Pitching to the Umpire: The Strike Zone Before Robots

Gehrig gets one out of the strike zone as the umpire looks on

If robots replace home plate umpires’ calling of balls and strikes, another little-known aspect of major league baseball will disappear.

Probably the least-honored section of baseball’s rulebook has been the one describing the strike zone.

Umpires have always denied it, but everybody in the game knows that every umpire has his own version, variations, quirks, strengths and weaknesses.

Sometimes it depended on who the pitcher or batter was. In the end, the umpire’s credo has been: It’s nothing until I call it.

As eight-time All-Star Detroit Tigers catcher Bill Freehan said,

“It’s been going on for a hundred years and umpires have been denying it for a hundred years.”

Pitchers know it. Catchers know it. Batters ignore it at their peril. The average fan is unaware of the game within the game that’s taking place behind the plate on every pitch.

In the 1990s I asked several veteran catchers to describe the strategy of what they called “pitching to the umpire.” - Norman L. Macht

Lance Parrish (1977-1995):

Pitchers pitch as much to the umpire as to the batter, trying to stay in those zones that are getting strikes called.

Everybody’s got a little different strike zone and you try to get to the bottom of it as quickly as possible. If he’s calling low strikes or giving the corners, you gear your game to that.

A lot of umpires won’t give you that low strike, and they force you to bring the ball up in the strike zone. If your pitcher likes to stay low, you’ve got a problem.

I’m less concerned with umpires missing high or low than the corners. They can never really set up low enough to be in line with the low pitch.

But to me the corners are non-negotiable. If an umpire is going to have a fluctuating strike zone, it should be a little bit higher or lower.

Over the years I have noticed that, with the umpire looking over my shoulder on the inside, they seem to miss more pitches on the away side from where they are setting up.

If they set up on the outside, they tend to miss the inside pitches because of the angle. I would prefer to see them set up directly behind me. I think they have a better view of both corners that way. 

As a hitter, I’d rather see the umpire make a mistake on the up and down than the corners. Hitters have a pretty good eye for pitches on the inside and outside. That’s where most of the questionable calls come.

Jeff Torborg (1964-1973):

We are not dealing with an exact science but with subjective judgment. Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax would get strike calls a fraction of an inch off the plate because they were throwing strikes.

A wild rookie pitcher throwing the same pitch in the same spot in the same game would not get it.

Nolan Ryan will get close calls today that he never got when he was young and wild; he throws more strikes now.

But sometimes even Koufax or Drysdale would not get the call on an identical pitch a few innings later, or another day, or if a great hitter is up there who knows the strike zone.

The ump figures if he let it go by it must be a ball.

Terry Steinbach (1986-1999):

Young or old, a pitcher who is around the plate will get more strike calls. If you throw three balls in the dirt and then throw a low borderline pitch, you can’t expect to get that call.

But if you throw two pitches at the knees and two just below the knees, chances are good you’re going to get the majority of those called strikes. 

Same on the corners. Can you tell the difference between a half-inch on or off the plate on a pitch travelling 92 miles an hour? I can’t. I can’t expect an umpire to, either. But it gives him a better chance if my pitcher is consistently on the outer part of the plate.

He gets used to seeing the pitches there, so he has a better chance of calling it than if he sees three in the dirt and then sees that pitch. As a catcher, I don’t expect to get that pitch under those circumstances.

A pitcher who throws strikes for years will earn a reputation that will get him the close calls. But he still has to be around the plate that day to get them.

Even if Dennis Eckersley comes in and throws three pitches in the dirt and then throws that borderline pitch, he’s not going to get it.

Another factor is the catcher’s shift. If you set up outside and the pitcher throws inside, even if it’s a strike, you’re not likely to get that call. That’s part of the whole control concept. The umpire sees that, too.

Matt Nokes (1985-1995):

Predictability is the key to getting borderline calls on pitches. If the pitcher is consistent, then the umpire knows where to be looking.

But if the catcher is jerking all around the plate and the ump does not know what’s coming in where, it’s going to be harder for him to focus on those close pitches and you won’t get them.

If the pitcher is throwing consistently where the catcher sets up, he doesn’t have to be so fine. But if the catcher sets up inside and the pitch is on the outside corner, even if it is a strike he’s not likely to get that call.

Even if the pitch is over the outer half of the plate, it will be called a ball, because it missed the catcher’s target so bad. That’s just the way it is.

If the catcher sets up inside and the umpire is on the inside of the catcher and the pitch is over the outside corner, the ump sees it at an unexpected angle and he’s not going to call it a strike.

Remember, the ump is not suspended above home plate.

Some people think the guy sitting at home watching on TV has a better angle than the umpire, but their view is never straight on because the pitcher would be in the way.

It’s at an offset angle and they cannot tell whether a close pitch was on the corner or a fraction of an inch off. The radio announcers and TV guys are relying on the same flawed replay to call the pitches.

Bob Melvin (1985-1994):

Dennis Eckersley will sometimes get a full ball off the plate because he has established that he throws strikes and owns the outside of the plate.

If the catcher sets up out there, he has shifted home plate a little to the outside.

At the same time, if Eck throws one inside in that situation, and the catcher has to reach back for it, it will be called a ball even if it gets the corner, because he has shifted the plate to the outside.

Fernando Valenzuela was another one who got the strikes off the outside corner. But usually you have to be around for a while to earn that.

Geno Petralli (1982-1993):

The strike zone is influenced by the pitcher. Nolan Ryan or Rick Sutcliffe, who have made a living with high strikes, will get them where a rookie, throwing the same pitch in the same place with the same umpire will not.

Darrell Porter (1971-1987):

Theoretically, the umpire is umpiring the ball, not the pitcher.

But I guarantee you, a consistent pitcher who has been hitting a spot all game will get that pitch, but a guy who has been all over the place and once in a while hits that spot ain’t gonna get that same pitch called a strike. No question about it.

Some people think Joaquin Andujar did not have good control. But that man was sharp. He put the ball where he wanted to consistently, and got a lot of pitches that way.

Bill Freehan (1961-1976):

The umpire’s view of the strike zone in any given game can have a lot to do with a pitcher’s success that day.

Control pitchers benefit the most. Mickey Lolich was one, Frank Tanana is now. If I see an umpire giving him those close pitches early in the game, I know Tanana is going to be tough to beat.

In the 1967 All-Star Game I caught, home plate umpire Ed Runge was giving us the outside pitches a few inches off the plate all night.

So I just sat outside all night. [There were a record 30 strikeouts in that 15-inning game. The five American League pitchers did not walk a single batter.]

It’s not just the pitcher who affects the umpiring. Some hitters get a smaller strike zone. Dave Winfield was one, especially if there was a rookie pitcher facing him. 

The quicker a catcher sizes up the umpire’s strike zone in a game, the more help he can be to his team’s hitters, too.

The first thing a catcher has to do is find out if the umpire has a large or small strike zone that day.

If he’s got a big strike zone, I can tell my pitcher he doesn’t have to be so fine, but I also have to warn our hitters to go up there hacking. If he’s got a small zone, the hitters can go up there less aggressively.