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The reasons are twofold. Like you mentioned a pitcher's aim isn't perfect. Also a batter isn't perfect at reading pitches. A pitch aimed at the bottom of the
by slg 6y ago
The reasons are twofold. Like you mentioned a pitcher's aim isn't perfect. Also a batter isn't perfect at reading pitches. A pitch aimed at the bottom of the strike zone might miss accidentally. Or a pitch like a curveball can be aimed below the strike zone but it appears to the batter to be a strike only for it to drop and end up outside the zone. Not swinging at these seemingly borderline pitches results in a lot more pitches being called balls.
Also pitches thrown in these tough to hit locations will often result in bad contact. Bad contact is generally worse than a strike. A ball that is weakly hit into play will almost always result in an out. A strike will only result in an out when there are already 2 strikes. Therefore swinging at fewer pitches means the batter sees more pitches and gets deeper into counts. The batter will therefore have more late counts in which they are ahead simply due to fewer at bats being ended prematurely.
- pantaloony 6y agoNotably, a bad hit can result in multiple outs.
- mc32 6y agoAlso, more pitches increases the chances of a bad pitch )a hanger, etc) and if you create a reputation for having a good eye, umpires will give the hitter the benefit of doubt on borderline pitches (I have no idea how this works now that they have robots calling balls and strikes, but it’d be nice if they kept some of the inexactness that “engages” people more.
- slg 6y ago>I have no idea how this works now that they have robots calling balls and strikes They don't yet have robots calling the balls and strikes. In spring training this year they tested out a system to notify the umpires of the robotic balls and strike calls, but the umpire had the ability to overrule the automated system. That isn't used in the general season yet although many expect it is only a matter of time. Currently the umpires are graded on a regular basis compared to their performance versus a computerized system which has resulted in calls improving consistently over the last decade plus of baseball. However you are certainly right that this approach can compound in a lot of interesting ways including an ump giving the benefit of the doubt. There is a perhaps apocryphal of a catcher complaining about a call that Williams received only for the ump to respond "If Mr. Williams didn’t swing at it, it wasn’t a strike."[1] [1] - https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ted-williams/ https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/ted-williams/