I'm posting here since I wanted folks to know what great info is available on this site and to thank those who posted previously.
Son is having a tough season. He's always batted lead off, but like many of his teammates, struggled to get a hit in the first few games of the season though he had the best OBP on the team.
The kid hitting clean up was also struggling, so coach benched him and he came back with a fury. Did the same with my son, moved him from batting first to last, and it completely backfired. Son felt like coach didn't have any confidence in him so lost all confidence in himself and struck out at each at bat, which led him to the bench. Now he's so anxious the few times he gets an at bat that he continues to strike out. Son says he's tried counting and visualizing but it didn't help.
Entered "confidence" in the search on the site and came up with a few more things to try - such as chewing gum, simple mantra, and have ordered a couple books. (found them on ebay sold by goodwill so cheap and donation to a good cause!) Son is putting in extra time at the cage and going for a batting lesson.
Wish us luck - the hs baseball season is a short one so he may be riding the pines from here on out.
Chew Gum (Blue Collar Baseball mentioned this)
Think the words "see the ball" (I got that one from a baseball mental book not sure what it was called)Blog - BaseballByTheYard Hitting: Five stages of focusbooks - Mental Game of Baseball, Heads-Up Baseball : Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time