HS Son is Slumping

If he is working hard physically and absent major mechanical flaws, I'd advise to start some mental conditioning.  Try one of a few Brian Cain books.  My son read "Toilets, Bricks, Fish Hooks and PRIDE" and liked it a lot..but there are others plus videos.  Cain is great and works with many top college programs, and I am just a parent and not working for him at all.  He is at the age where transformation of his "mental game" can be a huge factor, as his physical advantages won't always carry him.  

http://briancain.com/product/t...fish-hooks-and-pride

Time for the slump discussion.  Every player has them from Derek Jeter or whoever his favorite player is right on down to HS Freshmen.  It is a good idea to stay away from too much coaching and focus on the mindset and approach to his work.

Tell him to relax and trust his skills that have always been there.  I always told my son to look to go the other way at the plate (my only advice on the game itself).  Forces the front shoulder to stay in.  Also if the coach is still running him out there...reinforce that should tell him something.  Work hard in practice and stay positive.  Getting an attitude will lose the coach at some point even if it is nothing more than pouting over his performance.

It passes and he'll survive.  He will be more prepared to work his way out of the next one.  It will come.  But at some point when he is 8-11 some week he'll be laughing this off.  It all levels off.  8-11 plus 2-14 equals .400.

I'm in the same situation as your son i worked out of my slump though. I just had a few mechanical problems with my swing I worked out and took deep breaths before every ab to stay focused and be relaxed. Pitching if he really needs a pitch i always try to reach the baseball to the catching mitt as far as I can get it. 

Brian Cain has good stuff.... Good idea on backing off the conversations about performance.  

As far as being a freshman playing HS ball, it is a whole other game. It will take some time to adjust. Have faith and have him work hard and it will come around.

So far his attitude on the field and bench has been good (as far as I can see).  You can tell he is disappointed but he is still cheering on his team and working hard on and off the field.  We are going through a stretch of 4 weekday games this week and a double header on Saturday.  Not a lot of time for practice and/or off time.  So far my advice to him has been limited to relax and have fun, its just a slump and you will get through it.  He told me yesterday that neither of the coaches are getting on him so I am guessing they are letting him have his space as well.  He was really down yesterday.  He was not scheduled to pitch but our starter lasted two innings and gave up 9 runs.  We brought one kid in for 2 innings and then my kid was brought in for what was supposed to be 2 innings.  We were up 9-11 at this point.  He got through the first inning OK.  2 runs scored but both runners were allowed on base due to errors.  He did give up a double, scoring both runs, on a fastball down the plate but its what the coach called for.  Got out of that by striking out the next two and forcing a kid to hit into a slow roller.  He then plucked the first two batters of the next inning.  When he got into the car he said he really feels like he let the team down.  I am not one to point out others mistakes nor one to point out that the coach called for the pitch that gave up the runs but I had to really bite my tongue to not point out that others made mistakes.  I basically told him that its a team game and yes he didn't do his part but that there plenty of other opportunities for the team to win the game and we did not take advantage of those as well.  This is something he brought up, not a conversation I started.

BTW, this discussion has become my therapy.  Sorry for the long winded details...

A week and a half in high school is what?  Three games?  Four?

That's not long enough for a slump, and I don't think it even qualifies as a funk.  

You are right that he needs to get through it on his own.  Your job is just to relax as much as possible, refrain from offering any tips unless he asks a direct question, and do your best not to radiate stress.  

He's a HS freshman.  He's batting.  He's pitching.  How many kids would love to be in his shoes?  How many parents would love to be in yours.  Enjoy it.

I agree with you.  Our normal dinner conversations consist of me asking how his day was and how practice went.  Followed by him telling me I ask the same questions over and over again.  If he had a game I may ask a few questions about the game followed by him providing me a one word answer (teenagers).  Yesterday I didn't ask any of the usual questions.  The only discussion we had was the one he initiated in the car.  

I guess I release my stress through writing and talking so I am doing that here on this board.  Really really trying to stay out of his head.  While I agree slumps are usually longer then this this is the longest time he has struggled at all and I can see that its bugging him.  

Exactly, and that jives with Cain.  After reading his book, BucsFanSon said:  "you know what I liked best about that book?  i realized what a great day I've had relative to 95% of kids in the world even if I have a bad day on the baseball field."

Keep writing...it helps more than just you.

This is true.  But a HS kid could have other stuff going on that the Captain doesn't have to worry about, like homework backing up, a test that went south, a big project on deadline, a girl who won't give him the time of day, a boy who keeps busting his chops, or parents who expect him to do his homework and chores instead of playing ball full time.  Sometimes it's hard to remember that these athletes are still kids and they have other responsibilities and other things in their lives.  Not referring to the OP at all, but it's also good to pay attention to clues whenever a kid seems troubled. 98% of the time it's normal growing pains, but the other 2% may be  dangerous territory, so you have to pay attention.

OH, and BTW both my kids really felt like they got something from The Mind Gym by Barry Mack.

I like the idea of the sports psyc books.  My son was an avid reader. Its been pushed aside lately due to the requirements of HS.  I am guessing if the topic interests him he would be willing to read when he has some time.

This is a great topic.  Happened to BFS, JR. last year on the mound.  He hit two batters in a game with an 0-2 count both times...then went downhill from there.  It got so bad he was spiking 50' CBs anytime he had 2 strikes.

