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Teaching Mental Skills to the Nation's Top Collegiate
Baseball Players:
Coaching in the Cape Cod Baseball League.
Brian M. Cain, California State University, Fullerton
Baseball is a very unique sport. For example, the defense has possession
of the ball for most of the game. Also, self-presentation concerns
can be high; if one strikes out or makes an error, everyone sees
this failure. In fact, the rules of baseball are such that every
error an athlete makes is counted and the very best players (i.e.,
those that end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame) are successful when
they fail only seven out of ten times. Thus it becomes critical
that baseball athletes base their standard of success on more than
outcome and end results (e.g., batting average, number of wins a
pitcher has, etc.).
Before they make it to the Major Leagues, many of collegiate baseball's
most talented and highly successful players compete in the eight
weeklong Cape Cod Baseball League. Because of the high level of
competition on the Cape, the athletes' skills are tested everyday
and Professional Scouts hunt this League for future Major League
Baseball stars. The Cape Cod Baseball League, therefore, serves
as a training ground for the athletes to develop the mindset necessary
to perform well and focus on their performance rather than the outcome
and end results. This is important because performance outcome in
baseball is largely dependent on factors outside of one's control.
In baseball, an athlete can do everything right (successful process),
and still fail (non-desired outcome). Thus, the purpose of this
article is to describe several mental skills training strategies
used by the author to help Cape Cod League athletes with this performance
focus when he was working as an assistant coach in the league.
Goal Setting
The athletes established personal goals in writing before the season.
These goal sheets were specific to the player's position, season
on the Cape, and baseball career. Typical questions were, why do
you play baseball, what is your long term goal for your baseball
career, short term goal for this summer, three strengths you have
as a pitcher or hitter, and what can you do on a daily basis to
help reach these goals?
Having the players' goals written down made it easier to communicate
about what kind of knowledge the player had regarding goal setting,
outcome vs. process goals, expectations, and what type of mental
training the player had been exposed to at his school's program.
Of the 25 goal sheets reviewed, the predominant answer was that
their career goal was to get drafted, and that their short term
goal was to have a good summer on the Cape and get noticed by scouts.
Unfortunately, very few players had specific plans. Some players
did identify that a good summer would mean hitting .300. (A total
of 5 players from the 200+ players on the Cape hit .300 or better.)
Most goals were outcome goals concerning batting average or number
of strikeouts - things largely based on factors outside the control
of the player. Conversations with the athletes about their goals
usually went as follows…
"What is your long-term goal?"
"My long term goal is to get drafted and be a successful pro
ball player."
"To get drafted, what do you need to do?"
"Have a good summer here in the Cape, hit .300 and impress
the scouts."
"To hit .300 what do you need to do?"
"I need to consistently hit the ball hard."
"To consistently hit the ball hard, what do you need to do?"
"I need to get the fat part of the bat on the ball."
"To get the fat part of the bat on the ball, what do you need
to do?"
"I need to see the ball and take a good swing."
"To see the ball well and take a good swing what do you need
to do?"
This line of questioning outlined the importance of process goals
(e.g., hitting the ball hard) and how they were more within one's
control than outcome goals (e.g., hitting .300). Emphasis was then
placed on consistency - in order to consistently hit the ball hard,
the players needed to get the fat part of the bat on the ball, and
in order to do this, they needed to see the ball well, be in control
of themselves and play the game one pitch at a time. Goals were
reworked according to a more process focus.
When discussing goal setting, it is recommended that players and
coaches set outcome goals at the beginning of the season, but spend
99% of their time on the process and what the player can do today
to help reach the desired goal. If this present focus is adopted,
the athlete will be doing quality work and will gain confidence
from this preparation.
Discussion with the Cape athletes also emphasized having a focal
point that the athletes could use if they felt like they were losing
their focus or experiencing self-doubts. Finally, they needed to
have a plan and trust it. Each athlete's plan came from their preparation
and awareness of the situation. They had to know what they were
trying to do with the pitch at the present moment. Once their plan
was in place, they could shift their thoughts to trusting their
preparation and just doing it. To help them with this task, the
athletes used swing thoughts such as "see the ball, hit the
ball" or "backside, backside, backside." The key
here was to use a term that freed their minds from over analyzing
the situation and to allow them to trust their ability to carry
out the plan.
Working the Process and Quality of At-Bat Cards
Failure at the plate was ever present during the 2001 season as
the league established new records for ERA (2.69), lowest batting
average (.224) and strikeouts (3,604). In my role as assistant coach,
I was able to witness the frustration and pressures that so many
of the players were experiencing for the first time.
