Baseball Players, Coaches, Parents and Umpires all have different ideas of what a strike zone is. The truth is the rules define an area, and this area is different between every set of eyeballs … not to mention the difference in rules.
- Little League: The strike zone is that space over home plate which is between the batter’s armpits and the top of the knees when the batter assumes a natural stance. The umpire shall determine the strick zone according to the batter’s usual stance when that batter swings at a pitch.
- NFHS, High School: The strike zone is that space over home pate, the top of which is halfway between the batter’s shoulders and the waistline, and the bottom being the knees, when the batter assumes a natural batting stance.If the batter crouches or leans over to make the should line lower, the umpire determines height by what would be the batter’s normal stance.
- NCAA, College: Section 75. The area over home plate from the bottom of the kneecaps to the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top fo the uniform pants. The strike zone shall be determined from the batter’s stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball.
While the rules may seem the same, their interpretation can be very different, for example where does a pitch stop being a strike and to low? Little League says “top of the knees“. NFHS says “the bottom being the knees“. College says the “bottom of the kneecaps“. The college rulebook picture event states the “Hollow beneath kneecap”.
As you can see, as players age the strike zone falls a little bit lower.
Check back in the future for more strike zone discussion and other differences between rule sets.
