Last week I wrote an article about where the strike zone actually is for pitchers. Based on research by Baseball Prospectus I concluded that the strike zone is determined partially by the rules and partially by the pitcher. I wrote:
“Pitchers face something more complicated than a static box determined by the plate and the height of the batter. If a pitcher can hit the catcher’s glove with little error and do so in or “near enough” to the strike zone, he will get a strike. If he is inconsistent he loses the “near enough” region and possibly even parts of the strike zone if he is too wild. In effect, an inconsistent pitcher faces a much smaller strike zone.”
From Baseball Prospectus
Note how much tighter Felix Hernandez’s zone is. This is ostensibly because his pitches are “all over the place”, meaning he is “inconsistent”.
I also noted that there seemed to be an increasing preference toward pitchers over the past three seasons.
The numbers on the y-axis can roughly be thou...
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