Second, this is an excellent time to put the concerns of your life behind you and prepare for the game. A warm-up routine is a good transition between your everyday life and baseball. Many people play a sport to distract them from pressures in everyday life such as work or school. Use the warm-up to put these pressures behind you. Once you tie on your baseball shoes and put you cap on, it’s time to think baseball.

Most players start their warm-up by doing some simple stretches alone or in a team setting. During that time, you want to release the past and start to focus on baseball. You should be doing more than just going through the physical motions of the warm-up. You also want to do the warm up with intensity and focus—a mental routine of sorts.

Remember that the warm-up is just a warm-up and not a “practice session.” The major goal of warm-ups is to loosen-up your muscles and focus the mind. It’s too late to work on mechanics during the warm-up. Trying to “fix” errors before play can actually hurt your game. You won’t correct the problem in 20 minutes and you certainly won’t be able to ingrain the change in your memory.

The best you can do now is work on your at-bat routine just like it was the real thing during batting practice. The same goes for infield and outfield practice. Make it count, don’t just go through the motions.

Don’t be hard on yourself if you don’t perform well during your warm-up. Some athletes just don’t perform well in warm-ups. Have confidence that your game will be there in the first inning.

The physical component of baseball is important, but it’s also highly overrated. Somewhere along the road players and fans forgot that baseball is a mental game. Hall of Famer, Jogi Berra once said “Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical,” and Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel states that, “succeeding in baseball is 90 percent mental.”

Baseball players should develop mental strength and mental toughness to gain a competitive edge, rather than cheat to improve their physical strength. Physical strength may help you hit a ball farther but it isn’t going to help you hit .330 or win a championship. Mental training is legal in baseball, and it helps athletes reach their peak level of performance. Mental training areas that help you perform to your potential include: confidence, composure, focus, trust, preparation, practice efficiency, and patience just to name a few.

In Major League Baseball mentally tough players are the cream of the crop. Chase Utley for example states, “I go through my pre-game routines and make sure my mind is right. The difference between a good game and a bad game is your head.” And Derrick Jeter says “Once you step into the on beck circle you have to get into a hitters mindset.”

Mental Training is legal, inexpensive, effective and highly recommended by professional athletes. To improve your performance in baseball use mental training to supplement your performance needs, such as the tips listed below:

• Stay present focused. You must keep your mind in the present moment on what’s important to play your best. This is easier said than done. It is easy to think about the last strike out you had or think ahead about the results of striking out. Know the task-specific cues you should focus on and be aware when you are not on task. Stop and refocus your mind on the task or on what you should think about to execute well.

•    Think one bat a time. Think about only the one pitch at a time to help you stay focused on execution. Separate each pitch from the rest and don’t think about the consequences of getting a hit. You don’t want to be thinking about the last inning when you are at the plate in the middle of the game.

•    Don’t thing about results or outcomes. If you think about what you don’t want to do, you’ll tighten up and make a controlled swing. When you think about results, you’ll create tension and indecision. Focusing on execution will help you get good results. Your at-bat routine should help you focus on specific cues to follow as you prepare for each at-bat. If you don’t have a routine, the mind is free to wander aimlessly as you prepare for each pitch.

•    Cue yourself to concentrate. Sometimes it’s hard to refocus when the last at-bat was 30 minutes ago. Lock in your concentration once it is your turn to at the plate. To help you click in, try using a physical trigger to focus your mind, such as tightening the Velcro on your glove before start. You want to turn your attention to preparation and execution for the first pitch, and if anything else enters your mind, let it pass through your mind.

•    Relax your focus while you wait. Not too many players can focus continuously for two to three hours. When you are up to bat it’s important to be ready, but you don’t want to overanalyze the entire game. After each inning, relax your focus and save your concentration for the next time at-bat. This will help you be “fresher” for the end of the game.

•    Rehearse while you wait. Rehearse your at-bat before you’re up to play if you have trouble focusing after a long delay. For example, while on deck, imagine that you are at the plate taking pitches. Time your swing with the pitcher and “see” yourself make solid contact. When it’s your turn, you will be prepared to click in the focus because you already rehearsed your at-bat routine.

