Strike zone...

Question
Hi Dr. Mark, another question regarding strike zone for you!  I pitch in ASA Men's Slow Pitch league, I understand the stike zone as it is written in the Rulebook, but this is my situation:  On occasion, a 'batter's box' is not outlined in chalk on the field by the second or third game of the night, so the umpire will not rule on whether a batter is 'in the box', and I have a few instances where a batter will set up way deep in the imaginary 'batter's box' in theory to make better a swing/contact on some pitches, since ASA is a zone rather than a 'mat', I pitch to the batter where he is set with knee to shoulder in mind, however umpires as a general rule in my experience do not adapt the zone to the batter, but maintain a 'mat' type of strike zone, so with a batter deep in the box, a pitch landing just behind the plate a good two feet short in front of the batter's front knee and not entering the batter's strike zone is considered a strike.  Is this truly the case?  What is your ruling on a situation like this?  Thanks for your assistance!

Answer
Hi Mike,

the strike zone is not only the front knee to the back shoulder but also that area with the batter in a normal batting stance adjacent to the plate, that's the key in the rule (R1-def).  So it doesn't matter if they stand way up or way back in the box, the strike zone in sp doesn't adapt to the batter's position or change based on their positioning.  The "zone" as you say is adjacent to the plate.

It this were not the rule think of a short batter all the way up in the box which extends 4' in front of the center of the plate.  The strike zone (fk-bs) might be limited to only 6" behind the plate, anything else would be either in front of the plate or hits the plate which would be a ball.

mark