- Apr 17, 2014
- 8
- 1
After seeing (on the telly) a few of the early regional games, a few problem areas became very obvious.
The bat and ball liveliness has to be addressed. Poorly hit opposite field pop-ups that clear the fence are making a mockery of the game. The logistics of putting the fences where they should be is not really feasible, because many programs built their beautiful stadiums/fields in a cramped area where there would be interference with buildings, roads, and other sports facilities if they tried to expand. So, the bats will have to meet certain standards such as the BBCOR.
The Strike Zone: while making the strike zone smaller in theory, someone forgot to tell some of the umpires where it was. Although in actuality, the umpires for the regional and national games have been a lot better than the political appointees that the NCAA used for the first televised games in the past. There were times when a ball was a foot outside being consistently called a strike by some umpires; I am not exaggerating. There are some of you that will remember those games.
The way the strike zone is being defined and called is causing great inconsistencies. Usually a pitcher in the long run will get more balls called strikes than strikes called balls. In trying to force a precise definition of the strike zone, this has changed to where more strikes are being called balls. It looks like to some umpires that "not quite down the middle" is not good enough for a strike.
It almost looks like the U10 walk-a-thons and the walks and scores from the early games are making that quite evident.
Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?
The bat and ball liveliness has to be addressed. Poorly hit opposite field pop-ups that clear the fence are making a mockery of the game. The logistics of putting the fences where they should be is not really feasible, because many programs built their beautiful stadiums/fields in a cramped area where there would be interference with buildings, roads, and other sports facilities if they tried to expand. So, the bats will have to meet certain standards such as the BBCOR.
The Strike Zone: while making the strike zone smaller in theory, someone forgot to tell some of the umpires where it was. Although in actuality, the umpires for the regional and national games have been a lot better than the political appointees that the NCAA used for the first televised games in the past. There were times when a ball was a foot outside being consistently called a strike by some umpires; I am not exaggerating. There are some of you that will remember those games.
The way the strike zone is being defined and called is causing great inconsistencies. Usually a pitcher in the long run will get more balls called strikes than strikes called balls. In trying to force a precise definition of the strike zone, this has changed to where more strikes are being called balls. It looks like to some umpires that "not quite down the middle" is not good enough for a strike.
It almost looks like the U10 walk-a-thons and the walks and scores from the early games are making that quite evident.
Anyway, does anyone have any thoughts on the matter?