What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do #8

#8 Mentally tough baseball players have a team first attitude.

Mentally tough baseball players have a team first attitude.  Some refer to it as a "we over me" attitude, but what this means is that mentally tough players truly put the team before themselves.  They care about winning as a group more than they care about individual accolades.  This is not to say that mentally tough players cannot care about individual accomplishments.  Many even say you have to be a little bit selfish to be good.  Mentally tough players never allow their individual goals to take precedence over the team though.  They're willing to push the goals aside to do what is best for the group.

I am currently reading a Derek Jeter biography called The Captain: The Journey of Derek Jeter.  The book itself is outstanding and gives tremendous insight into Jeter's career.  If I had to pick what stands out the most though it would be how genuinely Derek Jeter seems to care about being successful as a team.  Although he clearly takes pride in his individual accomplishments, there is a definite, honest view that the World Series rings are what truly matter to him.  Many of the Jeter haters always point to how some of his measurable abilities may not be off the charts.  For me, this makes me appreciate him even more as a player.  His drive to do whatever it takes for his team to win really does act like an uncharted 6th tool.  This play sums it up.

So what can you do to have a team first attitude?  You can have some perspective.  Baseball is a team sport, and you signed up to play it.  Yes.  It's a team sport comprised of a series of individual challenges, but those challenges are best confronted with the team in mind.  Understand that there really is something more special about accomplishing something as a group than as an individual.  In my opinion, that something special is knowing everything you did together to accomplish the goal.  It's the countless hours lifting and conditioning.  It's the weekends you give up and the football games and parties you say "No" to because of having a tournament.  It's the understanding of how incredible it is to take 20-35 unique individuals and find a common goal together.  That is what "we over me" is all about.

Do you have someone you've played with or coached who had an attitude of "we over me?"  Tweet me or email me about them.  I'd love to hear about it!

Just in case you haven't seen the Gatorade commercial yet...have a tissue locked and loaded!

Routine

Routine is something that has forever been a big part of sports and in particular baseball.  At the professional level, you're playing almost every day for 162 games.  Even at the amateur level, you're playing at least four games a weekend in tournaments, 3 a week in high school, or up to 5 in college.  We've got reporting times, stretching times, BP times, times to announce the lineups, and so on.  It's all part of creating an environment of routine.  Us normal people are the same way.  You probably have a certain time that you wake up in the morning for school/work and a routine you follow in the morning to get ready.

While I completely agree with the use of routine, I have my doubts about some of the teachings on the topic today and whether athletes are really getting it.  The place where the practice of routine is more evident than any other sporting setting I have seen is the College World Series.  If you watched this year, you no doubt saw the battle between the home plate umpire and hitters in between pitches to stay in the box and keep the game moving.  Some hitters made me feel like I was watching rhythmic gymnastics with the extensive nature of their pre-pitch routines.   That and EVERYBODY going deep breath and stare at the barrel of the bat is what stood out to me.

I'm not questioning the use of routine.  I am a huge advocate for it.  There are a couple of concepts I think have to be considered and ultimately questioned before you blankly say, "I'm big on the mental game.  I have routine."  The first is the routine has to be yours.  When I see a full lineup of hitters all have the same exact pre-pitch routine I can't help but wonder if the coach has forced them to do so because, "You have to have a routine."  For me, that is no different than making every hitter have the same exact swing.  It's ineffective coaching.  Second, understand the purpose behind what you are doing.  Why do you have this pre-pitch routine?  The routine is to create a feeling of comfort, control, and lock into the present moment.  One thing to ask yourself is, "Is my routine helping minimize thoughts, or is it clouding my head with even more?"  If the answer is the latter, it may be a good idea to reassess.

As a player, I was probably way too dependent on routines for the creation of comfort.  I had to eat the same pregame meal, listen to the same song driving down to the field and end it at the exact time (Clarence Carter- Strokin), take the same number of swings with the same drills, and so on.  While I do think some routine is great, I became a slave to my routine.  What I was unknowingly doing is taking the control of my performance and giving it to a song or a certain food (and not for nutritional purposes).  Think about how ridiculous that is for a moment!  That control was really given in my thought process more so than the actual routine.  I'd be anxious about completing my routine and then be anxious about my performance.

