Like many contributions to WebBall, this began as a Q&A - a dad with a concern about his son's batting slump. This page provides some insights not covered in the companion article from Tom Robson's book. Clearly, the Dad himself recognizes that this is a confidence problem not mechanical (something Robson also points out). So what can we do about it? WebBall's Richard Todd provides some suggestions.

Q

During the regular season my son usually does very well both hitting and fielding, then we come to the tournaments and districts and he seems to get that deer in the head lights look. I can tell he is very nervous when he is playing on these teams and it shows mainly in his hitting. He either walks, strikes out or hots lazy grounders. Over the past year we have been taking him to paid instruction for hitting where they admire his swing and mechanics, but when he is in a tournament or district game his hitting breaks down. At times its as if he is hoping for a walk so he doesn't strike out and therefor does not swing at marginal pitches - even with 2 strikes - and strikes out looking. Even his fielding is tentative i.e. not going all out for a fly ball, getting it on the hop, etc. I never get on him about striking out or bad games aside from bringing up something I see him doing to the hitting instructor.
 
He is playing with the best of our league of which he usually is among them in talent, with the exception of this season, not his best hitting season. How do I help him with the confidence thing? I see other players who are so carefree with the game and so confident and it shows in their game, and I know my son is just worrying himself to the point of affecting his game. I have asked him if he is OK with playing in tournaments etc and he says he really wants to play (as with most kids he dreams of becoming the major league ball player and constantly wants to have a catch or go to the instruction). He had a rough year hitting, and a lot of waiting for walks, did not make all-stars this year and was very disappointed (he moved up to the 11-12 years old division this year) but was selected for tournament and districts because the coaches all know him and know he has the skills. It hurts me as a parent when he is hurting because everyone else hits and he doesn't.

from Richard Todd

A

Some days I get a question that I just want to jump on right away, because we've been asked it a lot and know something about the answer and want to help immediately. Unfortunately, changing confidence can be harder than changing mechanics and it would be wrong on your part to expect immediate results. In fact, we have a section on mental training and it's just not big enough to give anyone all the tools to cope with pressure. So, first let me give you some brief insights, then some techniques that might start him on the right path.

Insights...

1You need to be patient and he needs to be patient.
I said mechanical changes might be easier and it's been said (by others) that it takes 1000 swings to change your hitting. So imagine the repetition required to change attitude. It's even more important that you get this than him. The last thing he needs on top of game pressure is dad pressure. Sometimes you've just got to give him breathing room instead of advice.

2 The two conflicting forces at work are pressure and focus.
When a player views the game as way different than practice, intensity goes up, and tightness, and pressure. Everything suddenly matters more - matters too much - and that distraction of the game environment causes a complete loss of focus.

3 Batting slumps happen because failure breeds more failure.
And the natural tendency is to focus on what is happening that's the worst outcome. When you go up to bat thinking "don't strike out", guess what's most likely going to happen.

4 If you're "looking for a walk", leave the bat in the dugout.
Does that mean walks are bad? Absolutely not. But there is a difference in hoping "walk" and wanting the pitcher to "pitch to me". In the first you are looking for the pitcher to miss; in the second you are looking for your pitch. If it comes you hit it, if not you don't get to hit but you accept the walk.

Somewhere in the above you might recognize the source of your son's lack of confidence. What to do about it? As I said don't expect miracles.

Here are some techniques...

1Make practice game like.
In each B.P. round he gets 5 swings, no more. No do-overs, no "just one more" pleas. In fact that's how all team's should practice. Get in, be focused on each pitch and look for the one to drive.

2 Focus on and measure each practice swing.
When you do want to do a longer "instructional" round (more than 5 swings) he still needs to focus on each one. So, say, in soft toss, he needs to evaluate the results of each of his swings as "A", "B" or "C" - where A is solid contact that should get past the infielders fast and hard, B is decent contact that might move a runner around, C is an unsatisfactory swing. He declares the result of each swing (not you or anyone else) - how it feels to him, whether he thought his timing was on, was his body in good alignment, etc.

3 Take that same measurement into the game
Each time he swings whether it was a hit, a contact, a foul, or a miss - he does the A-B-C. And on the misses, when he steps out he should focus ion the details - did he miss early, late, over, under, etc. Knowing that, he steps back in looking for the next pitch, ready to do better.

4 Strike out with head hekld high.
If he happens to strike out (less likely but possible) he needs to walk back to the dugout head held high. Why? Because he is thinking about how that happened - again - A-B-C, over, under, etc. so that he knows what he will do different next time, and can't wait for that next time.


The more focused he is on what he is doing, the less the game environment will intrude. What's happening in the stands doesn't matter. what other players think doesn't matter. what coaches and parents think doesn't matter. What matters is that he is looking forward to the first pitch, and every next pitch.

Will he get this today? Nope. Tom Hanson who does several mental training articles works with H.S. and college players and pros who don't get this. Slumps are not limited to youth ball. So no miracles but small steps in the right direction.


As noted above, you can't expect immediate success with confidence building. However, we did receive this note the day after we sent the Dad the above by email...

Just wanted to let you know, my son went 2 for 4 with a home run over the center field fence and 2 RBI's last night in their 4th district game which they won 11 to 4. On to the finals. Thanks for your help!!

To which we replied...

Tell him congrats - I'm sure it had nothing to do with our advice, but it's nice to know he's out of his slump. But don't get ahead of himself - he needs to keep working the techniques.

Here's one more confidence builder. When you step into the box, do so with back foot then front - the forward stride is more aggressive, more confident. For the visual evidence of this, check out the Ground Rules page in our Hitting Lesson Series (full details available to Team Player members).