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Originally Posted by Rich Fronheiser
It's gotta be a strike THROUGH the zone which means it's gotta end up caught at or above the batter's knee for me to call it a strike. At any level. Anyone who calls pitches almost in the dirt strikes -- I guarantee your timing is a bit too quick and you're deciding on the pitch too early.
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Rich,
Have you ever umpired a pitcher with a very sharp 12 to 6 curveball, such as the one Barry Zito throws when he is on? I sure have, Barry Zito. He had a wicked nasty breaking ball as a HS pitcher. The ball could break down through the bottom of the strike zone, above the knee, and land in the dirt in front of the catcher. The pitches were absolutely solid strikes, yet by where they were caught looked like they were low. With most pitchers, they would have been low and called balls, but you just couldn't do that with Zito.