In closing, I implore you to understand a couple of things again.  Your routine is up to you as much as your swing is up to you.  Don't become a routine robot!  Also, understand the purpose of the routine instead of just saying, "Well, they do it so I guess I should."  Create the feeling of comfort, and lock into the present moment.  Routine should be a tool to for you to control and not vice versa.

What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do #7

#7 Mentally tough baseball players approach every game the same way.

Mentally tough baseball players approach every game the same way.  It does not matter who the opponent is, the conditions of the game, or whether the game is at the beginning or end of the year.  Nothing like that matters because mentally tough players trust their preparation and ability.

Mentally tough players approach every game the same way because the game doesn't change.  All of the pressure of playing certain opponents or playoffs is completely fabricated by outside influences.  It's nothing more than a fugazi unless you allow it to become reality.  If you disagree and say that pressure is undoubtedly real, these players at the very least have the ability to accept pressure for what it is and not allow it to consume them.  This might be what stands out to me the most when I watch a big league game.  These guys are playing in front of tens of thousands of fans and for their livelihood, but they are unbelievably relaxed.  They trust their preparation and have perspective with playing what is ultimately a game no matter how we important we make it at times.  The game is the same regardless of the circumstances it's played under.  This may sound cliche, but the pitcher still is charged with throwing the ball across the plate and the hitter with hitting.  Mentally tough players understand this and are able to perform at their best level, whatever level that may be, regardless of circumstance.

Another way mentally tough baseball players are challenged to approach every game the same way is to not allow the opponent to dictate how they play.  It doesn't matter if they're playing the New York Yankees or the Sisters of the Poor (a favorite of my college coach).  Mentally tough players prepare and play with a consistent approach that leads to consistent results.  There are no let downs for mentally tough players.

Coaches can have a huge influence in how well or poorly players are able to keep a consistent approach to games.  I had an epiphany last season in our high school baseball playoffs.  We were about to get eliminated.  It was the end to what was a very challenging year, and I realized the way I approached the playoffs was contradictory to everything I had come to believe as a coach and aspiring mental coach.  One of our major themes as a team and as hitters was being prepared and trusting the preparation.  We wanted to put in the work and be purposeful hitters on a daily basis so that our at-bats at the end of the year were the same as our at-bats at the beginning of the year.  For whatever reason though, I gave into the hype of getting scouting reports for high school baseball games.  Although it's fun to talk to other coaches, the scouting reports completely changed the way we had done things all year.  Rather than trusting what we saw a pitcher doing, we were a little too overly reliant on a piece of paper based on someone who had seen a pitcher throw once or twice.  Regardless of the quality of the report, it said that we needed to change what had made us successful as an offensive team all year.  It sent the wrong message to our hitters about our preparation and everything we had worked so hard to build throughout the year. Needless to say, we had been eliminated and did not swing the bats the way we were capable of.  I'm convinced that a change in preparation created this feeling that the game was somehow different and contributed to our early exit.  This year I will challenge myself to trust the preparation and ability of the players on the team.

Know of a player who comes to mind as being really good at approaching every game the same way?  Let me know!  Tweet or email me your stories and examples.

What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do #6

#6 Mentally tough baseball players embrace coaching without being dependent on coaching.

Mentally tough baseball players embrace coaching without being dependent on coaching.  There is a fine line here.  Players who want to be as good as they can be (mentally tough players) understand their game always has room for growth.  They also understand that coaches are there to help with that growth.  One thing mentally tough baseball players are really good at is focusing on the message in what a coach says instead of the delivery.  I'm reminded of what has probably become the most popular tirade in amateur baseball circles.  The speech I'm talking about is Augie Garrido after a loss at Texas.  I'm going to refrain from posting it on the blog because of the amount of profanity, but you can easily find it on YouTube.  The mentally weak player sees the speech as, "Oh, poor us.  I can't believe Coach Garrido is talking to us that way."  What the mentally tough player does, however, is find the message in all of the F Bombs and yelling.  Coach Garrido cares about us and has pride in the way we play.  He ultimately takes responsibility for what we do as baseball players, and we don't want to let him down.  The proof is in the pudding.  At the bottom of the screen the graphic says Texas won the next ten games and the Big 12 Championship after the speech.

