FIELDING - Stealing Strikes

When you are catching, you need to always be aware of the psyche of the umpire. First and foremost, umpires LIKE to call strikes! The more strikes that are called, the earlier the umpire can go home. Of course, umpires take their responsibility seriously and they want to get the calls right. Pitches that are clearly in the strike zone will be called strikes and pitches well outside of the strike zone will be called balls regardless of what you do as a catcher. However, pitches that can be called either way are opportunities for you as a catcher to influence the umpire’s decision and “steal” a strike.

We have all seen a catcher receive and hold a pitch in the same spot for a couple of seconds, non-verbally imploring the umpire to call the pitch a strike. Interestingly, most catchers typically hold the glove in place only on pitches that are just slightly off the plate (i.e. balls). Few umpires are influenced by this transparent attempt to steal a strike and many will resent it and feel you are “showing them up”. The last thing you want to do as a catcher is to damage your relationship with the umpire.

Does this mean catchers should not hold the glove in place on close pitches? No! Catchers should make it a practice to always hold the glove in place on ALL strikes (even the obvious ones) AND on pitches six inches or less outside the umpire’s strike zone. By doing this, you are subliminally communicating a slightly wider strike zone to the umpire. Limiting yourself to six inches outside of his typical strike zone maintains your credibility with the umpire and greatly increases the chance you will get favorable calls on those pitches just off the plate (remember, umpires like to call strikes). Another reason this is likely to work is you are not only communicating the strike zone to the umpire, you are communicating it to the opposing coaches and fans (the people most likely to give the umpire a hard time on a close call). Since you have established earlier what a strike “looks like”, those people will be less likely to chirp to the umpire on close calls which in turn makes him more comfortable calling more strikes.

So if you want to get that close call in a crucial situation, you need to earn it by consistently receiving strikes the same way all throughout the game.