Posted by: Jimmy () on Mon Feb 25 07:21:53 2008

George,

Your statement...""there will be times when the pitcher makes that perfect down/away pitch...it wasn't a strike, but it was called strike 3.. you looked at it & took the pitch..you did the right thing, by not swinging at the pitcher's pitch which, had you been swinging, you probably would not have been able to do anything with..""

In some cases you are right about this but very few. This is only true if the pitch was nowhere near the strike zone and it was called a strike. For me, swinging at a ball out of the zone for strike three is just as bad as taking strike three.

In the Big Leagues the zone is much more true than in the league you coach in. So if a pitch is close enough to be called strike 3, then it was definitely close enough to try to produce something out of it. Even if you hit that ground ball or fly ball, at least you have a shot at moving a runner, driving a run in, or in the best case you actually get a hit or they make an error.

Now it takes a good two strike approach to actually take balls and swing at strikes in that situation. So hitters need to practice it.

The point is that a strike out is an unproductive out. It gives you and more importantly the team no chance at scoring another run. So if it is a strikeout looking...you gave us NO CHANCE.

That is the point of the game remember...score more runs than the other team.

Hits and productive outs get that done...not looking at strike three.

Jimmy