[Dakota]

Notice that the two quotes were talking about different pitchers in the same game. So even allowing for variances in the zone due to age, travel vs rec, etc., this perception by this coach is common.

A poor pitcher will get a bigger zone than a good pitcher, or a pitcher with good control will get a wider zone than a pitcher without good control (never mind that those statements on the surface appear to contradict each other!).

Try as I might to give the "same zone" to both teams, I can understand how coaches come to that conclusion.

Taking the first sentence first.

Umps many times call a bigger zone for poor, slow pitchers than they do for more experienced, better pitchers in the same game.

This is usually applied to rec level games and/or pitchers of considerable difference in skill on the two teams.

With rainbow pitchers, even though I am trying to give the same zone to both teams, the fact is I will be calling "strikes" that the coaches insist are above the eyes or in the dirt. Because I am looking for whether the pitch entered the zone above the plate, whereas the coach is looking at was the pitch at any time out of the zone while in front of the batter. Add to this that it is difficult to get into a "zone" (so to speak) with my zone with such vastly different skill levels of pitchers on the two teams. Of necessity, I have to adjust each half inning to each pitcher's "style."

The second sentence,

A pitcher with good control will get more calls around the edges than one who is wild because there is a psychological benefit from having the ump think you meant to put it there.

This is typically applied to a higher level game, where one pitcher is in command of several pitches (fast ball, change, curve/rise/drop) and the other is struggling to keep her fast ball in the zone.

A pitcher with good control and a variety of pitches will "get" the corner more often simply because she hits it more often. A curve comes in seemingly outside or inside and then curves into the zone, or a curve comes in, catches the corner and gets to the catcher well outside. STRIKE. The struggling fastballer throws a pitch that seems to approach the plate in the same area, but stays outside/inside or hits the catcher the same amount outside, and to the observer from the side, these pitches look the same, but the call is BALL.

In both cases, what I am saying is even though I believe I am giving the same zone to both teams, the coaches will not necessarily agree, because they don't see what I see.