Quote:
Originally Posted by GROUPthink
Even at the college level (I only work small college), I aggressively call strikes. I work with some umpires who call coffee can-sized zones (pitches outside corner called balls and forget about the ones at the hollow of the knee -- too much work to get those) and those are the 3+ hour games where everyone gets pissy and the gripes start out low with a gradual crescendo.
Do I go into the other batter's box? Hell, no. But a pitch just off the corner is going to be a strike all day. Inside and outside. Both ways. If you bought coaches a beer and asked them about it, they'd tell you they would rather have an umpire call strikes from the first pitch, I'm sure. I know one or two have said that to me away from the field.
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You do not have to buy them a beer to figure out that coaches do not want to be out there more than we have to be. As long as you call strikes for both teams I have found that coaches get upset with their players watching close pitches. I have even had coaches say to their batters, "He has been calling strikes all game, swing the damn bat." I have rarely had a coach complain at any college level when I called strikes and I have worked D1 before too. It is when I did not call a strike they get upset (even if it is clearly outside, but that is another issue).
Peace