Pitching and Pitchers Discussion strike zone

[pitchersdad26]

Being a pitchers dad is never easy, you live and die with every pitch, error, hit and walk. Whether you win or lose there are always calls you dont agree with, its part of the game, all you want is consistancy on both sides. However when its consistantly BAD for both sides it takes away from the game. This is what the strike zone is as I have learned it, from the letters to the knees and the width of the plate give or take an inch or two. Now i know that this is all subject to interpetation from the umpire, and you cant take the human element away from the game, but dammit I sure would like to. Also, for the record it also matters where the pitch is when it crosses the PLATE, my dd throws a flip-change where the ball has a lot of spin that causes the ball to dive significantly after it passes the batter, the catcher almost always goes low to get it but i have only had a few umps call it where it crosses the plate not where it is caught. We all want pitches that are in the "river", and a little give on those rise balls but we know we arent going to get every call. Having said all of that we played in a tournament this past weekend where we couldnt have had two umps that were total opposites, the first umpire was a pitchers dream, very liberal with the corners and liked the ball low as opposed to higher. The second umpire must have been a DH when he played ball because his zone was the PLATE belt high and that was it, forget the river this guy didnt even call the black. My dd has a decent fastball 58 or so, but she throws a screw, curve and flip change. She also has a pretty good rise, shes not going to blow away a lot of batters, she relies on location and her defense to get through games. Our catcher would set up on the corners, didnt have to move the glove, BALL, she kept looking to the dugout nobody had any answers, unless it was down the shute it was a ball. In all my years in travel ball I thought i had seen it all but I was wrong, everyone loves to see offense, its exciting. My dd is not a beer leauge player, I told her that that loss was not your fault, just keep doing what you are doing. It is just sad when you see a guy with an agenda take away from what is a beautiful game.

 

[FastBat]

Being a pitchers dad is never easy, you live and die with every pitch, error, hit and walk.

You should try keeping score/game changer, it really helps to distract you from that, live or die with every pitch. When I had nothing to do during games I was like that, too! Now, I score and I kind of think either way she pitches well or not, I can't be that into it. If she does well, leave her in. If she doesn't do well, it's not her day and take her out. One game doesn't make or break her as a pitcher!

 

[Spartandad]

We had several instances this past season with this same exact issue. I honestly believe the umps are told to tighten up their zone so pitchers are forced to throw gopher balls. There is no such thing as hitting a corner with some of these guys. You can just about forget getting a call just above the knees. This was across the board with pitchers on our team and not, so I guess you can be thankful for consistency...albeit bad. I just tell my daughter and the rest of the pitchers to adjust and throw to their zone. "You move your zone to his, find it, repeat". Not much good can come out of saying stupid things like "move it in a 1/4"". All you are going to do it turn that vise another turn and tighten it up even further. Did have an ump miss an outside strike that was right there for a 3rd strike. Of course everyone was moaning and groaning and he was saying to himself "damnit damnit damnit". I went to him between inning and said "you missed that didn't you". He asked how I could tell. Told him I read his lips and the catcher confirmed what he said. He told me it was right there and he just froze. Things happen. Hear it doesn't get much better in college. Adjust adjust adjust. Doesn't do dad or mom any good though.