That belief alone already puts you in a
negative mental state before you ever get to the
plate. What you need to understand is that just
because you didn’t get a hit to get on base you
didn’t fail as a batter…
If you hit the ball and it’s a ground out or a fly
out that’s not a failure – you did what you were
supposed to do –put the ball in play. Here’s an
example. You hit a screaming line drive and the
third baseman happens to react quickly, dives to
his left and makes an incredible catch. At the
end of the day it goes in the books as an out and
against your batting average. Did you fail? No.
You hit the ball. Hitting in itself is a difficult task.
Hitting a round ball (that’s curving or dropping
with varying speeds) with a round bat and have
about .5 to .7 seconds to do it in – CONGRATS
that ain’t easy. So never get upset for hitting the
ball no matter what the outcome.
So what are some fundamental things you can
do as a hitter to break the brainwashing that
hitting is mostly failure and the mental
preparation and strategies to become a better
hitter? We start by getting the correct mind set
and mental approach. Here is a quick look at
three basic things you should begin with.
#1: Mind Set - Hitting actually has a 7582% SUCCESS rate
The average strike out percentage since 1980 for
college and pro players ranges between 18-25%
(fangraphs.com). Therefore the average hitter
actually only “fails” 18-25% of the time so that’s
a success rate of 75-82%! I include walks and
HBP as success also. Your primary purpose as a
batter is to hit the ball. Once you hit the ball you
have no control over the fielders and if they can
get to the ball or even field it correctly – it’s out
of your hands. Again, plain and simple - your
primary job as a batter is to put the ball in play.
So now you see factually that hitting the ball
actually has a high success rate - never forget
that. There is too much emphasis that successful
hitting is only measured by base hits and home
runs. Say you go 0-3 in a game. You hit the ball
every time hard but two were ground outs and
one fly out. Most batters would be disappointed.
You shouldn’t be – you hit the ball. You
controlled what you could control. Remember,
once you hit the ball it’s out of your hands.
#2 Control - You can only control YOU
You can control you – that’s it. You can’t control
an ump’s strike zone (or bad calls), the weather,
the pitches thrown, the fielders skill level, field
conditions, obnoxious fans, etc. You can control
your at-bat. Strive to get what many coaches
keep track of – a Quality At Bat (QAB). A QAB
can be simply defined as:
“An at bat in which the batter is productive in a
way that fits the situation, whether that involves
advancing the runner with a sacrifice bunt or even
a ground ball out, getting on base, or making the
pitcher throw a lot of pitches. Thus a quality at bat
is not measured simply by the standard batting
statistics such as batting average, on-base
percentage, or slugging average.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_baseball_%28Q%29
Ask your coach how they “define” a QAB.