Stay in the Tunnel

The entire pitcher is in the tunnel as he starts his motion. As he moves to release the pitch fine focus shrinks the opening of the tunnel to about a 2 foot circle over his throwing shoulder where the hand comes through – releasing the pitch. The tunnel opens up about 4 feet in front of home plate.

Time slows down in the tunnel. Time speeds up in the game. From inside the tunnel extension through the ball feels like it takes a few seconds, from outside that critical moment that decides between a rollover and a barrel comes and goes faster than the blink of an eye.

The mental tunnel is a great way to visualize flow state as a hitter. A space where we are able to operate free of mental interference, internal and external noise.

The game, the pressures of it, the good and bad results, the emotional rollercoaster, pretty much all of it exists outside of the tunnel – visible, tangible, all but irrelevant to the task at hand. The tunnel is the present.

The tunnel is where we rake. When we see a pitch in the tunnel it hardly matters what the actual pitch is. The shape, spin, speed of them are simply tools the pitchers use to disrupt timing and posture in order to get us out of the tunnel so that they can use it for themselves. When we hold firm to our presence in the tunnels it becomes intuitive to recognize the patterns and sequences in the pitcher’s efforts. When we relinquish control of the tunnels we give the pitcher control over what we see and by extension how we move.

The idea is to be in the tunnels longer than the pitcher, longer than the other team. Not necessarily earlier or later – longer.

Happy Hunting