The Mental Battle: Get Out of Your Own Way
Your mindset can be an asset or a determent to your performance. If you doubt yourself, lose composure after mistakes or over analyze your performance, your mindset can hurt your performance. You can be your own worst enemy. In these situations, it’s hard to bounce back with confidence and composure during the game. Many baseball players struggle with these mental game challenges. Cleveland pitcher, Justin Masterson is aware of the mental battle... [Read More...]
Why Pitching or Hitting Routines Help You Focus
Do you have a pre-pitch or at-bat routine? Some ball players have a routine, but don’t use it consistently. Others don’t have a routine at all. Without a consistent routine at the plate or on the mound, you’re more likely to lose focus or become distracted. A pre-pitch or at-bat routine is designed to help you: Focus on what’s important Prepare consistently for the pitch or at-bat Feel confident before execution Trust your swing or... [Read More...]
Joe Saunders Stays Positive After Loss
You can react to losses positively or negatively. You can beat yourself up, become frustrated with your performance and lose confidence, taking a negative approach to your game. You can also take a more positive look at your performance learning from your losses. The Los Angeles Angels fell 0-6 to the Toronto Blue Jays Monday night. Angels pitcher, Joe Saunders, didn’t perform his best allowing three runs, four hits and five walks over 6 1-3 innings. “It’s... [Read More...]
The Mental Game of Pitching and Trust
Are you able to perform freely and let your performance happen in games? This is a common challenge among all baseball players, including pitchers. You may try to “fix” your pitching technique after a wild pitch. Some players become too mechanical and over think their pitching motion. When you over think your pitching motion, your mind and body are at odds with one another. Your mind is sending verbal commands about “how to” pitch the ball.... [Read More...]
Lester Draws Confidence From the Save
Some baseball players thrive in crunch time, such as when the bases are loaded. They want to be up to pitch or bat in this situation. These players demonstrate their confidence and trust to perform their best in critical moments. Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester is one of those players who thrives in crunch time. Lester pitched his way out of a bases loaded scenario to help the Sox beat the Angels 5-1. “It’s nice to be able to fight out off that and... [Read More...]
Mental Keys to Staying in the Moment
The ability to concentrate is critical to successful performance in all sports, especially in baseball. Each game requires you to turn your concentration on and off several times. When it is time to go to the plate, you have to turn on the concentration. When you’re in the dugout, you can relax your concentration. Total concentration is the ability to immerse yourself in a task without becoming distracted or pulled off task. Great players talk about... [Read More...]
Refocus When You Get Too Far Ahead
Do distractions cause you to become sidetracked during baseball or softball games? Are you anxious about what the outcome of the game might be? Do you tense up and put more pressure yourself to win? If you said yes, then you focus too much on results and not enough on the process. You should learn when and how to refocus your mind on what’s important. Many baseball and softball players forget that winning comes from taking care of... [Read More...]
How to Keep Practice Exciting
Keeping practice interesting is a big challenge for professional players that spend as much as eight hours a day practicing and playing ball. It’s also a challenge for amateur players who practice more than two hours at a time. When you are bored with practice, you don’t feel challenged enough. This can lead to less than optimal concentration, which can cause ineffective practice. If you become bored during practice take a 15-minute break to relax... [Read More...]
How to Think Less at the Plate
The ability to swing your bat naturally and instinctively is critical to great hitting. The major purpose of batting practice is to trust your swing when it’s time to play the game. As you get more repetitions through practice, you develop a memory program for that movement. Soon with a lot of practice, your swing becomes instinctive, natural, and feels effortless to do (you reach a state of over-learning). An effortless reactive swing is... [Read More...]
6 Common Mental Game Errors For Hitters
In my work, it’s important to help ball players be aware when they are making mental errors and also provide direction. You first have to know when there is a problem before you can address it. Great hitting requires you maintain a great attitude. Confidence, trust, and focus are the keys to great hitting, but many players stifle their chances of better hitting by making too many mental errors at the plate. In this article, I discuss six typical... [Read More...]
