What "should" be the strikezone.

[jerichoholicninja]

I'm not one of those guys who's constantly yelling for an automated strikezone but I do like the idea and look forward to it's eventual implementation. There are way too many obvious ball/strike calls missed that change the direction of an at bat and possibly a game and the automated strikezone should at least fix that.

 

What is really annoying to me, however, is when hitters throw fits over those "50/50" pitches that are about 1/4 inch off the plate. Especially with two strikes. Too many guys let the umpire decide their at bat on pitches a hair off the plate. As a batter, your goal should be to hit the ball. Take a walk if it's given to you but go up there looking to put the ball in play. But I digress.

 

My real question is what should be a strike? Take Baez's homerun today for example. The pitch was well off the plate and he hit a line drive over the fence. Had he not swung, it was an obvious ball. But if a guy can hit a pitch in that location so well why should he be rewarded with a ball if he takes it? I know this is an extreme example but we see it all the time where a guy hits a line drive or at least squares up a pitch well out of the strikezone. Obviously the width of the zone always has and almost certainly always will be determined by the width of the plate as it's an easy fixed point to use for reference. However, strikezone width seems to in no way be based on a hitters ability to hit the ball in that location. I've only been able to find that home plate was changed from 12 inches wide to 17 in 1900 but I'm sure it's not like someone at the time said, "Looks like guys can only hit a ball in an area that's about 17 inches wide. Let's make that the strikezone." On the other hand, the top and bottom of the zone has been adjusted a few times in baseball's history based on how the current game was being played.

 

In my opinion, a strike should be a pitch a batter can hit hard without major effort of adjusting their swing. I would widen the plate by an inch on either side to 19 inches. As I've posted elsewhere, I think this would lead to more swinging and more balls in play with an undramatic drop in quality of batted balls. Guys are already hitting those pitches on the edges of the zone hard, let's at least call it a strike if they don't swing. To "even it out" for the batters I would raise the bottom of the zone to the top of the kneecap. Give it some width and take away some height.

 

What say you?

 

Strike Zone

Definition

The official strike zone is the area over home plate from the midpoint between a batter's shoulders and the top of the uniform pants -- when the batter is in his stance and prepared to swing at a pitched ball -- and a point just below the kneecap. In order to get a strike call, part of the ball must cross over part of home plate while in the aforementioned area.

 

Strikes and balls are called by the home-plate umpire after every pitch has passed the batter, unless the batter makes contact with the baseball (in which case the pitch is automatically a strike).

 

History of the rule

The vertical specifications of the strike zone have been altered several times during the history of baseball, with the current version being implemented in 1996.

 

Past strike zones

 

From 1988-95, the strike zone went from the midpoint between the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, to the top of the knees.

From 1969-87, the strike zone went from the batter's armpits to the top of the knees. This strike zone was implemented, along with the lowering of the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches, in response to a 1968 season -- now known as the "Year of the Pitcher" -- in which the dominance of hurlers reached new heights.

From 1963-68, the strike zone went from the top of the batter's shoulders to the knees.

From 1950-62, the strike zone went from the batter's armpits to the top of the knees.

The version of the strike zone used from 1963-68 was also utilized prior to 1950, going back to the late 1800s.

[JosephC]

All things being equal, I would say this one:

 

From 1988-95, the strike zone went from the midpoint between the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, to the top of the knees.

 

However, with the obvious screwing around that MLB is doing to the baseball, I might be tempted to say something like a juiced ball should equal a bigger strike zone and a softer ball should equal a smaller strikezone.

 

And to get off on a tangent about the electronic strike zone...people have to just come to accept that the people who complain about ball/strike counts now will complain about ball/strike counts if an "electronic" zone is implemented. The only difference is now people will complain about the home plate umpire, and in the future they will complain about the tech geek who set the bottom of the zone too high for hitter X and did not set the top of the strike zone low enough for hitter Y. People just love to think they are victimized and whine about it, even though most don't realize it. At least I can concede when I am a whiner. I'll start with the stupid decision to have 1 hard trade deadline and then put it too early in the season. No hot stove now, IMO that literally takes half the fun out of baseball. It's going to be a long month of August.

[Oxy]

It's funny that they kept trying to change the zone before 2006 or so, as until that time every single umpire had their own definition of the strike zone. Pitchers and batters just kinda knew what the zone was for each ump, or learned it very quickly. It is far far far more standardized now than it's ever been, and for the most part umps are better than they've ever been--mostly because now they have technology constantly looking over their shoulder.

[jerichoholicninja]

It's funny that they kept trying to change the zone before 2006 or so, as until that time every single umpire had their own definition of the strike zone. Pitchers and batters just kinda knew what the zone was for each ump, or learned it very quickly. It is far far far more standardized now than it's ever been, and for the most part umps are better than they've ever been--mostly because now they have technology constantly looking over their shoulder.

 

I totally agree with that last part. Guys will miss calls here and there and sometimes miss the same spot multiple times in a game but other than the geezers that are still around like Joe West, etc., overall the strkezone called in pretty darn close to what the strikezone is/should be. Hence my general feeling that batters should go up there with the idea that they will decide the at bat and leave nothing to the umpire. There aren't any Eric Gregg's out there anymore giving one pitcher 6 inches off the plate and squeezing the other.

[wntrtxn21]

It's funny that they kept trying to change the zone before 2006 or so, as until that time every single umpire had their own definition of the strike zone. Pitchers and batters just kinda knew what the zone was for each ump, or learned it very quickly. It is far far far more standardized now than it's ever been, and for the most part umps are better than they've ever been--mostly because now they have technology constantly looking over their shoulder.

 

I totally agree with that last part. Guys will miss calls here and there and sometimes miss the same spot multiple times in a game but other than the geezers that are still around like Joe West, etc., overall the strkezone called in pretty darn close to what the strikezone is/should be. Hence my general feeling that batters should go up there with the idea that they will decide the at bat and leave nothing to the umpire. There aren't any Eric Gregg's out there anymore giving one pitcher 6 inches off the plate and squeezing the other.

 

I'd like to wait and see how it works in the minors before making any decision. I've seen quite a variance from game to game with the strike zone, especially with the low strike. There is so much money involved now days, so anything to bring more consistency to the game would be great.

[Pugger]

Perhaps we should get better umpires! Some of those clowns trying to call balls and strikes are dreadful.

[clancyphile]

I'd like to see the 1963-1968 strike zone return.