We have a player in our local league saying the plate umpire is calling a strike when a pitch hits the ground first, then hits the plate on the bounce up. Is this a correct call and simply a perfect pitch at which a batter should/could never swing?

once a pitch hits the ground it immediately becomes a dead BALL so there is no way that he can then call it a strike for striking the edge on the bounce up..

What is this a joke? How is it possible to hit the ground and then the plate on it's way up? Is home plate floating in the air or some kind of suspension plate? I do remember I time when I saw someone drop a ball and caught it on it's way back up so.....

Hey Rob64, it's not a joke at all. Many fields do not have dimensions for the plate that match SSUSA standards so often a mat is placed on top of the plate to conform to the correct size. About once a tournament on such fields, a ball will hit just in front of the plate, bounce up and hit the edge as B.J. said, and the watchful ump will correctly call it a ball, even though it may not be obvious to the infielders, much less the outfield. To them, it looked like the mat moved and they assume a strike. The catcher always knows it's the correct call, and the batter will gladly agree.

Great that it will be called a ball as it should be, especially in front of the plate; no way to hit that ball and stay in the box. But the same dimension apply to the side of the mat. If a ball hits the side of the mat in the same way, it will always be called a strike.