Understanding The Pressures of Pitching
Being a pitcher is a demanding, challenging position on a baseball team.
Pitchers have a lot of pressure on them to win. In fact, many people judge a pitcher by their record…How many wins have they earned and how many losses they have incurred.
No other player on a baseball team is measured by wins and losses other than the pitcher. To be more specific, the pitcher is the only member of a team that has a statistical column for wins and for losses on their stat sheet.
When a team loses, the “losing pitcher” often receives the lion’s share of the blame. When a game is over, you hear commentators immediately identify the “losing” pitcher.
As you can see, there is tremendous pressure on pitchers and just one mistake on the mound could decide the game.
A player from our Softball and Baseball Mental Toughness Survey asked for some mental strategies to help overcoming mistakes on the mound:
“I want to be able to overcome mistakes, stay focused while pitching, not give up and stay positive. How can I keep focused and stay in the game mentally?”
Your question contains four key terms: “overcome mistakes,” “stay focused,” “stay positive” and “stay in the game mentally.” A common denominator associated with these terms are SELF-TALK and mental toughness.
When negative self-talk infiltrates your mind, problems arise.
For example, you stand on the mound with the ball in your hand and all eyes are on you…
Players in the field, teammates in the dugout, the opposing team, coaches, umpires and fans. As the game goes on, you feel the pressure mounting. It’s the seventh inning and you worked yourself in a jam by walking the bases loaded.
Even though your team has a two-run lead, you are anxious. Your mind is running wild with negative thoughts: “None of my pitches are working. I can’t get the ball over the plate. I’m facing the best hitter on the team. I can’t let him get a base hit. I’m going to lose this game for us.”
You feel you need to make the perfect pitch every time. Your hands are sweaty and you grip the ball harder. You are breathing heavy and the hitter drives the ball into the gap for a double.
It’s your negative self-talk that makes it difficult to let go of a bad pitch, an earned run, a hit in a critical part of the game, a walk with the bases loaded or sudden loss of control.
Negative self-talk will cause the game to get away from you. The only way to regain control of your pitches is to regain control of your thoughts.
The only way to overcome mistakes is to stop reminding yourself of those mistakes or dwelling on mistakes.
The only way to stay focused and positive when pitching is to stay in the game mentally, clear your mind of mental clutter and immerse yourself only in throwing the next pitch.
A pitcher’s best day on the mound is when he can focus inning by inning, batter by batter and pitch by pitch…and it all starts with your self-talk.
Staying Focused While Pitching
How can you stop dwelling on the negative thoughts or harsh self-criticism?
One strategy for letting go and focusing on the next pitch is to be focused on a pre-pitch routine. Your routine should be something scripted ahead of time and performed before every pitch and in every game, even simulated games.
For example, take 2 deep breaths, adjust glove, move dirt away from the pitching rubber, set up on the pitching rubber, get the signal from catcher, visualize the pitch, commit, and trust your action.
The goal is to be immersed in a routine–for the current pitch, so you are not thinking negatively about past pitches.
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Get The Mental Edge for Baseball and Softball
If you have trouble taking your practice game to competition and under perform in games, your mental game might be the culprit! Baseball and softball players contact me everyday wanting to know why they become scared, anxious, afraid to make mistakes, and lack trust in their skills during games…
You might have a ton of physical talent and perform great in practice, but if you can’t get the job done when it counts, something is missing and the problem is an inferior mental game–not talent or motivation.
We’ve spent the last six months developing a program to teach you how to improve your mental game in 8 easy-to-apply lessons–the same TOP lessons that I teach to baseball and softball players everyday in my one-on-one mental coaching program!