The worst label a hitter can have (and how to fix it)
|
"That kid looks really good in BP. But we're still waiting for it to show up in the game." You know the hitter. Perfect load, perfect finish, moonshots in BP. Rounds that make people stop and watch. Then the game starts and he goes 0-for-3 with two K's looking. Everyone's been waiting on him to show up for two years now. Which one are you? This is what happens in game: BP Hitter: Heart rate out of control. Taking big, empty hacks at the plate. Feels like you got a hole in your bat. The moment feels bigger than it really is. Constantly just missing pitches and wondering why. Game hitter: Looks like he's playing in the backyard. Looks easy and effortless up there. Taking edge pitches. Getting his swing off. Each day, you know what you're getting. He's going to compete his tail off. And usually win. Okay, so how do we turn the BP hitter into the game hitter? And how do we make the game hitter even better?
In training: Train under pressure. Less casual BP. Competition. Winner and loser every round. Keep score. Something on the line. You train the nervous system to feel the pressure and figure out how to perform. It will start feeling normal. Do that enough and the game stops feeling like a different planet than practice. BP shows get you noticed. Game shows get you signed. Been there. The D1 I wanted to go to was at our game watching our star player — a guy they'd already signed. They saw me in BP and stuck around for the game to see more. I noticed. And I spent the whole game trying to impress him instead of just playing to win. Which is what would've actually impressed him. Go win. — Trey |
Trey Hannam Training
Written for Hitters, Parents, Coaches. My Goal is To Be The Coach I Wish I Had.
Insight from one of the best hitting minds every, I'd love to hear your favorite quote from these: "Hitting is mostly above the shoulders." "Think. Don't just swing. Think about the pitcher, what he threw you last time up, his best pitch, who's up next. Think!" — from The Science of Hitting. The single most important thing for a hitter, he said, was to get a good ball to hit. This was the core principle of his entire approach. "There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and...
Yesterday I posted two videos. One was 5 minutes, one was 3. Way longer and more in depth than I usually put out. That kind of detail is normally just for the hitters and coaches I train. But I wanted to try something different. Go deeper and longer than what other hitting coaches are posting. A 3 and 5 minute video isn't built to go viral. It won't entertain the masses or fit the 20 second attention span everyone's running on now. (That's fine. It wasn't made for them.) It was made for real...
Matt Holliday said something I always come back to. He tells hitters: if you love to practice, you have a chance. He loved the behind the scenes work. The day to day grind of figuring out how to hit. That was the passion. That's what gave him a career. Most hitters have it backwards. They love the game. The Instagram pictures that come with it. The lights, the crowd, the highlights, the group chat blowing up after they go 3 for 4. That's the fun part. Everybody loves that part. But the game...