The Grip

One of the most important but often over looked aspects of the swing is the grip. A proper grip can go a long way in helping the hitter perform proper mechanics, while an improper grip can negatively effect the hitter’s ability perform these mechanics. So how can this be? How can something as simple as how you hold the bat have such a strong influence over the rest of your swing?

First of all, we have to understand that every part of our swing is connected to every other part of our swing. What we do in one aspect of the swing will impact another aspect of the swing somewhere down the line. As such our goal should be to set ourselves up in such a way that we make it as easy as possible for ourselves to perform proper mechanics.

The strongest position we can be in when we are at the point of contact is the palm up/palm down position. As a hitter we need to do what we can to enable ourselves to get into this position as easily and as quickly and as possible. If you see the picture above you will notice that the back elbow is almost against the ribs at the point of contact. This is that strong position I mentioned above. In order to get into that position quickly and easily we have to make sure that we have the proper grip.

The proper grip is having what I call our “door knocking knuckles” lined up. When a hitter grips the bat he should place the handle in his fingers as opposed to in his palms. This lines up the knuckles and allows for maximum control of the bat. As you can see in the photo above when the knuckles are properly aligned the back elbow will drop. This allows for the hitter to get into the palm up/palm down position much easier.

Too often I hear coach and parents instructing their athletes to put their “elbow up”. They are inadvertently making it more difficult for their hitter to hit. When the back elbow is up it causes improper knuckle alignment. As such the hitter never truly reaches a good palm up/palm down position. In addition, the elbow at some point needs to get into the position above, if the elbow is up the barrel of the bat must drop in order to get into the palm up/palm down position. This will cause the hitter to pop the ball up or hit more weak groundballs.

Making sure that our knuckles are in proper alignment and dropping the back elbow is an easy fix that can produce good results. Remember that all great hitters have repeatable swings. Make sure to put yourself in the best position to repeat proper mechanics and avoid mechanical breakdown.

In Game Visualization

For athletes visualizing success is an extremely powerful tool to use to help maximize performance. Visualization helps you repeat proper mechanics and at the same time attracts success into your life. The great thing is you have complete control over what it is you are visualizing. You can visualize yourself performing feats that you currently are unable to perform. The amazing thing is that your mind can’t tell the difference between something you visualized and something you actually did physically.

In athletics our goal is to repeat proper mechanics. When we are practicing we are trying to develop “muscle memory” in order to be able to repeat these mechanics easier. “Muscle memory” is essentially training the mind to fire the muscles properly when performing a movement. If the mind can’t distinguish the difference between what is performed and what is visualized then an athlete can increase their ability to repeat mechanics by simply imagining themselves performing at a certain level.

So how can this help in a game? One of the things that I tell my athletes is to use visualization both prior to and after competition. For example: When a hitter is on deck they are able to see the pitcher and the situation. They can then formulate a plan of attack as to how they want to attack that pitcher and what they are trying to accomplish at the plate. Once this information is in place the hitter can then visualize themselves successfully executing proper mechanics and executing their plan. Their mind will begin to feel as though they had already experienced the situation and that will make their success more likely.

If the athlete is unable to perform the mechanics or execute the desired plan it is also very beneficial for the athlete to then go back to the dugout and replay the at-bat in their mind. When the athlete replays the at-bat in their mind they should visualize themselves performing proper mechanics and having success in that at-bat.

Over time the athlete will begin to notice more consistent success in their play and more confidence overall. Visualization is one of the most powerful tools we can use. I highly recommend all athletes to take advantage of this powerful tool.

The Limits of our Ego

Basically, our ego is defined as our belief of our own self importance. It is our belief that we are separate from everyone and everything. You can see the product of the ego in daily life, as we all scurry around competing with one another trying to get what’s “ours” and trying to survive in this “dog eat dog” world. We become jealous when someone accomplishes or attains something that we desire like there isn’t enough to go around. We become offended when someone doesn’t give us the respect that we believe we deserve, simply because we are so important that they shouldn’t treat us a certain way. The ego reveals itself even more in the world of athletics. As athletes we are in a world that is dominated by egotistical people. We are continually surrounded by large egos whether we are with our parents, teammates, coaches, or opposing players. Everyone wants to be the best and we become upset at the very idea that we might not be the best. More often, players, coaches, parents and others involved in sports are so connected with the ego that instead of looking deep inside themselves and understanding where they are at athletically they tend to blame others for their position on the team or getting cut or whatever the case maybe. They are so connected to their own level of self importance that they are paralyzed with fear to be honest and admit that they could improve. You see this in players when they blame others (teammates, coaches, etc.) for a loss, or for why they got cut, or why they struck out or made an error. Even more subtly however you see it in pre-competition anxiety and fear of failing. You see this in coaches when they blame the “talent level” of their players as the reason they can’t win. “You can only do so much with what you have.” is the mantra of coaches attached to their ego. Their belief that you have to have “talented” players in order to win is their obvious attachment to their ego, I mean it couldn’t be them, they are great coaches, if only the players could understand!

