I'm trying to figure these inside/outside pitching mechanics. wouldn't foot placement be a large part of it? honest questions here.
Let go of this idea that you can teach a kid about foot placement and that is somehow going to teach her DD how to throw inside and outside. "Control" doesn't work that way.
If you do the math (Going into Rain Man mode...), the difference between a pitch down the middle of the plate and either an inside or an outside pitch is 1 degree. *ONE DEGREE*. So, you are trying to write down a set of instructions for a 12YOA child so she can change the release angle by 1 degree of a hand moving 50MPH to 60MPH. the concept is ridiculous.
The only person who can teach a kid to hit the corners is the kid. No one can do it for her.
First and foremost, the kid has to have a good motion with brush interference (BI). No BI, no control.
If your DD has a good motion with BI, then here is how *SHE* learns it:
You get behind the plate, and you tell her to throw one inside. Anything off the left side (catcher's viewpoint) is OK. It doesn't matter if you catch it or not. When she does that, you tell her to throw one outside. Again, you don't care as the ball goes outside.
You keep doing it until she can rotate between inside and outside pitches--she keeps trying to throw inside until she throws one inside, and then you switch until she throws one outside, and then you switch again. Make a game of it to see how many pitches it takes each time.
When she can rotate between inside and outside, you then change what is "acceptable" for a pitch to count. E.g., you say, "If I can't catch it, it doesn't count". When she gets that, "If the ball is more than 6 inches inside or outside, it doesn't count". Then it is "if the ball is more than one ball width off the plate, it doesn't count". Then it is, "If it is not over the black, it doesn't count."
When she gets the concept of left/right control, then start working on up/down control. Same drills.
When she has can do left/right and up/down separately, then you combine and start working on hitting the corners of the zone.
You are also teaching her a process for how to fix a control problem.
My DD did these drills for years...with me and then when she pitched in college.
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