I got to thinking last night after I saw the Ray's game and the strike 3 call, I have a question, but really not sure how to make it but I will try.
How long does a ball have to be in the "Strike zone" to be called a strike? the whole length of the plate? What if a curveball breaks and crosses the front of the plate thigh high, but drops so much it hits the dirt? or a 2 seam that runs out of the zone after it crossed the front of the plate?
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(b) Is not struck at, if any part of the ball passes through any part of the strike zone;
Do you see anything about how much time a pitch has to remain over the plate or where it ends up?
Here’s how it was explained to me by an ex-ML umpire. In theory a pitcher could throw a ball as high as possible, and if the ball comes straight down and hits the plate, it would still be called a strike. Even wilder, if a legally delivered pitch was thrown over the backstop but was caught in a freak windstorm and was blown backwards through the zone, it too would technically be a strike.
(b) Is not struck at, if any part of the ball passes through any part of the strike zone;
Do you see anything about how much time a pitch has to remain over the plate or where it ends up?
Here’s how it was explained to me by an ex-ML umpire. In theory a pitcher could throw a ball as high as possible, and if the ball comes straight down and hits the plate, it would still be called a strike. Even wilder, if a legally delivered pitch was thrown over the backstop but was caught in a freak windstorm and was blown backwards through the zone, it too would technically be a strike.
This is correct, by rule.
By convention, and that varies by level, the strike zone is not the be-all and end-all of a call. There are accepted norms at each level that determine what pitches can be called strikes and which can't. For example, a sharp breaking ball that nicks the lower front edge of the zone and is caught with the glove on the ground is a strike, by rule, but if I call that repeatedly at the levels I work, I won't be there long. A fastball that is thigh-high and 1/8" off the black is a ball, by rule, but if the catcher sticks it, I need to get that pitch.
