The umpire strikes back

BBC Sport Online's American sports reporter Kevin Asseo examines Major League Baseball's new strike zone and the impact it could have on the upcoming season.

There is going to be something very different about baseball this year. The home plate umpire is going to follow the rules.

Sounds logical, right? Well, it has not happened for a long time.

Bud Selig, the commissioner of Major League Baseball, issued a directive to umpires this off-season instructing them to call strikes strictly as they are outlined in the nearly century-old rulebook.

The strike zone is an area over home plate. Its upper limit is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulder and the top of the uniform pants. Its lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap

  Extract from official rules of baseball

Selig decided upon this mandate because sometime between the original writing of the rule and present day, the strike zone had evolved into a much different version of its old self.

The rulebook states that a strike is any pitch over the plate from the batters' knees to the midpoint between the top of his shoulders and the top of his pants.

However, each umpire seemed to have his own interpretation of the rule, and the result was a strike zone that changed on a daily basis, depending on which umpire was at home plate.

"It's been the view of people for a long time that the strike zone as it's being defined in the rulebook was being interpreted by individual umpires in a variety of ways," said Sandy Alderson, Selig's right-hand man at Major League Baseball.

"We're trying not only to bring some uniformity to the interpretation, but go back to the rulebook and eliminate a lot of the interpretation itself."

While each umpire called balls and strikes in his own unique manner, there were certain similarities to the "modern" strike zone.

Mets manager Valentine is a fan of the change

Any pitch above the waist was almost certainly a ball, and umpires frequently called pitches several inches off the plate a strike.

Major League Baseball would now like to change what had become somewhat of a horizontal strike zone back into a more vertical one.

It remains to be seen how faithfully the umpires will follow their bosses' orders during the season. But after several weeks of spring training exhibition games, they appear to be adhering to the mandate.

"This is an ongoing process," Alderson said. "But so far I think it has gone smoothly."

Arguments between players and umpires, a frequent occurrence in baseball, could be even more common than usual this year.

I really like the change - it should lead to more of a level playing field

  Al Leiter
New York Mets

There have already been a number of disagreements over called strikes in spring training, although they have usually included simply a puzzled look and pointed remark.

When the regular season begins, you can count on those disagreements to become full-blown confrontations.

Other than more frequent arguments, just what impact the new strike zone will have is still a matter of debate.

"I really like the change. It should lead to more of a level playing field," said New York Mets pitcher Al Leiter.

"I think once the new strike zone is established, and if they call the ball on the plate up and down, it's not going to matter," said Cleveland Indians manager Charlie Manuel.

The new strike zone has been the hottest topic at spring training this year and, for the most part, players, umpires and managers have responded to it favourably.

"In my 15 years on this side of the game, I have never seen anything as well planned or organised," said Mets manager Bobby Valentine.