When you are used to hitting .350-.400 and all of a sudden you're
hitting .220, every time you go to the plate it's a matter of life
and death. You want to show the scouts, coaches, and everyone that
you belong. This summer was the first time I have ever not hit over
.300. I started to question my ability. I was thinking, 'What am
I doing here? I suck. I have been waiting my whole life to play
in the Cape and I am embarrassing myself.'
Many of the players, like the one quoted above, fell into the trap
of judging their performance by end results. The modified goals
previously discussed, however, started to steer them in the direction
of evaluating the process and not the performance. Teaching athletes
to work the process gives them the best chance to be successful
and get the desired outcome. Learning to evaluate themselves on
things that they have control over (the process) helps to establish
control.
As previously stated, having a clear plan and being able to trust
your plan all begins with self-control. Players who were batting
anywhere from .120-.260 were quite receptive to evaluating their
success on something other than outcome results such as base hits
or batting average. To help them with this performance evaluation,
the players were encouraged to complete quality at-bat cards after
each game. The cards asked questions related to the process of hitting,
whether or not the player was in control of himself, if he stuck
to the plan he took to hitting, how well he saw the ball, and the
type of contact he made. The cards were a concrete way for the players
to see that they were working the process and thus giving themselves
the best chance to be successful.
Using the evaluation cards was kind of a pain at first because
it was really the last thing you wanted to do after a game you lost
and didn't get any hits, but it only took a minute, and started
to get me to realize that I could do everything right and still
go 0-5. Changing your goal from hitting .300 to being in control
of yourself, seeing the ball, and giving yourself the best chance
for success makes sense and really reduces the stress of having
to get 3-4 hits everyday to raise my average.
By evaluating their process, the players began to have a better
understanding of how they could go 0-5 yet still be successful if
they were in control of themselves, had a plan, saw the ball well,
and made solid contact because they were giving themselves the best
chance for success, i.e., hitting the ball hard.
Personalizing the Performance and Segmentation
When hitting failure occurred, many players struggled not only
on the field, but in their personal lives as well. This phenomenon
is known as personalizing one's performance. Peak Performance Consultant,
Ken Ravizza, with over 15 years of professional baseball experience
had the following to say:
In my work I have seen many players correlate the outcome of their
performance with their self-perception. When the player does well,
he sees himself as successful and when the player does not perform
well, he views himself as a failure. It is this roller coaster ride
that turns many players from prospect into suspect and really affects
them and their relationships outside of baseball.
When talking about athletes who link their self-worth to performance,
a technique often discussed among Sport Psychologists and Peak Performance
Consultants is segmentation - the ability to separate one aspect
of life/performance from another. An example of segmentation often
talked about by coaches is separating hitting from fielding, i.e.,
leaving a poor at bat in the dugout so it does not affect your defensive
play, or leaving your personal stuff outside the lines so it does
not influence your practice or game performance. Though this technique
may sound easy to understand it is very difficult to implement.
Segmentation gives the player a physical tool to use to help them
separate the many different hats that they wear. Leaving baseball
at the park is much easier said than done largely due to the commitment
that these players have given to the game. Many have dedicated their
lives to it. Having something physical that you do to leave your
stuff at the yard will allow you to stay more in the present moment
when dealing with friends, family, media or whatever it is the player
does outside of baseball. (Ravizza)
One technique that a Cape player found successful was to bang the
dirt off his spikes after the game before he left the dugout. He
associated that act with banging away the performance, whether good
or bad, which helped him to leave it at the yard. No matter how
he played, he knew that he would have to start over with the score
0-0 the next day.
Another Cape player said that he would start transforming himself
into the ultimate baseball player by taking a shower before he got
changed to go to the park, leaving his personal life and work in
the shower, washing away anything and everything except that day's
baseball game and what he was going to do. He would then take another
shower after the game, washing away his performance, good or bad,
and pick up his personal life and job that he had left there before
the game. This Clark Kent-esque technique worked for this player.
Ravizza summed it up by stating:
It is critical that each athlete come up with his own technique
for segmentation. Each athlete is different - what works for one,
may not work for another. Segmentation needs to be an individual
thing that the athlete feels will work for him.
Author note: Special thanks to Dr. Ken Ravizza for his insights
into performance enhancement consulting and baseball. Contact Brian
Cain.
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