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Recently I had a conversation with an athlete about his performance. He was dealing with a scenario where as a sophomore; a freshman was starting at 2B over him. Obviously this in itself was frustrating, but to make it worse, his offensive game was slipping rapidly without the consistent play every day. He asked me what he could change in his swing that would earn him playing time over the freshman. The problem, I explained, was more than just the physical ability of this swing. The problem has infiltrated his mind. This is where I told him we would start.

Not too long ago I had a conversation with a parent and a player about his struggling performance at bat. The scenario was that he as a sophomore was not getting any playing time over the freshman who was starting in his place. He knew that it was because his offense had slipped and he was having some mechanical problems with this swing. He came to me highly frustrated and wanted to know if we could work on his swing so he could earn his playing time back. My answer to him was that while Im sure he had some issues with his swing, it was his mental game that needed to revisions first and foremost. Only after we dealt with the root causes could we tackle his lack of offensive production.