Between the ages of 16 and 21, did you kid ever experience a really bad season where it was 100% performance and not related to injury? By "bad" it means way below average. And, if yes, at what age and how did it impact their baseball journey?
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Typically most players, even those beyond 21 struggle. The very best players struggle.
Doing well and overcoming adversity in sports is about the players mentality.
Kevin O'Sullivan aka Sully told me once when son was struggling, he wasn't worried. What he does worry about is those that DON'T struggle.
How about me? I started college ball 0-16 with 7K’s. The game got real fast on me. Kids now arrive at college having played top travel schedules and are accustomed to facing 87-92 on a regular basis. All I had was Legion. I faced a top quality pitcher once a week until the post season.
Knowing I was in the right place educationally I decided I better improve real fast. I wasn’t leaving for baseball. Everything about my hitting was changed. In the meantime I was used as a pinch runner due to my speed. I was used sparingly and not against top pitchers for 49 more at bats over the season. I adapted to all the changes, hit wellI and started the following year.
This is the only year of my life I remember by batting average. Remembering homers was easy. It was the first time since nine in LL it was 0.
This one is fresh for me. Here our kids play spring ball for their high schools and summer ball is either legion or travel ball. My 2021 came into this spring after having no spring in 2020, but he did play travel ball last summer and fall. So he's a senior, confident and bigger, stronger and faster than ever before. Mentally and physically ready to go. I watched him that night this spring in game 1 and I smelled it from the stands. This was going to be possibly his best offensive season of his life (started playing at age 4). And for the first 2-3 games, the results were all that and more. But then something happened (baseball, I guess?) and this spring ended up being his worst offensive year ever. It was shocking all things considered. He ended up hitting .286. For reference, I can't remember any season (spring, summer or fall) where he's hit less than .325. He actually spent much of the spring under .250 and came on stronger towards the end to raise it to .286. Obviously .286 is not the end of the world, but my son has always maintained high averages and OBPs. It's what he's always done. He doesn't hit lots of extra bases, but he always hit a lot. Rarely Ks. Until this spring anyway.
How did he deal with it? He became a LOT more interested in reviewing video of his ABs, for one. He hit the gym more often and spent even more extra time in the cage. While it was weighing him down mentally, he never gave up and kept grinding. I'm happy to report that through 75 ABs this summer, he's hitting .467, which is notably higher than a typical season for him. So he's bounced back and then some, but it seemed so bizarre for his senior spring to go the way it did. With him committed to play JUCO ball here very soon, I think it'll end up being a really good thing for him mentally. Slumps are inevitable for every player, so now he's got at least one sobering season to go back and reference when things inevitably get much harder at the collegiate level. He now has real-world proof that he's able to bounce back from results that he's not happy with. I wanted more for my son this spring, but now I have the feeling - in the long run - it actually WAS more any stat can show.
I didn’t think of this earlier because the season ended well. My son started against right handed pitching the second half of freshman year of college. He figured the position was his soph year. He returned in the fall to find a JuCo All American at his position.
He didn’t start the first two games of the season after hitting over .300 the previous season in over 100 AB’s. A hot prospect at another position looked lost at the plate and in the field the first two games. My son started Sunday and got two hits. About twenty games in he was hitting .244. He commented if he didn’t pick it up soon the hot prospect was likely to get another shot.
He took extra BP that week. He sacrificed the homework he could for more sleep. He had a great weekend and never looked back.
I know my son churned and burned on the inside. But on the outside he’s Alfred E Neumann. What me worry?
The hot prospect did pick it up and retain his position. My son was moved to a position where another hot prospect was failing. His nickname became Zo (Ben Zobrist) for playing everywhere.
Not quite 16, but fall of 2019, before his 16th birthday, he batted .000, with close to two dozen Ks and a only handful of walks. Couldn’t figure it out. He batted .420 in spring of that year and nearly .300 that summer.
November we’re driving back from a trip to Ohio for Thanksgiving and I ask to let him know when he sees an exit sign that has a Wendy’s. We pass one, I ask why he didn’t say anything, he says he couldn’t quite read it. I ask him to read the next exit sign when he sees it, and it’s a solid 3 second count after I can read it….
After an upgrade to his contact prescription 2 weeks later, he was back to what he had been previously, batting .400 in the shortened spring of 2020.
So yeah, it could always be a simple fix.
I can't emphasize getting vision checked. My kid went from 20/20 to glasses in a few months when he was 14/15. Growth related. My soon to be 14 year old younger son did the same. Luckily wife and I have separate eye insurance to have 2x vision checks a year.
@RJM posted:How about me? I started college ball 0-16 with 7K’s. The game got real fast on me. Kids now arrive at college having played top travel schedules and are accustomed to facing 87-92 on a regular basis. All I had was Legion. I faced a top quality pitcher once a week until the post season.
Knowing I was in the right place educationally I decided I better improve real fast. I wasn’t leaving for baseball. Everything about my hitting was changed. In the meantime I was used as a pinch runner due to my speed. I was used sparingly and not against top pitchers for 49 more at bats over the season. I adapted to all the changes, hit wellI and started the following year.
This is the only year of my life I remember by batting average. Remembering homers was easy. It was the first time since nine in LL it was 0.
How did you adjust batting to be able to deal with the uptick in velocity?
This year! Started out amazing and then his from went to hell. Starting to get back to better form, but this is a season to forget (except the first 1/4)!
@Francis7 posted:How did you adjust batting to be able to deal with the uptick in velocity?
Back in the 70’s hitters were more likely to have closed, upright stances. I also stood close to plate as I was quicker than most high school and Legion pitchers.
My stance was opened. Instead of my back toe lined up with my front heel my back heel was lined up with my front toe. It helped to see the ball better.
I was moved away from the plate so I couldn’t get fisted by pitches. I started hitting line drives up the middle and the other way over the shortstops head. In high school I was a dead pull hitter.
I was crouched a little as opposed to upright to get some explosion coming out of the crouch I used to get from a longer stride (stride was shortened) as opposed to just being upright and quicker than most high school pitchers.
I became a gap to gap hitter who still had some power when I got my pitch and drove the ball over the right field fence.
I started out both kids hitting the same way as preteens. They eventually adopted their own style. Both were open but more upright and stayed that way in college. Playing travel baseball and softball they saw better quality pitching in travel than I saw in Legion. Adapting in college wasn’t an issue from a hitting fundamentals standpoint.
