Questions about the strike zone

 

Computers will eventually take over calling balls and strikes using a series of cameras and lasers to assess the location of the ball as it passes through the strike zone.

The strike zone, as it is based on the physical proportions of each individual [3], is constantly shifting as the batter moves in the batter’s box so the computer system would have to be able to figure the ball’s passage at the version of the strike zone extant at the specific instant that the ball crosses the plane of the zone.

The strike zone is a projection out from the batter’s body which means it has depth (unless it is purely two dimensional projection [2]) and therefore must be accounted as 3 dimensional [ibid, next sentence].

A three dimensional Strike Zone would have the depth equivalent to the breadth, from left shoulder to right shoulder of the batter, as it says, “midpoint between a batter's shoulders”.

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“take over” – now they are used on TV (*) and in pre-season as a resource to help in challenges (**)

“a series of cameras and lasers” – which have to be retrofitted into each stadium

“as it passes” –  this will be the explained below

“physical proportions” – As it is written, “The official strike zone is the area over home plate from the midpoint between a batter's shoulders and the top of the uniform pants -- when the batter is in his stance and prepared to swing at a pitched ball -- and a point just below the kneecap. In order to get a strike call, part of the ball must cross over part of home plate while in the aforementioned area.” [1]

“purely two dimensional” – but this leads to the question of “from where on the three dimensional body does the rectangle intersect? The very beginning of the body, the middle or the end?”

“3 dimensional” – questions: where when passing the breadth of the batter, must the ball be in (***) the strike zone? Can it (****) at any point, be “of” the zone, or must it do so at one specific part of the zone, though this would reduce the zone to two dimensions in a way (*****). Can a ball leave or enter the zone during its passage (i.e. is it accounted as a strike from the beginning or at the end (******) but both are unnecessary)?

“a batter's shoulders” – and if the batter moves as the ball passes through do we account the zone based on when the ball passed the midpoint even if the batter crouched at that moment to make the pitch be called a ball?

 

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[1] https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/strike-zone

[2] see https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/by-ditching-mlb-rule-book-abs-strike-zone-has-found-its-footing/  which states, “Now, the zone is a two-dimensional box set at the halfway point of the plate (measured from front to back)”

[3] page 164 here https://mktg.mlbstatic.com/mlb/official-information/2025-official-baseball-rules.pdf

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(*) though the image on the screen doesn’t seem to move with the batter and might not be the official strike zone used by the league, just a technological suggestion by the TV system

(**) I have not seen these questions dealt with so I don’t know how the pre-season judging implements its zone

(***) – or according to some, just touching

(****) – is there a minimum percentage [A] of the ball which must pass through or is a ball that even only kisses [B] the zone a strike?

(*****) – as the projection at a standard moment (for example halfway through) could then be accounted from the start as a two dimensional expression as the remainder is never necessary

(******) of a three dimensional zone with depth

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[A] some say any amount, others say one third or one half

[B] as one is next to the other connected at only a certain point but not overlapping at all, as one kisses a holy book. The rules (page 155) state “if any part of the ball passes through any part of the strike zone” but as a ball is a sphere, reckoned in 3 dimensions are we considering the strike zone also 3 dimensional? The remainder of the definition on 155-156 never explicitly says that the zone is two dimensional but it relies on an image on paper which must be 2 dimensional. Can we assume from its use of a 2 dimensional image that it is limiting itself to 2 dimensions or is it simply a convenience because when the rules were written, there was no way to account for depth in diagrams. Or maybe they just didn’t think of this question.