How do you normally feel when you’re at the plate with runners on second or third? Are you confident and relaxed? Or are you tight?
What about when no one’s on? Do you feel more relaxed then?
Why is it that when there are runners in scoring position, you feel tight, while other times you feel loose, relaxed, and confident?
Well, it has nothing to do with your ability to hit and everything to do with what you’re thinking about when you step up to the plate.
The Pressure of Runners in Scoring Position
I worked with a college hitter who thrived when runners were on base. Especially when they were in scoring position. But that wasn’t always the case.
When we first began working together, he struggled with runners on second or third. In fact, it was the main reason he reached out for help.
For example, in one game, he was up with a runner on third in the ninth inning. The game was tied, and there were two outs.
He explained to me how stressed he felt on deck. Part of him wanted to go up to bat, and the other part of him wanted the guy in front of him to hit the runner in.
There was one out when he was on deck. The batter in front of him struck out.
Now it was his turn. He walked up to the plate, and his legs were shaking. All he could think about was how desperately he wanted to hit the runner in and how badly he did not want to choke.
The pitcher threw a ball middle away, the batter swung as hard as he could, the ball hit off the end of his bat and flew weakly into right field.
He’d hit a walk-off.
But that was a rare occasion. A moment where he lucked out, and even though he was tight and swung too hard and didn’t make good contact, the outcome still wound up in his favor.
Many other times, however, the tension led him to hesitate, take good pitches, and make poor contact that did not end up in hits.
He was a completely different hitter with runners on base.
Have you ever found yourself in a similar situation? Maybe not the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a runner on third, but a time where there were runners in scoring position, and you felt tight and tense?
Did you think things like…
- I have to get a hit here.
- I have to hit them in.
- I can’t choke.
- Don’t strike out.
- This is my moment!
Those types of thoughts are what we can point to as to why you get tight with runners in scoring position.
Thinking About The Outcome
I have to hit them in…
Of course, that’s the goal, right? So why would that thought create tension?
Well, think about your focus and what’s on your mind when you hit without runners in scoring position.
If you feel more relaxed, I’m going to guess you don’t think quite as much about the outcome. Your thoughts are probably centered around having a quality at-bat, sticking to your approach, and so on.
But then with runners in scoring position it becomes…
- I have to get a hit here.
- I have to hit them in.
- I can’t choke.
- Don’t strike out.
- This is my moment!
When runners are in scoring position, you see how thinking focuses on the outcome.
This outcome-oriented thinking creates pressure and tension. This is the main reason hitters (and possibly yourself) struggle to execute with runners on base.
How to Hit With Runners in Scoring Position
With runners in scoring position, your goal is to keep your thinking process-focused, keep your goal simple, and stay present.
From a mental standpoint, that puts you in a great position to succeed. It doesn’t guarantee success, but it significantly raises your chances.
Keep Your Thinking Process-Focused
A key characteristic of pressure-free hitting is keeping our focus on the process. It tends to happen automatically.
In contrast to process-focused thinking is outcome-oriented thinking. Outcome thinking is present when there are runners in scoring position. It refers to you thinking about and worrying about what will happen.
Outcome thinking is the main driver of sports performance anxiety. The more you worry about what will happen, the more tense you become.
With runners in scoring position, you worry about hitting them in, you get tight, and then you don’t hit well.
We break this pattern by shifting focus onto the process.
So what exactly is the process?
It’s all the controllable steps that lead to a successful at-bat (or put you in a position to have a quality at-bat).
There are many parts of hitting you can control, and many you cannot. You want to keep yourself focused on the parts you can control.
This includes what you do on-deck and what you think about and focus on at the plate.
But the overarching principle is that we are working to keep your thinking simple and present.
Many hitters I’ve worked with in one-on-one mental coaching have chosen to focus on being reactive at the plate. That is what they’ve found the most success with.
Others have found success repeating a mantra at the plate, such as “See ball, attack.”
When we keep our thinking focused on the process, we keep our thinking in the present moment. That is where you want your thinking in pressure-filled situations.
Keep Your Goal Simple
This builds on the idea I just shared about being process-focused. In big moments, with runners on base, our goal expands. Not only are we trying to be on time, have good pitch selection, and make good contact, but now we’re trying to hit the runner in, win the game for our team, and not choke.
Your goal has gone from being process-focused and simple to outcome-oriented and complex.
It’s a much bigger goal that comes with much more pressure.
So am I saying that you should tell yourself you don’t care about hitting the runner(s) in?
No! Of course you care, and you want to come up clutch. What I’m referring to is what you’re actively thinking about and trying to do.
The result of your simple goal will be hitting the runners in, if all goes well. So again, you are focusing on a controllable step along the way, rather than fixating on the result you want.
Also, by keeping your goal simple, you will feel like it’s much more manageable.
In other words, you’ll have more confidence at the plate because you aren’t trying to do anything special. You’re simply trying to achieve a goal you likely have achieved many times before.
But by achieving that smaller, simpler goal, you give yourself a fantastic chance of coming up clutch and hitting the runners in.
Use Breathing Before Each Pitch
Up to this point, I’ve focused on how you think and what your focus is on with runners in scoring position, and how that increases pressure and tension.
There is also a very real nervous system response that’s taking place as well, that is resulting in you feeling tight, or maybe even shaking at the plate.
In pressure moments, our fight or flight response kicks in. Our sympathetic nervous system begins firing, and we notice feelings of nervousness and anxiety.
To work against this, in addition to focusing on the process and simplifying your goal, you can use a breathing technique that has been scientifically proven to calm your nervous system.
What you do is breathe in through your nose, and then when you have filled up your lungs, take another quick breath (like one more sip of air), then breathe out through your mouth like you’re blowing through a straw.
Allow the exhale to be nice and slow.
You can do this a few times on deck and also between pitches. Try it out now! You’ll immediately notice a sense of calm come over you.
Now, this breathing technique won’t eliminate all feelings of nerves. But it will help calm your mind a bit and make it easier to keep your thinking simple and focus on your process-goal for the at-bat.
Final Thoughts
Hitting with runners on base is where you make your money as a hitter. Unfortunately, the tension and tightness you feel with runners on makes it difficult to hit.
You may even feel like a different hitter with runners on and when no runners are on.
This tightness comes from your mind being focused on the result.
To help, shift your focus onto the process, keep your goal simple, and also use the breathing technique described above to calm your nerves.
Helping hitters do better in big moments is something I work on with baseball and softball players in my one-on-one mental coaching program.
Click here to learn more about my coaching and to see if it’s a good fit for you.
Thank you for reading, and I wish you the best of success in your upcoming games!
