Pitching control: How to locate an outside fastball

Ted Williams said it's the single-most difficult pitch to hit. Leo Mazzone said it's "the best pitch in baseball." They're talking about the same pitch. Know what it is?

It's the low, outside fastball. Did you guess correctly?

Sure, it's a fastball, but the low, outside fastball is tough to consistently locate for a strike. That's because this location forces you to make a pitch across your body -- and across the heart of the plate. As a result, you've got to make an mechanical adjustment: Your upper body must turn more quickly than, say, a fastball thrown middle or middle-in.

So what can you do? Get your trunk rotated quickly. Off-mound training such as medicine ball rotations can help train the movement. When you work on it in the bullpen, gauge your progress by looking where your pitches end up. When throwing that fastball low, outside, you should be missing outside — not middle or middle-in. Pitches middle or middle-in mean your trunk isn't getting around quick enough.

Work on it.