Some teams struggle with closing out the game because of a comfort zone. A comfort zone is based on an expectation about how you think you should perform. You might expect to lose to a certain team or win by a lot of runs. When you are playing better than expected, you start to protect your lead and avoid making mistakes.

The Cincinnati Reds had trouble closing out their lead over the St. Louis Cardinals in a recent game. Joey Votto helped the Red’s close out the game after blowing a four-run lead. Votto homered and had four hits to contribute to the 9-8 win over the Cardinals.

“I wouldn’t use the word nerve-wracking, but I think this year we’ve proven to other people and proven to ourselves that no lead is safe. We have to respect the opposition and play hard all the way through nine innings,” said Votto.

When you have a lead, continue to play aggressively. Set a challenging goal to help you play more aggressively. You might focus on hitting your spots as a pitcher or swinging freely as a batter. The key is not to back up and try to avoid making mistakes. If you think too much about mistakes, you lose focus on what you want to do. Focus on execution rather than the results.

To avoid becoming complacent, go through your routine with full intensity and focus. A common mistake players make is they go through the motions without full focus. You want to keep your intensity and focus at a peak level when you perform. You can always restart your at-bat routine if you feel distracted or not fully engaged.

Your baseball psychology tip is to keep playing hard and playing aggressively. Abandon your expectations and focus on execution instead. Follow your pre-pitch routine with full intensity to avoid becoming complacent.

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 not really frustrating. It’s a good positive for me, knowing that I’m starting to get back to what I know I can do. But team-wise, it’s frustrating that we can’t pull out more wins. We just need to stay positive, and we need to execute better. We need to play the way we’re capable of playing. We just haven’t been doing that consistently this year,” said Saunders.

Confident athletes stay positive after losses, benefiting their performance. Positive thinking will help you bounce back from losses quickly. Instead of losing confidence after a poor performance, notice what you did well. You might have reacted quickly to a fly out or had a good strategy when you were down in the count. Then, take a look at what you didn’t do as well. Use that information to work on your weaknesses in practice and improve as a player. Above all, look at your weaknesses as opportunities for improvement rather than a sign of inadequacy.

Confident athletes are also patient. Many players tend to expect results too quickly. When you become impatient with your performance, you can speed through your routine, lose confidence and focus on the wrong things. Patient players are focused on execution and trust that a good performance will eventually come. Their confidence isn’t thrashed around by results. Patient players are focused on gaining their confidence from more stable sources, such as their preparation and practice.

Your baseball psychology tip is to bounce back quickly from losses by staying positive and patient about your performance. Take an objective look at your game after your performances and work to improve your weaknesses. Stay patient with your results and eventually things will fall into place.

Doubt isn’t the only challenge for baseball players though. Many players have fragile self-confidence. When you have fragile self-confidence, your confidence varies widely based on what’s happening during a game. When you get a hit, your confidence goes up. On the other hand, when you make a mistake, your confidence drops. We call this the confidence rollercoaster. Your confidence changes from moment to moment depending on your immediate performance.

Monday night’s game with the L.A. Dodgers and Houston Astros is a prime example of how self-confidence can benefit your game. Dodgers’ pitcher, John Ely, in his fourth career start, gave up one run and five hits striking out eight batters. Ely contributed to the 6-2 Dodgers win over the Astros.

“I’m just out here doing what I have always done. I just have complete confidence in what I bring to the table and the fact that if I execute my pitches the way I want to, I feel like I have the advantage. That is the way you have to feel every time out. If you doubt yourself, you’re going to give up hits,” said Ely.

Every time you go to the field, you want to have confidence in your game. Your confidence must not waver because of your opponent or the quality of your practice that week. A stable level of confidence is developed over years of practice and training.

Use your practice, training and preparation to develop the foundation of your confidence. After mistakes, you’ll want to remind yourself of why you deserve to feel confident. Is it your work ethic, your improved curve ball or your ability to come back after mistakes? Remember your strengths to help you feel confident.

