Baseball Bytes: Goals
In the Weekly Baseball Bytes Series, Geoff shares with you the things he thinking, hears or saw throughout his week.
In this episode, Geoff Rottmayer, shares how he helped a kid alter his goals from things he can control from things he cannot control.
Goals and what we changed it to:
1. Hitting .400 – Consistently Squaring Up Baseballs
2. Hitting 3 Homes Runs – Consistently Hitting The Ball Hard
3. Lots of 3 for 3 & 4 for 4 days – Quality at Bats
4. Best Player on Team – Best Version of Myself and Just Do Me
5. Hit .500 for High School Career – Be a Competitor Who is Consistent.
Transcribe:
Hey Guys Geoff here and this is the start of the Baseball Byets Series I am going to do every week on Monday and Friday and on wednesdays, we will release interviews. They are going to be short 2-8 minutes. Being in the trenches everyday and being at ball field every week, I just want to share and get things off my chest of thing i see and hear and maybe someone who is listening can relate.
Today I want to talk about a hitter I have, who started off this season strong, this is a high school kid and there season is just about over, which went by fast. But he started off the season strong and then went into a midseason slump where he was striking out 2-3 times a game.
So when he was in, I have all my hitters keep a hitting journal, which has allowed me to have some deep conversation with my hitters and get a better understanding of what they are thinking and doing. Prior to the journal every was doing unbelievable then I would talk tot he parent and it wasn’t so, so this journal get away from guys leaving details out.
So we are going through his journal and i am getting a good understanding of whats going on, but in the beginning of the journal I have them put their goals down, and he was hesitant sharing that part with me but since he was struggle i said we need to review this.
There are 8 lines I put down, you can put one goal down or 5 or 8 i don’t care, lets just have something to shoot for.
So as I am going through his goals, he had 8 of them. But what I notice quickly was, 5 of the 8 goals he put down were things he could not control. So there was a lot of pressure place on my by himself to accomplish these goals most of which he had no control over. So I worked with him to adjust these goals and have more goals that are within what he can control. So I am going to share with you what his goals were and what we altered them too – this kids has been on a tear since we shifted his mindset.
1. He wanted to hit .400 – I told him you can barrel up baseballs all day long and guys can catch it, that goes against your batting average, but can you control hitting the ball where guys are catching it? He said no – I went not o explain, if we are consistent in barrel up the baseball and we do it often then baseballs will fall. So we changed that goal to consistently squaring up baseballs.
2. Hit 3 homeruns – can you control this, he said no. You are pushing so hard to get these homers that you are swinging uncontrollably – you are trying to do too much. And he admitted that he was swinging 100% every single time despite the count or situations. And what we saw in the journal of his at bat, because he was doing that, he was fouling off his pitch so much. The pitch that was in his wheelhouse that he should have crushed is he was just missing. And he would do that a couple times at bat and know behind in count and goes down. So we changed this goal to consistent hit the ball hard – which comes from the first goals on consistently barreling up baseballs.
3. Lots of 3 for 3 and 4 for 4 days. by now he was starting to see how this work and quickly change this goal to having quality at bats. Which I thought was good but then we had to define quality at bat, for him. Doesn’t matter what i think it should be, but what does it mean for him. Quality at bats for him, was seeing the baseball, getting a good pitch to hit, and barreling up baseball, but ti was also, to get ahead of the count and take advantage of the pitches he was just missing now. So, I said ok, lets go with that.
4. Be the best player on the team – I said dude, how can you quantify being the best player no the team? He said players that have the best numbers. So i told him, so now you are pressing to to do better than johnny instead of being the best version of yourself and compete with yourself. So we changed this goals to Be the best I can be and just do me – support my teammates and root for them but do not compare yourself.
5. Then he said he wanted to hit .500 for his high school player career, so all 4 years. And he quickly change that to being consistent and being a competitor. Compete every opportunity he had.
So this kid has been on a tear since, so hopefully this is something that can help you see how I did this and how we can help guys.
There was nothing wrong with his swing other than he was swinging out of his shoe all the time. The journal allowed us to look into his goals and in to his mind and process what he was thinking and what he is trying to accomplish and he was shooting too hard for something he had no control over.
