The Strike Zone & Foul Balls in Baseball // Baseball Rules Explained for Beginners

[@wheelhousebobbymillz]

I don't know the game of baseball and I'm trying to teach my son,so this extremely helpful ! Great video 👍🏽

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

So happy you found it helpful!

[@alanhess9306]

The upper limit of the strike zone is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants. Not the shoulders.

[@awaw6746]

Perfectly put! Thanks to you now I know what bunt means. Keep it up! Everything is becoming cristal clear for me and I really appreciate your informative contents!

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

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[@ADMCanCook]

This helped. Thanks

[@amf437]

Thank you for this tutorial! Well explained. It will be very useful for our 10 year old!!

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

Thank you for the feedback, I'm glad you found it helpful! Check out the BBB Timeout playlist for all sorts of different rules to clarify for your 10 year olds. If you need anything else let me know.

[@dibbysstopmotionchannel9472]

Thanks this was very informative to a baseball newbie

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

[@markbennett5211]

Just curious what set of rules you are using? NFHS, OBR?? As in NFHS the shoulders are never at the top of the strike zone. The top is halfway between the batter's shoulders and waist. Usually about the sternum area.

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

For most of my rules videos I refer to the NFHS - some of them I use OBR. Honestly, these videos are meant for someone who has no idea what baseball is and wants to learn the basic, overarching rules. My intention with these videos is to keep it simple and broad, and not overcomplicate things with specific small details. Thanks for the feedback!

[@alanhess9306]

@@buildingbetterbaseball If you are going to talk about the strike zone, you should accurately describe the top of the zone as a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants. NFHS, MLB and NCAA all have the same top of the zone.

[@tonysameh]

I would never understand the foul ball by myself. Thank you.

[@unitedgaming2786]

thanks man i mean SIR

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

Glad you found it helpful!

[@kyleh1919]

I think you need to find a better strike zone image and description, it's actually from the bottom of the elbows in the hitter natural stance when preparing to hit a ball. This is the kind of strike zone I'd use for a youth rec league for sure though :D

[@alanhess9306]

No, it is not from the bottom of the elbows. The upper limit of the strike zone is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants.

[@kyleh1919]

@@alanhess9306 good luck to you if you call anything above their elbows a strike, in their natural batting stance

[@alanhess9306]

@@kyleh1919 The point is that you need to use the rule book zone, not some imaginary zone you made up. Good luck to you when you tell a coach you called a ball because the pitch was above the elbows. You will be laughed off the field.

[@joejones6010]

For the foul ball, it would also be worth mentioning a caught third strike so that the differences could be explained.

[@josephjones9719]

For the strike zone width, if any part of the ball passes over the plate, it's a strike. Since the ball is 3" wide, the strike zone is actually 23" wide (3" on either side).

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

You're right! Thanks for clarifying, my mistake

[@markbennett5211]

actually the baseball is 2.65 inches but who has eagle eyes...lol

[@teamloomisoutdoors1787]

The plate is 19 inches across. The black stripes are a part of the plate. Rulebook does NOT separate the stripes... strike zone is 24.3 inches wide overall...

[@joejones6010]

@@teamloomisoutdoors1787 Home plate is 17" wide. Here's the quote from OBR 2.0.2: img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/atcjzj9j7wrgvsm8wnjq.pdf Home base shall be marked by a five-sided slab of whitened rubber. It shall be a 17-inch square with two of the corners removed so that one edge is 17 inches long, two adjacent sides are 8½ inches and the remaining two sides are 12 inches and set at an angle to make a point. It shall be set in the ground with the point at the intersection of the lines extending from home base to first base and to third base; with the 17-inch edge facing the pitcher’s plate, and the two 12-inch edges coinciding with the first and third base lines. The top edges of home base shall be beveled and the base shall be fixed in the ground level with the ground surface.

[@alanhess9306]

@@teamloomisoutdoors1787 No, the plate is 17 inches wide. Some plates have a black border which is not part of the plate.

[@richierugs6544]

you say 'the ball' must pass thru the strike zone, does that mean any part of the ball, more than half the entire ball, or the entire ball? what does the official rule book say?