Mentally tough baseball players are not dependent on coaching though.  They are confident enough in their abilities and have prepared enough that they know themselves as players.  As a hitting guy, this is huge.  Being dependent on others for approval of how your swing is can be a powerless way to approach hitting.  Trust me...I'd know!  As a college player in particular, I was constantly looking for others to say what I could feel already in my swing.  After every single round I would want to know how my swing looked.  I have no doubt this had a lot to do with my inconsistencies as a hitter.

You should be your best swing coach.  I absolutely think there should be one or two coaches who know your swing and can help you when you are in need, but once a base has been built you are the one who is ultimately responsible for what a "good" swing is.  I'm reminded of one of my high school teammates Justin Helfer.  Justin and I were pre-game hitting partners our last couple of years and were both meticulous about what we wanted to do.  I'll never forget, after hearing me obsessing for the upteenth time about how my swing looked, Justin said, "You know what swing looks good?  The one that gets hits!"  Now the mental coach in me would love to alter that to, "The one that hits line drives," but I think we get the point.  Trust what you feel and see.  The ball doesn't lie.

Challenge yourself to find the happy medium between embracing coaching without being too dependent on coaching for your performance.  I'd love to hear some more real-life examples.  Send away.

What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do #5

#5 Mentally tough baseball players are in the right spot.

Mentally tough players are the guys who are always in the right spot.  This is something I can honestly say goes a long way with baseball coaches and our opinions about players.  We love to see an outfielder backing up a throw or a first baseman hustling to the area in front of the mound as a pitcher covers home on a wild pitch.  Even tougher is the pitcher who is getting banged around the yard but is putting on a clinic at backing up third base and home.

I'm reminded of a day last fall when I went to watch a few innings of a College of Charleston intrasquad.  I'm not sure the exact specifics, but CofC has some sort of point system to help motivate players with competition in the fall.  Players get points for the usual baseball metrics like hits, RBI's, stolen bases, etc., but they also get points for other things like making a great defensive play or reading a dirt ball.  There was some kind of wild rundown play where the left fielder ended up being an emergency guy in the play at second base.  After the play, the left fielder yelled up to the assistant coach who was in charge of the point system that he should get a point for being there.  The coach agreed, and the left fielder was as jacked up as most would be after hitting a bomb.  Rewarding players for being in the right spot like this is HUGE!  Other players see the outfielder getting praised, and the behavior becomes contagious.  This is how you increase mental toughness in your program.  You define a behavior that is mentally tough.  You reward it with praise or points or whatever else you want to reward it with.  You see the behavior spread and occur more often.  By your own standard, your team and players become mentally tougher.  Regardless of research, their confidence increases as they believe they are getting tougher.  Then you make it to a Super Regional right?  If only it were that simple!

Cal Ripken Jr. is someone who comes to mind for me as a player who was phenomenal at being in the right spot.  He studied hitters, knew his team's pitchers, and used his intel to work to position himself at shortstop.  Ripken was basically working with advanced metrics twenty-five years before they existed.  Thus, his perceived range far exceeded his physical abilities.

On the flip side, here is the Rockies giving up 3 runs on a wild pitch!  The pitch is wild because of the mental mistake of throwing the wrong pitch.  The second run can just be chalked up to a physical mistake on the poor throw.  The third run scores solely because of everyone falling asleep and the pitcher pouting mid-play.

So how do you make sure you're in the right spot as a player?  #1: Pay attention in practice.  Hopefully you're being put in as many game-like situations as possible.  Learn from those situations.  #2: Think ahead.  I can still remember my Dad telling me to think about where I'm going with the ball before it's hit to me when I was 9 or 10 years old.  This is an adage that doesn't change.  Mentally tough players do this, but they also think about where they're going to be when it isn't hit to them.  That is how you end up in the right spot.  #3: Watch baseball.  Watching baseball can be as much of a learning opportunity as you'd like it to be.  Really watching any level of play at all can provide the opportunity.  Watch the guy playing your position and see what he does on different plays.

Have a time where a player being in the right spot made the difference between winning and losing a big game?  I'd love to hear about it.  Hopefully you are enjoying the list!

What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do #4

#4 Mentally tough baseball players communicate with teammates during games.

