College World Series.

Watched the replay today and l loved the quote for pitching. " when in doubt low and out." Statistically the hardest pitch to hit.

I dunno. Leo Mazzone preached that, and his pitchers won 4 CYs. OTOH, I don't think anyone is beating down Leo Mazzone's door to be a pitching coach. Without actual data to show that the low outside ball is hardest to hit, common sense kind of says it should be easier to hit, because if you know what you are doing, you have the longest time to see that pitch before you hit it.

The low outside fastball is my favorite pitch to hit, because (comparatively speaking) I am old, and slow, and tend to be late on everything.

You could get a lot of opinions over on the hitting forum on this topic.....here is my simple reason why it is difficult to actually get a hit (not just make contact) off a low outside pitch.
This doesn't apply to elite level hitters but is more applicable to learning hitters or hitters with less than high level mechanics.
The low outside pitch is the farthest away from the batters spine......thus requiring the most postural adjustment to get the bat on the plane of the pitch.
Getting the spine to tilt enough to efficiently get the sweet spot of the bat on a low outside pitch is rarely practiced or rarely practiced correctly.
Try to find a hitting tee that places the top of the ball at the top of the knee cap.....can't find one commercially.....so how are you going to practice getting the correct posture for this pitch.Gotta make or modify your own tee.......the first time you ask a young lady to hit a ball off the tee when the ball is on the outside corner at the very bottom of the zone, she will look at you like you are crazy......now you will know why it is difficult. Want to see a double crazy look...ask her to hit a low line drive when the tee/ball is in that position.
Good hitting coaches know how to train kids to make the needed posture adjustment for every pitch location....not enough knowledgeable hitting coaches to go around.

Cowdogz said:

Without actual data to show that the low outside ball is hardest to hit, common sense kind of says it should be easier to hit, because if you know what you are doing, you have the longest time to see that pitch before you hit it.

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I was thinking the exact same thing. IMO an inside rise ball or screw at the hands is more difficult to get the barrel on it. A low and out pitch will get hit with the sweet spot a lot easier than one on your hands....JMHO
So, as far as me calling pitches... when in doubt... screwball at the hands or inside drop balls. Especially if their crowding the plate.

To add to Ricks answer regarding the custom sized tee. My Tanner has base accessory thats only 8-10" tall specifically designed for hitting the low stuff.

Good stuff, guys. After I looked at my comment about data, I remembered I could at least look at Ted Williams's diagram of his "happy zone" in The Science of Hitting. Williams's worst pitch was the low outside corner and his worst overall zone was the low outside half. I can't be positive that he's a great example, though, because his .400 zone was middle of the plate from just below the belt to just below the letters. That doesn't seem normal, but perhaps it was 70 years ago.

coach james said:

To add to Ricks answer regarding the custom sized tee. My Tanner has base accessory thats only 8-10" tall specifically designed for hitting the low stuff.

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Small traffic cone works well for this as well.

Low outside. Hard to hit and a safe place. Slightly up outside can be a lot of trouble. LOW and out, not kinda low...that's the key.