Wow! All the way up to the letters! Wait, the strike zone is to the armpit isn't it? And any part of the ball,,,, Hrrmm, sounds like that is nearly eye level. You know, that pitch that MikeP wants his DD to stop swinging at. The strike zone is truly a mysterious thing, one that people say they want until they get it....
Strike zone... It isn’t just the youth leagues!
- Thread starter Westwind
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Wow! All the way up to the letters! Wait, the strike zone is to the armpit isn't it? And any part of the ball,,,, Hrrmm, sounds like that is nearly eye level. You know, that pitch that MikeP wants his DD to stop swinging at. The strike zone is truly a mysterious thing, one that people say they want until they get it....
The umpires here can comment on it, but perhaps some umps do have a larger strike zone for younger girls.
In the 12U and 10U world, I've yet to see the top of the strike zone at the belt.
Ok, here goes that old EdLovrich again, defending the umpires:
Let us consider the NCAA strike zone, the only zone I have ever seen that requires the entirety of the ball to be within a certain part of the strike zone by definition. (if this isn't a subtle hint that the coaches don't want the high strike called, I don't know what is, but we can save that discussion for another thread). Since we do not know where the batter was standing in the box, nor what type pitch was thrown, I will make some assumptions (and yes they will be designed to show the umpire could have been correct, but without contradictory information that is my right, don't want me to do it, give us all the pertinent info) Batter back in the box, pitch is some type of breaking ball moving downwards, it is more than conceivable that the top of the ball was NOT below the batters sternum when the ball crossed the front edge of the plate and still was at belt height when it reached the batter. So, ball is the correct call.
Let us consider the NCAA strike zone, the only zone I have ever seen that requires the entirety of the ball to be within a certain part of the strike zone by definition. (if this isn't a subtle hint that the coaches don't want the high strike called, I don't know what is, but we can save that discussion for another thread). Since we do not know where the batter was standing in the box, nor what type pitch was thrown, I will make some assumptions (and yes they will be designed to show the umpire could have been correct, but without contradictory information that is my right, don't want me to do it, give us all the pertinent info) Batter back in the box, pitch is some type of breaking ball moving downwards, it is more than conceivable that the top of the ball was NOT below the batters sternum when the ball crossed the front edge of the plate and still was at belt height when it reached the batter. So, ball is the correct call.
Hard to imagine she was tweeting about the 12K 1 hit shutout win they just had...and vague tweeting about some random game seems weird. But, whatever, coaches gonna complain...
I remember a kid swinging at strike 2 above her head and then complaining about called strike 3 at shoulder high. I told her the umps mistake was 10 inches closer to a strike then hers was.
- Dec 11, 2010
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And no one comments about the “human-duck hybrid” player in the diagram???
Come on, that’s the best part!
Come on, that’s the best part!
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- Dec 11, 2010
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You don’t think the catcher is telling her where the pitch is at in real time? I guarantee you they are not yelling “Where is that at” from the dugout and the catcher making the standard signs back like you see at the local high school field. They don’t want anyone to know what they really think.
In all fairness, I watched a game on DVR that I attended in person last weekend. It was a strange stadium to watch a game in- it’s kind of elevated and the angle is weird. ANYWAY... I remember fans (not parents) giving the umpire a hard time and I wondered how they could see balls and strikes because I sure couldn’t. When I watched it on tv, I could hear which pitches the fans complained about and the film showed that the umpire did a pretty decent job.
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Thanks Westwind! And even the views on the TV, especially when it is from a CF camera, can be deceiving. The camera is off-set from a direct line by actually quite a bit and that will shift the apparent location of the ball to the left (if the camera view if on the LF side of straight-away like it usually is). This makes that outside pitch that is so often complained about actually much closer to being in the zone than it appears on TV.
- Dec 11, 2010
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I have noticed that.
It isn't every umpire but we got one that is top of knees to belt....ball must be completely over the plate. Half a ball over the plate is a ball. He does almost exclusively 12U and he drives local young pitchers nuts. Luckily we live in a big area and don't get him much.
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