Strike Zone

[Bumps]

I did a JV DH Friday night. Small round robin between 4 Teams. Game 1, I am PU. First few innings go without a hitch. Pitching change for VT and F1 can not find the strike zone. Then HT hits when he does find zone. Jumping to the last inning, VT down 17 - 4. I stay with the zone I have had all night. Coach complains, I respond that we were not playing rec ball, he replies they are still kids. I tell him that's enough and we finish. He was not happy, but we finished.

Is there ever a time in HS, whether it be JV or Varsity, that you would open the zone?

My feeling is no and game 2 was my exact reasoning. I am now BU. HT goes up 16 - 3 after 3. Long story short, game ended 16 - 15. From my vantage point, PU did not open zone. Had the zone been opened up, it would have been an advantage to them and disadvantage to the HT.

Am I wrong for this thinking? It is HS ball, throw strikes and you will get strikes called, throw the ball out of the zone and I will ball it.

[bam]

My zone starts out open and can get bigger. Especially JV, Freshman, and MS.

[Bumps]

Point well taken, but...Does it change if the score gets out of hand?

[tldavis19]

with games that are ten runs or more apart I will stick to my guns on high/low pitches, but on inside/outside I will widen some. Its easy to get away with calling inside and outside wider than it is high/low because the coaches can't see the inside/outside stuff as well. I don't see it as helping one team or another, I see it as doing my job. Calling strikes and outs. Both teams are ready to get out of there, so calling close ball after close ball just makes the game longer and more frustrating for either team.

[IABlue]

I call a HUGE zone in JV and small school varsity ball.  The reasoning is described perfectly in the OP: over 50 runs scored in a doubleheader?

 

Are you effing kidding me?  What did that take, about 6 hours?

 

No way in hell I'm going to be out on a ball field that long.

 

BTW, the dirty little secret at just about every single level of ball is that fans, coaches, and players WANT strikes to be called.  Just be consistent.  Most of the bitching that I hear from coaches/assigners/players about other umps is that their zones are too tight.  Nobody likes 2 hour games.  Nobody.

[maven]

This ^

 

I preach more strikes to all umpires I work with, of every level: Saturday I told a second year guy and a 46-year guy (whose nickname is "Keyhole"). I try not to be a jerk about it, but there's a pretty tight correlation between small zones and long, high-scoring games.

 

Baseball is a defensive game: make the batter put the ball in play, keep players' heads in the game. When you call strikes, pitchers are more confident, relax, and pitch better. The only limit is the ridiculous.

 

My slogan: No borderline balls!

[Stan W.]

I always meet guys who tell me they have a zone for every level and a zone for blowouts and a zone for summer and a zone for rec league...............I guess im not that good......I got one zone......generous and fair.....and tweeking it always leads to issues for me..........

 

To be fair, I have not done any level below HS age for a long time........  

[noumpere]

One common training question goes something like; How do you call the following pitches:

 

right down the middle -- strike

right on the edged -- STRIKE!

way off the plate -- ball

just off the plate -- STRIKE!

 

and by plate I mean whatever your edge is.

 

Now of course eventually theres going to be a pitch that's too wide but still on the edge of what you could have gotten.

[mstaylor]

I'm like Stan, I use one zone, my tolerance may change a little by level but the basic zone is the same. I try not to get bigger in blowouts. I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

[bam]

I'm like Stan, I use one zone, my tolerance may change a little by level but the basic zone is the same. I try not to get bigger in blowouts. I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

it's tough not to get bigger in blow...  oh - n/m

[IABlue]

 I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

[Minnz]

with games that are ten runs or more apart I will stick to my guns on high/low pitches, but on inside/outside I will widen some. Its easy to get away with calling inside and outside wider than it is high/low because the coaches can't see the inside/outside stuff as well. I don't see it as helping one team or another, I see it as doing my job. Calling strikes and outs. Both teams are ready to get out of there, so calling close ball after close ball just makes the game longer and more frustrating for either team.

Why not just start the zone that wide?  Why wait until it is a blowout?

[bam]

 

 I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

 

Of course, someone once said "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds"

 

Make of that what you will.

[bam]

 

 I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

 

Or:

 

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative"

 

I could go on....

[mstaylor]

 

 I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

 

Inconsistency is when you miss pitches. I'm saying grab a strike you may pass on just to keep guys from standing there  waiting to walk. 

[dumbdumb]

 

 

 I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

 

Inconsistency is when you miss pitches. I'm saying grab a strike you may pass on just to keep guys from standing there  waiting to walk. 

 

Kinda like that 3-0 pitch, where it looks like and remember I said looks like, they may go an extra 1/2 ball width in all directions in some games I have seen? Wasn't there an old saying that you don't "walk" to the big leagues. Of course now with Billy Bean ball, maybe you do "walk" to the big leagues.

[IABlue]

 

 

 I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

 

Inconsistency is when you miss pitches. 

 

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...no it's not.

 

"Inconsistency" is calling a pitch one thing in one inning, and then another thing in another inning.

 

Whether you are inadvertently blowing pitches, or intentionally missing them (as in your example), it all adds up to the same thing. 

[IABlue]

 

 

 

 I will occasionally call a borderline pitch a strike to get the batters back swinging. 

Another name for that is "inconsistency."

 

Inconsistency is when you miss pitches. I'm saying grab a strike you may pass on just to keep guys from standing there  waiting to walk. 

 

Kinda like that 3-0 pitch, where it looks like and remember I said looks like, they may go an extra 1/2 ball width in all directions in some games I have seen? Wasn't there an old saying that you don't "walk" to the big leagues. Of course now with Billy Bean ball, maybe you do "walk" to the big leagues.

 

 

People that alter their zone based on the batter's count are by definition inconsistent umpires.

 

I have never understood why people do that.  Why even make the pitcher throw the ball when it's 3-0 then?  Just go from 3-0 to 3-1 and save everyone a little time.

[scrounge]

 

 

People that alter their zone based on the batter's count are by definition inconsistent umpires.

 

I have never understood why people do that.  Why even make the pitcher throw the ball when it's 3-0 then?  Just go from 3-0 to 3-1 and save everyone a little time.

 

 

 

Maybe it was just a JV game, which I hear no one in their right mind takes seriously anyway. Amirite???

[Thunderheads]

 

 

 

People that alter their zone based on the batter's count are by definition inconsistent umpires.

 

I have never understood why people do that.  Why even make the pitcher throw the ball when it's 3-0 then?  Just go from 3-0 to 3-1 and save everyone a little time.

 

 

 

Maybe it was just a JV game, which I hear no one in their right mind takes seriously anyway. Amirite???

 

   

[mstaylor]

I don't change zones according to counts. The automatic strike on 3-0 drives me nuts. I call a good consistent zone but in games where a pitcher is missing and the batter is standing there looking for balls until I call a strike. What I am saying is to o-c-c-a-s-i-o-n-l-y grab a pitch that is just off or just down. It just gets the batters swinging, kind of a jump start. If you think it is wrong, so be it. It is an exception to the rule, maybe once a game at most.  

[zebra2955]

my philosophy

 

EVERY PITCH IS A STRIKE UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE.

 

Or as I one heard

 

CFS  call effing strikes because catchers effing suck

[JaxRolo]

Inconsistency is when you don't know what your doing and just Omani miss pitches.

If you call a Baal a strike or a strike a ball on purpose then that is not I consistency. It's managing the game!

[HeadHunterLA]

I have a tough time adjusting my zone and find that when I try it just ruins my timing.  I try and have a reasonably large zone at all levels that encourages players to swing the bat and rewards a pitcher for being around the plate.  This has worked for me for 20+ years.