4" low and 4" off the plate.
 

Through the first inning, if you have both pitchers consistently throwing 4" low and 4" off the plate how do you handle it?

• Change your zone for the afternoon.
• Call balls and live with the grief.
• Hope for another pitcher.
• None of the above

mick

I simply continue to umpire.

That depends on what level of baseball you are working. Anything below college, I would call that a strike and make the batters swing. No need for games to last hours if your not gonna call that close pitch.

Talk to both F2s and suggest they 'adjust' their pitchers.

...Most all levels except we have no Fed ball U.P. here.
What do you do with college and Adult ?
Thanks.
mick

wait until the catcher asks for time to go slap some sense into his pitcher, then give it to him and hope the pitcher listened.

4" low and 4" outside is a ball now. it will be a ball tomorrow too.

Are there people here saying that if the pitcher is consistently throwing balls, they will suddenly begin calling that same (note: unhittable!) pitch a strike, simply because they want to get home earlier?

Yuck.

At a training session several years ago they taught us to call a balls width inside and 2 outside as strikes and add some at the top and the bottom too. Now this was for new umpires so primarily we are talking 10 year old players in a rec league.

Fast forward to last August. 18-21 year old league game one of my fellow blues on the mound. He wanted every bit of those outside 8 inches as strikes. Tough. It was a longgggg evening.

4 inches low and 4 inches off the plate is close? Maybe for u12s.

"Catch tell your boy to give me a ball in and a ball up or there is nothing I can do." You are going to get some chirping, esp. if they are hitting the mark; but, they will come around.

4 inches low and 4 inches off is a ball, at all levels. A strike that is low and away is nearly unhittable for average, but 4 inches low and 4 inches off called a strike is poor umpiring.

Where are the knees at? That is all I care about.

Peace

BALL.

BALL.

fast forward to 7th inning

BALL.

BALL.

any questions?

hmmm low and off the plate....sounds like a ball to me....call it what it is and let the pitchers adjust. If they want to make it deep into a game they'll come around.

My strike zone doesn't change because the F1's can't hit it. 4" low and 4" off the plate is, IMHO, crap umpiring.

Every coach that knows me knows where my strike zone is (and the ones that don't know me have 7 to 9 innings to figure it out). I have a reputation for my consistent zone. My reputation as an umpire is very important to me. My zone doesn't change from game to game; F1 to F1; or pitch to pitch. The coaches know that I won't open my zone up because their F1's are having a bad day. I'll call balls until they get tired of hearing it and put someone in that can throw.

easy answer. BALL!