MidAtlanticDad posted:The code of conduct discussion reminded me that I recently read this well reasoned opinion piece from Straight 108 Baseball on this topic.
This paragraph from the above article says it perfectly...happens at every level, HS, College and MLB. When the zone varies 6" from the 1st to 9th innings, that's where the issue comes in. My son is a pitcher and this could apply to them too.
"As a hitter, the biggest issues with homeplate umpires has nothing to do with the individual missed calls. The problem occurs when an umpire calls the same pitch in the same location differently, more or less making it impossible for a hitter to develop an effective way to approach each pitcher. Hitters can hit balls than are a half-inch or an inch off the plate when they know they need to cover that location. But the minute they’re unsure of how far away they have to go, they leave themselves fully exposed to the inner half of the plate. This is why so often, you’ll see an umpire nod his head after a called-strike early in the game because the hitter, usually looking at the ground to make sure he isn’t “showing up” the umpire, is asking the umpire if that location was the outermost part of the zone."