Tigers vs. Yankees Game 5: Ted Barrett's Strike Zone

Home plate umpire Ted Barrett seemed to have a wider than normal strike zone in last night's game five between the Tigers and the Yankees.  Against left-handed batters, he appeared to be calling strikes on pitches well off the outside part of the plate.

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Tigers' pitchers seemed to have benefited the most from the wide strike zone.  Overall, Barrett called eleven strikes against Yankee batters that were outside of the strike zone, while only calling four against Tigers' batters.  Granted, when you compare the two heat maps, you can see that Yankee pitchers didn't throw as frequently to the same outside location as Detroit pitchers.  However, it is noteworthy that some of the areas do overlap showing a discrepancy in strike calls.

Which Pitchers were Squeezed the most in 2011?

The league averaged about 78.8% of called strikes within the PitchFX defined zone.  While this may seem extremely low, many of the missed called strikes that contribute to this percentage are borderline strikes on the edges of the zone.  Still, it is somewhat disconcerting that some pitchers are getting less that 75% of the calls within the zone.

Josh Outman has had it worse than any other pitcher this season, receiving only 66.7% of the calls within the strike zone. 

Josh Outman Called Balls within the Strike Zone, 2011

Granted, Outman has only faced 254 batters in 2011, bouncing between starter and reliever for the A's towards the end of the season.  Still, in nearly 50 of those 254 plate appearances, Outman has been the recipient of at least one missed strike call by the umpire.

We'll take a look at which pitchers in 2011 received the most called strikes out of the strike zone next....

Jon Lester's 43 Pitch First Inning vs. The Yankees

After last night's game between the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, NESN broadcasters Jerry Remy and Don Orsillo discussed Jon Lester's 43 pitch first inning.  Remy said that it looked like Lester wasn't getting some calls from home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez that looked to be strikes.

Here's Lester's heat map from that first inning:

Jon Lester's First Inning vs. The Yankees (9/1/11) 43 Pitches, 26 strikes

Of all the pitches he threw in that first inning, there was only one that was called a ball yet was located inside the strike zone - a 0-0 pitch to Nick Swisher, who eventually struck out swinging.

Jon Lester - Called Balls within the Strike Zone (1st inning)

The only other pitch Marquez called incorrectly was a 2-1 strike to Mark Teixeira that was located off the outside edge of the zone.

Jon Lester - Called Strikes Outside the Strike Zone (1st inning)

There was a lot of talk about the strike zone throughout the game, but overall Marquez was fairly consistent.  And Lester's long first inning was likely not the result of any squeezing on Marquez's part.