Everybody knows that timing is important to hitting. What a lot of people fail recognize is as hitters and coaches we tend to fixate on timing as it pertains to moving with the pitcher’s throwing motion, or timing in terms of the mechanical sequence of the swing itself. A critical timing aspect to hitting that hitters usually don’t gain a true awareness of until they get to higher levels of the game is the tempo of the at-bat itself – how fast (or slow) one pitch happens after another.
There is not a one size fits all tempo for pitchers or hitters. As we saw with the introduction of the pitch clock in the MLB where many well-qualified players on both sides went through some form of an adjustment process learning to navigate at-bats under strict time constraints. This is not to say anything about the pitch clock more so to point out that some hitters do better with more time than others and the same can be said for pitchers.
While there is variability when it comes to optimal tempo for individual performance in one at-bat for both pitchers and hitters in a broader sense there is a “time of possession” effect that comes into play when we talk about two teams competing in a 7-9 inning game. The more time a team can spend hitting and the less time they can spend playing defense the better. This is to say that up until the point where it hinders the individual athlete’s ability to perform at a high level hitters help their team win by taking their time within their at-bats and pitchers help their team win by working quickly.
More on the individual performance side of this is a feel versus real conversation. For hitters when we are locked in the game slows down. A better way to put this is when the game slows down we lock in.
Now the question is how to slow the game down instead of how to lock in. Let’s start with this : what does it mean to say the game is slowed down? To put it simply when the player has fully processed the scenario from a strategic and emotional standpoint they free themselves up to focus fully on the task at hand. This is flow state if you will, being able operate effectively with no mental interference. Important to note we get here by processing relevant information effectively not necessarily by simply blocking out all information.
So now that we’ve covered what slowing the game down is we get to how to do it. This is where breathing comes in, or more specifically the hitter’s focus and awareness of their breath. Between pitches, having a routine for getting focus back to the breath gives the hitter time and space to process whatever relevant information has come about to that point – the hitter may or may not know exactly what information will be relevant before they step out of the box, still a good idea to create the time to process it – as well as get oxygen into the brain (important) and muscles. Besides the actual physical effects of breathing focusing on it gives you something to think about other than what your front elbow is doing. Most of us haven’t reached a level of zen where we can think about nothing on command, next best option is find something to think about that aides our physical task or at the very least does not interfere.
Happy hunting, and don’t forget to breathe!
Rhythm Performance Blog 