Our attachment to our ego and to our own self importance at every level is the very thing that limits us from achieving all the things that we desire to achieve. Carlos Castaneda once said, “Self importance is our greatest enemy.” He couldn’t have been more correct. As athletes our attachment to our own self importance is the very thing that creates fear of failure, bitterness, anger, arrogance and frustration when we are out on the field. As such these negative feelings cause us to be limited in what we can accomplish. You show me an athlete who is free from ego and I will show you an athlete who can accomplish anything.

Why is this so? What is it about our own self importance that limits us? Every negative emotion and feeling that you poses is directly linked to your attachment to your ego. Fear of failure for example is pure ego and selfishness. Why are we afraid to fail? Well one reason might be that you want everyone around you (teammates, parents, spectators, coaches, opposing players) to believe that you are a good player. We are attached to the idea that, “I am what others think of me”, so we are afraid that if we don’t play well then other people might not believe that we am any good. As such this means that I am not good and my level of self importance is then greatly reduced. You might argue that you are afraid to let your team down, thinking that this is you trying to serve your team and not that you are attached to your own level of importance. I would argue however that this is just ego in disguise. You really don’t want to let your team down so that they won’t be disappointed in you for striking out with the game on the line, or so they will lift you up on their shoulders after you get the game winning hit. Either way this is still you being made to feel more important by the actions of others.

In order to reach the levels of success that you desire it is paramount that you stay in a positive state and play the game from your heart. This is impossible when you are attached to your ego. So how do we do it? How does an athlete release the restraints of egoic thinking and play more from their heart, ultimately unlocking the unlimited potential inside all of us?

Nobody accomplishes anything alone Even when we believe that we have accomplished something entirely on our own, we really needed other people to allow this accomplishment to become a reality. Nothing you accomplish was done entirely by you, therefore you are better then no one and your accomplishment is the accumulation of the effort of many people. For example: If athlete plays well enough to earn a Division 1 scholarship after his parents had taken him to hitting lessons since he was 12 years old he has many people to thank for his accomplishment. His parents for buying the lessons, his instructor for teaching him the right skills, his high school coach for allowing him to play, his college coach for giving him the scholarship and so on. This accomplishment was not accomplished entirely by the athlete so the athlete has no reason to feel as though they are better or separate from anyone. They should rather feel gratitude for all the people who helped him reach that accomplishment.


Develop an attitude of service An athlete can go a long way in releasing their attachment to their ego by continually looking for ways in which they can serve. In every situation through out the course of a game they should be continually asking themselves, “how can I be of service?” How can they serve their team, the game, the fans, and their opponent? What can they do to make this game better? This attitude forces the athlete to focus on something greater then their own personal achievement. They can serve their teammates by doing whatever they can to help the team win. They can serve the game and the fans by playing hard and doing things correctly demonstrating good body language and playing the game with the respect it deserves. They can serve their opponent by giving them respect, playing hard and staying focused at all times, holding themselves to a high standard of respect and sportsmanship and not allowing themselves to be dragged into the negativity of trash talk or disrespecting the opponent in anyway. Looking for ways to serve will allow the athlete to disconnect from their ego and as such have more personal success.

Release your need to win This idea comes to us from Dr. Wayne Dyer’s book “The Power of Intention” I know, I know, sounds crazy right? Really think about what this is saying. I am certainly not saying release your DESIRE to win, but release your NEED to win. When we need to win to feel as though we are good we limit ourselves tremendously since we are not going to win every game or every at bat. There is always going to be someone who might get the right bounce or be a little more prepared at some point along the way. If we base how we feel about our performance on a NEED to win then we are limiting ourselves. Remember you are not your wins you are much more than that. Your confidence should not be based on your performance but rather your confidence should be the reason for your performance. Holding onto the ego and believing that we are our wins, or our hits, or whatever keeps us in a state of uncertainty since our confidence will fluctuate with every game or every at-bat. You can enjoy competing and have a love for being in competitive situations but if you hold onto your need to win you will completely loose the enjoyment of competing. Your enjoyment will be based entirely on winning or not winning. This limits us because it puts us in an emotional state that doesn’t allow for growth. When you have a need to win you then think everything is okay when you win. You miss out on opportunities to improve because you accomplished your goal. When you loose you become so upset and frustrated that it is impossible for you to objectively look at what it is you need to improve on or the fact that maybe you did improve and you just are not yet up to the level of your opponent. Either way you are limiting yourself and will never be able to explore your unlimited potential.

