Skip to main content

Reply to "Pitching Inside"

Originally Posted by Go44dad:
Originally Posted by IEBSBL:  True, but maybe an umpire can chime in that has some youth (below high school) experience.  I have heard that an umpire in youth ball is taught to call an outside pitch (the width of) two balls off the plate a strike, but not call an inside on the corner pitch a strike.  And kids learn to throw to the strike zone.  For "safety" purposes...

More importantly it forces hitters to speed their barrel up to get to the inside pitch.  Once the hitter has sped his barrel up he opens himself up to not being able to stay back on off speed or even a fastball to the outside of the plate.  The reason the inside of the plate is neglected is because most youth ball coaches do not understand this and don't want their pitchers to leave a pitch over the plate or hit the batter.  Unfortunately most HS coaches I have run across feel the same. 

 


Urban Legend on the Youth Strike zone.  No such things are taught.  Good Umpires call the game as it is played and do not anticipate the calls. 

 

Reality is though - youth coaches teach down and away so if the umpires never called the ball at the edge games would be walk fests and there would be screams of squeezing across the land.  In a Rec League with the control being a notch below travel at 10,11 and 12 those games would be truly awful.  So everyone knows the deal and - Play Ball!

 

Not pitching inside though really makes the strike zone about 6 inches wide.  A batter can crowd and dive and only has to worry about an area 2 or 3 inches on either side of the edge of the plate.  That should be a huge advantage for a hitter.

 

If you are facing a pitcher that cannot come in you should be able to club him unless you really can't handle the outside pitch or his stuff is just that good.  But if you bang the ball the opposite way with authority you should be able to hammer about 80 to 90% of HS pitching.  Sit away and hit away.    

×
×
×
×