Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Baseball is full of B's, there's two in the name alone...

(photo: philosophygeek)

[This post is part of the Mental ABC's Of Pitching series. Check out the rest here.]

When I was a young man and ball player one of my coaches told me, “I don’t care about your feelings – I care about your actions!”

What he was trying to get me to understand was that no matter the situation I should always act accordingly.

With Spring training in full swing one of the big things I’ve seen and heard chatter about at all levels is, “stopping the big inning.” Whether your in the middle of a Big Inning or want to avoid them use today’s post to understand the B’s of your mental game.

• Belief. One pitcher with belief is worth 99 with an opinion. If every pitcher (player, or person) believed what others said about him, he would be letting himself be defined by others, instead of by himself. You need to understand that belief in yourself and your talent is a prerequisite to becoming an elite pitcher (player, or person).

• Big Inning. You’ll hear pitchers say, “Before I knew what was happening, I’d let five runs in.” It is important to breakdown what this person is saying. Before he knew what was happening, is an unacceptable notion, because we need to be thoughtful about our approach, imposing our will on the game, not the other way around. Understand that preventing the Big Inning is a legitimate concern, but doing so depends upon the nature of your thoughts and behavior.

• Behavior. Everything is behavior. Executing a pitch is behavior; battling against the count is behavior; throwing a fit on the mound is behavior; caving in is behavior. Just like my coach taught me long ago, the most important thing I could do as a player was behave appropriately. He didn’t care if I felt like caving in, giving up, he wanted me to behave like a winner and battle.

Through repetition, integrate what you know, not what you feel, into you behavior on the field. Use your belief in yourself as a weapon during competition to focus on the task at hand, not the doubts that will inevitably arise. Always try to prevent a Big Inning, but when you are in the middle of one remember this, “There may be any number of problems; there is only one solution: Think small; execute the next pitch. You CAN manage that.”

Guys what all of this adds up to is that you have prepared, practiced and God has given you the talent to be in this very spot.  Shine upon this moment and attack one pitch, play or swing at a time.