The ego is something that affects all of us. We have been conditioned over the course of our lives to believe that each one of us is separate from everyone else. We believe that we are in competition with everyone else and that what others think about us makes us who we are. If you can remove yourself from the confines of the ego you would be literally astonished at your level of improvement as an athlete.

Expect Miracles

In a famous quote by E.A. Teppe he states, “What you expect of yourself will closely be linked to what you accomplish.” Some of you will soon be trying out for your high school team, this can be a time of some nervousness and anxiety especially given the fact that this might be the first time that you have had to “make” a team. You might, for the first time be in situation where the possibility of not making a team is very real for you. As I look back throughout my life and my career, there is no question in my mind that the above statement is true. Looking back on the events that have transpired in my life I can now see how the expectations I have had for myself have materialized into the actual experiences I have had.

Too often we have “hopes” of the things we wish to accomplish however our expectations are usually cloaked in “reality”. We have a tendency to expect “realistic” things of ourselves as if this somehow protects us from disappointment. The irony is, when you fall short of our “hopes” but accomplish our “expectations” we are still disappointed. Hoping for something to happen doesn’t allow us to create the experience we want. When we hope for something we leave open the possibility for it not to happen. Hoping basically means that something could or could not work out. However an expectation leaves no doubt in your mind that a goal will be realized. Think about it, when you go to bed at night you expect the sun to rise in the morning. You have no doubt that this event will take place, if you hoped this would happen you would never get a restful night of sleep. When you are driving in a car you have faith and expect to get to your destination safely, if you didn’t you would be a nervous wreck and most assuredly you would cause a few accidents. The same reasoning goes for accomplishing our goals.

In both my playing career and in my life I have learned that we must expect the impossible out of ourselves and for the impossible to take place. When we have a goal to accomplish something it is easy for us to look outward and say, “well this will never happen.” We get wrapped up in “how” we are going to accomplish something and completely forget about or desire to accomplish it. We never know what is going to take place to lead us to our destination. Just because we can’t see how it is going to happen doesn’t mean that it can’t happen.

In order to play at the levels that we desire we must expect miracles to happen to allow us to achieve our dreams. Many times we limit ourselves and what we can accomplish, we allow the outside opinions of others to condition our expectations and beliefs in what we can accomplish. In order to reach your goals and the levels that you desire you must expect them to work out. Regardless of what you have going on in your life, regardless of all the evidence to the contrary you must have faith and whole heartedly believe that you dream will be realized.

Looking back at my career, I now have the ability to see how this has impacted my entire life. There are many things I have hoped for, however I have only accomplished the things I expected to accomplish. Even when there was no reason and no possible way for their attainment. When you expect these dreams to happen miracles will start to happen to get you what it is you desire.

In July of 2000 one such miracle occurred. Earlier in the year I had graduated from college and I drove to Indiana to tryout for a minor league baseball team. After the tryout not one team showed any interest and I can’t necessarily say I blamed them. I played at a small college, had a career batting average around .250 and never played a day of varsity baseball in high school. When I drove back home it appeared to most that the dream had come to an end. It seamed to everyone but my wife and myself that my playing days were over and that it was time to “get a real job”. However since I was a little kid I had always expected myself to play professional baseball and continued to work as if this dream was going to be realized.

Once I returned home from Indiana I started coaching an 18u travel team. During one of our games I was coaching third base and struck up a conversation with the coach from the other team. We discussed baseball and it happened to come up that my dream was to play professional baseball. After the game the coach pulled me aside and introduced himself as the owner of a minor league baseball team in St. George, Utah. He told me that my passion and knowledge of the game was exactly what he looked for in his players. Less then one week later I was in uniform and playing professional baseball. This man gave me an opportunity to play professionally and this opportunity came out of nowhere and looking back it is a true miracle that it ever happened.

My tenure with the team didn’t last long. Some could argue that it was because I wasn’t ready to play at that level and in some respects they would be correct. It is my belief that I wasn’t ready because once I was on the team I didn’t expect to stay. My focus shifted and I began to “hope” that I could stay. I had doubts that I belonged and as a result my experience followed my expectation. I was released shortly after getting to St. George and really didn’t understand why until now.

