Practice, practice, and practice some more with focus and purpose. If you want to be good, do not miss a team practice and work on your swing at home when you have some spare time. If you want to be better, do not miss a team practice, take lessons or find help when needed and make time to work on your swing at home. If you want to be great, do not miss a team practice, take lessons or find help when needed, make time to work on your swing at home, record yourself in slow-motion when you feel something is off at BP or on the Tee, do not be complacent, be open to learn and try new ways to improve your swing every day.
Whether it is a scrimmage or a championship game, keep your hitting approach and mind game the same and under control. It is easy said that done, but sticking to a pregame routine, an on-deck circle routine, and batting box routine will help to clear your mind and let your muscle memory take over. Make changes in your routine only if you are in the process of changing your swing, this will allow your new muscle memory to take over.
When working on improving your swing, do not expect miracles. It is hard work to deploy a new swing when the adrenaline kicks in at game time. Do not give up too soon. It takes time.
At game time, study the pitcher from the dugout even before you step in the on-deck circle, talk to your teammates and coaches about their previous experience facing that pitcher. Pay attention to pitch sequences based on pitch count.
Time the pitcher when you are on deck.
Unless there is a timer, get in the box only when you are ready to swing. Get out of the batting box, take a deep breath, relax, do your box routine before getting back in your stance, specially if it is a pitcher’s count. Step out of the box if the pitcher is taking too much time.
Keep a soft focus and hard focus approach with your eyes as you get ready to track the pitch. Fixing your eyes on the pitcher when he/she is still getting ready to pitch might strain your sight and you might blink and miss the pitch.
You should always have a goal in mind when hitting based on game situation. Forget about individual stats help your team win. Sometimes, a sac bunt/fly approach is more important than a homerun mindset.
If you are going to swing, swing for real. You should always be focused on deploying a full, controlled, fast and aggressive swing.
A strike-out is just an out. Forget about the last pitch, adjust and prepare for the next. If you have more than your average strike-outs, your swing might be a bit out of sync. Ask a friend to film you during BP and/or your at-bats at game time and study your swing in slow motion. Ask your coach or hitting coach to watch the film and design some drills to correct the issue.
Finally, it is just a game. Worst thing that can happen you just had one lousy day. Go and have fun at the next game.
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