Heck guys (and gals), why bother with mats at all, we have the technology to do this balls and strikes thing up right.
All we have to do is adapt the system that they use for calling faults on tennis serves. You just set up a grid of "frickin laser beams" at the front of the plate and if a pitch breaks a horizontal beam and a vertical beam at the same time, then a big klaxon sounds off and everyone knows it's a strike, otherwise silence means the pitch was a ball.
Ahhh the joys of science, no more umpires capriciously calling pitches anything they feel like.
I can hear the fans cheering now.
I'm going to start working on the patent application right now.
SamC