“Ely’s going to make you hit it; he’s going to make them do the work. He changes speeds so well, I think that’s really the biggest reason why he’s had the success early on. He’s not afraid to throw the fastball any time. And behind in the count, he’s not afraid to take a little off,” said Dodgers’ manager Joe Torre.

Your mental game of baseball tip is to base your confidence over years of practice and play. Don’t wait until something good happens in the first inning to feel confident. Likewise, don’t allow a single mistake to shake your confidence. Rely on what you can control, such as your practice and preparation to keep your confidence when things don’t go according to plan.

The goal in baseball is to win, score runs, and get a hit every time at-bat. This is obvious. If you dwell too much on winning or getting a hit, you can lose focus on execution. In addition, if you worry too much about the outcome, you can’t focus on what you need to do to get a hit. Results come from focusing on the process of execution. Focusing on the process is a simple concept to talk about, but one of the most difficult things for athletes to do consistently.

A key lesson I teach to baseball players is how to maintain a present focus. I often need to repeat myself several times and say the same thing in different ways to get the point across. Good results such as getting a hit and winning games comes from focusing on the process or paying attention to one play at a time; one at-bat at a time. You should “see” a positive result in your mind as you settle into the batter’s box. But you don’t want to become so fixated on getting a hit–”I need to get a hit”–that you worry about not getting a hit, going 0 for 4, and tighten up.

Some sport psychologists would say that choking is caused by not paying attention to what’s important —execution. When you focus on execution, it helps keep your calm and free of result-induced pressure. What do I mean when I say focus on execution? Execution is not focusing on the mechanics of hitting. You want to have a plan for each at-bat and stay committed to that plan.

By immersing yourself in your preparation—set-up, balance, visualizing a good at-bat, and focusing only on the pitcher, you put yourself in a position to get a hit. You can’t alter the outcome after the bat makes contact with the ball or the ball is in the catcher’s glove. Plan your at-bat, rehearse it in your mind, prepare your body, and react to the pitcher. What happens next is out of your control. You control your mental focus and you want to use this to your advantage when thinking about your mental game of baseball.

This is an important lesson I teach–to get a hit or to get an out, you must pay attention to task-relevant cues. This simple concept is easy to forget when you care too much about winning or what winning means. “Don’t strike out,” “Don’t walk this hitter,” “Don’t miss this pop up ball” are examples of what you might say to yourself with a result-focus. A result-focus–worry about the consequences of your actions–does not help you perform; it only creates tension and leads to worry. This is when you have to refocus your mind on the current pitch.

How do you stay focused on the process? Focusing on the process means knowing what performance cues are in baseball and keeping your mind focused on those task-relevant cues. You need to define what is relevant to performing the task. In baseball, the batter has specific cues for each task he must attend to. Some of the task-relevant cues are: studying the pitcher, knowing the count, setting up in the batter’s box, visualizing success, feeling confident, and focusing on the ball as the pitcher releases it.

If your mind wanders off task, that means you are not “on-task” and you are too focused on results or some other distraction. It’s OK if your mind wanders momentarily, but you want to be able to catch yourself and refocus on the current pitch as soon as possible. In this example, I would ask the baseball player to stop his at-bat routine, clear his mind, and restart his routine from the beginning.

To improve your mental game for baseball or softball, define the cues that are relevant to baseball execution and success–one pitch at a time. Also, know when you get off-task, and be able to stop and refocus on the task when you wander to results or are distracted!

To keep practice interesting and exciting, practice goals are important. Set goals to challenge yourself during batting practice. For example, you can challenge yourself to hit 7 out of 10 solid shots. Imagine yourself in a game situation and try to hit the ball in play 7 of 10 tries. Play an entire 9 innings in batting practice. The more “games” you can play to make practice interesting, the better your focus. Reward yourself for meeting your practice goals.

Creating competition in practice is another great way to keep the fun and excitement in practice. Be creative with your practice, challenge yourself or play a game with a friend. Have a batting contest with a friend or teammate. One game I like is “call your shot.” Two players are needed to play this game. Each person takes 10 pitches. One person starts by calling his shot such as hard line drive down the center. The other player calls the next pitch and you alternate until you finish the 10 shots.

