Quote:
Originally posted by Stripes1950
This could be just be a local issue but maybe some of you around the country can help me. I tend to call a true strike zone in HS ball. I will not give the P a strike 3 inches off the plate. Some of my partners do. They seem to think it speeds the game up. I don't think that it is fair to the batter. I also call a strike at the batter's midsection (letters?) which coaches seem to think is high. Do I have to adjust? Could use some imput. By the way, I have been umpiring HS for about 20 years and the complaining has just started this year.
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If you have been calling this way for 20 years, why has the complaining just started? Have you moved from one part of the county to another? If any part of the part of the ball just nicks the white part of the plate inside or outside it's a strike. If any part of the ball nicks the bottom of the knee, it's a strike. High is a bit difficult since a lot of HS coaches and players think anything above the belt is high, but it's not really too high until it gets above a line about 6 inches above the belt. A pitch over the plate just below the elbows of a batter with a normal stance is generally a pitch to be hammered, so it should be called a strike.
I'm looking at a graphic in Ted William's book "The Science of Hitting". He has a ball placed at every possible spot that he would swing at a pitch, and in each ball he has a batting average that he would hit if all the pitches were thrown there. From inside to outside, three balls above the strike zone he has numbers .310 or above. Down and away are the only numbers below .300. A pitch one ball, and even two balls over the middle and above the strike zone was a .350 ball for Ted. Ted was not normal so this may not apply to most hitters, but the point is call a strike if any part of the ball nicks any side of the strike zone, including the top, and the batters will swing more often.
I have been told by several coaches that they know what to expect, that I am generous on low pitches and not so generous on high. OK, so be it. At least they know. High school pitchers had better pitch low or they will get hammered up in the zone, so if they throw low and nick the zone, I call it.
And how the catcher catches it makes a difference. If he catches an outside pitch while reaching for it and falling to his knees then it's a ball. If he sets up on the corner and stiff arms a fast ball on the black, then he is likely to get this call for his pitcher.
But I don't call one that the entire ball is 3 inches outside a strike, even if the catcher stiff arms it, and it's 45 degrees and the wind is blowing 20 MPH and the team on defense is ahead by 12 runs in the 5th inning, unless the count is 3-0
[Edited by DG on Apr 25th, 2005 at 11:25 PM]