Swinging 3rd Strike Call

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by SanDiegoSteve

I'm not going to call a cockshot a ball unless the catcher completely bails out and lets me catch it. But pitches that are on the extreme edges of the zone should be stuck by the catcher to get those calls. Their coaches will even tell them that that's why the umpire didn't call it a strike. "Catch that and it's a strike, meat!" or words to that effect are often heard from the dugout.

Sometimes that's the coach's (nice) way of saying, "Call the pitch, not the catch, please."

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

Sometimes that's the coach's (nice) way of saying, "Call the pitch, not the catch, please."

I've never had a coach ever ask why I didn't call a botched catch a strike yet, and if one ever does question it, I'll tell him it takes a catcher and a pitcher to make a strike.

I am talking about extreme borderline pitches which I was considering calling a strike, but the catcher made it look horrible and way off the plate. I just feel that the catcher should have made a better effort to help his pitcher.