Cage Talk Podcast, Episode 7 - Dealing with Pressure

I'll tell you what, that is, if there's one thing that I'm seeing as a constant right now in this batting cage... and on my phone with my remote clients, my in-person clients, my hybrid clients, is pressure.

The mental game is real for these young players, and dealing with pressure is difficult, right? You know, back when I played, back in the old days, right, it was different.

Like, we didn't have social media.

Of course, you had pressure, but, you know, it's just this generation, this is the hardest it's ever been to play is right now.

Because there's just so much social pressure for these guys and then the commitment stuff and then the ambiguity of college baseball.

Like, I want to play in the big stage, but how do I even get there? Just because, you know, the whole landscape has changed with the NIL and recruiting and, you know, are they going after high school players? Are they not going after high school players? All these players are feeling it.

You know, in my day, we played the game with a little less pressure.

There was scouts there once in a while.

You very rarely saw...

You know, there weren't 20 scouts with cameras at the fence.

Scouts were a little bit more hidden back then.

College coaches didn't get around.

There weren't all these big tournaments like...

It was just a different landscape.

So we weren't used to playing in front of tons of scouts all the time.

Here and there, right? So really, your focus was more on the game.

Your focus was playing the game and competition.

And I think that's really the antidote for pressure is compete.

And really why...

I felt, you know, didn't feel pressure that much when I was a player.

I mean, at times you feel it in different times and different spaces and different stages of your career and different stages of life.

Pressure comes and pressure goes.

But the antidote for pressure is to be able to lock in and compete.

And that is what I learned at a young age.

And it's just it's carried with me because it's worked.