Strike Zone

I met with the coach yesterday and he told me that he was at a officials meeting where this was brought up. He said that several umpires told him that they were going to call balls and strikes according to the rule book. For the integrity of the game ALL UMPIRES should call balls and strikes according to the rule book to the best of thier ability.

I don't remember reading anything in the rule book about the strike zone being a pentagon.

Umps please call them according to the rules.

Thanks,

 

Would an ump ever say he wasn't going to call the game by the book? Why would they even say that? Sounds like maybe they somebody felt changes would be noticed and wanted to preempt that reaction by referring to the rule book.

Not trying to knock umps, I do think a slightly larger zone would help the game, speed and all. Nothing like a pitcher going 3-2 every count and hitters not swinging. Don't oversize the zone.....just to the book.....which is what I think was going on in that meeting.

To the umps.....do you have a March zone versus a May zone? Is there a pre-season zone versus state playoff zone? I suppose they should always be the same, but it's tough to watch umps be awfully tight on a 42 degree night in the first of March.