Strike Zone

[thumpferee]

Originally posted by wadeintothem

I wouldnt advocate doing that at all. Just answer the catcher "yep" or whatever.. no need to give a sermon to the batter and catcher and make a show of changing the zone or whatever.. if they are good, especially since you say the catcher was the best, they'll figure it out soon enough any.. just call the pitch. [/B]

I agree, but we are talking about 13-15 yr olds. I would be more inclined to help them out to get ready for the next level than I would for someone who was already at that level.

JMO

[gordon30307]

Originally posted by GarthB

Nonsense. Consistency in calling a good strike zone is important. Consistency in calling crap is not. Consistency in and of itself is meaningless.

One can consistently miss bangers at first.

"Well, I was consistent," is the motto of the mediocre.

Hey stay on task were not talking about bases. I've got a great zone and I don't call CRAP. If you're not consistent you suck.

[Tim C]

Not to interupt a nice battle:

If an umpire is calling strikes that are eye high as they pass the batter . . . but he is consistent . . . is that OK?

While Garth used an anology of a base call I do believe his post is relevant.

[mikebran]

I can't help myself. Nominate the below quote for "ridiculous" post of the week... or, did you just replace the batteries in your hearing aid after "twenty years"?

Originally posted by Stripes1950
I have been umpiring HS for about 20 years and the complaining has just started this year.

[gordon30307]

Originally posted by Tim C
Not to interupt a nice battle:

If an umpire is calling strikes that are eye high as they pass the batter . . . but he is consistent . . . is that OK?

While Garth used an anology of a base call I do believe his post is relevant.

Of course not.

[stmaryrams]

Originally posted by GarthB
What's the best compliment a Coach can give? Batter to Coach after taking a called third strike. That pitch was ........ (fill in the blank). Quit complaning he's been calling that a strike the whole game.


Why do umpires think that's a compliment? All the coach is saying is that for whatever reason you have consistently believed that pitch to be a strike. The coach is not necessarily saying that that is a good thing.

I prefer hearing the coach say, "He's right that was a strike. You gotta swing at those."

Those words echo from my mouth on a regular basis.

I've been coaching younger players for years and tell them all with two strikes not to leave it up to the umpire but to take control of the situation.

My other favorite is "You're the only one with a bat out here so you're the only one who can hit it"

[scyguy]

As men I think we all understand the term "be consistent".

[GarthB]

Originally posted by gordon30307

Hey stay on task were not talking about bases. I've got a great zone and I don't call CRAP. If you're not consistent you suck.

So conversely, if you are consistent, you don't suck?

Ergo, if you call pitches in the dirt strikes, that's okay as long as you do it everytime. I don't think so. I'd reather see my partner miss a call or two than consistently suck.

When a coach says, as DG posted: "Quit complaning he's been calling that a strike the whole game," what he is really saying is that the umpire has been calling strikes that aren't really strikes.

All I'm saying is consistency is good if it refers to being consistently good. Too often it's used by umpires who call high and outside strikes or ankle biter strikes as they dismiss the b!tching: "Well, I'm consistent."



[Edited by GarthB on Apr 26th, 2005 at 05:01 PM]

[Stripes1950]

You know mikebran, that is why I find it so weird. I haven't had complaints about my strike zone in the past. This year I have heard it three different times. Usually early in the game. After the first couple of innings things quiet down. I think the catchers are cluing the coaches in. At any rate, I seriously have not heard much complaining in the past. Maybe I need to blow a few so that my post isn't ridiculous, eh?

[mbyron]

Originally posted by GarthB

So conversely, if you are consistent, you don't suck?

Garth, he's not logically committed to the converse of his statement. He IS committed to the contrapositive: "If you don't suck, then you're consistent."

And this, I take it, you would agree with. You think that good umpires are consistent, and that consistency is necessary for quality umpiring.

Your point, I think, is that consistency alone is not SUFFICIENT for quality umpiring. For that, you must be consistently good.

And with that, I agree.

[DG]

[/B][/QUOTE]


When a coach says, as DG posted: "Quit complaning he's been calling that a strike the whole game," what he is really saying is that the umpire has been calling strikes that aren't really strikes.

[Edited by GarthB on Apr 26th, 2005 at 05:01 PM] [/B][/QUOTE]Don't put words in my mouth. I believe gordon said that. And I believe what the coach is saying is that the pitch has been a strike all day, and the player has not been paying attention.

[GarthB]

Originally posted by DG

When a coach says, as DG posted: "Quit complaning he's been calling that a strike the whole game," what he is really saying is that the umpire has been calling strikes that aren't really strikes.

[/B][/QUOTE]Don't put words in my mouth. I believe gordon said that. [/B][/QUOTE]

Then I sincerely apologize. I hate it when people do that to me, so I can understand the irritation. I will try to be more careful when quoting posters in the future.

[danreeves1973]

Coaches at the HS level these days are apparantly under the impression that a ball that comes across right below the elbows or letters is too high to be a strike. I think I've had at least five or six coaches this year griping that my zone or my partners was too high. I simply say sorry coach, thats where I see 'em.

Funniest thing to me is when you have batter A come up thats 5'4" and then batter B is 6'5" (had this in a game this year, literally a foot diff. in height)and the crowd and sometimes coaches gripe because the zone changes.