This is my rookie year doing HS and Babe Ruth summer ball. I have received all kinds of great advice from my association and from this forum on how to deal with the "expanding strike zone".
Rule #1, never, ever, ever, tell the coach to come out swinging. After a couple of times of having this bite me in the buttocks, I learned that the coaches don't have to be told that your strike zone is getting bigger. (They're really not as dumb as we sometimes think).
Greymule pointed out another rule that I have incorporated into my game. . .strike 1 has a larger zone than strike 3. . .this is VERY true.
Pete Booth also had a good point with "Start Big". It's always easier to tighten your zone during the game than to try to expand it. I don't know why, it just is.
The last rule I go by is, if I am going to "expand" the zone during the game, I am going to do it side to side, NOT up and down. Coaches (and those idiotic parents) can see a ball that is at the shoe laces or at the throat. The only people that see a strike on the corners are me, the catcher and the batter. And 2 of the 3 aren't telling anyone if that pitch was just a bit outside. One more note on this subject, when my catchers are batting, they NEVER get an expanded zone, see they protect me from those bad pitches. See the article in this forum - "Your free protector".
Good luck and I hope my rookie "lessons learned" help you out.
--
jumpmaster al
|