Next time you get bored and lose focus, try the “two-minute drill.” The goal of this drill is to sharply focus attention on practice for just two minutes. I know you can focus for two minutes! See how keenly you can focus for those two minutes. When the two minutes are over you can relax and space out if you want. The goal is to practice with focus and intensity for short periods. Short bursts of intense focus with periods of rest or inactivity is better than practicing with 50% focus for the entire practice. What you will find is that you can stretch it out to four or five minutes instead of just two minutes at a time.

Coping with failure

Mariano Rivera, relief pitcher for the Yankees says, “the secret is not so much confidence as focus.”

Focus and the ability to concentrate in the now is important to develop a strong mental game. To be able to perform, you have to be able to focus on performance cues. You can’t throw a good pitch or get a hit without focusing your mind on execution. The good news is that every ball player has the ability to focus. But sometimes your focus can get displaced.

Ball players can lose focus by letting negative emotions, such as frustration or anger, get the best of them. Mistakes can cause you to feel frustrated, such as missing a fly ball or walking a batter. When players become frustrated or angry, they spend too much energy and attention on mistakes. You’re essentially focused on the past, which hinders your ability to focus on the current pitch or play.

Mariano Rivera is a good example of keeping his emotions in check and staying focused one pitch at a time.

“Nothing derails him, Chad Gaudin says. “No emotions get in the way. Ever. He is able to take all that energy of the moment and channel it into everything he has to do. Why doesn’t everybody do that? Not everybody has the power or self-discipline.”

Even though there will be times when you’re frustrated with your performance, the key is to catch yourself before your performance spins out of control. You’ll want to think of the times where you are most likely to become frustrated. Do you become frustrated when you’re down in the count? Or maybe you get frustrated when you’re not performing up to your expectations. The first step is to be aware of mistakes that can trigger frustration so you can develop a plan to bounce back from them quicker.

Failure is a part of sports, especially in baseball. The key is to not demand perfection and to be more accepting of your mistakes. You certainly don’t want to dwell on your mistakes or beat yourself up. Save your analysis of errors for after the game. Use mistakes as a way to improve your game. Think of your mistakes as learning opportunity to better your game in the future.

What does it mean to choke? Choking is a response to pressure and starts with worry about what others think. Your mind gets sidetracked from the real task. The mind races with thoughts of negative outcomes or screwing up a big lead. “What if we blow a three run lead?” the pitcher says to himself. Then anxiety sets in… Your mouth gets dry, your hands sweat, your breathing becomes faster, and you feel like someone is strangling you. If you feel like choking when under pressure, here are some suggestions to control yourself.

Challenge Yourself
Many players take a defensive approach to their game when they’re under pressure. Instead of trying to not strike out and embarrass yourself, challenge yourself to see the ball well. Take a positive approach. Be aggressive  instead of avoiding mistakes. If you try to avoid striking out, most likely you will focus more on striking out than hitting a solid ball.

Play Like You Don’t Care
When you care too much about winning, you try too hard to make it happen. PGA Tour star Bob Tway said, “You need to play golf like you don’t care, but if you work at something your whole life, it’s hard not to care. But that is the way you need to play golf. You need to sit on the first tee and not care, just let the ball go. That’s how you play your greatest golf.” The same concept applies to baseball.

Tame the Demons from the Past
Memories from the past can also haunt you. Past memories of failure pop into your head when faced with a challenging situation. If you don’t stay grounded in the present, those memories of the past will haunt you. Use the past only if it’s to your advantage.

Be Your Own Coach
What you say to yourself can have a big effect on how you feel and behave. Positive self-talk can be one of your most powerful assets on the field. Your self-talk should always be encouraging and supportive, just like a good coach. You don’t want to tell yourself , “You will never get a hit if you keep playing like this”!

Stay Task-Focused
Most fear relates to outcomes such as striking out. The fear causes you to get ahead of yourself rather than focus on the task. Focus on what you can control, which is execution and staying in the present. For example, your task is to focus on your set up and seeing the ball well. Focus on that. Don’t think about what will happen if you strike out.