Fastpitch: Batter's Location in Batter's Box Compared to Plate
 

As a longtime coach (15 years) of fastpitch softball and player (15 years) of baseball, I was taken aback the other day when I realized that for all this time I might not have truly understood the strike zone. I would ask for some of my expert umpires to assist in clarifying the following scenario:

Batter stands in very back of batter's box, thus putting home plate in front of the batter's front leg/knee. Pitch is delivered by pitcher, crosses the plate within the knee-to-armpit strike zone, but then falls out of the zone below the front knee of the batter.

My question is this: Is the strike zone in fastpitch softball considered at what height the ball crosses the plate, irregardless of where it crosses the batter? Or does the ball need to cross the plate AND the batter in the strike zone?

I realize the scenario of having a batter in the very back of the box in fastpitch might be rare, but I would like to get a clarification so I can correct my thinking that may have been wrong for 30 years! Thanks all!

The batter's location is irrelevant. The strike zone remains adjacent to the plate no matter where the batter positions him/herself in the batter's box

And in fastpitch, if you call your strike zone like that, they will run you out of most towns and ask you not to come back.

Wow, over 45 years and I'm still working in this and other towns. Go figure.

I wonder why that is?

xtreamump
 

What I have learned with the game getting even faster every day with the running left hand slap hitters, bunter/slap hitters, bunters from the front of the box for base hits, bunters from the back of the box for sacrifice, girls switching sides with 2 strikes. You really have to track the pitch, I know what the book says, these good fast-pitch teams want & need consistency in there Strike Zone. With a 7 foot by 3 foot box that is alot of real estate. Realisticly thinking that a K is always over the dish is hard to fathom.

I hope that someone learns who EsqUmp and xtreamump work for and find out what they put in their Gator Aid.

Wow. While I agree with the 'survivability' aspect of your comment, I do not agree with the comment in whole.

It's because you're an old fart.









:D;):p

Yeah, but I wear my ear ring in the correct ear..........neither! ;) :cool: :D

Guess that is part of what makes me an Old Fart!

I know I shouldn't.... but --

You're not really suggesting that the people in your parts expect the strikezone to move forward and back with the batter, are you? Heck ... that defeats the purpose of part of the reason a coach might move his batter up or back.

No... adjusting your zone based on where the batter is (especially in the case of a moving batter!) is hard to fathom. Honestly, until this thread, I've never heard a single person espouse this notion.

I don't know what you're looking at from behind the plate --- but it certainly shouldn't be the position of the batter. It's easy to call the ball based on where it is when it crosses the plate - it's consistent. Trying to adjust that forward and back is begging for inconsistency. Requiring pitchers to hit a zone that changes back and forth (especially curve ball pitchers) is completely absurd.

At least all of your other piercings are worn properly...

:eek:

xtreamump
 

I can tell that I speak GERMAN to you, I do not have thin skin, I do have proper training on tracking pitches Jim Evans MLB. The coaches want consistency. My reference to the moving batter was for the people that do not understand the Strike Zone. Where in my post did it say that the zone changes back and forth ? You guys do not like the (CLONE) Trademark that has been branded on you. That is why you have a new Forum to go to & tell War Stories. Try to live in the moment and give something to the game. Why are the few of you long time poster's so bitter ?

Xtreamump
 

Nice Post, very helpful. I like the original Gator-Aid. Don't be a hater if there are new posters on the Forum. After being on the forum, I question the same thing about some of you. Good way to get branded as a CLONE.

Sorry but telling the truth will not get me branded anything.

And if that is really the way you call your strike zone you will not work more than one game for me if you are lucky enough to even be allowed in the park.

34 years and counting, play ball.

Why aren't you calling Irish and mbcrower clones they do not agree with you either.

Glad to know I am in good company because I feel this way.

Not in the towns around here. THAT is what is expected. (And by towns around here, I mean virtually every city in this vast state in which I live.)

Funny, I don't feel bitter...

What did you mean by "Realisticly thinking that a K is always over the dish is hard to fathom." then if you did not mean you that a strike was not always over the plate? It was this assertion to which I was disagreeing.

I am not sure what you are referring to when you are labeling others as "clones." Do you mean consistent in rules applications? Calling the strike zone as it was meant to be called? If that is your usage of the term, then it would best behoove you to become a little more clonelike.

No one is being a hater toward new posters. What they are being haters to is the dispensation of incorrect information. Umpiring is hard enough without it being clouded by myth, dysinformation, and opinion.

