Quote:
Originally Posted by JefferMC
I think this may cause you some greif on a drop ball, as the ball can easily be above the knees at the front of the plate and well below by the catcher's glove. But you did say it wasn't the "be all and end all."
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While you are absolutely correct, there is also a component of umpiring called "survivability".
If you have a pitcher that throws a lot of drop balls, they may very well be a strike at the front of the plate, but caught much closer to the ground by the catcher. If the PU is consistantly calling those pitches strikes, it could lead to some chirping or more by players and coaches that you may have to deal with and just make the game an unpleasant experience.
Before anybody goes off on me, I'm NOT saying that the game should be called to avoid unpleasant situations. I'm saying that this is something to think about.
From a pitching perspective, the philosophy of throwing the drop (or the rise) is generally not to get called strikes, but to get the batter to swing and miss. Most drop balls or risers are thrown out of the strike zone.