you can control

By now most of you are either deep into the baseball season or have just begun. As much as I want each one of you to have your best stuff every time you take the mound, that is simply not going to happen. Not even the great ones like Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Pedro Martinez, or Randy Johnson had their best stuff every time they took the mound. Yet the difference between those guys and the average major league guy is that those guys found ways to win with their ‘C’ stuff. And just like training to throw a 90 mph fastball, learning to win with your ‘C’ stuff can and should be trained. Continue reading →

I had just returned to school my junior year of college and fall baseball was starting up. After practice one day I began talking to one of the assistant coaches about the mental side of the game and he had one piece of advice to offer me -- "only focus on the things you can control." This might sound like common sense or something that should automatically be done, but even though I had read several books about the mental side of pitching I had never quite heard those words, or if I had it became more clear what those words meant after talking with somebody who had seen me pitch and begin to compare tendencies I have with that phrase. Continue reading →