Everyone has heard of, and all of us have experienced, a hitting slump, but very little is said about a fielding slump. What exactly is a fielding drop? Good question.
Defined as best I can, “a fielding slump is the result of a simple physical mistake that creates a mental and emotional fear of the baseball hit.” What what? It’s a phenomenal event that some players are more likely to experience than others depending on their attitude and mindset.
Sometimes when a player, especially a player who demands perfection of himself, makes a simple fielding error, such as the ball slipping between his legs or a wild pitch, a mental roadblock immediately sets in that creates fear. to repeat the mistake.
This, of course, is nonsense, but if you’ve ever experienced this, you know what I’m talking about. This fear can start slowly, but quickly builds to the point where the player almost prays that the ball doesn’t get hit. Guess what, the ball always seems to find you.
A quick example on the side. As a young man he had a very strong throwing arm and was always positioned at third base. In one particularly important game, I remember it like it was yesterday, I knocked out the first baseman and allowed him to score the winning run. From that point on, I was never able to throw a hard throw to first, but rather aimed the ball.
The mental or emotional block was so immediate and strong that I had to move to second base. Notice my fielding was unaffected, it was as good as ever, but I couldn’t stop aiming or short the ball. I know the pain of a poor fielding streak.
I couldn’t correct my problem, but through my years of minor league baseball and coaching, I’ve learned a few tricks that can help you or your player overcome depression.
Mind Solution:
The first thing that needs to be addressed is the mental aspect, as the physical aspect is usually not the problem, although it can be.
1. Stop and reflect on your past accomplishments. There was a time when you wanted all your balls hit because you were confident that you could handle any situation. Try to remember some of the great plays he made. This is not being arrogant, you are thinking to yourself, plus it is a fact that you made these plays.
2. If you stop and think about it, the brain must tell the body what to do to field the ball. Go back to basics and mentally review every aspect of catching the ball, from staying on the ground to looking at the ball in the glove.
3. After resetting the basics, use visualization to really see each step of your realization of the basics. Visualization is a powerful tool, and seeing yourself correctly fielding ground ball after ground ball has a huge impact on your physical and muscular memory.
Physical arrangement:
Sometimes it doesn’t matter if the culprit for a fall on the field is mental, the mind will still blame the body and this is not abnormal.
1. After making the mental corrections from above, it is time to institute the physical corrections. Again, go back to basics! Field hits ground balls slowly, hundreds of them if that’s what it takes. Its intention is to recover mental and muscular memory, and it helps you read the ball, something you never know enough about.
2. Start fielding balls with harder shots. It is imperative that you not only field ground balls, but attack them aggressively. Don’t let the ball touch you, which is a major byproduct of a poor fielding streak.
3. End the fix by fielding the hardest-hit balls away from you, forcing you to get your feet and body into the correct fielding position. This will conclude your retraining and restore your confidence.
Remember this…for any lingering doubts, the total end of your fielding slump is identical to the hard-hitting ball that ends a slump, one big play away.