Mentally tough baseball players communicate.  The communication take a number of forms.  One way mentally tough baseball players communicate with teammates is by talking about what they see.  This could be what a pitcher is doing on the mound (what he's throwing, when he's throwing it, etc.).  Mentally tough players are disciplined enough to start this communication early and continue it often.  Talking about what you see could involve talking about pickoff moves, looks to second, and picking up signs on offense.  Talking about what you see on defense could be telling someone to watch for the bunt or a reminder that a hitter is a good runner.  It could be the center fielder noticing a right-handed hitter is extremely late on fastballs and telling the right fielder to shade the line.

Mentally tough baseball players encourage teammates.  Tough players are positive with all teammates regardless of role and help everyone feel valued during competition.  They encourage and keep things controllable.  "Hit it hard right here!" instead of "Get a hit right here!"  They pick up teammates who need it after a bad at-bat or an error in the field.  This does not mean the mentally tough baseball player cannot get on a teammate.  In fact, he will if the teammate is not doing things the right way!  Evan Longoria comes to mind here.  I can remember watching a game a few years ago where there was a ball hit into left-center that B.J. Upton dogged it after and played into a triple.  Longoria ripped into Upton afterwards in the dugout.  Two things stand out that make what Longoria did great.  #1: He did it in the dugout.  There is no need to show up a teammate on the field.  #2: He called Upton out for a lack of effort.  Mentally tough baseball players don't get on teammates for not getting a hit or making a play, but something controllable like effort is absolutely within the realm of duty.  Here is the video:

A couple keys to all of this.  If you're going to be a mentally tough baseball player, you have to be accountable.  This means you are communicating with teammates throughout the game regardless of your individual performance.  It also means you encourage teammates regardless of whether you are best friends off the field or not.  You understand team sports is about more than that.  Finally, it means you are doing things the right way.  It's okay for you to get on a teammate for lack of effort because the mentally tough player demands the same of yourself.

Can you think of a time when a teammate or player you have coached got in someone's grill appropriately?  I'd love to hear about it!  Tweet or email me, and I'd love to share your story with others.

What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do #3

#3 Mentally tough baseball players carry themselves with confidence.

Mentally tough baseball players carry themselves with confidence.  There is a quote I've seen accredited to way too many coaches to say with any certainly who actually said it.  The quote is, "Body language screams.  It never whispers."  The body language of a mentally tough baseball player screams, "I'm good!"

True confidence in baseball body language isn't from shooting arrows in the sky or any other form of celebration.  True confidence in body language in baseball, in my opinion, is seen in the player who always appears to have a sense of calm.  It's almost like they have some sort of secret cheat code in a video game that nobody else around them has.  Derek Jeter has this look.  Although he is reaching the end of a great career, his calm demeanor with enormous stakes on the line has been a huge part of his legend as a player.  He's hit over .320 in seven World Series appearances.  We all know that dominant pitching is what wins in the Major League postseason.  That is what Jeter has done against dominant pitching!

So what can you do to improve your confidence as a player?  Try carrying yourself with confidence regardless of your performance.  A popular phrase is, "Fake it til you make it."  Act like you are confident, and your brain will start to believe it.  The brain will make you feel good, and this leads to more confidence.  One more quote to leave you with from one of the greatest two-sport athletes of all time.  Deion Sanders said,

"If you look good, you feel good.  If you feel good, you play good.  If you play good, they pay good."

Let's focus on the middle part of the quote.  "If you feel good, you play good."  Although Prime Time's credentials as a sport psychologist can certainly be thrown into question, he makes a great point here.  The greater your confidence, the greater your capacity to play well.

Who do you think of as a confident player?  Let me know!



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What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do #2

#2: Mentally tough players give full effort all of the time.

Mentally tough players give full effort all of the time.  This holds true whether it is practice or the most important game of the year.  Full effort all of the time means when you are playing your best or your worst.  Mentally tough players do not allow something they can control like effort to get in the way of how they play.  I'm reminded of something Greg Maddux said in his Hall of Fame speech.  Maddux recalls a conversation he had with his pitching coach with the Cubs Bill Connors.  Here is the snippet I am talking about:

"Billy Connors asked me a question one day.  He asked, "Do you ever wonder how good you can be?"  Of course I said no.  And he said, "Why don't you go out there and try to find out."  I've been trying to find the answer to that question every day since."

