Pitching and Pitchers Discussion Low strike?

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My daughter worked very hard all winter on keeping the ball low and on the corners. So far this season we have not had an umpire that is giving the bottum of the strike zone. Has anyone else seen this with umpires or are we just having bad luck so far?

 

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how many ump's so far?

We've played 5 games and not one ump was the same! Does that help?

 

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Unless you can start umpiring your dd's games you'll have learn to live with it.:lmao::lmao::lmao: We parents always blame the umpire. Pitchers must adjust to the umpire just as hitter to the pitcher. If multiple umpires say she is low then she probably is. Don't encourage her to blame the umps by telling her they are all wrong.

 

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She adjusted very well, but a high strike zone does give the hitter the advantage. Just seeing if this is the norm or just bad luck so far.

 

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I feel for ya. But it doesn't get any better in college ball either... Look at it this way - it's a good exercise for her to learn how to deal with umpires that have their own "special" strike zone WITHOUT pi**ing them off.

Her catcher should be asking (politely) how far from the zone the pitch was. This IS NOT disagreeing with the ump's calls, but rather just to let her pitcher know how much to correct spotting her pitches. Usually, an ump will tell the catcher "Real close, but still a little low".

She will find MANY umps throughout her pitching career that seem to force her to "throw it down the middle". And I can tell you that is the WRONG solution! No ump EVER held a gun to the pitcher's head and forced her to throw it down the middle! (At least I've never heard of any!!) That mentality will get her plenty of cannon shots back at her head!!

As she progresses, she needs to develop her "bag 'o tricks" - go to off-speed pitches and change-ups for umps with a tight strike zone. When she gets a forgiving strike zone, take advantage of it and use the corners to get those marginal strikes. It takes good communication between pitcher/catcher/ump to make it happen.

Hey - no one said becoming a good pitcher was easy. That's why the good ones work so hard at their craft!

 

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In China I saw the pitching coach use fishing line and stretch it across the front edge of home plate in the offical strike zone and the catcher would make the pitcher work at the line and below the line so she could adjust in a game situation. The pitcher could not see the fishing line so her and the catcher had to work together.

We teach our hitters to be able to hit a ball 5 to 8 inches out of the official MLB strike zone. We want our hitters to determine what they can hit and calls balls and strikes....the only thing we want the umpire to do is call safe or out. Some of you have seen us take the Schutt Travel tee and place it exactly 11 inches outside of home plate and measure off from home plate by laying the bat across the outside corner....they hit the ball off the end of the bat and all we want them to be able to do is hit it off the 5 to 8 inch area.

If they can not do it in practice they will not be able to do it in a game.

Most of our hitters have a high number of walks, low strike outs especially looking verses swinging. We do not care if it is 6 inches off the ground and they can hit it. At a practice recently I took a water bottle and put a ball on it and from home plate and she hit it over a 200 fence...how could you even complain if she did it in a game? Umpires are human beings and are not perfect so learn to adjusrt as hitters and pitchers.

 

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their are several kids out there who I'd love for the ump to call the low strike and leave that high numbers area pitch a ball. They get the high strike you are in for long day . At least at 12-13 U. MD

 

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My daughter worked very hard all winter on keeping the ball low and on the corners. So far this season we have not had an umpire that is giving the bottum of the strike zone. Has anyone else seen this with umpires or are we just having bad luck so far?

Are the pitches actually touching the strike zone?

"Close" might not be "close enough". Getting the strike called might be the difference between a couple inches of one way or the other. "Just a hair off the plate" is not "over the plate".

If you are consistently not getting that call, it's kind of a waste to keep throwing to the same spot. Bring it in or up a hair until you find the spot that gets the call.

Having said that, it's entirely possible that part of the problem might be with the umpires you've had. A well-trained umpire should be setting up in the slot (the space between the catcher and batter, not right behind the catcher), slightly angled to look "across" the strike zone and should be able to see the entire plate when in his stance.

If the umpire isn't setting up correctly, his view of the bottom of the strike zone and outside corner will either be poor or blocked by the catcher. This leads to inconsistent calls for those locations.

Top-level pitchers can live or die on the outside corner of the plate. Top-level umpires should be calling this a strike- IF the ball actually nicks the strike zone.

 

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Its a game of costant adjustments. The ones who make them best normally win the battles. No two pitchers are exactly alike, and no two umpires are the same either. We have a saying on our team. There is no strike zone, onlly your hitting zone. Get the umpires out of the players mind and they have one less thing to concern themselves with. Give the a reason (or someone else to blame their performance on) and they might take that easy path.

 

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All weekend they were giving the socks to the pitchers in urbana. They did it for both teams but they kept the zone low, and gave nothing inside. All we can ask for is it called even, and it was. I am a pitchers dad and would love to see a hitters zone. Open it up and make the girls swing the bats.

 

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I think the kids are out pitching the Umpires at times. I'm seeing them look at the glove then make the call and we try to just catch the front knee, I think that is a strike. The Ump we had tonite seemed to be in the very good catagory. We got beat or run ruled by the way.

 

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Are the pitches actually touching the strike zone?

"Close" might not be "close enough". Getting the strike called might be the difference between a couple inches of one way or the other. "Just a hair off the plate" is not "over the plate".

