samflamont:

This is a comment left by Brad Mumma.  It touches on some things I have said in earlier posts and fits well with what I try to teach kids and the message I want to get across on this blog.  This is a very insightful comment, and kids Brad has been lucky enough to play pro ball over the course of 7 years and I will tell you he is one of the fiercest competitors I have played with.

Sam. I would like to discuss the same thing only on the field. Turning negatives, as there are many in the game of baseball within the game into positives, or at least having the mind set to move forward from the negatives. Let’s face it everybody, is gonna get out, a lot for that matter and every pitcher is gonna get shelled. I learned from a great pitching coach, Rick Langford of the Toronto Blue Jays to find and acknowledge what happened to make you get shelled or what it was that made you ground into that double play. Understanding when you just flat out get beat is the best place to start. Respecting the game comes with that. In my 7 seasons since college, I’ve seen millions of batters come to the bench and say I should have taken that ball deep or shoulda woulda coulda. To me, even though the pitch was driveable and you shoulda woulda coulda hit it hard, it just compounds the problem by having that negative in your mind, and it could linger, especially in a game where a hitter gets four at bats a night. If hit happens more than once you’re really gonna be out of it mentally. Instead, even if it’s a pitch you shoulda driven respect the game for how tough it is, and respect the pitcher for getting you out. Doing this will allow you in a positive way to think less about your bad swing and concentrate on what you can do to fix it for your next AB. If you practice and are ready to play this game, most times you get out or get hit around are for reasons of execution or your “swing” or “pitch.” If you can get over the fact that you didn’t execute instead of beat yourself up over woulda shoulda coulda, you can move on in the flow of the game and help your team where they need you next, probably in the field. Same goes for pitchers. I hate seeing pitchers complain about giving up bloop hits or jam jobs that fall in. In brief, my hitting philosophy is to learn to square up more baseball’s wherever they are pitched. As I studied the game, thousands of games from the bench I noticed that a jam job or a bloop single in most cases is a good hitter taking a swing at a pitch they probably shouldn’t have, and having the great ability with their hands to still “square” it up. If you’re a pitcher and a hitter does this to you, get over it and give the hitter a little respect for getting his barrel or enough of his barrel to the well executed pitch. In other words, you were beat. The faster you can get over this and move to the next pitch, the more effective you’ll be and you’ll be able to continue to execute your pitches. When I was a younger pitcher I used to pout on the mound when I gave up dink hits, or any hits for that matter. Now through the maturity of my game, as soon as someone hits a single, whether they barrel it up or not, all I can think about is that double play, and if it’s a double, how to keep them there, etc. You hear coaches say keep an even keel out there no matter what happens. When you can truly learn to do that it will elevate your game to it’s highest potential.

Brad, thanks for the post and I would like to expand a little on that.

To further expand on pitchers complaining about bloop hits.  It is true good pitches get hit, not as often or as well but they do get hit.  This is along the lines of a hitter complaining about getting out on a line drive, remember once you let go of the pitch or you hit the ball you have no control anymore.  Pitchers don’t mind when a missile gets snagged or a ball that was hit well gets caught by a great defensive play.  My point is the mistake you made got caught and the good pitch dropped in…big deal they even out.  Stop crying and get on the mound.  I touched on this for hitter in an earlier post.