Posted by: swb (batspeed@integritycorp.com) on Sat Apr 27 00:53:07 2002

I'm mostly involved with coaching youth baseball, but I've worked with a softball team for a season too. The issues seem about the same in both cases. I've heard some coaches say that players should always stay back in the box, to give them more time to react. I don't buy that argument.

Best bet is watch what the pitcher is throwing, and how the hitters are reacting. If the pitcher has great breaking stuff, and especially if the ball is breaking hard down and away, standing up in the box will give the hitter a better chance at hitting the ball, because most of the "break" can occur in the last 6 inches or so of flight.

If the pitcher is throwing hard and relatively "flat" pitches, and/or getting high strikes, moving back in the box will give the hitter more time to react, and perhaps bring the ball down into a better hitters zone. If the catcher is smart, he'll call pitches to react to the position of the batter in the box. On the other hand, if a batter moves inside, outside, forward and back, he's changing the pitchers target, and he can gain some advantage that way too.

Remember one thing, though, what the hitter is changing by repositioning in the box is HIS perception of the zone, and perhaps the pitchers. The strike zone is measured at the front of the plate, so moving back on a pitch that just clears the bottom of the zone won't change the call (if the umpire is well trained), just because it falls at the hitters ankles.

Regards.. Scott