The Evolution of Players

I’m asked a lot about how players are different today as opposed to when I was younger. My answer is always the same in that I say they’re better and worse at the same time. There is no question that players today are far more advanced fundamentally then when I was in high school and college. With the increasing popularity of private instruction, camps/clinics, and travel ball players today have much more opportunity to improve and are more prepared when they reach the college and professional levels. So in that regard the players today are far better then just 15-20 years ago.

The problem I see is that everything in the game has become too organized. Players today have so much opportunity to play organized baseball, on nice fields, with nice uniforms, umpires, coaches, and fans that they rarely, if ever play a simple pick up game, over the line, or even whiffle ball. In my opinion this is hindering the players today by taking some of the fun from the game and stifling their creativity. Players today are so used to playing in an organized, regimented environment that they’ve lost the ability to just go out and play. This has translated into an increase in the number of players suffering from fear of failure and has increased the stress levels of many players. It appears that very few players today play for the shear joy of the game. From an early age they are constantly striving to reach a higher level of play, to improve, and to reach some level of performance or some long term goal.

It’s important for us to remember that baseball is just a game. One that should be enjoyed and played with passion and joy from the earliest levels of T-Ball all the way up to the Major Leagues. The more we organize the game, the more we rob the players of today of the joy of playing. Instead of worrying about constantly pushing to develop take some time to get back to the pure essence of the game. Go out and play some whiffle ball, play a game of over the line. Encourage young players to get a couple of friends together and play a pick up game. It may not seem like these unorganized games away from parents and coaches are valuable however it helps remind players what they play for. It helps players develop creativity which is where great plays come from. It helps players play freely without the pressure of winning and it helps players take ownership of their own game which develops in them the passion and desire to put the work in to improve.

Slow Your Feet Down

Working with a lot of high school and college infielders I notice a common mistake that increases the likelihood of a bobbled ball or an errant throw. It seems to me that most infielders today are taught to have so much movement in their feet and are schooled that it’s so vitally important to have “quick” feet that they don’t put themselves in good position to catch the ball or to make a good throw. To often high school and college coaches are more concerned with how an infielder looks rather then how an infielder performs. If you watch most Major League infielders you’ll notice how smooth and deliberate they look when fielding the ball. This is due to the efficiency of their movements. Major League players understand that the more efficient they are with their movements they don’t have to work as hard to complete a play. What I notice is that most amateur infielders take twice as many steps to go the same distance as professional infielders. Everything they do is done with a lot of movement and at a high rate of speed. So why is this a bad thing?

First of all, the more movement an athlete has the more the head moves which makes it more difficult to get a good read on a hop and field the ball cleanly. Secondly, when it comes to getting the throw off and completing the play the added quick movement causes the infielder to feel rushed and doesn’t allow him to get his arms in good position to make the throw. As a result he has to take 2 more steps before releasing the ball and when he does make the throw his lower half is ahead of this upper body causing the throwing arm to drag and causing the ball to sail creating more errant throws.

My advice to my infielders is to think about slowing their feet down. Infielders are already quick enough so there is no reason to try to move quicker. What’s the old John Wooden quote, “Be quick but don’t hurry.” That couldn’t apply more to fielding ground balls. Your feet will be quick enough naturally there is no reason to try and be quicker. I tell my infielders to think about taking bigger, slower, more deliberate steps and to take a more direct route to the ball. As opposed to taking the short quick choppy steps the bigger more deliberate steps stabilize the head, allows the body to be in good position when fielding the ball, and allows the upper body to move together with the lower body allowing the player to have a consistent release point on the throw.

So if you’re an infielder do yourself a favor and slow down. Think about taking bigger more deliberate steps. You won’t be too slow, in fact you may just notice that you’re actually quicker by slowing down because you’ll be more efficient.

Infield and Hitting Classes

I wanted to let everyone know about the infield and hitting classes I am now offering at The Brickyard in Lake Forest. Infield classes will be held on Monday nights from 6pm-7:30pm and will not only cover basic infield skills such as footwork, transfer, backhands, and double plays but we will also cover advanced level infield skills such as angles, mental approach, reading bat angle, and positioning.

My hitting classes will also cover the fundamentals of the swing and help you to develop more consistency and power. We will also have the opportunity to get into some mental approach skills as well as learning about mental blocks that might be preventing you from consistently repeating your swing in a game situation and the skills you need to remove these blocks and maximize your ability. The hitting class will be Wednesday nights from 7pm-8pm.

Both classes are $25 per athlete and there is a limit of 10 players per class. Anyone interested should contact me at: Ryan@unlimitedperformancebaseball.com.

Defining Success

In baseball and in life we sometimes have a tendency to judge ourselves by everyone else’s definition of success and rarely our own. We push and strive to get better and achieve a certain level of success and many times we have no idea what success really is. Especially in sports we have a tendency to judge our success based on what the general population considers to be a successful athlete. Getting the D1 scholarship, getting drafted, playing at the major league level, all these things are generally the standard by which we judge the ability of our athletes. The problem is these things may not be right for everyone. Not everyone will be happy at the big D1 school, some guys go to schools because they’re D1 but they are located in some pretty undesirable places to live. Maybe you’d be happy at a small school. Maybe there is a D3 or NAIA school somewhere that offers you playing time, a good education, and a great experience. The point is that we need to understand what it is we truly want and what we define as success.

