Mental Preparation
By Justin Turner, Minor League Hitting Coach, New York Yankees
I get the opportunity to work with a lot of kids and one of the things that we will focus on, is how do I mentally prepare 
myself for a game? Kids nowadays are playing so much more baseball than when I was growing up, which was not very long ago. With all of the travelling leagues and AAU, youth level baseball is extremely popular. A growing trend that I see with a good majority of the kids participating, is a lack of mental preparation.
“A Full head is an Empty Bat”. This is so true. If we approach the plate without already having a plan as to what we are trying to accomplish then we are doomed from the start. I cannot be at the plate thinking about what it is that I am wanting to do. Hitting begins, long before I take that walk from the on-deck circle to the plate. It starts in batting practise, when the pitcher is getting loose in the pen, when he begins his warm-up tosses and then when he throws his first pitch of the game. If I am the lead-off hitter, I have to be ready to go. If I am not, then I am studying the pitchers every move. If I am the 7 hole hitter and the 6 previous hitters all got first pitch fastballs, chances are I am getting a first pitch fastball. Bottom line is that I need to have a plan. I want you to understand that a garbage plan is better than no plan at all. The great poet Yogi Berra once said that “50% of this game is 90% mental”. Now I do not really think that anyone knows what the heck Yogi is talking about, but I think he is on to something. Do you mental preparation before you get into the box, once your in the box just do your best to execute your plan. Pay attention to what is going on around you, and you will have a better understanding of what you need to do. Be a student of the game and think about what is going on, and then when it happens you just react.
