A Plea to you zone-stingy "Blues" out there....

[MTR]

That isn't Blue's job and I wish the ones who think this way would stop thinking it is. What is the point of spending all that time becoming a better pitcher if they are going to take it away from you because you worked hard or they "are trying to keep it close/even things out".

You are absolutely correct. OTOH, you constantly have people who think that everyone involved is supposed to envelope the "its all about the girls" mantra. Well, unless you are a volunteer umpire for a league, that should be your last concern. If that is how one feels, s/he should be coaching, not umpiring.

And yes - there is nothing worse than an umpire who insists on calling only meatball pitches strikes or the 8U/10U rec umpire who insists that a pitcher who has been learning for all of 3 months throw it in a tiny box strike zone on the midget batter who has no real strike zone because she is barely 40" tall.

There is nothing worse than an umpire squeezing any zone. It is counterproductive for the players and the umpire.

 

[Greenmonsters]

You are absolutely correct. OTOH, you constantly have people who think that everyone involved is supposed to envelope the "its all about the girls" mantra. Well, unless you are a volunteer umpire for a league, that should be your last concern. If that is how one feels, s/he should be coaching, not umpiring.



There is nothing worse than an umpire squeezing any zone. It is counterproductive for the players and the umpire.

IMO, expanding the zone to include unhittable pitches and encouraging kids to swing at anything that doesn't bounce is a greater disservice.

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I agree, except for what's bold. When an umpire can't/won't read breaking pitches it forces the better pitcher to think, hit spots better and throw a smarter game. Dominant pitchers can become complacent and an umpire who calls the game different than most can be a good thing (as long as he/she is calling pitches the same for both sides.).

If you replace "better" with "lesser", I would agree completely with your post.

I should clarify => When I say "better" I meant more speed & more movement. This type of ump squashes this extra ability. (I understand your point that faster & more movement does not mean a "better" pitcher automatically. Good catch. )

 

[RubberBiscuit]

I like the ump with a tight strike zone a lot more than the guy who is calling nose to toes and 6 inches to either side of the plate with the occasional ball thrown in just to confuse kids .

You must not have seen last weeks Michigan vs Illinois game. That game had a complete zone-scrooge. It was so frustrating to see both pitchers from both teams get demoralized by that bozo. It was hard to watch, ...just as a fan of the sport (maybe also because it was Big Ten too )

But back to being serious. We all want umpire consistency. We want consistency in the zone size AND the zone size from ump to ump. But when an ump makes it where a pitcher can't do what they've trained for year after year to do that makes a "bad" ump from my perspective. (From the batters perspective they can adapt more easily to wider batting zone. In the end it's still just a swing. It's not the elimination of a pitch type or something dramatic like that for the pitcher. Remembering I making this stand on the basis that offense has too much advantage right now)

Another similar analogy is the ole crow-hopping case. When a pitcher has been allowed to crow-hop all her pitching life and all of a sudden you tell her that every pitch she makes is illegal,...who is to take ownership of this "bad"? It's the umpiring community along with their rules guide. Not the pitcher....

Also remember "bad" ump does NOT equal "bad" person.
Also Also - I umped for a few years so I know what it's like....

 

[01mom]

So in this era of batting getting better and the bats getting even much better than that:

Why are there still some umpires that only have a volleyball sized strike zone?!?!?

OK, under full disclosure mode here => Yes, my DD is a pitcher.

But c'mon. Any pitcher that is forced to throw only fastballs down the middle, below the elbows, and above the knees, is gonna get rocked or at least get thoroughly frustrated and question why they work so hard on movement pitches and "spots"....

Let's please start to give a little back to pitchers Huh?!?!?!? There is enough offense out there in the sport right now isn't there???

(Remember this is just to those ~10% of umps that really squeeze the zone this tight. I know, I am guessing it's only 10% but that's one game out of ten that DD & I lose clumps of hair on!

(DD had 6 walks in a game where she should have only had maybe 1.... so yes I am cranky....)

I'm soooo in agreement with you. Due to DD's travel team falling apart and us not wanting to go through the whole process again we just signed her up for rec and moved her up to 12u. She has been taught to keep it off the center of the plate and I swear most of the rec ups here wouldn't know the corner of a plate if it jumped up and smacked them in the face. The other issue we are running into is because she has decent speed they are only giving her that volleyball sized strike zone while the opposing (usually weaker) pitchers are getting called strikes from our girls noses to their ankles. This is the 1st time my DD has gotten significant game time and it's really frustrating her (crying after games) that she can't get even a decent sized strike zone. Don't get me wrong she still throws her fair share of balls too but there was one night where an ump seriously gave a girl 4 swings and on the 4th she stepped into the pitch, got hit, & he gave her the base...after that game all I could do was hug my DD & tell her don't worry about him you did good tonight. The coach & several parents were trying to bring her back up after that game. It was hard for her to swallow him calling balls when her catcher didn't even have to move her glove to catch several

 

[quincy]

One of the things I noticed yesterday was that our pitchers had a bigger strike zone then the opposing Team’s pitches, other Team’s pitchers were better.

DD has been on all sides of this, both as a hitter and a pitcher, wish they would be consistent for both Teams but that is probably a different thread.

 

[ConorMacleod]

Adjust adjust adjust. That's what I tell my DD pitcher. 1 inch outside was a strike? Next pitch needs to be 4 inches outside. That was a ball? Go to 2 inches. Yes, she may not be that precise, but she gets the idea. Batters must adjust as well. You didn't like the outside pitch that was just called for strike 2? Then don't let the same pitch go by for strike 3. All I ever ask of an Umpire is that he/she give me a consistent strike zone, for both teams, for the entire game. That doesn't always happen, but we all have to learn to ADJUST!

 

[CJ D]

The absolute best ump I have ever seen...I mean this guy calls nearly every single pitch exactly right. Never seen a bad pitch call. Gives the corners, the right height...everything is as it should be....his daughter is a pitcher. Lol. He said you catch a few thousand balls you better be able to be consistent.