The mental side of pitching

[coach james]

Looking for suggestions regarding young pitchers who are nearly flawless in practice, good speed, mechanics, accuracy, etc.... However when the game starts, all good mechanics go out the window, and she is all over the place! What are some suggestions that you give to young pitchers to keep them in the game mentally?

 

[jacman]

Just finished reading a book called "Play Big" (purchased at Amazon). Written for kids to read, with a few short, workbook style questions after each chapter. and centered around a story of a boy in a hitting slump. I've read several books on mental training. This is the one I'm making my DD read (also a pitcher). I just gave it to her a couple days ago, so I don't have results to offer. But I like the concepts presented and how it is written in a way that is accessible to kids,

 

[Cowdogz]

The Mental ABC's of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement: H. A. Dorfman: 9781888698299: Amazon.com: Books

Third review down:

"Has been helpful for my fastpitch softball daughter: Picked this book up going into the 14u all-star season this summer after seeing a college pitcher reading it during a televised NCAA game. I figured if it was good enough for her, maybe I should check it out and I am glad that I did.

The A,B,C format makes it more of a reference book than a cover-to-cover read. So, I skimmed the various chapters, like Finishing Hitters where he reminds the pitcher to Work Ahead, and Stay Ahead and not let up after going up 0-2 on a batter or trying too hard to throw a perfect pitch. I reviewed several of these concepts with my daughter at home and got to use them in our first tournament this weekend. My daughter came in to relieve a struggling starter and I would periodically call out some of these reminders for different situations, "Attack the Zone", "Work Ahead, Stay Ahead", etc..."

 

[marriard]

Looking for suggestions regarding young pitchers who are nearly flawless in practice, good speed, mechanics, accuracy, etc.... However when the game starts, all good mechanics go out the window, and she is all over the place! What are some suggestions that you give to young pitchers to keep them in the game mentally?

A very simple thing to check first before you go down the sports psychiatrist route - how much is she practicing against live batters? Even just something in the batters box (like a garbage bin).

I ask this because the #2 cause of lost control in younger pitchers is that many of them LOOK at the batter at some stage during their pitch instead of where they want the ball to go. You tend to throw at what you are looking at, so a lot of good 'practice pitchers' tend to lose control as they face live batters as they don't adjust to having something there they don't see in practice. (this is one of the big causes of car crashes - drivers LOOK at what they want to avoid and drive right into it instead of looking at where they want to go to avoid an obstacle)

#1 cause is normally just inexperience which goes away of they get enough circle time and that it takes time to translate practice into game execution.

 

[CJ D]

Use garbage cans in one batter's box during practice. Then put them in both batter's boxes. When they can master this without any loss of focus, place mom in the batter's box. Let her work through that, and you've got a winner.

 

[JAD]

Looking for suggestions regarding young pitchers who are nearly flawless in practice, good speed, mechanics, accuracy, etc.... However when the game starts, all good mechanics go out the window, and she is all over the place! What are some suggestions that you give to young pitchers to keep them in the game mentally?

During pitching practice have a batter stand in the batters box. Then have the batter switch sides during the practice. A lot of pitchers are afraid of hitting batters and as soon as a batter steps in the box pitches are suddenly 2 feet farther outside. Once your DD is comfortable with a batter in the box, put batters in both boxes at the same time. If she can get comfortable pitching against two batters at once, a single batter in a game will seem like a piece of cake.

 

[JAD]

During pitching practice have a batter stand in the batters box. Then have the batter switch sides during the practice. A lot of pitchers are afraid of hitting batters and as soon as a batter steps in the box pitches are suddenly 2 feet farther outside. Once your DD is comfortable with a batter in the box, put batters in both boxes at the same time. If she can get comfortable pitching against two batters at once, a single batter in a game will seem like a piece of cake.

This exercise is also good practice for your teams batters - have them stand in the box with or without a bat (no swinging), and have them watch the pitch all the way to the catcher's glove and challenge them to call "ball or strike" as quickly as they can upon release of the pitch. As they batters improve try to have them identify the pitches. If the pitcher is throwing a change up, have them call it as soon as they recognize it. This will also help your pitcher to learn not to "tip" her pitches.

 

[CoachKevin]

This is very interesting... since last Fall I have been talking to our pitchers about changing their mindset and using positive thoughts/mental visualization. I have found it very difficult to "get through" this concept to our pitchers. These are 18A players too.

Just this past weekend, one of our pitchers was getting frustrated with the calls she was getting. At one point she shrugged her shoulders, I immediately called time and went out to talk to her. First thing I said was I do not want you to show any emotion out here, maintain your composure. I shouldn't be able to tell if you have just given up a Grand Slam, or have a perfect game going on. I reminded her about changing her mindset and using positive thoughts.

Another pitcher in another game came in as relief in a 0-0 ball game against a top notch team. There were runners on 2nd and 3rd with 1 out, she walked the next batter to load the bases, then threw a wild pitch and the runner scored. For some reason something switched in her after the run scored, and pitched lights out the next 2 innings. We lost 1-0. I don't know why her mental attitude wasn't the same before the run scored vs after the run scored.

 

[T.J.]

Looking for suggestions regarding young pitchers who are nearly flawless in practice, good speed, mechanics, accuracy, etc.... However when the game starts, all good mechanics go out the window, and she is all over the place! What are some suggestions that you give to young pitchers to keep them in the game mentally?

Read Dr. Bob Rotella's book. It's a very quick and easy read. His focus and main clients are golfers, but you can learn a lot, and many strategies that you can teach your players and students. I wouldn't have your player read the book, or "let on" that she has a pattern of good & bad (practice-game) that needs to be addressed mentally. Just read the book for your own knowledge, and to help you help others.

Aside from that it's more than likely it's a fear of failure issue; which results in a breakdown of brain function and mechanics....IOW she might have the yips. When you have the yips the brain will automatically and momentarily "Black you out" at the moment of fear; (similarly to when folks re-counter an accident and they don't remember the actual crash or impact because the brain "blacked them out" when the fear got too high). When golfers have the putting yips their fear builds up so much that they will "blackout" for an instant of time at contact with the ball. To remove this golfers would practice 1,000s of 2-4 foot putts to program their brain with success, rather than failure. So when they are in that situation in a tournament the brain relates it to success, and happy times, not failure; thereby removing the yips.

Pitchers need to do the same thing...have successful practice with batters in the box. If she is struggling this much she needs to practice with a batter...not a box, not barrel, not an inflatable bozo the clown punching bag...a batter standing in the box. And she needs to do this many many many times. She needs to do this sooo much that the brain calculate seeing a batter in the box to success and happy times.

Kudos to JAD this also helps kids learn how to track the ball....excellent idea.

Just my thoughts,

T

 

[RetiredCoach]

I have had very limited success in changing the mental game for any of my pitchers. However, I have found a number of girls that seem to be born with all of the innate characteristics to handle all of the mental stress, to not show emotion, and to go hard throughout the whole game. I have seen quite a number of girls that seemed to have all of the physical characteristics to be a great pitcher but washout because they could not handle the mental part of pitching.

Has this been your experience as well?