Everyone has heard of, and all of us have experienced, a hitting slump, but very little is said about a fielding slump. What exactly is a fielding drop? Good question.

Defined as best I can, “a fielding slump is the result of a simple physical mistake that creates a mental and emotional fear of the baseball hit.” What what? It’s a phenomenal event that some players are more likely to experience than others depending on their attitude and mindset.

Sometimes when a player, especially a player who demands perfection from himself, makes a simple fielding error, such as the ball slipping between his legs or a wild pitch, a mental setback immediately sets in, creating fear. to repeat the mistake.

This, of course, is nonsense, but if you’ve ever experienced this, you know what I’m talking about. This fear may start slowly but quickly builds to the point where the player is almost praying they don’t get hit. Guess what, the ball seems to always find you.

A quick example on the side. As a youngster he had a very strong throwing arm and was always positioned at third base. In one particularly important game, I remember like it was yesterday, I ousted the first baseman and allowed him to score the winning run. From then on, I was never able to throw a hard pitch to first, instead I aimed the ball.

The mental or emotional block was so immediate and strong that I had to switch to second base. Notice my fielding wasn’t affected, it was as good as ever, but I couldn’t stop aiming or shorting the ball. I know the pain of a poor fielding run.

I couldn’t correct my problem, but through my years of minor league baseball and coaching, I’ve learned a few tricks that can help you or your player overcome depression.

Brain solution:

The first thing that needs to be addressed is the mental aspect, as the physical aspect is usually not the problem, although it can be.

1. Stop and reflect on your past accomplishments. There was a time when you wanted all the balls to hit you because you were confident that you could handle any situation. Try to remember some of the great plays he made. This isn’t being arrogant, you’re thinking to yourself, plus it’s a fact that you made these plays.

2. If you stop and think about it, the brain has to tell the body what to do to field the ball. Go back to basics and mentally go over every aspect of catching the ball, from staying on the ground to looking at the ball in the glove.

3. After you reset the basics, use the visualization to really see each step of your completion of the basics. Visualization is a powerful tool and seeing yourself correctly fielding one ground ball after another has a huge impact on your physical and muscle memory.

physical arrangement:

Sometimes, it doesn’t matter that the culprit of a fall in the field is mental, the mind will still blame the body and this is not abnormal.

1. After performing the mental corrections from above, it is time to institute the physical corrections. Again, go back to basics! Field slowly hits ground balls, hundreds of them if that’s what it takes. Its intent is to recover your mental and muscle memory, and it helps you read the ball, something you never know enough of.

2. Start fielding balls with harder hits. It is imperative that you not only field ground balls, but attack them aggressively. Don’t let the ball touch you, which is a major byproduct of a poor fielding streak.

3. Finish the solution by fielding the hardest hit balls away from you, forcing you to get your feet and body into the correct fielding position. This will conclude your retraining and restore your confidence.

Remember this…for any lingering doubt, the total end of your fielding slump is identical to the hard-hitting ball ending a hitting slump, one big play away.