OXFORD | Mike Bianco, back in June, gave a mini stream of consciousness about the changed strike zone in college baseball.

Beginning with last season, umpires receive a detailed performance report after each game and have seemingly tightened strike zones to more correct but also more difficult levels.

That change combined with prospects focusing on velocity more than command makes for more walks and more issues throwing the ball in the strike zone. Not throwing strikes and not taking pitches were key reasons for Ole Miss going 25-29 overall and 6-24 in the SEC.

“The umpires aren’t worse, the umpires are better but it’s better for the hitter and not the pitcher,” Bianco said. “The zone has gotten tremendously smaller. There are times I thought the guy was terrible, but I’d see the guy was good and only missed two in the box. Your pitcher wasn’t as good, and there were close pitches that are balls you didn’t get. You feel it more.

“Guys aren’t learning to pitch; they are leaning how to throw stuff.”

Bianco that day asked somewhat rhetorically why the pitch velocity is on the board but not pitch location — pointing out the lack of emphasis on command. Several months later, during fall practice, he’s put his idea into practice.

Ole Miss has the Trackman strike zone visible during intrasquads to show real-time pitch location. Pitchers can see if they are throwing strikes, and the Trackman overrules any umpire missed ball-strike call. Newcomers have never had a strike zone this small, so this should help with that transition. Returners can get a feel for what’s truly a strike and adjust mechanically and mentally.

All bullpens are also real-time tracked by a Rapsodo automated strike zone.

Ole Miss hitters also have data to understand. They are wearing pitch recognition devices that tell them whether a pitch was a strike or a ball. It’s a full-on effort to know the strike zone.

“We’re not going to swing outside the zone, and we’re not chasing,” Ole Miss assistant Carl Lafferty said. “The zone will be a tick bigger in the season. We’re going to learn to throw it in the box and not swing outside the box.”

The SEC average for pitches inside the strike zone last season was 42 percent. Ole Miss fell several percentage points below that but has been above that number this fall.

Most stats talk about strike percentage (a number that’s around 60 percent most SEC games), but that includes all batted balls and swings at pitches outside the strike zone as strikes. The Rebels are focused on the actual zone.

Ole Miss, in SEC games, was 13th in ERA, opposing batting average, hits allowed, runs allowed and home runs allowed. The Rebels also had the 11th most walks.

Offensively, in SEC games, Ole Miss was 13th in batting average and last in runs, slugging, on-base percentage and walks. Oddly, the Rebels struck out the least in the conference.

Ole Miss believes the lack of walks contributed to the lackluster offense. The Rebels swung too much, and while they were good at putting it in play, it didn’t amount to much. They weren’t selective.

Texas A&M and LSU walked the most and second-most, respectively, in the conference. They also scored the most runs. A&M did it despite barely being in the top half of the league in batting average or slugging.

“Texas A&M is a good example because they don’t swing at anything,” Lafferty said. “You get a false sense if you just focus on strike percentage. Where are you actually throwing it? Contact isn’t necessarily good if it’s weak or the pitch was in a bad spot.

“We’re seeing improvement, and the numbers show us that. It’s something we can fix.”