does not feel right. You don’t see the ball well. You don’t react well. You

don’t anticipate well. The bat is not comfortable in your hands. You’re

guessing wrong and you’re thinking too much. You try to focus on the ball,

but your mind is some place else. Pitchers seem to sense this and they pitch

aggressively to you and keep you off balance. You are making matters worse by

criticizing yourself and your confidence is dropping just like your batting average.

When you’re in the zone, your bat is hot. The ball seems large-like a basketball.

You’re timing is perfect. You feel comfortable at the plate and you make solid contact

with everything. Your cleats feel good. The bat feels great in your hands and

the game is lots of fun. You guess right and the pitchers are scared of you. Everything is

easy. You don’t have to think about a thing. It just happens. It is almost magical.

During the baseball season, I get lots of calls from hitters, coaches and from parents

of baseball players. Frequently, the caller is trying find out how to get confident,

mentally tough and get out of a hitting slump.

Batting slumps can be caused by lots of factors. An injury, being hit by a pitch, a

conflict with a coach, facing a number of hot pitchers in a row, a loss of confidence,

moving to a more competitive league, a change in your mechanics can all contribute to a

players struggles at the plate.

I try to help the athlete discover what he or she needs to do to stay relaxed, confident

and focused when they are at the plate and when they take the field. I instruct them in

techniques that they use off the playing field, then the practice and when they compete.

In most instances, I teach athletes self-hypnosis and visualization techniques to help

to rediscover the zone. Many of these methods are described in detail in my Stay In The

Zone Program. Here is the link to get that program.

http://www.stayinthezone.com/get_stay.htm

If you have any questions about strategies and techniques for improving your hitting,

or for improving the hitting of an athlete you know, you can contact me at

888-580-ZONE or visit www.StayInTheZone.com

Jay P. Granat, Ph.D is the founder of StayInTheZone.com