As a hitter you need to figure out the location and pitches that your swing is most consistent and hunt balls in those spots. This has nothing to do with the umpire's strike zone. At the amateur level the strike zones are drastically different depending on which umpire is behind home plate. Who cares, it should matter what the umpire's zone is until you get to 2 strikes. If you like a pitch the ump calls a ball swing at it. What is your hitting zone as a hitter? Pitchers get away with throwing average off speed pitches right down the middle, a "get me over" because hitters take it, because they are "looking for a fast ball"
90% of amateur pitches don't have good secondary stuff. The reason you work hard in the cage on your swing is so that you can trust the actions to produce even when your timing is off. If you are looking for a fast ball and the pitcher throws you a high curve ball don't give up on it, keep tracking the ball with your eyes and once your foot lands, keep going down with your lower half until the ball gets into the hitting zone. Most hitters either give up on the hangar or go out to try to hit the pitch and then take it because its too high when there eyes have to decide to swing. When you land keep going down instead of forward allows your eyes to read the pitch for an extra 5-8 feet. That is the difference between 420 and 320 batting average.
Better hitters just make the pitcher do his job, which is to throw the ball to the catcher. It's funny to me when I see amateur hitters move up in the box, all the reasons they give are hilarious to me, because they aren't true and they are really saying, "I move up in the box to make the pitcher have to throw it a shorter distance to do his job." In closing the point is swing more take less. The goal is always to take the pitch down, but anything elevated over the plate swing at it, they go the farthest and if you learn to hit them it takes away a huge tool that pitcher's use to get hitters out.
