Umpires: Call a STRIKE ZONE
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- Nov 29, 2009
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Had an umpire a few weeks ago who was absolutely horrible behind the plate. There was no consistency to his strikezone at all. The fans on both sides were groaning about the zone as we watched hitters on both sides called out a pitches that were no where near the zone. The kids had no idea what to swing at and what to lay off of.
About the 5th inning or so he made a really bad strike call on a pitch at the nose of one of my players to end the inning. The fans groaned about it. He comes up to me and tells me to control my parents. I calmly told him my parents are not saying anything or being belligerent. They were voicing their disagreement with a bad call. The same as the other team's parents have been doing all game long. It's part of the game. If they reach the point of anything more than normal fan reaction I will address it. I was waiting for him to say something else. Luckily, he didn't. It may have gotten heated.
About the 5th inning or so he made a really bad strike call on a pitch at the nose of one of my players to end the inning. The fans groaned about it. He comes up to me and tells me to control my parents. I calmly told him my parents are not saying anything or being belligerent. They were voicing their disagreement with a bad call. The same as the other team's parents have been doing all game long. It's part of the game. If they reach the point of anything more than normal fan reaction I will address it. I was waiting for him to say something else. Luckily, he didn't. It may have gotten heated.
- Jun 24, 2013
- 427
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I have met one that did a horrible job. He actually even shoulder checked me at the end of the game while going through the "Good game" line. (think of back in high school when 2 boys wanted to fight, they would start by being offset with each other and then one guy would take his shoulder and hit the other guys shoulder) Our girls had to hit a pie plate for a stirke, and the other teams girls had to hit a refrigerator (and a dual door, milk jugs in the door type too) to get a stirike. It was bad. If the game hadn't ended after midnight, I might have thought about protesting it, not that it would have done any good. What did i do to "deserve" this? I asked for assitance on one of his calls early on in the game. From then on it was bad. We ended up losing 29-26. How did the other team score so much? They could bunt and run like nobody's business, if you played them short, they could hit it over your head. They couldn't pitch worth a darn though. 3 girls that could barely get it across the plate. Without the umpires help they probably would have given us 50 runs. It sucks when one decides he is going to "punish" one team. The bad thing was it was the elimination game too.
I have had more than once this year the pleasure of calling out from the 3B coaches box "Good eye, Good eye" only to have the ump echo back "strike" at that point it is laugh or cry, so you just have to laugh but not too loudly the umpires do not take too kindly to it.
I don't mind the generous zone, so long as it's not out of reach of the hitter. A ball off the plate for example. I also like consistency. For instance, Saturday the blue was not very consistent. Beginning of the game, he had a low zone. A couple innings in and he was no longer calling the low strike. Now it was high. Then it moved to outside. In 103°F heat, the pitchers should not have to adjust to a new zone every inning.
Now I have also always said that if the blues called the zone as written, there would be some serious complaining going on.
ASA: 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.
NSA: The strike zone is that space over any part of the plate between the batter’s highest shoulder and his/her front knee when the batter assumes a natural batting stance.
USSSA: The strike zone is that space over home plate, which is between the batter's forward armpit and the top of the knees when the batter assumes a natural batting stance.
NFHS: The strike zone (F.P.) is the space over home plate which is between the batter's forward armpit and the top of the knees when the batter assumes a natural batting stance.
NCAA: The area above home plate between the bottom of the batter’s sternum and the top of her knees when she assumes her natural batting stance.
What I have seen is that the alphabet soups call the NCAA zone and not their defined zone. How many coaches would come unglued if an umpire called a strike at the top of the highest shoulder when playing NSA ball, or even the armpit in the other leagues? For that matter, how many coaches have actually read the rulebook?
Now I have also always said that if the blues called the zone as written, there would be some serious complaining going on.
ASA: 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.
NSA: The strike zone is that space over any part of the plate between the batter’s highest shoulder and his/her front knee when the batter assumes a natural batting stance.
USSSA: The strike zone is that space over home plate, which is between the batter's forward armpit and the top of the knees when the batter assumes a natural batting stance.
NFHS: The strike zone (F.P.) is the space over home plate which is between the batter's forward armpit and the top of the knees when the batter assumes a natural batting stance.
NCAA: The area above home plate between the bottom of the batter’s sternum and the top of her knees when she assumes her natural batting stance.
What I have seen is that the alphabet soups call the NCAA zone and not their defined zone. How many coaches would come unglued if an umpire called a strike at the top of the highest shoulder when playing NSA ball, or even the armpit in the other leagues? For that matter, how many coaches have actually read the rulebook?
All I want is the correct zone called. If the ball even just barely scrapes the plate at any corner and is between the armpits and the knees I want it called. If it doesn't than I don't want it called. Too often I've seen umpires with a zone that has one spot that is clearly out of the zone be in while other spots that are clearly in are called out and that's maddening.
- Apr 15, 2012
- 123
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My pet peeve is, a called ball at 0-0 should still be a ball at 3-0. The expanded zone on 3-0 drives me nuts!!
Amen to that!! Seems like as long as the pitch is not thrown out of ballpark on 3-0..........strike one.
That's one of my biggest peeves, too...that and having the strike zone change after the opposing coach complains about it. All of the sudden there are two strike zones?
Another story ~ DDs team was in a championship game against tournament host team. Didn't take too long to pick up on the fact that the strike zone got a lot smaller then the other team had runners in key situations, but was back to normal if no one was on base! That is frustrating!
Another story ~ DDs team was in a championship game against tournament host team. Didn't take too long to pick up on the fact that the strike zone got a lot smaller then the other team had runners in key situations, but was back to normal if no one was on base! That is frustrating!