Care to explain this further? If it isn't always over the plate, where else cold it possibly be?

Piercings? Not me, buddy. I have enough issues without poking extra holes in my body. :D

There's always time..... :cool:

xtreamump
 

My stating that the ball crosses the 17 inch plate was for the MONEY PITCH. If you umpire and do not know what the game needs to be called for consistently you have been CLONED. The game lives and takes on a life of its own. Good umpires adjust, CLONES look and act like ROBOTS. If I Umpired for you I know that you would like to work with me. Because I get on a Forum behind a name & do not put my words the way that you want. Sorry, I hope that these attitudes are not on the field of the game that I love. If it is maybe I should Coach, Nope you would not listen then either, "CLONE LIKES EJECTION"

I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here. But you don't answer simple questions. I was not the only one who thought you were saying (by the last sentence of that post) that the batters box moves with the batter. If it's not what you meant, then clarify yourself. And if it's not what you meant, then my reply to you is moot. (And cut the CLONE crap).

xtreamump
 

What truth did you post here ? I like old guys (Experienced) like you, they are good for war stories, and beer talk.

xtreamump
 

The batter in the box moving was not for the pro's on here. The OP is from a Coach, I think. I made mention of it because we are trained to track the pitch with everything else going on. And I told you before do not tell me what to do. I know that the CLONE crap bothers a few of you. My question to you is why ?

I'm truly not understanding what some people get from coming on here for the sole purpose of stirring things up as opposed to discussing actual softball situations, rules, occurrences, and stories. Truly.

I find that those who refer to "robot" or "clones" when it comes to officiating are those who cannot or choose not to accept that anyone else other than themselves may know how to officiate. IMO, many seem to be GAGAs as the priority isn't necessarily the game itself.

JHMO

Would Frank Sinatra have made a good umpire? (My Way)
Maybe not, but I would not be the one to tell him.... :eek:

I have never understood that, nor will I ever. I have a few ideas, though.......

What rule set (or sets) do you call? I'm really curious, because I've never heard of a strike zone that moved back and forth with the batter.

ASA, Rule 1 Strike Zone: That space over any part of home plate, when a batter assumes a natural batting stance adjacent to home plate, between the batter's:
A. (fast Pitch) Arm pits and the top of the knees.
B. (Slow Pitch) Back shoulder and the front knee.
...

All an umpire has to do is read the rule book and apply the rules as written using one's own judgement. In the OP, the batter is standing deep in the box. This does not change the Strike Zone as defined in the rules. The horizontal piece of the strike zone is still the space over any part of home plate. The vertical piece of the strike zone is still determined by the batter's arm pits and the top of the knee when the batter is standing next to home plate (fast pitch, as stated in OP).

From the OP, if a pitch crosses the plate within the parameters defined by the rule when the batter is deep in the BB, but then crosses the space behind the plate and in front of the batter below the batter's knee, I have a strike.

Wow...
 

After 24 years of umpiring I was always under the impression that some part of the ball had to pass over some part of the strike zone in order to be a strike. I've never really been concerned with the batter's location within the batter's box. It really makes no difference.

That is because you mischaracterize offering an independent thought that wasn't drilled in our heads by one or two groups that haven't adapted as the game has changed over the decades as "stirring things up." God forbid you actually consider them rather than just disagreeing and bashing them on a forum.

What "one or two groups that haven't adapted" are you referring to?

I am wondering what additional rules are being ignored or altered by these umps under the guise of "I'm not a clone". Do you write them down so you dont forget? Do you highlight them in the rule book so you don't forget and actually apply the rule as written? Amazing hoe some umps think they can alter the rules to fit what they think they sould be!

Doug

I just want to know what an "xtream" [sic] is. Oh and I want to know what love is.

Nice to know, returning to the board after my second annual long winter sabbatical, that I haven't missed anything... :rolleyes:

Same here. That's why I'm not here as much anymore.

Tom,
I think you will like NC Dave's new forum.

I swore I wasn't going to get into this conversation (or the 10-15 other arguements I have seen) but it's just ironic to me that you would acuse someone of "just disagreeing and bashing them on a forum." Seems to me that is EXACTLY what you have been doing since you joined this forum, disagreeing and bashing organizations and any rule / mechanic / interp. they have provided that you don't "like" for whatever reason.

Just as long as you don't want me to show you! :eek:

What happens in Vegas... stays on YouTube.

Or maybe which (recognizable) groups HAVE adapted! All I know of leave the zone over the plate!

I notice that this question, of several days ago, still goes unanswered! :rolleyes: