how to not be scared of pitching?

Question

my friend is scared when he goes up to bat, but at the batting cages he hits perfect, even up to 30 mph faster than at the league. what can my friend do so we can win more game because he steps out when a pitch comes

Answer 1

A perfect drill for this is to practice with a tee...Put the tee part on the outside...As if he was going to hit an outside pitch. Then behind his legs put another bat laying down on the ground...If he steps on the bat his will slip and fall...So now he will be thinking he cant step out...so he will hopefully with practice step forward....Hope this helps.

Answer 2

Your Friend knows that at the Cages theres no chance of the Machine Losing grip on a fastball,, the balls always going to be in the same place at the cages.... If he is afraid of getting hit at the plate with live pitching, thats a problem.. but the more he does it, the easier it should get. I mean i understand saying No Fear is easy when its not u standing at the plate, but he hasta realize that the wild pitch REALLY is the rarity.. thats why 99.9% of the time when you see a pitcher nearly hit sumone it was deliberate. You should tell yer friend this, look at the ball in the pitchers hand, and when he puts it in the glove, look at the glove, and when he takes it out to deliver look at it then, point being , try never to lose sight of the ball... so even if there is a wild pitch he will see the ball coming and can move...just try never to lose sight of the ball from time he steps into the box.

Answer 3

Well, I am 14, and I am currently in a baseball league. I know how he feels. Everyone has SOME fear when they go up to bat, even the major leaguers. They just go up there and don't think about it. And that's really what you have to do. Don't think about batting, just go up there and hit. Baseball is a mental game. If you go up there thinking about everything and all of the possibilities you will think of the ball coming at you and hitting you and that totally messes you up. Last year and in previous years I was scared to death when I went up there. But this year I just have gone up there ready to hit it. I go up there having the mindset that I'm going to hit the ball and take this pitcher out. You just have to know that you are better than the pitcher. Many pitchers are scared of hitting the batters. They will actually try hard NOT to. So he just needs to not think about it and just think of the batting cages. I mean if he can hit well at the cages, why not in the games. Get it engraved in his head that he if better than the pitcher, and that he is superior to him. And if it does hit him, the pain will be gone by the end of the inning.

Answer 4

Well confidence is a must.
The unknown of someone hitting you with a pitch is scary especially for a kid. Your buddy is a kid right?..lol

Well if he is stepping out I would suggest that he turn in with his front foor so like he is almost turned as if the pitch was coming from 1st base for a righty and 3rd for a lefty. So when he does step out it would be that his front foot would go where it should go and thus giving himself a better shot at contact. Because now that his foot is still going toward the pitcher his bat remains in the hitting zone as oppsed to the way he's doing it now and thus pulling the bat out of the huttung zone,

Hope that helps.

Answer 5

Remember when Adam Sandler went to the batting cages in "Happy Gilmore"? It's kind of like that. Get hit by the ball so he knows how it feels. It's also like General George S. Patton. He would stand in the firing range while he let soldiers shoot past him in training. He said it would help it get a better feel for what live action was really like. And as a side note, you used "your friend" and you could be pulling the old trick where you say it's just your friend but it's actually you. In either case, baseballs don't hurt too much so either tell him to man up or you should man up.

Answer 6

He just has to force himself to step into the ball each time instead of stepping out.

He has to put an imaginary mark on the ground where he "must" step each and every time, and always step there. He thinks he can avoid getting hit by they ball by stepping out but he can't ... people can't react that fast. It only gives him a few inches and of course he's off balance.

Another alternative is to do just as above but have him stand further away from the plate. Maybe this might be better just to get him started.

Here's what I really think... after he gets hit with the ball a few times he will realize that he isn't being hit any more often that if he was stepping out.

Answer 7

This worked for me when I was a kid and had a "friend" going through the same thing.

Use either bubble wrap (from the post office), or a thin pillow. Put the padding over his chest or under his shirt, then wrap his arms so that he is padded. Stand only 25 feet or so away from him, and throw the ball at him. Don't try to Roger Clemens it, just toss it. Once he sees that it isnt that scary, try throwing it a bit harder.. Once his confidence is up and he is used to the thought/image of that ball coming towards him, simply take away the padding. Tell him you're going to throw some pitches TO HIM, not AT HIM.. Once his padding is off, throw the first pitch (not too hard) at his leg/side and hit him with the ball.. His adrenaline will take over, and you can tell him: "See, it didnt hurt that bad"

Answer 8

I was an all star player as a kid and then the best pitcher in the league hit me three times in one game. I couldn't keep set in the batters box to save my life.

basically it sounds cruel but my dad would take me out and pitch inside to me again and again until I could deal with the pitches looking like they were heading for me.

Answer 9

Tell him to trust his abilities and practice with real pitchers not batting cages. Usually when you get hit you don't get hit solid, so it really doesn't hurt that bad unless you get hit in fingers or elbow. Maybe you should pitch to him a little bit to get his confidence up.

Answer 10

well you see i play high school ball and there guy thrown heat just remember the worse you could do is to get bruise it wont kill you put bat by his feet so when he steps out he fall over them and then he learn not to step back