5 Things Every Hitter NEEDS to Learn About Themselves
This is a summary of a podcast we recently recorded. Give it a listen if you want to hear us deep-dive the importance of each of these!
These are the 5 most important things every hitter needs to learn about themselves. It is important to remember that these things are going to be DIFFERENT for every single person. Hitters that have knowledge of these 5 things within themselves will have far more conviction in their approach, more self-awareness, and ultimately more security along their baseball journey.
Basic Strengths and Weaknesses
Every hitter should have an understanding of the things they're good at and the things they're bad at. This self-awareness is the first step to developing an identity. Hitters with a firm grasp of their strengths have more conviction in competitive scenarios and are able to fall back on them when things get tough. And an awareness of weaknesses can tell you a lot about where your developmental journey needs to take you and will prevent you from constantly putting yourself in bad positions.
Luis Arraez's baseball savant page - a great example of how awareness of strengths and weaknesses can lead to a hitter having a strong identity!
Understanding of Why You’re Making Outs
This understanding only comes from constant analysis. Pay attention! Truly understanding why you're making outs will allow you to be honest with yourself about whether or not your approach is working. Sometimes when you struggle, the right thing to do is to stay locked into your approach and trust that things will turn back around. But sometimes, major adjustments are needed. If you don't have an understanding of why you're making outs its incredibly difficult to know which direction to go.
In this part of the podcast Chris and Bobby talk about how impressive it was watching Edwin Encarnacion go through tough stretches and maintaining conviction in his approach because he understood that he was simply not getting good pitches to hit.
The Type of Work YOU Need to Do to Create Game Success
For all of the cage warriors out there, the guys hitting pull-side homers in BP, the guys lighting up the HitTrax...please please please figure out what it is you need to do to get you right for games. Some people are going to need to the see the ball go over the fence to feel good about themselves...but feeling good isn't always what will lead to success in games. Figure out which checkpoints you need to hit to handle live pitching, to handle the stress of game situations, and to get ready to compete! The recipe is going to be different for every single person so every young hitter needs to be intentional in discovering what works for them.
Chris dives deep into his own routines during this part of the podcast, how he discovered them, and how they are unique to him.
Your Emotional Tendencies
Are you a person who performs best when staying level? Are you going to thrive riding the emotional ups and downs that occur throughout games? You need to have an understanding of your emotional tendencies so that you can properly mentally prepare for competitions. Knowing that you tend to get to big with your moves in clutch situations allows you to "think small" when those moments come. Knowing that a strikeout on a bad call will piss you off gives you the opportunity to channel that emotion into energy that shows up on the field. Simply put, understanding your emotional tendencies gives you more control over yourself and makes the mental part of the game much easier.
Bobby references this clip in the podcast and talks about how this was a unique emotional response from Mookie.
What YOU Want to Be as a Player
Defining the player that you want to be is going to dictate how much you're willing to sacrifice and its going instill accountability. Ultimately every player needs to make decisions about what they see themselves becoming. You can't become a .300 hitter without making a decision that you won't allow yourself to make cheap outs. You can't hit for power without deciding that you're going to dedicate yourself to the weight room. Ask yourself what you want your career to be and go do it.
For more information on player intelligence visit pelotero.com!
Subscribe to the podcast here:
🟢 - https://open.spotify.com/episode/4gDSyGB6WL2nWGSZ0UiTpI?si=uYbSo091Trybgz1uJ-pABw
