Jack, thank you very much for giving Artie an opportunity to succeed. As a parent you know how it feels...

John Arena, The Scan Group Pre-press Manager
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Behind the plate decide your fate? No way!

Many ballplayers go up to bat with a less than confident attitude and think in a "balls and strikes" manner. They hope that maybe they will draw a walk and/or hope that the plate umpire does not call them out on strikes.

What they should do is go up to the dish with an, "I'm going to hit the ball hard!" attitude and not think about what the plate umpire may or may not think is a good pitch. I tell players that they don't think "balls and strikes" in batting practice so don't think about them when they go up to hit. If the pitch is something that they think they can drive (within reason of course - it's hard to drive something that's over your head), swing at it!

If you're going to be called out, make the base umpire do it. Putting the ball in play forces the defense to make a play and that's what you always want to do - force the defense to execute correctly. Think about how many times you have seen that not happen!