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I waited a long time to enter this fray and I'm fairly sure that the hornet's nest I'm about to stir up is unappreciated.
Call what you see and get the damn call right!
Most of you know my experience and while pro school was very long ago, we were taught that the catcher matters little in the outcome of the call. If the ball passed through the zone and is uncaught, do you call it a strike? Do you allow a catcher to grab it in such a way that a ball outside the zone looks close enough to call it a strike?
Depending on the level of ball you work, you may be able to get away with 'finding' a strike. Watch enough Minor and Major League games and you'll see pitches that miss by a whisker and the umpire never blinks - Ball!
The definition of a strike is what? We are supposed to call the play per the rules and using our judgement. Nowehere in any respected umpire manual or rule book does it state that this is supposed to be easy. If you make the expected call because you don't want grief, shame on you. I've witnessed some incredible curve balls in my day. I don't tell the coach, "Get a better catcher and I can call some of those." We are supposed to reward good pitching, not penalize bad catching!
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"You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers.
You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.
~Naguib Mahfouz
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