The Mental Game of Baseball Hitting
Yogi Berra once said “You can’t hit and think at the same time.” Trust and confidence in the swing is gained through dedicated practice and game experience, swing repetition and recall.
An inexperienced hitter relies on his day to day practice improvements to gain confidence in his swing. An aggressive approach to baseball hitting at the plate, with positive feedback from his team and coach, will always build a hitter’s confidence and trust in his swing. The player builds trust in themselves when everyone is behind his efforts, regardless of his successes or failures. Relieving pressure associated with the game will help lift the player to a higher confidence level.
An experienced hitter thinks positively before the at-bat, and lets his physical skill and instinct take over in the batters box. But it is the coaches responsibility is to teach a balance of thought process with athletic ability and instinct, as each hitter is different.
There will still be times when a hitter slumps with quality at-bats. Common causes of slumps are mental or physical fatigue, poor mental or mechanical approach or lack of confidence in his swing. This requires the player to step back and go back to the fundamentals, or get away from the game for a while to re-energize and relax. Recognizing fatigue factors of the players mental and physical game will help guide the to higher player performance.
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