Just two years later another miracle occurred but once again my focus shifted and the result quickly followed. I had signed with another minor league team and just a week before I was scheduled to leave for spring training the manager called me and released me before ever seeing me play. Once this happened I began to wish for the opportunity to wear a major league uniform even if it was just for one day. I expected this to happen, I don’t know why I expected it but I did. Once again out of now where a miracle appeared. I just so happened to be giving lessons to the son of a former (California) Angel. He was now a part time coach with the team and one afternoon prior to giving a lesson to his son he walked into the facility and saw me hitting. He was very impressed and just a couple days later I was on a plane to Arizona for a private tryout with the now Los Angeles Angels. It was amazing! I got to the spring training complex, walked into the locker room and there waiting for me was my very own Angels uniform. Even more surprising was the fact that the jersey they gave me had one of my two favorite numbers on it (I told no one what my numbers were). I slipped on the uniform and ran out to the field. I was in heaven, and having the time of my life. As such I played better then I had ever played up to that point. I hit what was at the time the farthest ball I had ever hit. I had some of my best rounds of batting practice I had ever had. At one point I turned around and saw the entire Angels coaching staff standing around the cage watching me hit.

After my tryout ended I had multiple coaches coming over to me raving about my swing and the round of hitting they just witnessed. Unfortunately they had to inform me that there wasn’t a spot available for me with the organization. Why? What had happened? They were just raving about my abilities, telling me that I was better at this then one player or better at that then another player. I couldn’t figure out why I wasn’t reaching the dreams I had for myself. But what did I expect? What was my expectation for that day? I mean my hope was that they would be so impressed that they would sign me on the spot. My expectation however was for one day. One day in a major league uniform is all I expected and as a result it is all I received.

What I hope you learn from my experiences is that you need to expect the impossible. Set high goals for yourself and regardless of what goes on around you or what others may say expect yourself to realize those goals. As some of you come up on your first real tryout experience don’t limit yourself by “hoping” to make the team. Expect yourself to make the team, expect yourself to be a starter, expect yourself to put up great numbers. Then go to work as if those goals are already your reality. Expect miracles in your life and you will begin to see miracles all around you. Don’t let anything create doubt in you mind that your goals will be realized. Just remember the above quote and know that your life will closely resemble your expectations.

The Myth of Talent

Probably one of the biggest myths in sports today is the idea that the talent you possess is something that a person either has or they don’t. Too often I hear people say that a particular player is just a “born hitter” as if this reasoning explains why a particular player is having success and another player isn’t. We have a tendency to blame our successes and our failures on forces that are beyond our control. Do we really think that an athlete who hits .220 every year of his career was simply born to be a .220 hitter? That there isn’t much that they can do to improve on that number? Oh sure they can work their tail off and take extra batting practice and break down their swing on video and then maybe they will be lucky enough to increase their average to .250. I couldn’t disagree with this belief more. Any athlete is capable of putting up Hall of Fame numbers regardless of the “talent” that others believe they have or they don’t have. No athlete is limited in what they can accomplish in any way.

Most of my career I was plagued by lack luster performance and an inability to attain the levels of performance that I desired. I was constantly told that I was unable to perform at higher levels due to some lack of “talent”. I became the athlete that is commonly referred to as the guy who gets the most out of what he was given. I was the “hard worker”, the “scrapper” who had to scratch and claw for everything that I was given and I wore this label as a badge of honor. At the same time however I somewhat resented the label and for some reason had an inner knowing that this wasn’t who I really was. Regardless of what anyone told me or what I or anyone else labeled me, I always knew that I was capable of more. What I didn’t realize at the time was just how much more I was capable of. For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to become the athlete that I knew that I truly was.

Even after I signed my first professional contract and was soon after released I still felt a sense of disappointment, I felt as though I had underachieved in some way. I had people all around me saying that I should be grateful for the time I had in professional baseball and that I had exceeded everyone’s expectations and I should be proud of that. I was grateful especially knowing how few people get that opportunity however I knew what no one else knew and while at the time I couldn’t prove it I knew there was more inside of me and I had to figure out a way to bring that out. At the time I didn’t know how and I couldn’t even tell you why I felt this way I just knew that I was not “overachieving” as everyone had said but I was instead underachieving. I was not living up to the unlimited potential that I was born with.

As a result I set out on a journey that continues today. To prove to myself what I already knew and to find a way so that other people could experience their unlimited potential and never have that quiet knowing eating away at them that they too are underachieving in their career and in their life.