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

Hi Richie, it’s only a part of the ball that has to pass through, not the entire ball. www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/strike-zone

[@Softballcrazy]

Shoulders? No way. Ill never give a pitcher that strike. They can thank me later😂

[@stevehamman4465]

Can also call a strike on a batter if they are deliberately delaying the game.

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

Thanks for the help Steve!

[@stevehamman4465]

@@buildingbetterbaseball , maybe you should cover a , foul tip! Lot of people don't understand it! Just saying! I also don't like adding inches in the width of the stick zone. Its 17inches, white on white! Where it crosses the front of the plate! Just like you said. The plate is not three dimensional. Maybe cover this,,,, bunted ball down the third base line comes to rest in foul territory but part of the ball is above the foul line!! It's ruled a fair ball but it didn't make the field any wider! Like you said, keep it simple for the rookie's!

[@LeftSuit]

I'm so confused by "a batted ball is also a strike" and the fair zone bit... Anyone?

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

Hey there! So the "batted ball as a strike" concept is really for recording the pitches for the pitcher. If the pitcher throws 90 pitches - 60 strikes and 30 balls, the balls that were hit in play would be counted as strikes. If you think about it, if a player hits a home run, that wouldn't be called a ball, right? Hopefully that makes sense! And I'm not sure exactly what you mean with the "fair zone".. if a ball is hit in fair territory, it's hit between the white lines on each side.. Then there's the strike zone, that's the imaginary square box the pitch had to travel through in order to be a strike. Sorry I couldn't be more help on that one!

[@LeftSuit]

@@buildingbetterbaseball thank you!

[@alanhess9306]

@@buildingbetterbaseball So according to you, a batter with two strikes who hits a homerun now has three strikes on him. Why wouldn't he be out? The idea that a batted ball is a strike is nothing short of ridiculous and doesn't mean anything.

[@MrCoreyTexas]

Newbie to baseball here, this one still boggles my mind! In my mind, "strike" means "good for the pitcher, bad for the batter". But a legitimate hit is "bad for the pitcher, good for the batter". Very confusing! Never heard this in any intro to baseball series except this one. Seems like it would make a good trivia question.

[@kevinrichardson1807]

You forgot to mention the foul tip , without strikes and with 2 strikes on the batter. People hear the ball hit the bat with 2 strikes on the batter and think it's a foul ball.

[@barnabeadriaens3703]

4 types of strike??? you can only count to three?

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

You’re correct, each batter has 3 strikes - but there are multiple ways to get a strike. Called strike. Swinging strike. And foul ball. But for the purpose of recording pitches and recording balls and strikes thrown by the pitcher, a live ball hit in play by the batter counts as a strike in the score keeping book. Hope this helps!

[@teamloomisoutdoors1787]

The strike zone is 19 inches wide. The 1 inch black stripe is a part of the plate. Wish ppl would at least READ THE RULES

[@joejones6010]

And what rule set covers this?

[@teamloomisoutdoors1787]

@@joejones6010 in the description of the plate. There's a picture and everything for ya.

[@josephjones9719]

And as I commented above, the plate is 17” according to the Official Baseball Rules (OBR). Not 19”. If you can find a rule set that says 19”, please post it here. Not some off the wall site, or Johnny’s comment or opinion.

[@josephjones9719]

As umpires, we only use black and white rules from officially published set of rules. The black edge is a myth. While it is true that a ball that passes over the black edge may be a strike, the ultimate location is determined by using the edge of the white portion of the plate, which is only 17”.

[@OPIONORMAN]

I would like to know ur name and connect with u coz am also a baseball grassroot coa h in Uganda.I would request for ur reply to this email so that we connet please.I need a personal coach for more training online.May God bless u

[@buildingbetterbaseball]

Hi there - I’d love to help any way I can. You can email me at [e-mail]

[@jaylucas8844]

No one should really be calling strikes at the shoulders

[@jonathonervin7845]

shoulders? why did you make a video about this....

[@kennyb2357]

What a useless video. He didn't articulate a strike zone well.

[@alanhess9306]

Many of your explanations are wrong and only serve to confuse.