A Fastball is Worth 4 Pitches

Fact: If you can locate a fastball, you can actually throw 4 different pitches.


Don't believe me? Just ask Johnny Damon. In an at-bat tonight, versus Cliff Lee in game 1 of the World-Series, Lee threw him four different fastballs in 4 different locations - resulting in a broken bat pop up right back to the mound. Its all about how the pitch is viewed coming into the hitting zone by the hitter. As most "Intelligent Pitchers" know, the average hitter wants the ball middle in that he can drive into the gaps. So, it would beg to reason that we should avoid locating our fastballs in that location. So we will first begin with a hard fastball on the inside corner of the plate AND down a the knees. This requires the hitter to set his sights down and in and naturally causes his hands to "speed up" to get to that pitch. Most well located fastballs will not be hit unless the hitter guess correctly.

Now, the second most favorable location for a hitter to hit is up and slight away that can be driven up the middle. So, after speeding the hitter up and in, we will locate our next fastball up and away. (Think letter high off the outside black). The hitter will instinctively get "excited" because he reads fastball out of your hand. However, he will already be geared for the inside fastball and not be able to adjust his eye level back up and out in time to get the bat-head to the ball. This will likely result in a swing and miss or fouled off pitch.

Now that we've gone down and in and up and away, we should be in either a 1-1 or 0-2 count. At 1-1 we can go back down and in or in both 1-1 or 0-2 counts we can throw our third type of fastball, this time up and and in. Again, the hitter's eyes will light up at the sight of the fastball but as long as this pitch is located at the hitters hands - literally - he will likely swing but be unable to reach the pitch before it gets too deep. Another foul off or swing and miss should result.

To finish the hitter off, a well located low and away fastball should be all it takes. Why? Because it is the farthest away from the hitters eyes and therefore requires the most difficulty to hit. The hitter's eyes would again change down and also out. To hit this pitch, the hitter must wait and allow the pitch to travel further into the hitting zone and the hitter must also drive through the pitch and take it the opposite way. Unless you Albert Pujols, this probably is going to happen. Now, if the hitter has managed to foul any of these pitches off, you may need to double up on a few of the locations to get him out using just fastballs, and there are plenty of times when repeating a pitch will do the job. But you must note that you have attacked this hitter without using anything but a fastball. Of course, the better you are able to locate your pitches, the better.

The key here is avoiding the middle of the plate. We've utilized all four corners of the plate to force the hitter to change his eye level and speed up and slow down his hand speeds. Trust me on this, you must utilize all your pitches in all locations, but start with the fastball.