How Wide Is The Strike Zone In The ABS System

[vegasbob]

Only posting here because some may not know, and it doesn't fit another active Forum.

The ABS strike zone is subject to the any part of the ball nicking home plate surface place elevated to the individual batter's biometrics. 

So in its simplest form, Home plate is theoretically 22.8" wide, assuming a 2.9" diameter standard baseball. 

I think this is a good innovation because it potentially takes the hack umpires (Bucknor ) out of determining the outcome of a game.    Players ( Batter, catcher, pitcher) will need to be judicious in using it because 2 mistaken challenges ends the option to challenge further. 

[notin]

This is a valid point.

MLB grades and ranks their umpires every year and presumably places them in some tiered system.  You should get more challenges when your game is called by anyone in the Angel Hernandez Bracket…

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

14 hours ago, vegasbob said:

Only posting here because some may not know, and it doesn't fit another active Forum.

The ABS strike zone is subject to the any part of the ball nicking home plate surface place elevated to the individual batter's biometrics. 

So in its simplest form, Home plate is theoretically 22.8" wide, assuming a 2.9" diameter standard baseball. 

As a longtime coach, I always tell my batters to be ready to cover 26 inches -- because for some reason amateur umps like to give pitchers with stuff that moves at least two balls off the outside corner.

(Now let's see how many posters can resist the temptation to reply to that description).

With two strikes you gotta protect, but on pitches clearly beyond the zone sometimes that just means fouling it off to force another pitch -- and hopefully get a mistake.

It just sucks that you might hit a dribbler back to the pitcher, which is the best scenario for a guy like Perdomo on a pitch four inches below his knee... but hey, maybe the pitcher comes from the Boston system, which trains moundsmen to throw away grounders into the outfield.

[mvp 78]

[5GoldGlovesOF,75]

2 hours ago, mvp 78 said:

But anyone who's watched a pitch challenge knows that if just one stitch of a ball outside the Strike Zone Width touches anywhere on the perimeter of the rectangle, that is also a strike.

[JoeBrady]

This is going to be fun.  There are going to be guys challenging in the first inning with an 0-2 count, no one on base, and two outs.  They'll be guys challenging on obvious strikes.  And I can't wait to see what the final umpire count is.  Some umps will be 0-6 on opening day.  Some will be 4-4.

[drewski6]

2 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

But anyone who's watched a pitch challenge knows that if just one stitch of a ball outside the Strike Zone Width touches anywhere on the perimeter of the rectangle, that is also a strike.

So 17 inches + (Diameter of baseball)*2

[drewski6]

5 hours ago, 5GoldGlovesOF,75 said:

As a longtime coach, I always tell my batters to be ready to cover 26 inches -- because for some reason amateur umps like to give pitchers with stuff that moves at least two balls off the outside corner.

(Now let's see how many posters can resist the temptation to reply to that description).

With two strikes you gotta protect, but on pitches clearly beyond the zone sometimes that just means fouling it off to force another pitch -- and hopefully get a mistake.

It just sucks that you might hit a dribbler back to the pitcher, which is the best scenario for a guy like Perdomo on a pitch four inches below his knee... but hey, maybe the pitcher comes from the Boston system, which trains moundsmen to throw away grounders into the outfield.

Yeah, fouling a 2 strike pitch is an important skill, but when I would mess this up , I usually wouldnt hit a dribbler.  I would usually pop it up to first base side foul territory. Probably because Im such a better low ball hitter than a high ball hitter.  So if I have 2 strikes and its in the upper part of the zone outside, Im initially hoping its a slider or cutter (assuming righty pitcher) but if it looks like its staying in the zone, Im starting my swing late, attacking a ball in my "blue zone" and Im really just trying to flick it foul. If Im too far under it, however, it pops up and Im just kind of hoping that the first baseman and the catcher run into each other.  Extremely frustrating end to the at-bat!

 

[Kimmi]

2 hours ago, JoeBrady said:

This is going to be fun.  There are going to be guys challenging in the first inning with an 0-2 count, no one on base, and two outs.  They'll be guys challenging on obvious strikes.  And I can't wait to see what the final umpire count is.  Some umps will be 0-6 on opening day.  Some will be 4-4.

It will be interesting to see how the umpires fare in these challenges.  I haven't watched a lot of spring training games, but in the challenges I've seen, the incorrect calls were all borderline or at least close.  I have not seen any blatantly missed calls, which is good.

Many teams are advising their pitchers not to challenge, but to leave it up to their catchers, which is a wise move.  I trust the catchers' judgment a lot more than the pitchers' judgment. 

[JoeBrady]

4 hours ago, Kimmi said:

It will be interesting to see how the umpires fare in these challenges.  I haven't watched a lot of spring training games, but in the challenges I've seen, the incorrect calls were all borderline or at least close.  I have not seen any blatantly missed calls, which is good.

Many teams are advising their pitchers not to challenge, but to leave it up to their catchers, which is a wise move.  I trust the catchers' judgment a lot more than the pitchers' judgment. 

This worked out a heck of a better than I expected.  So many called strikes were upheld, when the pitch caught an inch of the plate, sometimes less.  No doubt the umps will occasionally miss badly, but I was impressed all-around.

The winners will be the physics majors (earning minimum wage) that will develop a hierarchy of when to challenge.