Kentucky's FB waste pitches are just that- a waste

[Coach34]

not a prayer of anybody chasing one at their helmet bill. Waste of time- got to get around the shoulders- give them a chance to chase

[Todd4State]

I'll tell you what I hate equally as much- when an umpire just seems to automatically call ball one on seemingly every 0-2 count in college baseball no matter the pitch location.

Hey Blue, it's not your job to think strategy out there- call the pitch and if it's a ball, it's a ball and if it's a strike, it's a strike.

[CadaverDawg]

I'll tell you what I hate equally as much- when an umpire just seems to automatically call ball one on seemingly every 0-2 count in college baseball no matter the pitch location.

Hey Blue, it's not your job to think strategy out there- call the pitch and if it's a ball, it's a ball and if it's a strike, it's a strike.

Drives me insane. When the count is 3-0 the strike zone expands...and when it's 0-2 the strike zone tightens up to the size of a quarter.

It also drives me nuts when an ump only knows how to call a corner on one side of the plate. In other words, he gives the pitcher the inside corner on a right handed hitter, but when a left handed hitter gets up there, there is no inside corner strike.

Consistency is harder to come by these days bc the umps are trying to factor into the strategy and outcome of a game too much, as Todd said.

[engie]

Most often they put a fastball eye level as a "waste" pitch to break the hitter's timing(by this, I mean a high fastball always seems harder than a low one) and then come back with a low and away breaker/change as an actual "chase" pitch... OR go with the breaker in the dirt as the waste pitch and come back with a fastball "inside corner-in" as the chase pitch. It's ridiculous we didn't have a better gameplan for them given how predicable their patterns are.

That said, the guy UK was throwing was not a strikeout guy(meaning all this is for nil) -- and given the nature of OM's hitters, I wouldn't have been this careful with any of them except for Turner. UK was getting no return on investment for all those wasted pitches against a lineup that proved, repeatedly, that they would get themselves out if you just threw them strikes...

[Coach34]

I understand what they are trying to do. But the ball eye level has literally no effect. You want to keep the ball around the shoulders to keep it in an area that you might get them to chase something they cant handle.

One of the things we would do with great success is go up and in above the hands with a FB on 0-2 to get a K or a foulball- and then come back with the curveball in the dirt

[engie]

What you are wanting is a "chase" pitch instead of a "waste" pitch. High/in pitches most definitely effect timing. Why is the breaker is more effective after that pitch? If the "ball level" didn't have an effect, why not just come with the fastball 6-8" off the outside corner instead of wasting one up? What actually changed between those two scenarios? Ball height and proximity to the eyes definitely mess with timing to an extent...

That's the effect that UK was going for yesterday...which they did pretty well, considering OM went 2-13 with 2-strike counts(both hits on 3-2) and was ofer in 0-2 counts...

[CadaverDawg]

What you are wanting is a "chase" pitch instead of a "waste" pitch. High/in pitches most definitely effect timing. Why is the breaker is more effective after that pitch? If the "ball level" didn't have an effect, why not just come with the fastball 6-8" off the outside corner instead of wasting one up? What actually changed between those two scenarios? Ball height and proximity to the eyes definitely mess with timing to an extent...

That's the effect that UK was going for yesterday...which they did pretty well, considering OM went 2-13 with 2-strike counts(both hits on 3-2) and was ofer in 0-2 counts...

Or you could throw about shoulder height and get both, right? There's not a whole lot of difference in shoulder high and head high when it comes to throwing off timing to a hitter. I think what Coach is saying, is that when you throw it shoulder high you can at least have a chance at them chasing it even though it's a "setup" or "waste" pitch. When you throw it eye level or a little higher like they were last night, it's plainly obvious that it is a setup for the next pitch. Ole Miss still couldn't hit it, but still.

I like the 0-2 fastball to be high and tight around shoulder level....that way it is a "waste", "setup", and possible "chase" pitch all wrapped up in one.

Not that big of a deal though

[engie]

There is essentially no difference in those scenarios... but if there is a chance they swing at it, then it's a "chase" -- hence my terminology breakdown in the initial post.

Problem with trying to spot a "chase" pitch up on 0-2 when you aren't a power guy(UK's guy wasn't) is that it's really easy to miss down with it and get it smashed. The reason to throw the "waste" there is because if you screw up and miss down, which happens pretty regularly on that, it's still a "chase" pitch. Alot of guys struggle to really spot that pitch for whatever reason...

Like I say -- Turner is the only one in that lineup that actually deserves "waste" pitches period though -- hence how I was agreeing with Coach's initial point.