Playing pitch to pitch is extremely important. It is a necessity as a baseball player. I have seen it countless times, as a player and as a coach, how a given situation affects a player mentally. There are so many talented players out there, but they cannot maximize their talent if they cannot let go of the past. They are living in the situation that already happened, such as giving up a home run, striking out at the plate, or getting picked off at first base. It does not do them any good by holding on to that moment.
Too many hitters dwell on their first at-bat. It is easy to predict how the rest of their day will be based on the first at-bat. If they strike out, you can expect the same the rest of the day. If they get a hit, more will come in the next few plate appearances. Regardless of the outcome of the pitch or play that happened, it is done. Time to move on to the next pitch.
The reason it is so important to move onto the next pitch is to prevent overthinking. When you do not let go of the previous play, you start to hope it does not happen again. You worry about it and it consumes your thoughts. What happens when the past consumes your thoughts? Your concentration on the present vanishes. Due to the lack of focus on the next pitch, a similar result that you dreaded occurs again and again. We have all seen pitchers, fielders, and hitters fall off the tracks. On the other hand, hitters hit home runs, pitchers strike batters out, base runners steal bases, and fielders make amazing plays. In order to be the best player we can be, we still must play pitch to pitch. We can carry those situation to boost our confidence, but the past still does not affect what you will do in the current situation. The best players learn from their past, positive and negative situations, and compete in the now.
So how do we play pitch to pitch?
Win The Pitch Mentality
To be a successful baseball player, we must shift our mindset to focus on winning the current pitch. This will take time to build just like any new habit. The more we practice this, the better we become at it. The easiest way to build your “win the pitch” mentality is to set goals for yourself every single day. Awareness is key before you can set your goals. You must be able to identify how often you are not playing pitch to pitch. For example, let’s say that you realize that you only focus pitch to pitch for six innings. You can set your daily goal of staying locked in pitch to pitch for 6 1/3 innings, then 6 2/3 innings and so forth. We may not win every pitch, but this will give us the confidence we need in order to compete in every pitch.
Master Your Breath
Many coaches say “slow the game down,” and “stay loose and relaxed.” Not many coaches tell us how to do so. Breathing is the best solution to these statements. We all breathe unconsciously, but when you focus on controlling your breath, you have more focus, relaxation, and clarity. All key ingredients to becoming a better ballplayer. To practice your breathing, it is easiest to start when you are comfortable and in a quiet place. Take deep breaths, about a four second inhale, a hold for two seconds, and an exhale of six seconds. Once you get better at this, start to implement it into practices and games. Before every pitch, take a deep breath. Anytime the game starts to speed up on you, go back to this technique and you can come back to the moment and win the pitch.
Baseball can be extremely difficult at times, but we can minimize that by focusing on playing pitch to pitch. We can accomplish this by practicing your “win the pitch” mentality and by mastering your breath. Start to build these habits into your practices and games and you will start to see a big difference in your performance.