For me, this sums up this behavior of mentally tough baseball players.  They are on a constant, never-ending quest to see how good they can get, and their effort reflects it.

Maybe the truest test, however, of this characteristic is not with the best players on the team who are always getting playing time.  How about the guy who is on the team and works his butt off every day without reaping the rewards of doing so in game competition?  These guys may be the mentally toughest of all.  How do you come to every workout, work extra on your swing, and compete to the best of your ability every single day when you know you are not going to get significant playing time?  Oh, and you do all of this and are still a team guy through it all!  Players who are able to do that, for me, are just as mentally tough as anybody else.


Got someone who comes to mind?  I'd love to hear about them.  Tweet or email their story to me.  I'm sure they would appreciate the shout out!














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My List of What Mentally Tough Baseball Players Do

If you have been a consistent reader of the blog so far, you are well aware of my interest in mental toughness.  We've talked about what mental toughness is to me, what mental toughness is in the general world of sport psychology, my thoughts on what mental toughness should be to your program, and an activity to help yourself, your team or your program create a plan to improve toughness.

Because I know many do not have the time to work through the activity, I decided to create a list for you of what I think mentally tough baseball players are able to do.  I'm going to roll them out in a series of mini-blog posts so I can talk about them in a little bit of detail.  The behaviors are not in any kind of ranking at all, but I will number them just for numbering sake.   Remember:  This list is just my opinion!  It's not any more valuable than yours, but I am excited about the list.

This is a great opportunity for us to interact.  Do you have a specific example of yourself, a player you know, or a player you have coached embodying the characteristic or behavior?  I want to know!  Tweet them to me, and I will retweet examples I like.  Hopefully this is something you all will enjoy as much as I have enjoyed working through the list.

#1: Mentally tough baseball players play every pitch independently.

Many of us have heard the saying, "Play one pitch at a time."  I feel like playing every pitch independently really drives home the message behind the saying.  If you are independent, it means you are on your own.  Independent baseball teams are not affiliated with any Major League organizations.  Politicians who are said to be independent do not belong to a political party.  The idea behind this is that the politician will not be influenced by a larger group of people above himself/herself.

The same holds true with playing each pitch independently.  Mentally tough baseball players do not allow the influence of past or future pitches to take away from the focus of THIS PITCH.  These players are able to shake off a terrible swing at a curveball in the dirt and understand they still have two strikes to work with.  They're able to refocus and trust their plan.  A mentally tough pitcher makes every pitch with a specific purpose regardless of score.  How many times have you seen this happen in baseball?  A starting pitcher gets off to a great start.  He is shoving and pitching with extreme focus.  The pitcher is throwing every pitch with conviction and forcing the other team to be reactive to his plan.  Then, his team puts up a big number or two and builds an 8-0 lead.  Maybe the pitcher starts joking around in the dugout, or the pitching coach says, "Alright now, we have a big lead, so we're just going to go out there, throw strikes, and let them hit it."  The pitcher then suddenly goes out and appears to nibble.  Maybe he walks the first hitter on four pitches, leaves a few out over the plate, and then before you know it the score is 8-4 or 8-5.  Rather than stick with the same approach that led to 0's on the scoreboard and pitching independently, the pitcher and coach allowed the score to dictate the approach.  Something that should be completely powerless took total control of the pitcher and coach.  A mentally tough pitcher approaches every pitch with a purpose regardless of the score.

In closing, playing every pitch independently is not something that is easy to do.  The ability to do so is earned through preparation and trust in both one's ability and plan.  To be as mentally tough as you can be, however, challenge yourself to play every pitch independently.  Start in practice.  When you take a "bad" swing, move on to the next swing instead of letting one swing turn into a bad round.  If you boot a ground ball, process what happened, see yourself doing what you want, and move on to the next rep.  Some recommend a clearing mechanism of some kind.  Wipe dirt with your cleats, unstrap and restrap your batting gloves, or simply take a nice, deep breath.  Like any other concept, working purposely on playing every pitch independently will result in improvement over time and will make you a mentally tougher player (at least in my eyes!).