Strike zone

Icemike

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I would love to see the strike zone open up some. I feel in way too many cases it has become way too small. I want to see teams swing the bat. Games will move along quicker and be more fun to watch. At 43 feet with the jacked up bats, I hate to see pitchers have to groove pitches. In showcases, elite pitchers will still dominate. As a coach, I want to see the elite hitters. Most plus 16 u hitters can dominates a small strike zone. Just my view. Have been at it a long time. Started coaching in HS when distance was 40’ for pitchers and strike zone was bigger. Great games could be done in an hour and 20 minutes.
 

SonicMojo

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I would love to see smaller strike zones, like where part of the ball actually has to pass over part of the plate. I want to see teams swing the bat AND actually make contact with the ball!
 
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First2Third

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After 10u rec ball, I honestly can't recall ever thinking to myself, gee, that strike zone is too small. And this is from a pitcher's dad! Countless times I see zones that are too big. It's really terrible at 16u seeing pitchers get strikes going 2-3 balls off the plate just because they hit the target.
 

City Slicker

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I don't know... we played last night and the zone was high, low, wide & in.

It needs to be a fair zone. I want to see kids swing too but I want to see quality swings. Swinging at pitches at your chin or below the middle of your shins aren't quality swings. And it is impossible for a hitter to hit a ball that is 1 ball off the plate, let alone 2 or 3.
 

Stedman00

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my biggest peeves with any strike zones are #1. let's make sure that the plate has corners. nothing worse than the strike zone that is an 8" diameter circle mid thigh high #2 . be consistent for both teams, the entire game. zone cannot be some sort of floating zone or mega wide or tall for one team and not the other. A ball called a ball at the letters in first inning, needs to be a called a ball the entire game.
 

First2Third

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What I really have a problem with his high strikes to short players. One of these days I will put together a compilation of the all the called strikes on my shorter kid where you can literally see the ball pass over higher than the top of her helmet. There are at least a couple every weekend. An umpire last week accused her of "ducking down" when the pitch came, but the top of her head was actually about 4" higher than where she started in her stance when the ball went by.
 

Icemike

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I like fair and consistent as keywords. Had an awesome ump last weekend that would clarify call as to where he saw pitch. Ball- inside/outside/up/low.
 

BretMan2

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In reality, umpires are not supposed to say “high, low, in, out” or give any other commentary on the location of the pitch as part of their call. They should only be saying “ball” or “strike”.

Giving locations is seen as an umpire being unsure about his call and feeling the need to justify it. It can also backfire if he calls one pitch, say “too high”, then calls a similar pitch a strike later on. Now a team has ammunition to argue about the umpire’s apparent inconsistency.

Yes, you will see some guys give pitch locations. No, they are are not trained to do that! In fact, they should be trained to specifically not do that.
 

Passion4theGame

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In reality, umpires are not supposed to say “high, low, in, out” or give any other commentary on the location of the pitch as part of their call. They should only be saying “ball” or “strike”.

Giving locations is seen as an umpire being unsure about his call and feeling the need to justify it. It can also backfire if he calls one pitch, say “too high”, then calls a similar pitch a strike later on. Now a team has ammunition to argue about the umpire’s apparent inconsistency.

Yes, you will see some guys give pitch locations. No, they are are not trained to do that! In fact, they should be trained to specifically not do that.


Bret when was the last time a coach argued a ball or strike and actually had it switched? I’ve been in Fastpitch for 12 years and baseball for 7yrs before that. I have come to realize umpires are human and NOT to argue the call of balls and Strikes because it only makes it tougher the rest of the weekend for your team. Lol
 
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