Coaches Always Tell Pitchers, "Don't Lose Him," But Is That Really Effective?

"Don't lose him."

Imagine yourself coaching a golfer. As he approaches a Par 3, you notice a water hazard directly in front of the tee box. Your golfer sticks his tee into the ground and takes a few practice swings. Then right after he addresses the ball, moments away from swinging, you "help" him by saying "Don't hit it in the lake!"

You certainly would have meant well...you really didn't want him to hit the ball in the water, but did your advice really help matters? Would saying that motivate a golfer to hit a better shot?

It's like telling a person not to think of a pink elephant ... just by mentioning it can cause the opposite result. The application here is obvious. By telling a pitcher not to lose the batter, the pitcher thinks about losing him.

The trick for a pitcher is to be focused on the task, the next pitch, and to turn the mind off. Japanese baseball players call this "Mushin" which loosely translates into "no mind." For a pitcher, it's not just not thinking about losing him but not thinking about anything at all. It is seeing the target and hitting it.

In my opinion, a coach really can't do much to help with this during a game. A pitcher needs to learn how to relax and let himself compete with a clear head. We are all tempted to help, but a pitcher's mind is much more like a golfer's than we all might think. Staying out of it, and keeping the teammates out of it, might be the best thing we coaches can do during competition.