SEC Strike Zone Discussed by Announcers during MIZZ/BAMA Game

coach james said:

I'm starting to see this as low as 12u. Umps wanted the entire ball over the white and nothing above the belt. "pitching" was off the table... All we could do was throw cookies. The only prayer we had was to mix speeds... its getting ridiculous!!!!

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I am sure there are some with a heck of a lot more experience than myself in this realm but at 12U what I noticed more than anything were the umpires were not overly experienced on movement pitches and that in turn made it seem like they wanted everything right over the white... Couple that with catchers that are still learning to frame pitches and set up on pitch calls and you will get umpires making what I always referred to as "interpretive balls and strikes"... Definitely frustrating but it is something that should get better as you move up in age classification or play in the bigger tournaments...

However, I have seen the quality of umpires decline significantly over the last several years, regardless of the level of play or competition...

My girls are playing at the A/Gold levels... I can only hope that we're getting gold level Blues as well...
I've spent the last several years preaching to these girls to stay on the edges. Hit corners, spin the ball, etc....
Only to have all of that erased by an Ump who will only call a cookie!

Now that you guys mention it, we had an umpire last weekend in a 12u tournament, strike zone was armpits to knees, but the entire ball had to be over the plate. Just catching the corners was no good. Especially inside. She was even lining up with her head inside depending on the batter.

Took dd to the Ducks, ASU game last Saturday. Megan Kleist started. I thought she threw beautifully, but after a while dd said the HP umpire's low strike zone was higher than she sees in tournaments, lol. Kleist was really getting squeezed to bring the ball up.

As pitching coaches and parents of pitchers we need to take up the challenge.(Short of complete absence of the ability of umpires to call illegal pitches).... There is definitely a move by the powers-to-be to increase scoring and action in the game. All this is at the expense of the pitchers.

Never give up in your quest or never let your pitcher give up in her quest to get better every day.

If you have ever attended the NFCA National Convention and walked thru the vendor booth area you would rapidly notice that 80% of the products being displayed are related to hitting.....about 5% to pitching. It is an uphill battle...........thank God we are smarter then the hitting people.....

I have said this for the past two or three years. Umps at the 12u and up level are not giving corners. When a pitcher at the 10u, 12u, and up level goes to their PC for lessons, they aren't taught to throw it right down the middle. They're taught to live on the corners. Now corners ate not being called. Makes me as a bucket dad very frustrated. So I guess we need to develop pitches that move into the zone instead of pitches that move out of the zone?

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Southernmost said:

I have said this for the past two or three years. Umps at the 12u and up level are not giving corners. When a pitcher at the 10u, 12u, and up level goes to their PC for lessons, they aren't taught to throw it right down the middle. They're taught to live on the corners. Now corners ate not being called. Makes me as a bucket dad very frustrated. So I guess we need to develop pitches that move into the zone instead of pitches that move out of the zone?

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That helps. It also means that the rise and the drop become more valuable. IMO every pitcher needs to have one or the other.