If you are consistently not getting that call, it's kind of a waste to keep throwing to the same spot. Bring it in or up a hair until you find the spot that gets the call.

Having said that, it's entirely possible that part of the problem might be with the umpires you've had. A well-trained umpire should be setting up in the slot (the space between the catcher and batter, not right behind the catcher), slightly angled to look "across" the strike zone and should be able to see the entire plate when in his stance.

If the umpire isn't setting up correctly, his view of the bottom of the strike zone and outside corner will either be poor or blocked by the catcher. This leads to inconsistent calls for those locations.

Top-level pitchers can live or die on the outside corner of the plate. Top-level umpires should be calling this a strike- IF the ball actually nicks the strike zone.

Great point Bertman. I have even had umpires tell my catchers that if the pitcher continues to constantly hit the same spot that is just on the edge of the zone, they will begin calling it to her advantage.

Other great points have been made to have the catcher communicate with the umpire to determine how far off the call is in his/her opinion and then have the pitcher adjust.

 

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This is a diagram of the strike zone from the NCAA rule book. It's pretty much what ASA teaches at their National Umpire School. The only difference is that the top of the college zone is a little bit lower than the ASA zone (sternum versus armpits). Notice that the top of the ball is to be at or below the top line of the zone. Same at the bottom at the knees. Edge of ball must nick the plate on either side.

This is the zone I try to call for normally competetive, higer level games. I get very few complaints about my strike zone.

My zone might get a little bigger at the top (maybe up to the shoulders and a half ball width all around) in a low level rec game where the pitchers are not skilled and you don't want a walk-a-thon. But that can vary depending on the skill level.

 

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You have to adjust for every umpire,is the way I've seen it.Every umpire calls it just a lil different and have there own preferences.This is a game of constant and continuous adjustment both staying off plane from the batter and in plane with strike zone.She will have to learn to adjust to the Umpire since he makes the calls.Not kidding.

 

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My favorite ump(please note sarcasm) is the one that calls something across the eyebrows a strike. The very next pitch was way below the knees and magically a strike as well. Did he want clubbed by a 80 lb 11 year old wielding a bat?

 

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Great point Bertman. I have even had umpires tell my catchers that if the pitcher continues to constantly hit the same spot that is just on the edge of the zone, they will begin calling it to her advantage.

Feistymom my dd has had umps tell her similar things. Another one is that if you hit the glove you will get the call. I don't see anything in any rule book that says a strike will be called the third time you throw a pitch in a particular spot and I think a strike should be called when the pitched ball passes through the defined strike zone even if there is no catcher. Balls and strikes are judgement calls but only with the parameters of the rules. Bottom line the pitcher has to adjust to the umps strike zone, but it is easier when they call the rules defined strike zone consistently.

 

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On my tee I use I have decals of soft balls and base balls. You can line up 5 soft balls side to side and they meet the width of the strike zone as the ball touches the white of home plate and you can line up 7 hard balls.

It is a great visual for the hitters as we tell them the pitchers job is to live in the black and our job is to be able to hit in the gray area whenever we choose.

Then I have gray duct tape and it covers an area of about 5 inches between the outer black line of home plate and the out side of where that gray area exists of was it a ball or strike? We have them hit balls in that gray area as it can be called either way and the hitter must be able to hit those balls effectively.

 

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Once again you post something here and people add information to what the post was about. I was interested in seeing if people are noticing umpires not giving the low strike. No mention of poor performance or blaming the umpire. My daughter adjusted well and pitched well. I also used the phrase low strike. Not low ball or low inside ball or low outside ball, just low strike. I also would like to add that the umpire was consistent with the high strike zone for both teams. Thanks for the input from those that didn't add information not provided in the post!

 

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Okay...

But this is a public discussion board, one where people routinely add their own viewpoints, share their own experiences, get off topic, get back on topic and comment on other posts in the thread besides the original one.

Did you really expect to post a question like, "Has anyone seen an umpire not give the low strike?", then get a long string of replies consisting of, "Yes, I have", or, "No, I have not", and nothing more?

I, for one, enjoy the other viewpoints on the subject and think that they were all presented here in a friendly manner. Certainly nothing here strikes me as being offensive or disrespectful.

 

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My daughter worked very hard all winter on keeping the ball low and on the corners. So far this season we have not had an umpire that is giving the bottum of the strike zone. Has anyone else seen this with umpires or are we just having bad luck so far?

It might not be what you want to hear, but could it possibly be that those "low strikes" were seen as "balls" by the umpire?

I don't believe in "bad luck" when it comes to pitching. The fact that your DD worked hard all winter should be a testament that she doesn't rely on luck either, but depends on her skills to get good results. Keeping the ball low is a GOOD thing - especially at younger ages. My own DD lived on a peel drop through high school. Low fastballs and drops were her bread 'n butter. Hanging fastballs at 12u turn into some kid's first homeruns. Keeping the ball low takes away that opportunity, and generally results in grounders.

So, you (and your DD) have choices. Keep the ball low, working the corners and hope for a decent ump to give you a few strikes, or bring the pitch up in the zone, where it will probably get crushed. Personally, I'd go with keeping it low and let the defense behind her do their job!