In this short post, I'm going to discuss how hitters need to look at training in the near future and why you need a baseball vision pitch recognition training app to make sure everything you're learning in batting practice translates into the game.
Here's why good baseball vision is important.
You can have talent and ability....but it's only potential if you're not able to showcase that talent, at game speed, when your back is against the wall during a ball game.
Potential is the bridge between ability and achievement.
Here's the thing - time is the greatest teacher. In other words, the players with the most ability, projection, reputation, and past success will rise to the top regardless of present circumstances.
Very few players get screwed. Politics can only hold a player back for so long.
There's no such thing as daddy ball at the collegiate level and if you can hit, you'll find a spot in the line-up...
This is why pitch recognition is so important.
The ability to recognize spin, speed, and location while slowing the game down enough to put a great swing on a good pitch to hit, is so important it's mind-blowing.
If a hitter is unable to:
- recognize spin, speed, and location.
- transition from a soft focus to hard focus at the release point of the pitcher.
- see the ball up or down, early.
- let the ball travel long enough to get a good look at the pitch.
- drive the ball to the big part of the field.
...then the hitter will struggle.
All things being equal, hitters need to find every edge they can get.
Learning how to be:
- a great two-strike hitter (Tough out)
- a Bull-Dog (Mentally Tough)
- always getting better (Growth Mind-Set)
...gives the player a chance to stand out on the field, and allow their abilities to surface when adversity hits - especially at higher levels when baseball begins weeding out players who are underdeveloped.
Two-Strike Hitting: Being a tough out.
Often times, hitters are scared of striking out because of two main reasons.
- The mental approach isn't established.
- Too much pressure is being put on them by the coach, parent or player themselves.
The common characteristic of a great hitter is that they compete with two-strikes. They bare down and dig their heels in while battling at the plate.
A parent yelling at the stands, a coach screaming from the dugout, or the player thinking they need to get a hit in order to be successful at the plate, is a sure way to make the "compete-level" go down.
The adjustment is simple.
- Let the ball travel
- Load a little later.
- See the ball up.
- Drive the ball the other way.
- Compete your tail off.
In the Applied Vision Baseball Pitch Recognition App, training your two-strike approach is a skill you can practice over and over until it becomes part of your hitting D.N.A.
Bull-Dog Mentality: Being Mentally Tough
In many ways, mental toughness is the hardest skill to teach & learn.
You go to a batting lesson and pay $50 for 30 minutes to work on mechanics, bat-speed, and approach, but where do you go to learn mental toughness?
Well - in many ways, the game does a good job of teaching it.
When a player falls short, makes an error, competes to help the team win and focuses on the result they want instead of the result they don't want while their back is against the wall, they're practicing mental toughness.
Responding positively to adverse situations is the mental toughness rep.
The more you do it, the easier it gets.
Coach Trent Mongero caputures a common problem here...
"The key is to move away from soft, cuddled, pampered & get back to blue-collar, hardcore, drinking water out of a hose pipe....old school toughness. Clocking in and get work done. Prepare in practice and trust it in games."
Now, you might be thinking, "what does a baseball vision pitch recognition app have to do with this"?
It has everything to do with it.
The Applied Vision Baseball Vision App IS NOT EASY.
It will expose your pitch recognition flaws.
In other words, in order to get better at your pitch recognition abilities, you will have to be comfortable with feeling like a beginner again.
The learning curve is real.
If you don't have mental toughness and a growth-mind-set, you'll quit.
You will not reach higher levels of your pitch recognition skills because you won't like the feeling of failing.
Always Getting Better: Off-Season Training
Here are some thoughts about winners and the power of being relentless.
Winners get sharper during the off-season.
Average players get duller.
Winners give BIG commitment.
It's hard to achieve BIG results with small commitment.
You get back from the game what you put in.
If you think you can give the bare minimum and expect the amount of success and playing time that you want, you're in for a rude awakening.
Winners don't think about what they can get out of baseball...
...they think about what they can give. Their goal is to give "everything"...and then wonder if they could have done even more to prepare.
The fact is, winners, win.
Winners are relentless.
Average players take the winter break off
Winners see their off-season and winter break as a chance to improve and gain an edge.
Winners seize the winter by maximizing efforts daily to be ready physically and mentally come spring. 9 weeks till baseball season.
Clock is ticking....Tick, Tick, Tick.
- Trent Mongero
The main utility of the Applied Vision Baseball App is it allows you to place your finger on the two buttons that ultimately dictate how much playing time you earn.
- Your hitting instincts - If you can hit you can play.
- The number of repetitions you have at game speed. - You get better by playing.
If you're a valuable asset to a line-up, you'll find always find a spot in the starting "nine".
It's really hard to get better when your butt is on the bench.
This doesn't mean you won't get better, but what you need is to train in controlled environments at game speed.
The Applied Vision Baseball App allows you to see pitches out of the pitcher's hand, judge balls and strikes, as well as pitch types all, while measuring your performance and progress.
Imagine how quickly you could develop if you could fit in a month's worth of at-bats in one pitch recognition training session.
When others do only what is asked, do a little more.