In those cases, it comes down to the failure is what is being thought of during the action, so instead of visualizing the wipeout CB you have thrown for a swing and miss thousands of time, your brain is saying "please don't hit the batter" or "please don't throw one away"....well guess what happens when that is your visualization....yep, you throw one away.

Same thing in a hitting slump...."damn I hope I don't get jammed, or damn I hope I don't K, or ....."  guess what happens.  Positive visualization is key always, it is CRITICAL when in slumps.

The Cain, and other stuff helps regarding this...but for starters he can simply overwhelm his thoughts with positive past outcomes, and eliminate the negative.

Good call.  Nice broader perspective.

www.qualityatbats.com 

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/c...adio--steve-springer 

I tend to agree that it happens to all of them(and us) eventually.  It's interesting to see how they handle it and come out of it.  Lefthook is experiencing his in the current.  Started off really hot on the mound,5 shut-outs with 2 or fewer hits...his ERA was somewhere around .04....then it happened last week, gave up 7/8 hits, got dinged for 7 earned runs, lots of walks and a few hit batters...got lucky and still got the W.  Then again last night, blew the save in bottom of 7th, hbp, walk, gave up a walk off triple.  A nice sit down discussion revealed that he has been slacking off on his mechanic drills, riding on his past success.  With District play-offs only 10 days away he now knows what he needs to do...he knows he holds his own destiny in his hands, now it's a test of fortitude.  Personally, I am glad it happened.  His V Asst Coach and I can only harp so much about the importance of consistent hard work...a little "humbling" can go a long way.

To the OP, he is young, and this can be a good test for him to work through.

A slump isn't a big deal.  It's just a slump.

A big deal is when you go to bed hungry and can't afford to play baseball.  I've seen some great players go through slumps.  I never feel sorry for them.  I do feel sorry for the kids we see at the pediatric cancer center.

My point is... You can make slumps into a dire emergency or you can see it for what it is and keep your head up.

100% agree.  I know Im the one talking about this but in perspective its a very minor thing in life.  My oldest son attends MSU and we have been following the Adrian Payne / Princess Lacy story for more then a year now.  Way before it became national news and we are very aware how blessed we are.

One of my favorites...

"Life is 5% what happens to you and 95% how you react".

Simple advice that my son has learned to live by...

...focus on the process, not the results.  

Baseball is funny, as we all know.  You can do everything right and have nothing to show for it or everything wrong and have something.  His job is to see the ball and hit it hard.  No other thoughts.  If you've hit it hard, you did your job.

...unless coach gave him the bunt sign.

Never mind.  Just kidding.  Good point.

He doesn't need the books, you do!

I have to agree with PG, there are so many things that are more important in life.

IMO slumps are good, they bring out the best in the player. Its what separates those that truly have it in them to learn how to take failure and turn it into success or those that just don't know how to deal with it.

Follow your sons lead, if he wants to talk about it fine, if not, that is fine too. Just let him know that you are there is he needs you.

BTW, 12 is where the separation begins, maybe he has been the best player among his friends, but things change.

When my son was eleven in LL he made three of the four errors he made that season in one game. In the parking lot after the game he muttered that he stunk today. I asked him if he wanted some grounders tomorrow. He responded, "I didn't say I stunk. I said I stunk today. I'll be fine tomorrow." I told him to never forget what he just said.

Just a quick follow up to this.  My son came home from school on Thursday (no game scheduled).  He was in a very good mood and joking around.  He mentioned that he got called down to the Dean's office.  Said he was scared and couldn't figure out what he did wrong or why this particular Dean would call him down as its not his assigned Dean.  The Dean in question is the Head Varsity Coach.  My wife knows him pretty well as she works with him a lot.  In addition we play his son's travel team frequently.  He and my kid have a very good mentor/student/athlete relationship.  Turns out the HVC wanted to check on my kid.  He heard (from the frosh coach) that he was in a little bit of a funk and wanted to make sure he was ok.  Also told him not to worry about it as they know he can play the game and told him to relax and work his way out of it.  

On Friday we played a weaker non-conf. opponent.  They sat our starters with the idea of putting them in for the last inning or two if needed.  We ended up beating this team 19-1 in 4 1/2 so the starters never played.  On Saturday we played our last non-conf games of the year.  My son went 2-3, K, HR, 1B.  They sat the starters and since the "B" teams game was canceled due to rain at the other fields allowed some of them to play in our second game.  So my son didn't play in the second game. You could tell he was relaxed and having fun.  Hopefully this is the end of it and he moves forward.  You could see in his personality that he was a lot less stressed over the weekend.

My 2014 is / was going thru it as well. Last year hit .420, lots of extra base hits etc. This year started out slow. No power, pulling everything to 3B or SS on ground, was 2-19 over 5 games. totally frustrated. He hadn't been in that kind of slump for years. Older brother who is very good at picking up small hitting details wne with him Saturday morning before duobleheader to hit off t.

Told him one small thing according to older brother. First AB in doubleheader, same result GB to 3B. Looked at his brother frustrated. Next AB roped it up the middle, you could see the relief on his face. He high 5'd the 1B coach, way to excited over a single . Next 4 AB 2 double, 2 singles.

Sometimes it just takes that one hit and they relax.