Vertically the zone is from the top of the knees to the armpits. Does that mean any part of the ball that crosses the zone or does the entire ball have to be in the zone?
In other words is it like the horizontal zone or not. Where the width is 17" plus 2 times the ball diameter.
Thanks,
Tim
I would assume that the same would hold true for the verticle reference
In reality most umpires strike zones are @ 6" below the knee to the belly button. Very rarely will they call strikes 'at the letters'......
According to the letter of the rules, only part of the ball has to be in the "strikezone". Like Druer says though, the strikezone varries.
Coincidentally, in 2008, the NCAA changed the strikezone to be from the bottom of the sternum to the bottom of the knees. This was in response to the rise-ball and effectively killed the rise as anything but a setup pitch. In response to this, MANY ASA umpires treat the strikezone the same in ASA as it is in NCAA, even though the ASA zone never officially changed. The reality is that very few pitches above the belly button will be called strikes, but each strike zone will vary.
Learning each umpires strikezone is a skill that pitchers, hitters, and coaches need to learn. Teaching catchers and pitchers to "expand" the strike zone is also a good skill to know.
-W
In reality, I'm amazed that you've had the opportunity to observe and evaluate MOST of the umpires working games. Really?
Last count I heard there were about 40,000 softball umpires in the United States alone. I guess at least 20,001 of them call the strike zone you described.
Your grandmother in the bleachers could spot a "gross miss" a mile away.
Hey BretMan... thanks for all your useful posts. However, posts like this one just really get to me. It is common in the English language to shorten thoughts and sentences when writing. JAD's use of the term "Most" probably does NOT mean "Most of the umpires in the known universe" but rather means "Most of the umpires I have seen." I personally think "MOST" people understood what he was saying.
However just wanted to point out the fact that you use the same type of language trick in your subsequent post
Playing by your rules, are we all to assume that you have met each and every one of our grandmothers and performed a suitable vision test to ensure they our individual grandmothers can actually perform the feat you describe? Judging by your rules it seem you must have met and evaluated all the millions of grandmothers out there individually. Either that or you are being hypocritical and forcing others to live up to standards that you yourself don't choose to follow when you choose to make a post. Which is it?
As my grandmother would say, "put your big boy britches on and don't be so darn sensitive" when it comes to people talking about your profession.