- Pete Wilkinson

Identifying the mechanics involved leads me to approach, which sets the environment for the swing to work. There are two factors in approach...  the hitter's overall feeling of confidence in his ability and in his swing; and the hitter's preparation for this at-bat and this pitch.

AFeeling of Confidence
The hitter must believe in himself and his ability. In developing this, it is important that he understand better measures of success than batting average and on-base percentage. He must be able to create a "quality at-bat" without having it result in a hit. I have a definition of that as a place to start, but, no matter what the hitter's definition, he needs to have such a measure if he is to retain his sanity.

His general goals (i.e., hit the ball with authority) must be clear enough, and his standards must be high enough, to enhance his own self-respect and produce high quality results over time in the eyes of the team or the manager/coach.

B Specific Preparation
His focus must be outward-bound (on the pitcher and the ball), not inward (on his own mechanics).

• He needs to get a good pitch to hit and get a good look at it, or his job is exponentially tougher.
• He needs to have a goal and a plan for the at-bat. He must know what exactly he intends to accomplish in this trip to the plate.
• He needs to remove fear and doubt. They lead to anxiety, a fancy term for negative goal-setting, and paralysis. The best way to do that is to focus on the specific thing he wants to achieve.
• He needs to stay in the present moment - in the next pitch.
• He needs to be actively optimistic:  he's going at this pitch until it's not there, not consciously making judgments during the flight of the ball. Then he's "trusting his hands," as the saying goes, to make good decisions in response to his subconscious.