How tall is the strike zone

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That definition should then be used for game play as a universal strike zone for all batters, unifying both game play and analysis. Wayne Boyle is an electronics and software engineer with a career spanning 30 years. This is a free article. If you enjoyed it, consider subscribing to Baseball Prospectus. Subscriptions support ongoing public baseball research and analysis in an increasingly proprietary environment. Read the description here. Subscribe to Baseball Prospectus. Thank you for reading This is a free article.

Subscribe now. In This Article Wayne Boyle pitchgrader. More about: Strike Zones Umpires. You need to be logged in to comment. Login or Subscribe. I find your logic in favor of a universal strike zone unpersuasive.

The point of the strike zone when it was adopted was to force the pitcher to provide pitches that a hitter has a reasonably decent chance to hit.

Calling a strike on a tall player for a pitch that would have been at the knees for an average-sized hitter but for him is particularly low and calling a strike on a shorter player for a pitch high up on an average-sized hitter doesn't seem to be unfair While a universal strike zone may make analysis and robotic umps easier, I do not think that makes it more fair.

Reply to jssharo. Robert Hacking. Watching Justin Verlander for example get a strike call on a ball 6 inches off the plate isn't fair today. A computerize system won't be perfect but it will be more consistent. Reply to Robert. Yes, agreed, but we have some technical issues to resolve before a Robo zone can be used. One of those issues is defining a Universal Strike Zone. Reply to wayneboyle. Alan Waxman.

I don't get what a universal strike zone buys us when it comes to the top and bottom of the zone. Plus I've come to accept that the strike zone's variability is one of the quirks of the game. Reply to Alan. The bottom of the zone for Altuve is roughly The bottom of the zone for Judge is roughly The Universal Strike Zone bottom is I know when I'm watching Jose Altuve or Aaron Judge bat I'm thinking "Man, it's pretty cool watching some of the best players in baseball perform an almost superhuman task, but what I REALLY want to see are pundits discussing consistent postgame analytics.

Reply to tearecrules. Stats and metrics are a large part of how you help players reach their full potential and win more games.

Stats tell you what happened, Metrics in proper context tell you why and what to adjust. As always, thanks for the comments. Every article I write is meant to stir a discussion to see and understand different point of views.

The umpire is then a part of the game, instead of just ensuring that the strike zone and rules are followed. Jonathan Corriveau. I was under the impression that a strike should be called if ANY part of the ball enters the strike zone. If so, the width of the strike zone would be Reply to Jonathan. You don't actually address his question which is why you're calibrating the graphic to the center of the ball when, as far as I can tell it's a strike if any part of the ball catches the plate.

So the "called strike" area should be closer to the actual width of the ball. Thanks Jonathan, your questions are the type that are a big reason why I wrote the article. What matters is how the batter begins their swing. This rule means that the strike zone is set once a batter is about to swing at the ball.

So the umpire will make a decision as to where the strike zone is located, but that decision is based on how each player begins their swing. The width of the strike zone extends from one edge of home plate to the other edge of home plate.

In both baseball and softball, home plate is always 17 inches wide so the strike zone is always 17 inches wide. A strike will be called whenever any part of the ball touches any part of home plate. This may sound simple enough, but in order for an umpire to judge whether a pitch is a strike or ball they have to draw an imaginary vertical line in their head from each edge of home plate. If the ball touches that imaginary line and the ball has the correct height, the pitch is a strike.

If the ball falls outside of that imaginary line or it does not have the correct height, then the pitch is a ball. Another aspect that can make it more challenging for umpires is the speed at which the pitcher is throwing.

Major League pitchers frequently top out at over 90 mph for their fastballs. This means umpires have very little time to judge whether the pitch falls inside the strike zone or outside of the strike zone. Due to how each batter has a unique approach to hitting, the height of the strike zone will vary slightly from batter to batter.

A strike will be called when any part of the ball is over the plate and is as high as the hollow below the knee. If the ball is over the plate and the ball touches any part of that imaginary horizontal line, then it is called a strike.