[Andy A.]

In addition to catching, which I don't consider a particularly simple task as it also necessitates some sort of ball ejector at a minimum, think about goal tending.

Of the two, catching and blocking, I think blocking may be the easier (though not necessarily easy!) mechanism to implement at this point. No one knows yet how the game may play but I suspect that a decent blocker could deny an opposing team at least as many points as a decent catcher can score, all else being equal. From what I've seen on CD so far, it's not a common trait, so you might have little competition filling that niche.