The same can be said about our performance on the field. It’s easy to judge our performance based on how many hits we get or our stats at the end of the year. But that is using outside influences to dictate if we are successful or not. The problem with that is 1) these are things that are beyond our control and 2) not everyone is at the same place in their career. Maybe hitting .300 is easy for you and you are able to do that year in and year out. Assuming that this means you’re successful is limiting the amount of overall success you could potentially have. If you’re a player who doesn’t hit .300 consistently and you base you’re success on hitting .300 you are limiting yourself as well since you will consistently feel like you’ve failed which won’t allow you to make the adjustments necessary to improve.

In every situation you encounter you need to first define what success is for you. This definition needs to be based on things that you can control. If you’re working on a particular adjustment in your swing you could base your success in that at-bat on wether or not you were able to execute that adjustment. Whatever you decide I encourage you to take the time to really define what success means for you. This will allow you to consistently improve and allow you to become a better player then you ever could imagine. In addition you will be able to recognize when you are successful and that will be based on your definition and not that of others.

Perceptions Shape Performance

I’ve written about this before but it’s something that’s been on my mind lately. Our performance is dictated by the way we perceive the different situations that arise in a game. Why is it some players perform with the game on the line while others consistently come up short? Why is it you might be able to hit well with the bases empty but with runners on you aren’t able to come through? Why is it some players bounce back from adversity quicker and easier then other players do? Quite simply, each player perceives situations and events differently. The trick is to recognize which perceptions are limiting you and then changing your perception to one that empowers you to succeed. When you strike out do you see that as something bad? Or, can you change that perception to see that strikeout as an opportunity to learn about the pitcher you’re facing? How do you perceive pressure situations? Do you see the situation as a fun, exciting opportunity or do you see it as a stressful situation where if you don’t succeed you’ll let the team down? Whatever situation arises you must understand that how you perceive the situation will dictate your ability to perform. If you understand that the mind controls the body, and you understand that in order to perform that you must put your mind in the best possible position to allow your body to execute mechanics then you’ll do whatever you can to make sure that you are not limiting what you’re capable of by perceiving situations negatively.

So how do we do this? It all goes back to the questions you ask yourself in your head. When you strikeout and you ask yourself, “What did I do wrong?” You are putting yourself in a disempowering state. You are replaying negative events in your mind making it more likely for those events to repeat themselves. Instead change the questions you ask by asking, “What can I learn from that at-bat?” “What adjustments can I make?” Doing so will change how you feel about the event and ultimately change your perception and change your performance. When you come up with the game winning run on secondbase and two outs in the ninth inning just change your perception. Instead of seeing it as a stressful, pressure packed, all on your shoulders situation, look at it from a positive stand point. Tell yourself that getting the game winning hit will be fun and that these are the situations you live for and the reason you play the game. What you’ll notice is the pressure is reduced, you’re able to enjoy the situation more, freeing your mind to perform.

Chunking

Many people ask me how it is I develop the swings of my hitters. Many people believe that you can’t teach everyone to have a good mechanically sound swing. They believe that your ability to hit was given to you at birth. While it is true that some people pick up on movement patterns and learn skills easier then others it doesn’t mean that everyone can’t learn them. With proper instruction and the right amount of deliberate practice anyone can become a good hitter. From a physical standpoint, hitting has to do with your ability to execute proper mechanics on hittable pitches consistently. Where most hitters fall short is their inability to execute these mechanics either as a whole or on certain pitches in particular locations. When hitters are introduced to proper swing mechanics they might become frustrated by an inability to perform the mechanics they are trying to learn. In addition they may have coaches or parents that become frustrated as well because the athlete isn’t picking up on or able to execute the desired adjustment. To which many athletes or coaches may simply give up and explain away the athlete’s inability to learn the skill by blaming some lack on inborn talent or not possessing the athletic ability necessary to make the adjustment.

Obviously, if you know me or have been following my other posts you know that I couldn’t disagree with this way of thinking any more then I already do. I feel that the key for coaches or athletes who are trying to make changes in their swing or the swings of their athletes is to not view the swing as a single movement but rather a group of smaller movements pieced together as one. What I do to develop my hitters is break the swing apart into smaller, easier to learn chunks. Small skills that when put together create one, superior movement pattern. When I run into an athlete that may have more difficulty learning the small skills necessary in the swing, I then break the small skill into even smaller chunks and build the skill that way until the athlete is able to grasp the entire movement pattern.

If you are working with hitters or if you’re an athlete trying to make changes in your own swing, break your swing down into easily learnable chunks. If you are still having difficulty making the desired change to your swing then break the chunk into a chunk and keep doing so until you are able to make the change you desire. Begin to think of building the swing as you would building a house. Start with a good foundation, set up the framework (the stance), and then piece it together one brick or one chunk at a time.