Blog #4: The Cream of the Crop Still Needs Help!!!

        I apologize to everyone for the late post this week but I was in Vegas this weekend for my sister’s birthday and didn’t have an opportunity until today. Enjoy…

       (About a month ago) I was watching the ESPN Wednesday game of the week between Detroit and Boston, and in the first inning, pitcher Armando Galarraga, a second year big leaguer for Detroit, gives up a 3-2 bomb to the 2^nd batter J D Drew, with Pedroia on first. He left a fat, hanging slider with a full count because he was too worried about the runner at first. After it was hit, the camera went to the pitcher who was cursing himself and showing emotion big time! The announcers at this point were talking about how he had such a great rookie year, but that this year “he hasn’t quite figured it out yet”. Well I figured it out in about 3 seconds. All I needed to figure out what was wrong was that three second clip of the inexperienced pitcher moping and whoa is me. I see it constantly even at the big league level.  And you wonder why he hasn’t been consistent this year??? So many of these young big leaguers lack the true skill of possessing a sound mental game. They are where they’re at based mostly on skill. When the announcers say that a player is in the process of figuring “it” out. They never really explain the “it”. This “it” we are talking about is obviously the mental game.  Now this of course is not true for a lot of these young stud players in the bigs, but the point is that you still see players lacking a strong mental game even at the highest level. Every organization should have at least one (if not more) specialist in teaching the mental game and constantly working with players even at the big league level. There are always going to be issues with even the best players. This would basically be a psychologist, constantly dealing with the pressures and failures of the game, but all aimed at baseball. It is sad that a lot of coaches are too stubborn to have a psych guy. They think it is compromising their authority or their ego is shot because they are unable to teach it at the level of an expert. Well, Fullerton’s coaches weren’t ashamed one bit. They embraced Ken Ravissa (our expert psych guy) and worked at the same time with us, constantly learning from him. And you wonder why we are so successful?

      Anyway…pitching is one thing when it comes to the mental game, but hitting?? That’s a whole other story. Pitchers are paid to succeed the majority of the time or else they don’t have a job. Hitters can fail 70% of the time and still be an all star. I know you’ve heard this before, but what you probably don’t think about when you do hear it is the simple fact that hitting is the hardest thing to do in all of sports. Besides having to hit a 90 mph fastball with movement, you could also get a variety of other pitches that move in various directions. If you explained this to someone who has never heard of the game of baseball, they would think you were crazy!!! “They gotta hit what…???  Are you kidding me!!! These guys are hitting balls that are flying at them at all different directions at random speeds as high as 100 mph!!!! No thank you, I’ll pass on playing this dangerous game!!!!”  However this game has been the American pastime for the last 150 years.  It is a beautifully intricate game which ends when you get all 27 outs, not based off a clock like most other major sports. It is also the most challenging game, which is probably why it has taken over my life for the past 20 years. So, back to the dealing with the failure of hitting. Why is it that a lot of players will either get 2 or 3 hits in one game or none at all?? Because the success of a lot of players’ games are determined in the first or second at bat. Some players can handle getting out the first time and come back and have a good at bat his second, but after failing twice in a row, most cannot handle that failure the next two at bats of the game.  Players constantly take previous failed at bats into their next ones without even realizing it. Subconsciously, or even consciously, 99% of players have some kind of negative thought or emotion carried from a previous at bat into their current one. And I am here to stop this today. Have you ever asked a single player, let alone your entire team, what they are thinking or feeling during an at bat or before a pitch is delivered?? Most coaches don’t make their players aware of this type of thinking and are thus unable to fix it.  Once aware of a problem, you can always fix it with the right knowledge and tools. However, if you are never conscious about what kind of attitude you have or the thoughts that run though your head during an at bat, well then simply… you will never fix the problem.  Simple as that!! Now that we are aware of this problem, we can deal with the feelings of failure. Talk about these feelings with your team. Have them express their concerns about hitting, even at the earliest age. Your responses will obviously be different based on the age and skill of your players, but the basic concept is applicable to all ages, just make it your own. Now that we are aware of the problem, the solution will come in time. Do not expect amazing results (especially the younger your players are) within a few days of opening this door. You are dealing with young kids and certain players, depending on their learning capability and how good of a teacher you are, will pick up on this positive way of thinking faster than others. But you will start to notice signs of improvement within the first few weeks. This is all a part of their development as players and as human beings. I will continue to deal with how to teach these tools to your players in the coming weeks so keep reading and re-reading. The first step is to make your players aware of their emotions and thoughts. Some players might respond, “I dunno”. Don’t stop there. Dig deeper into the fears and negative thinking, that I know and you should know, your players are feeling. It is completely natural, which makes it that much more difficult to fix. You need to become the psychologist and teacher. That’s what coaching is, teaching. If your not a good teacher than I don’t know why you are coaching. And if your not a good teacher but still desire to coach your kid, then I suggest you starting engraining yourself with knowledge and lots of it!!  At first, I would suggest taking little Johnny aside and having a one on one instead of trying to head shrink your whole team at once. Once you become more comfortable with this type of training, you can have team discussions in which your players are sharing their fears and emotions with one another. You are the director of this discussion so start off slowly by having individual sessions. Start with your pitchers during bullpens. Allow a bit more time than usual because most of the time spent should be talking. Get inside the heads of your players, bring the feelings and emotions to the surface, and then transform their way of thinking to that of a competitive nature. But it all starts with YOU, the coach. If you are not thinking this way, then it is impossible to achieve it with your players. Become aware and then transform…

      By the way, for all who don’t know, Detroit lost that game at home to Boston 10- 5 (because of an 8^th inning with 3 consecutive errors by Red Sox infielders). Beckett threw a no hitter into the 7^th, giving up no earned runs in 8 innings against a first place team. Now, it took Beckett a few years to figure “it” out and now he is one of the games best with the ultimate proof being performing under the highest pressure in all of baseball, winning 2 World Series rings. If you don’t really remember his starts against the Yankees in ’03, he was sitting at 99 mph throughout the whole game, hitting 100 many times. Now Beckett usually works at 95- 97, but this start, he came to compete his ass off!!! 1000% of all his energy was expended for each and every pitch, resulting in a completely dominating series. Besides his beautifully smooth and simple mechanics, he finally learned what it meant to compete each and every pitch. And now, he rarely shows emotion of any kind. A “mistake” pitch is nothing more than a pitch in which the pitcher lost his focus.  Every pitch or swing or play should have a definitive purpose. Visualize success, have positive thoughts, take a good deep breath in the nose and out the mouth, and execute.