It’s a Simple Game
We talked about Lollygaggers in the previous article. After the Lollygagger statement the manager continues with: “Baseball is a simple game, you throw the ball, hit the ball, you catch the ball. You got it?” The quote is spoken by Skip (Trey Wilson) during a locker room tirade.
Sounds simple and many of us unknowingly make it more complex. Throw, hit and catch have one very important thing about the three skills. Keep your eyes on the target, whether it is the ball or the place you are throwing. In the movie, Forrest Gump never blinks while playing ping pong, as he was told the trick was “to keep your eye on the ball”. That is the KISS method to the extreme. However, we can let distractions interfere with our focus. No matter how we swing the bat, catch the ball or throw to a target, eye focus is the most critical component.
We tell other players they are pulling their head out in the swing, bouncing when running to catch the ball, not centering themselves in the throw to the direction intended, and many other visual cues. The player is making it difficult to be consistent in the throw, hit, and catch aspects of the game. The saying the game is 90% mental may be true, but we let a lot of mental distractions and physical actions interfere with us playing to the best of our abilities.
Eye focus on the ball improves pitch selection, bat barrel contact, throwing accuracy, and ball in glove consistency. Keep it simple stupid. The eyes have it. You got it?
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