When baseball players are between the ages of 9 and 10, they begin to pitch in youth league games for the first time. Before that age, they may have pitched three to five pitches per batter, but coaches would take over to keep the game moving. At the age of 9 and 10, most pitchers need a larger strike zone.
Standard Strike Zone
According to the baseball rulebook, the professional strike zone is any pitch that is over the plate between the batter's knees and the midway point between the batter's shoulders and uniform pants. High school and college umpires tend to go up to the armpits or shoulders on their strike zone.
9- and 10-Year-Old Strike Zone
Young pitchers have a lot to think about when pitching. Things that come naturally to older pitchers don't come naturally to youngsters -- like how high to lift the front leg on the windup, balance on the mound, arm position, finger position and follow- through. As a result, the umpires have to be liberal with the strike zone. Umpires will call strikes on any pitch between the knees and armpits as strikes, but they will also make the strike zone wider. It is quite frequent to give the pitcher the strike call on any ball that is a fist width outside the strike zone. Some umpires will also make a strike call on a pitch that is a fist width from the inside corner of the strike zone.
Communication with Coaches
In most youth leagues, a meeting will be held at the start of the season, and the strike zone will be one of the topics. In an effort to get young players to swing the bat, league officials will make the larger size of the strike zone known. The idea is to encourage all players to try to hit and not look for walks. At the start of every game, the plate umpire should reinforce the size of the strike zone that will be called.
Exceptions
Occasionally, games will be pitched by young pitchers who throw the ball extremely hard and have great control. They dominate the game with a fastball that is atypical of 9- and 10-year-old pitchers. In those cases, it would not be fair to the hitter to give the pitcher the wide strike zone by calling the pitch that is a fist outside a strike. In that case, the umpire would use a standard strike zone. It would be important to communicate that to the player's coach. The idea in youth baseball is to give all players a chance to compete, and giving a young flame thrower an extra-wide strike zone would not help that young pitcher or the batters.
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