himself succeeding. Secondly, along with the breathing to calm the body, the pitcher needs to be very aware of where his focus is (back to perception/threat) and what is inner voice is saying. Is it focused on the task and not the result? If it’s negative, result based, (“don’t walk this guy”), then the pitcher needs to change the voice to the task at hand, saying to himself, “throw a good low strike” “or drive the ball down in the zone”, take a good breath and get back on the mound and get after it.
In the book you also talk about your own playing career and dealing with uncertainty, lack of confidence, travel demands, and injuries. How has the game changed in the past 30 years in terms of coaching young players to deal with these issues?
In 1986 sport psychology / mental skills was pretty much non-existent in baseball. Why? I believe the stigma for players being associated with anything psychological was viewed as a weakness and players and teams wanted no part of it. Remember, prior to the middle 80’s teams and players were not sure if strength and conditioning was a good thing. Players had performed just fine for decades without the weights. Today all organizations have S&C programs throughout the organization. And I am happy to say at present, the majority of MLB teams have a sport psychology/mental skills program throughout their organizations to varying degrees. These programs provide mental skills training for the coaches as well as the players to help address issues such as; injuries, confidence, and coach/ player relationships.
Ninety Percent Mental - by Bob Tewksbury and Scott Miller
Hachette Book Group
Photo "Bob Tewksbury Day" St. Leo University
they still use breathing as a way to calm themselves when they get tense during a game.
In your forthcoming book, you talk about working with other players like Jon Lester, Rich Hill, and Andrew Miller. Specifically, you share an exchange you had with Miller after the 2016 ALDS that illustrates how even highly successful baseball players struggle with confidence and composure. In addition to breathing and relaxation, what is another piece of advice, a psychological tactic, for maintaining confidence in high-pressure situations?
First it starts with the perception of the situation and how that situation affects the player. For example, if the pitcher perceives the situation as a threat his body will become tense, his breathing shallow and his self-talk more focused on the results or consequences of those results. If the pitcher perceives the situation as a challenge, his body will still feel some tension but it’s not coming from fear. It’s more focused energy, it’s good. The pitchers thoughts are void of the consequences and focused on making a good pitch. So there are a couple of things I would advise. First, be prepared in advance for what might happen. Any pitcher, in any given, game is probably going to face some high pressure situations. He can use imagery to rehearse these situations and how he would respond to that situation and see
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