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That picture looks pretty much exactly how I set up in the slot. There are two (minor?) differences.
First, I generally line up with my nose on the inside edge of the plate. I try to repeat that alignment on every pitch, but will adjust slightly for any extreme movement by the catcher.
That illustration seems like the umpire is a bit too far inside, with his nose at about the inside line of the batters box.
The other thing I do different is that I have my hands in the opposite positions. That is, my inside hand (left hand for a right-handed batter) goes behind my knee. My right hand would then be tucked as shown.
The reason I got into the habit of doing this was that it seems to protect the hand and forearm better. The hand in the slot is protected by my leg and the hand at my mid-section is behind the catcher. I do just the opposite for a lefty batter.
I have experimented with having both hands tucked at the mid-section, fists touching in the middle. I seemed to take more shots off the inside forearm whith that style.
It isn't my contention that I'm doing it the right, or even best, way. I'm offering this up in hopes of getting the style critiqued. So critique away!
One more question about plate stances. Do any of you use, or have you ever seen a softball umpire use the "Gerry Davis stance"? That stance is probably an entire different thread/topic, but I'm curious if anyone has tried it for softball.
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