Not knowing how this was going to happen or where to start I began to dissect the game of baseball working on the physical aspects and through trial and error figuring our how to eliminate the habits that were inhibiting my performance. At the same time I also began to study the power of our minds and how people throughout history have achieved physical and mental mastery. Since this journey began, I have been able to see my own development from an athlete of minimal “talent” to an athlete with above average talent in a relatively short amount of time. In that amount of time I have turned my weaknesses into my strengths and so much so that someone who met me today and watched my skill set would list my strengths as the very same qualities that someone who knew me 10 years ago would list as my major weaknesses.

How is this possible? How can an athlete completely redefine themselves so that the areas in which there appears to be little or no talent all of a sudden becomes an area of tremendous talent and ability? Could it be possible that we are all capable of achieving anything we desire and that we possess the talent to do so from the moment we are born? Could it also be that a lack of talent doesn’t exist and that the lack of talent we are experiencing is more a product of some physical, mental, or emotional roadblock that we have placed in our own way on our way toward success.

The experiences in my life and the changes that I have been able to make have taught me that I had already possessed the talent that had eluded me for the majority of my life. That from the moment I was born I already had the skill set necessary to accomplish anything that I had a passion for. That it was due to self imposed limitations through my personal conditioned responses to situations that was blocking my talent from revealing itself.

In Dan Millman’s book “Body, Mind, Mastery: Creating Success in Sport and Life” he states, “The essence of talent is not so much a presence of certain qualities but rather an absence of the mental, physical, and emotional obstructions most adults experience.” I couldn’t agree with this statement more. I have had the privilege to witness this very fact in my career and in the career of the athletes I work with. Obviously if this was an isolated incident where I was the only one who had made such major improvement then there would certainly be a cause for an argument. However, I have seen the same results happen to a number of the athletes I work with. This very weekend for example I had the honor of witnessing it once again.

On Saturday afternoon I was working with one of my athletes. We have been working together for the past couple of years and he has made tremendous gains over our time together. Recently he approached me about working with him on his throwing which was an area of his game that he has always felt a lack of ability. In a mere 30 minutes, by simply eliminating a physical “block” in his mechanics he was able to achieve velocity that he never knew he had. We constantly talk about arm strength as if it has to do with muscular strength and while muscular strength plays a role his lack of strength evaporated by simply removing a flaw that was blocking what was already inside. The exciting part of all of this is that he has only scratched the surface as to what he will be able to accomplish as he proved a few minutes later when we moved into the hitting portion of his lesson.

Over the past two years we have primarily focused on hitting with our work together. During that time he has developed as mechanically flawless a swing as just about anyone could hope for. As a result we have now been able to move into the mental skills area of his development as an athlete. Saturday was the first day of our “mental” training and the results that manifested themselves physically were incredible. In one round of swings where he hit 15 balls he executed 15 of the best swings I had ever seen him perform. Every ball that was hit exploded off of his bat with greater speed and back spin then I had ever seen out of this athlete. I could have taken any one of the swings out of that round and it would have easily been the best swing I had ever seen him perform. All the while his swing was performed with an effortlessness that to the few who saw it could only classify it as beautiful. By removing some mental blocks he was able to elevate his game to a level that had previously been thought of as unattainable. The amazing thing is how removing this mental block manifested itself into physical form by a tremendous increase in bat speed and power with a decrease in effort and an elimination of physical mistakes. What is exciting for me and for him is the fact that this was THE FIRST DAY!!! What is he going to be capable of in a year or the year after once he has gained greater mastery over his thoughts?

What revealed itself once again is this myth of talent. This particular athlete went from an athlete of “average talent” to “above average talent” in a mere 60 minutes. Obviously this “talent” has resided inside of him all along and has been waiting to be released. Witnessing these results I must also conclude that there is so much more inside of him just waiting to come out. It was so exciting to see him begin to see his unlimited potential and to begin to become the unlimited athlete he truly is.

Whatever level of baseball you are currently playing at or how well you are currently performing please know that you already have the ability to accomplish anything that you desire. That your ability to achieve your dreams is not in the acquisition of certain skills but rather your ability to remove what is currently blocking you from using the talents you already have. Take comfort in the knowing that what ever goal you wish to accomplish whether in baseball or in some other arena you already possess every talent necessary to accomplish this goal. You don’t need anything more other than what you already have. You simply need to turn inward and discover what it is that is blocking you from using the talents you have already been given. Whether it is a limiting self image, your conditioned responses to the situations in your life or some physical limitation in your mechanics, removing these roadblocks will enable you to achieve your dreams with ease and effortlessness. Dream big dreams, set your sights high and know that there are no limitations to what you can accomplish. The talent you need is already inside you.