[greymule]

Yes, the right zone for the level of play, and I think that does include stretching it a bit up and down. When two varsity pitchers are consistently blazing strikes below the belt, then a pitch at the letters looks awfully high. When two JV pitchers are trying to find the plate, a pitch at the letters or a little below the knees looks pretty good, and everyone in the park except the batter wants it to be called a strike.

Even in MLB—let's call the pitch in question the fastball belt high and two inches outside. Pitcher comes up, looks at strike one and two right down the middle without moving the bat off his shoulder. The third pitch is the pitch in question. Batter keeps the bat on his shoulder. Strike 3, right?

Next batter, lefty hitting .345, rips the first pitch foul past first base. Pulls the next pitch deep to right, but it goes foul at the last instant. Comes back to the plate shaking his head, saying to himself, "Come on, wait on the pitch." Now the belt-high fastball two inches outside. Batter looks at it contemptuously and begins to get set for the next pitch. Well, it was strike 3 to the previous batter . . .