Let's have a thread about strike zones!

[cc6]

Originally Posted by SAump

The feedback your getting is not very reliable.

Bowling analogy: Its in or out of the lane, period. Your "zone" may vary. When you visualize the outside zone as "keeping the ball" out of the gutter, you will begin to nail the outside pitch.

Rule of thumb: Try to set up in the same position from game to game. Extend your left arm across your body. Your left hand serves as an outside mechanism which will become more natural over time. Another piece of information to consider before rendering a call.

I've never heard the left arm analogy before. With a left handed batter at the plate, would it be the right arm across the body?

I do set up in the same place each pitch, except for if the catcher covers up the entire plate or the batter puts his hands in my line of vision. Then I am forced to improvise, and I find back and up doesn't work well unless I stand straight up.

I agree with Bob's statement that it is important to call the strikezone that gets the fewest complaints.

A swinger looks to pull everything he sees. A hitter goes with the pitch, including taking the outside pitch to the opposite field. If I'm doing a league full of swingers, meaning guys who are not willing to adjust to anything remotely outside, then I am going to call nothing off the black so that I avoid complaints and ejections.