PULL THE TRIGGER!

This blog is very significant for the times we are in right now. I’ve spoken about approaches in previous blogs, and as I’ve said before, you can have the best swing in the world, but without a solid approach, you will not have success.

Let’s recap some basic concepts from previous blogs:
We talked about “Controlling the Counts” and “Taking Advantage of the Counts.”

What exactly does this mean?

  • Controlling a Count means putting yourself in a situation to have success. Know when you want to hit, know what count you are looking for, and put yourself in offensive counts.

  • Taking Advantage of the Count means that when you do get to your offensive count, you do damage and “PULL THE TRIGGER!”

This brings us to the topic of this blog: “PULL THE TRIGGER.”

I’ve been dealing with this issue at the high school level, and from the reports I hear, my younger levels are experiencing similar struggles. Anytime something comes up—even if it feels like a failure—it can be used to your advantage and make you better in the long run.

Hitting can be difficult, and it can eat you alive when you’re struggling... if you let it. Understand this: everyone struggles at times as a hitter. It’s important to remember that it isn’t forever. Just because you’ve had a bad game doesn’t mean you’re now a bad hitter—it just means an adjustment needs to be made.

Lessons from Grossmont

My Grossmont boys had an unsuccessful offensive day last Saturday. These players are great hitters, hard workers, and have all the tools they need to be successful. The problem wasn’t their swings—I think they have great swings. The problem was that we didn’t “Pull the Trigger” on good counts, which led to too many strikeouts.

The strikeouts were the result of a bad approach. One major issue was letting the pitcher get ahead with strike one. Statistically, a player’s batting average drops to .200–.220 in 0-1 counts. I keep watching hitters look at strike one and then chase a pitcher’s pitch for strike two. Now, we’re in a defensive mode at the plate.

Hitting is OFFENSE. We need to be OFFENSIVE. We need to put ourselves in the best possible offensive count and take our best swing on good pitches to hit. This approach will give us the best chance for success at the plate.

We want to have a “YES Mentality,” which will make it easier to “Pull the Trigger” in these offensive counts.

What is a “Yes Mentality”?

A “Yes Mentality” means we are expecting every pitch to be our pitch. The mindset is:

  • “Yes, this will be a great pitch to hit.”

  • “Yes, I’m going to be on time.”

  • “Yes, I’m ready to pull the trigger!”

From the moment we step into the batter’s box, our mindset is:

  • “Yes, this is it! Yes, this is it!”

If it’s a strike, we say “Yes!” and take our best swing to drive the baseball. If it’s a ball, the mindset changes at the last moment to:

  • “Yes, this is it! Yes, this is it... NO!”

This “Yes Mentality” is a key part of learning how to “Pull the Trigger” in offensive counts.

Confidence and Belief in Yourself

The final piece to having success—not only in baseball but in life—is confidence and belief in yourself. Fear and doubt are major reasons hitters don’t pull the trigger in good counts.

How do we create confidence and belief in ourselves?
This is where preparation and practice are so important. Practice not only improves your physical skill set but also creates confidence because you know you’ve done the work to be prepared.

Belief in yourself comes when you train and succeed in practice. For example, let’s say you’re struggling to hit a curveball. At some point, you may doubt whether you’ll ever be able to hit it. But through consistent training and practice, you eventually start hitting the curveball during practice. Suddenly, you know you can do it. You’ve built belief in yourself.

The best way to create belief is to embrace challenges and adversities as opportunities to grow. The mental toughness you develop by overcoming adversity will stay with you forever—but it starts with knowing you can do it.

My father always told me:
“The man who says he can and the man who says he can’t are both correct.”

If you believe you can, you will. This belief creates the freedom to “Pull the Trigger!”

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