Shutting Your Brain Down
By Nate Barnett
Hitting instruction and mechanics training is insanely technical in nature. When I’m working with a team, I can spend 5 hours on just the lower body alone to get the athletes to where I want them to be – that is to recognize if the movements they are making are correct or not and to learn how to fix them. The amount of time it takes to teach new movements to hitters naturally creates athletes who want to “think” about how their swing is supposed to be prior to each swing. This is exactly opposite of my desired end result of my mechanics training.
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Creating A Plate Strategy – What You Must Know
By Nate Barnett
It was Hall of Famer, Ted Williams who once said, “A good hitter can hit a pitch that is over the plate three times better than a great hitter with a questionable ball in a tough spot.” Williams writes in his book, The Science of Hitting, that becoming a highly selective hitter is what made him the career .344 hitter he was. After finishing reading his book (highly recommended by the way) this principle stood out as one of the more valuable tips given. While the majority of instructional time at all levels of baseball is spent on mechanics, the strategy a hitter brings to the plate has the potential to transform his performance for the better.
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Battle For Your Thoughts
By Nate Barnett
Not too long ago I was recommended the book, The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey. At first I was a bit confused as to why my friend was recommending that I read a tennis book. After all, I hate playing tennis; I can’t keep the ball in the court. I tend to see the fence over my opponent’s shoulder at imagine it’s the right-center wall. Top spin isn’t in my DNA. I did end up picking up the book and I’m glad I did. Gallwey finally brought to life a concept ALL baseball players struggle with continually throughout their career. The idea I’m referring to is…
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Slump Busting 101 – Rewiring The Brain
By Nate Barnett
Most professional athletes avoid using the word “slump” when they are in a downturn in their performance. It’s because they never want to allow their brain to communicate with their body that things aren’t going well. Athletes think if they don’t use the word that they can keep themselves free of a slump for a longer period of time. There is some truth to this. If an athlete begins to think that he is struggling at the plate, he will begin to press a little more, chase some bad pitches, or watch pitches come down the middle of the plate that he would otherwise smash.
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Stop Being A Slave To Stats
By Nate Barnett
Baseball is possibly the most statistical game on the planet. Everything a player does is tracked and evaluated based upon some series of stats. While extremely helpful in many scenarios, statistics have a way of eating away at the minds of many athletes if not understood properly. When the swing is feeling good, stats are the hitter’s best friend; there’s no better feeling than going 4-4 at the plate with a couple doubles. On the flip side, there is nothing worse than going 0-4 with two strikeouts.
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“You’ll Never Play College Baseball”
By Nate Barnett
The following story is directed to those of you who have athletes dealing with a tough time having been cut from a team. If your athlete has never faced being cut, there may come a time down the road you may want to refer back to this email. Baseball is competitive, failure is commonplace. Here’s my story…
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Getting Better By Failing
By Nate Barnett
I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase, “Practice makes perfect”, or “Perfect practice makes perfect.” While I think those phrases are nice thoughts, perfect play is unattainable (for the long-term), especially in the game of baseball. Since I’ve now punctured your hopes and dreams of achieving long-term perfection, (hopefully the dreams weren’t too solidified) let me outline what you CAN achieve in this great game.
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