Consistent strike zone

[Justme]

Originally Posted by mattmets

Thanks a lot!

You have to work higher in the GD Stance. The trade-off is getting a longer look at the ball because you are standing about 3' behind F2 (You also save your knees).

My guess is that you are not following the pitch all the way. Maybe moving you're head too much or moving your entire body. At lower levels of baseball some umpires tend to move too much out of fear that F2 will not catch the ball. A couple of weeks ago I filled in for a friend working 2 Mustang division (Pony) games. I had balls bouncing off me all day (at least they don't throw very hard).

Like I said it's impossible to tell for sure unless I see you work. Bottom line you need to have someone look at you and work with you.

[RPatrino]

If you are using the GD properly, you will "lock in" in the same exact position on every pitch. Head height is a function of the width of your stance.

Several problems may be causing your low pitch issue. 1) Head movement 2) Failure to track pitch or 3) setting up TOO CLOSE to the catcher, in effect hiding behind the catcher, so that his head is blocking your view. You don't say if its the low outside pitch or just low pitch in general is the problem.

Bob P.

[BigUmp56]

I think that as the others have said one of the things that might be giving you problems is you not tracking the ball all the way to the mitt. The other, and maybe more significant problem might be that you're not setting up far enough into the slot. Often times when I see a partner struggle with low borderline pitches it's because they're too close to being over the top of the catcher. This causes them to lose a certain amount of depth perception as they look directly down over the plate. Try moving further over into the slot and see if that helps you with the elevation of the lower pitches.


Tim.

[mattmets]

Bob-
It's not necessarily low and away, just pitched down I'm having trouble with.

Bob and Tim, thanks for the advice.

[RPatrino]

Matt, if its just low pitches in general, then I bet you are not following the ball all the way to the catcher's glove. You might be having "tunnel vision", where you only see the pitch in a certain area, and not all the way through the zone. Another possibility is flinching, where you are anticipating a ball in the dirt.

As was said, have someone watch you. Your best bet would be to have someone who uses the GD do it. They will quickly be able to pick up where your eyes lose track of the ball while it is in flight.

Bob P.

[mrm21711]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

Matt, if its just low pitches in general, then I bet you are not following the ball all the way to the catcher's glove. You might be having "tunnel vision", where you only see the pitch in a certain area, and not all the way through the zone. Another possibility is flinching, where you are anticipating a ball in the dirt.

I had this exact problem when I started. I didnt even realize I was only tracking the pitch until it got to the plate and not to the glove, so pitches at the knee looked low.