Mlb rule book.....2.o ' area over home plate...upper limit top of shoulders and midpoint of uniform pants,,,,,,,,,lower level.....a line at the hollow beneath.'...... OK but is the zone a 2 dimensional rectangle
as on tv, or a 3d box, picture this, with the plate limits projecting upward? If 2d...where is there rectangle placed? Forward, midpoint, or rear of the plate? 50 sago, as an umpire I was taught that the ball " had to cross home plate".....

A strike is called as it crosses the front edge of home plate....it is not a strike
if it goes around and than is caught over home plate, and it is a strike if it goes
over home plate above the knee and is caught in the dirt.....the only thing they
do not come close on is the high strike, in the NL today if it is letter high, still under
the arm pits, it is a ball......

It is when you knock all of the pins down.

thanks, makes sense so, a pitch can bounce on the rear of the plate and still be a strike?,

When a group of workers tell their bosses to shove it!

A 59' slider, 1.5' outside and in the dirt.

Respectfully,
A. Soriano

A strike is any pitch the umpire calls a strike. The definition in the rulebook is merely a guide until baseballs adopts an electronic strike zone which is way overdue..

Soriano's definition carries more weight than the rulebook.

You were the only respondent that made sense......However, the definition calls for ' the area above home plate', not the front edge as you suggest. Many years ago, I was taught that the ball had to cross home plate. Was I taught wrong?

"A strike is any pitch the umpire calls a strike. The definition in the rulebook is merely a guide until baseballs adopts an electronic strike zone which is way overdue.."

Exactly.

It's like an error. The rules contain a definition, but the official scorer calls it an error or a hit.

The principles here are the ones taught to me as a fastpitch softball umpire, but everything transfers.

Imagine home plate as a pentagonal prism that extends upwards from the ground, a strike being from roughly the knees to the middle of the torso. If a ball enters that prism at any point, it is supposed to be called a strike.

Of course, in MLB it is not called this liberally - it is usually the top of the knees to the belt. So I defer to the person who said it is whatever the umpire calls as a strike. That is the simplest and most accurate definition however flawed it is.

"thanks, makes sense so, a pitch can bounce on the rear of the plate and still be a strike?"

This is an exception to my previous post. A pitch, in theory (an Ephus pitch), could go through the strike zone and land on the plate. However, by defintion of a strike (again, in softball, but I imagine it transfers) any pitch that hits the plate is a ball.

I agree with you....the zone is a solid, a box or as you point out, technically a prism, since the bb rule definition is 'the area above the plate'. 60 years ago, I went to a school for amateur umpires. I was taught the zone is a solid and the ball must cross the plate. Softball rules specify 'ball, if it hits the plate' Thanks for response....