Teaching the strike zone

[NickG]

I've read with interest the recent threads bashing the LLWS umpires -- particularly their strike zone. And I don't disagree with the general view that they're calling big and, worse, inconsistent zones. The bottom of the zone is a disaster, and the low outside corner is a mess. The top of the zone can be anywhere from belt to armpits. And this from the same ump, same batter, from pitch to pitch.

Rather than add to the bashing, though, I'd like to raise an issue that I bring up with my league and district peers and get consistently jeered. We all (I suspect) work with umpires who can't call a decent zone. The worst problems are at the bottom of the zone (IMHO). I've worked the rails in games where I stand there and watch "strikes" called on balls coming in mid-shin, and sometimes lower. I'm not talking about big breaking balls, either. These are fastballs kissing the dirt under the catcher's glove. I'm sure you see this yourself. The manager is in the coache's box at third just tearing his hair. These balls are unhittable (Ichiro can golf these low ones, but not 12-year-olds), and, frankly, I don't blame the coaches for complaining.

So here's the problem: Every time I bring up the issue of "teaching" the zone, I hear nothing but complaints. We spend hours at clinics going over mechanics and rotations, but when it comes to this most central part of the game (and a part defined by rule, no less), we hear things like "ah, your zone is your zone", and "just stay consistent and you'll be fine", and the all-time lame-brainer: "strikes are good".

Why don't we teach calling balls and strikes with the same rigor that we teach rotations? Or maybe you do? That's why the long post, because I'd like to hear from those of you who do provide (or have taken) clinics in calling the ball. How do you do it? How do you approach an otherwise dedicated and hard-working umpire and tell him his zone needs work -- and THEN provide a means for him to work on it?

I'll be interested in your views on this. I would very much like to begin a course of clinics in my leage and district, but it would be great to learn from experience first. Or do most of you go with the conventional wisdom that a zone is a zone so shut up and swing. I'll be interested in hearing your thoughts.