enough all my travel teams from 12 yr old and up to have used it with very good success.

I fully understand your point about 1st impression and the importance of character; I just never felt it was necessary to let catchers get beat up if not needed. Either I've been lucky or ignorant, but once I got the 13 ball area hammered into any of my catchers at any age, I never had one single kid not block a) a blockable pitch and b)fail to block with runners except on steal attempts when the older ages would try to pick in order to throw. I will admit I probably always worked with the catchers and pitchers the most so they did get the sermon pretty often. Were all the blocks perfect...not hardly but always the attempt and effort.

Not an unpopular post at all; mine is probably alot more unpopular than yours. LOL

I will certainly defer to Coach Weinstein regarding developing players with the right the "makeup." My observation, however, is that many, if not most of the professional catchers I have seen block when it is necessary and/or when it is the most protective and do not when the situation does not warrant getting dinged up. Good post!

When you make it to the show then you can play like your in the show. Until you get there you never will if you play like your there before you are.

Thanks for the input. It's a great discussion and appreciate everyone's opinion.

Up until now, there have been several instances where my son has picked the ball and gotten a strike. On a curve ball low, if he can crowd the zone and pick it just as/before it hits, sometimes the ump will give him the call. I have seen blue call strikes on curve balls that did hit the dirt. Probably not the best umps, but it has happened. Dropping to his knees won't get that call ever.

Now, don't get me wrong, he's now blocking everything now. However, with the mindset of blocking everything, he won't try to attempt to pick these.

quote:

On a curve ball low, if he can crowd the zone and pick it just as/before it hits, sometimes the ump will give him the call. I have seen blue call strikes on curve balls that did hit the dirt.

For the first example, the curve that can be caught - that doesn't seem to me to be a question of whether to block or not. The ball can be caught in the air so of course there is no reason to go down.

As for the second ... I wouldn't think it makes sense to not block curves in the dirt in the hope that you might get some lousy ump to call it a strike.

HSDad is right...a good discussion with differing opinions. Much better behaved than some of the hitting posts.

While most differ with me on this subject, I do understand the points they are concerned with but look at those points somewhat differently than they do. Alot of my opinions come from experience at the position and seeing another catcher/teammate actually have to miss SEC games from a wrist injury blocking a very wide pitch with no runners (yes, it could have happened anyway but it didn't). The dings a catcher gets usually are cumalative in nature and no single one usually stops you; what they do is slow you down to where your 100% isn't where your 100% was early in the season. Once that happens is the time real injuries take place because that pitch that you once got in front of perfectly now you are slightly late on; yeah you made the block but not with the glove or chest protector but the inside of the thigh. You just went from slow to glacial.

Catchers play everyday with injuries that other players sit on the bench with. Broken fingers, pulled muscles,sprains, bone bruises,sore arms,etc. yet some coaches/scouts feel compelled to judge a kid's character over one aspect of the position. They shouldn't because when the kid at age 12 decided to put the gear on versus his peers that refused to do so, the character is there. No, all catchers aren't equal in ability or character but by putting on the gear they have shown a coach some things that their peers refuse to give. How coaches handle the catcher and cultivate that character in succeeding years is what makes the difference in how that catcher ends up. By HS, most catchers have been proven the toughness part and the willingness to block if they are still catching and coached properly.

Perhaps my opinion would change if I ever heard a single HS/college coach tell a catcher to protect himself back there (yes, I actually ask this question after games to alot of catchers from various teams). Won't happen because every coach is worried that the catcher won't give 100% after given that message. Well, if that happens some coach misjudged the kid's character anyway and probably confused character with style points. That, and the coach has another catcher to put in anyway.

Sometimes I think they were right about the "tools of ignorance".

That all said... Catchers, if the coach says block.....you block and go as hard and long as you can. There is no guarantee that there will be another game or even another pitch, so you go 100% each pitch. Do that, and win or lose, you will always be able to look your teammates in the eye. That is more important than what any coach will think.

Everyone sees this topic from various angles and perspectives; no truly right or wrong answer, just what aspects of the game/position are seen as beauty in the eye of the beholder. Once again...JMHO

Awesome thread, and I am also very glad that there is some decorum over our disagreements. This may sound contradictory, but I will concede to Coach Weinstein the need to demonstrate a catcher's willingness to "get dirty" when necessary. Certainly, in the minor leagues, when players come and go on almost a weekly basis, that is a valuable commodity and it is then, quite frankly, a job.

As to some coach deciding whether or not a kid is tough; that makes me laugh. My oldest boy is catching in college now (and my wife and I can laugh now because there were no long term effects), but as a high school sophomore he played the better part of three months with a busted ring finger on his throwing hand. He would come home and ice it, but he never asked his HS coach for a break.

Ironically enough, a summer league coach threatened to bench him later that same year because he didn't think he should use knee savers. That wasn't apparently, what the "tough" catchers do =).

block everything.It gives the pitcher confidence that you will smother everything in the dirt. It also will give you a few extra calls from the ump if you protect him.

i think its personal preference. but personally i didnt block with no one on and less than two strikes.
reasons:
1)save some energy, its a long game, let yourself relax for a few seconds here and there and why risk getting beat up if you can pick it
2) ive found the best receiving position for me was a position that was very difficult to block from, therefore i didnt

I agree with futurecatcher27. And i would like to add more.

Being a freshman and being on the JV Team of my high school, blocking every pitch helps. It is definatly intimidating. I cannot tell you how many times were i have blocked a ball and i look up while going for the ball and see the runner kind of in shock, not knowing rather to steal or stay at the base. 2 weekends ago, i had a double header i caught and i blocked prob 1 or 2 balls and picked the ball up and they decided to steal , so i threw it to 2nd and got both of them out. It makes runners think, " Ok, this kid can block and isn't afraid to throw the ball my way." and he doesn't know what to do. So, again, block block block.

And also, don't be rude to the ump, even if he does make a bad call if you are batting or something, just continue to play the game and don't moan and groan about calls.