I played hs ball in the late 70's and started coaching in the early 90's at the hs level. My last year of hs baseball was the last year wood bats where used in NC hs baseball. When I played in HS you simply got pitched. In , out , up , down. When I started coaching HS baseball metal bats had been around for a few years. Everyone was pitching away , away , away. When they did come in they came in off the plate or at least tried to. But that was not very often.
Because of this the approach that many coaches had gone to was "hit it the other way. Look the other way. Toe up on the plate. Sit on pitches the other way." And with the metal bat kids could still have success looking the other way and getting busted inside. The better hitters dominated and the average hitters had a lot of success. The poor hitter was capable of being a very average hitter.
When I was in HS a guy throwing upper 80's dominated hitters. A guy throwing in the 90's was a phenom that only got beat by errors or walks. This kind of velo vs a hs hitter with a wood bat was simply dominating against hs hitters. All you have to do is look at the record book and the era's , wins . K's , etc etc.
So what happened when wood bats were replaced with metal bats? Hitters changed their approach. Pitchers changed their approach. Coaches changed their approach. And umpires changed as well. When pitch after pitch after pitch is away. When the pitcher is working away the entire game. When hitters are looking away and getting up on the plate the entire game. The plate shifts. The entire focus shifts. The umpires shifted as well. And that is simply a fact.
How many times have we seen a pitcher work away pitch after pitch and then all of a sudden he busts one inside on the plate and everyone is frozen? The batter and the umpire. Hitters have adjusted to being worked away by moving up on the plate and looking away. Pitchers have adjusted to the metal bats by working away. Umpires have done the exact same thing.
Now Jimmy I will take you at your word on what you teach and how you umpire. But my experience in this game and from watching this game is that a pitch thrown to the mitt "a pitcher hitting his spot" on the outside even 2-3" off the plate will consistently result in a strike call many times. And some will give even more. But that same pitch is almost always called a ball if its inside. Why? My post explains why.
I think what FanofGame is saying is with the old advantage of the metal bats seemingly gone from the game then everyone needs to make the needed adjustments and that includes the umpires. If that is what she is saying I totally agree with her.
I am not talking MILB or MLB. I am talking hs baseball and college baseball. Now if others have not experience this thats fine. But it is what I have seen for quite awhile now at these levels of play.
Metal bat games with good hitters in the line up 1-9 on both teams are a joke when the umpire does not give the pitcher something. If he forces him to throw to a strike zone that is actually over the plate it ends up being a joke. Umpires know this and they have expanded their strike zones to compensate for the advantage of the metal bat. Will they now shift the plate back to its original location? How long will it take? We will see.
I would like to hear from some parents of college and hs players in reference to my post. As well as coaches. Do you agree , is this what you see? I know its what I see. And I am not saying I have a problem with it. I will though if these bats are found to perform like wood and we keep a metal bat strike zone.