It's All in the LOCATION.

THE MOST VALUABLE PITCHERS ON EVERY level of the game are those who can locate the ball--put it where it can do the most good.

For most pitchers below age 15, this means being able to put the ball anywhere in the strike zone. But once you progress from high school to college and beyond, you soon find that unless you throw extremely hard, "over the plate" may be the last place you want to throw it.

What matters is not just throwing strikes, but locating those strikes as well as spotting the ball out of the strike zone. This obviously isn't an easy skill to master.

A pitcher must observe a specific routine to master the art of throwing any pitch to any location.

One of the best and easiest ways of doing this is by simply playing catch with a target in mind. Most players will play catch or just get loose, but without a purpose or target in mind. They mindlessly throw the ball to their partner, missing out on a perfect opportunity to learn location.

Pitchers (and all players for that matter) should pick a spot on their partner's body or clothing and use it as a target. This will achieve several things.

First, it will add focus to any drill.

Second, the mind will help train the body to produce the desired result.

While players with poor mechanics will often miss the target, throwing with location in mind will help build the skill of accuracy.

We see pitchers at all levels becoming upset when the 2-2 fastball they wanted three inches off the plate goes right down the middle and is pounded for a double.

This is often the same pitcher who in his next practice will throw the ball while talking to his teammates, instead of working on location.

A way to spruce up this drill is by having the players play the game 21.. That is, give points for accurate throws; one point for each location hit, First to 21 wins.

Look for other games you can use to make playing catch more of a location competition. The better prepared your pitchers are, the more effective they will be when they have to locate the ball at crunch time.

The next drill with which to read location consists of breaking down the wind-up and stretch-position mechanics into drills. Have the player start his delivery and stop in the balance point. Much of the problem of wildness in the delivery stems from rushing through the balance point. Drills which hold the balance point, teach the player to gather himself before delivering the ball.

Keys to look for mostly stem from the player's balance.

Maybe the back leg is bent too much or the hands are too far away from the body.

Some pitchers have a tendency to lean backward or forward to compensate for a flaw in their initial rocker step.

One thing to keep in mind before you look for other flaws is to resist correcting pitchers who have unusual mechanics but are still very accurate. Mechanics and location are often married, however, unless the pitcher's style is bad for the health of his arm, he should be left alone.

As for the rest of the pitchers, make sure they are balanced and square to the plate. The hip, outside of knee, and lead foot, front shoulder and lead elbow should all be on target with the catcher with the head facing the target.

The throwing arm should come out of the glove with the ball pointing down as it swings past the belt and begins its turn toward second base. As the ball points toward second, the lead arm or elbow extends (as described) and then pulls back to the body as it comes toward the plate.

The mechanics of the release point are difficult to train other than to indicate that the body is conditioned to release the ball in, out, up, and down.

The pitcher should always throw with a count in mind. Even if his whole workout is made up of 1-0 fastballs, he will be working under game conditions.

The best example of a location pitcher at work was Tom Glavine in the World Series against Cleveland. The first time he faced the Indians, he befuddled them with fastballs and change-ups on the outside corner.

The next time he faced the Indians, they made an adjustment to the outside pitch by moving closer to the plate. Glavine's answer was simply moving the catcher further off the plate.

Check the video. You will see him throwing 0-1 fastballs to his catcher set up over a foot off the plate. True, the pitches were not strikes, but the Cleveland hitters were so conditioned to the outside pitches that they couldn't lay off them.

The same theory holds true for breaking pitches. There are two kinds of breaking pitches. The first kind starts out as a ball and lands as a strike. It is used to get ahead of the hitter on even count or when behind in the count to fool hitters looking for the fastball. The idea is to have the pitch taken for a strike or swung at and hit weakly.

The second type of curveball is used to get a strikeout on any count against a free swinger. This curveball starts out as a strike and arrives as a ball, often in the dirt.

The difference in mechanics is simply holding onto the ball for a split-second longer to change the flight path. Something that simple has to be practiced.

Those who don't work at it will get ahead 1-2 and then throw a hanging curve instead of a pitch into the dirt that is far more likely to get the hitter out.

Pitchers who refuse to work on pitches out of the strike zone are surprised to find how hard it is to do so when they try it.

Again, throwing every strike over the heart of the plate is not considered accurate pitching. Accuracy, in the baseball sense of the word, implies the ability to throw any pitch to any location at any time.

It is interesting to watch hitters hit curveballs off the batting machines. Any time a hitter knows what kind of pitch is coming he becomes a 500 hitter. And many of them will tell you that a nice breaking pitch is the easiest ball to hit.

A is difficult, even if you know it's coming. If it's moving at near 100 mph (a la Nolan Ryan, Billy Wagner, Mariano Rivera, etc.), the pitch is going to be very difficult to hit.

Let us suppose you set the pitching machine for 59-foot curveballs. The hitters will still fail to hit the pitch, even if they know it is coming. The fact is that hitters are trained to hit strikes, and pitches on the border or just out of the zone confuse and hurt them.