After watching UCLA pitchers dominate in the 2013 College World Series, my son Henry noticed that they got a lot of hitters to swing at the high fastball – like in Little League. We refer to the high heater as the UCLA fastball . At UCLA they refer to the high fastball as the " one spot ." The traditional low fastball can lead to errors Pitching coaches over the years have emphasized locating pitches low in the strike zone – to induce ground ball outs. But grounders can be difficult to field and players rush the throw, so routine ground ball outs sometimes turn into errors. And hard grounders become infield hits. So keeping the ball low in the zone to induce ground balls it's always the best strategy. Mixing in the high fastball yields outs High fastballs, on the other hand, can lead to swinging strikes, pop-ups or easy fly outs. This was the case in the recent Little League World Series. Players swung at the high pitches because they looked good to th...
Learn about ambidextrous pitchers – from Little League to the MLB.