This post deals with just one of the silly concepts called the strike zone: where the pitched ball is considered horizontally within the strike zone.
Home Plate is 17 inches wide.
The diameter (width) of the baseball is between 2.86 and 2.94 inches. Let's call it 2.9 inches.
For a pitched ball to be in the strike zone horizontally it must only be tangent with either side edge of home plate.
Double the width of the ball plus the width of the plate equals the horizontal width of the strike:
(2 * 2.9) + 17 = 22.8 inches.
I recommend requiring the entire ball be over home plate. That reduces the width of the strike zone to the width of home plate: 17 inches. The reduction is 22.8 - 17 = 5.8 inches or double the width of the ball.
(22.8 - 17)/17 = .3411
That reduces the width of the strike zone about 34 percent.
Since the strike zone is an imaginary three dimensional mess that varies vertically for each batter depending on the height and stance of the batter for a particular plate appearance, it does NOT reduce the entire area of the strike zone 34 percent, just the horizontal width.
That's a mouthful.
So what would this mean in practical terms? Will pitchers throw many fewer pitches in this new strike zone? Maybe, but it doesn't have to be. The pitchers can simply throw fewer Bugs Bunny pitches. In any case, whatever they throw, they should aim it right down Broadway, dead center of the strike zone. Forget about trying to have the ball barely touch the side edge of the vertical lines above home plate. Remember, home plate does not touch the strike zone. It merely defines its width.
The result should be fewer strike outs and more action. Who would oppose that? Probably the same people who oppose having the top of the batting order start each inning.
8 batters and starting each inning with top of order fix two dumbest things on the field. Wednesday, December 2, 2020
Next post:
Pitching distance and height addressed in posts a year ago. Saturday, April 16, 2022
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