confidence problems

Question
hi, im 16 and im currently on my high school jv team. im a good hitter and in practice and in the cage i always do well hitting, but when i get in a game i just seem to not be able to hit anything.. at all. i lose all my hitting fundamentals, timing, drop my back shoulder, opening up to soon so i cant hit the ball the other way. im not really sure whats going on but i think its something about my confidence. how can i get my head back in the game and start playing the way im supposed to? its killing me not playing at my best.
also i was wondering if you know any good drills to help stop opening up to soon and stop dropping my back shoulder.
thanks.

Answer
Juliene:  Thank you for your question!

From the description of your problem, it sounds like you are thinking too much, about too many things.

Yogi Berra once said, "You can't think and hit at the same time".  He was right!

I would suggest going back to the basics, re-drill your fundamentals, or hitting progressions, on a tee.  You want to be able to replicate those hitting progressions by reaction and repetition, not thought.  Once you step in the batter's box, you are then free to just concentrate on seeing the ball and hitting the ball, using your hitting plan or approach.

The progression from the tee would be to soft toss, then move to short toss and finally live BP.

Opening up too soon can be a symptom of striding to hit, not stride, then hit.  

If you get your front foot down early, on line back at the pitcher, your front side stays closed.  You want to get your front foot down early, at least by the time the ball is halfway to the plate.  The harder a pitcher throws, it becomes necessary to get the front foot down sooner, so you aren't rushed.  Start sooner, Soon and Slow!

Getting the pitcher timed out in the on deck circle allows you to go to the plate and hit the first good strike you see.  There is no need to take a first pitch fastball in the heart of the plate, just to get your timing.  This is one part of developing an approach or plan for each at bat.

Once you have your front foot down, you are hitting out of those tracks.  Players will sometimes load/stride early (which is good ), then reload and stride to hit the pitch.  That second load will cause them to be late.  Quite often they will then drop their hands, or shoulder, in an attempt to provide power to get the bat to and through the hitting zone.  In reality, that second load puts them late and underneath the pitch.

On my web site at www.theoleballgame.com, under instruction, there is a page on hitting.  At the bottom of that page, there are links to additional hitting concepts and instruction.

The page, hitting progressions advanced may help you with your mechanics.

Batter development has information about developing a hitting plan or approach at the plate, as do Proven Team Approach, MLB Top 20 Hitters Splits and Batting Average Analysis.

When you have the mechanics down, hitting becomes much more about approach to each at bat, making sure that you provide yourself with the opportunity to be successful by getting a good pitch to hit.

Everything combines together to develop your confidence.  Set goals for what you want to achieve, write down how you plan to achieve them and systematically do quality work to get there.  Quality of work is always better than just quantity.  

Once you have put it together, and done the work, trust your skills and just play.  When you need to make adjustments, you want to be able to make them yourself, pitch to pitch.  You can eliminate many lost at bats or opportunities that way.  One bad swing doesn't necessarily need to be a lost at bat, one lost at bat doesn't need to be a bad game of at bats, etc.  Focus yourself back on track, so that you concentrate on see the ball, hit the ball.

From what you said in your question, it sounds like you have had success in the past.

The Successes We Achieved In Our Past Are More Real Than The Failures We Feel In Our Futures.

Take those successes, build on and run with them.  There are no failures in baseball, only opportunities to learn and adjust.  Learning and adjusting is the key; just as it is in life.

Should you have additional questions you can also contact me through my web site, either the contact page or the Ask a Question page.

Yours in baseball,

Rick