Ask anyone who plays baseball at any level what their least favorite part of the game is and I’d bet money the answer will be: going through a hitting slump.

All hitters go through slumps and learning how to deal with and ultimately overcome them is an essential component to the mental makeup of a good ballplayer.

Having been around baseball my entire life and having played with and coached literally thousands upon thousands of players, I am convinced of one thing: hitting slumps are almost entirely mental.

Of course, a hitter might be slumping because of a mechanical flaw with their swing or a problem with their timing, but more often than not when I have a player come see me saying he’s in a slump, his swing is fine and it’s what going on “between the ears” that is caused an 0-4 at the plate to snowball into a full-blown slump.

When a player starts to feel like he’s in a slump, here are a few things to tell him that will help him break out of it:

1) Getting a hit in a baseball game is the single most difficult feat in any sport and all hitters, especially young ones, need to remember that. The greatest hitters on Earth “fail” 7 out of 10 times so when you go through a rough period at the plate, try not to be so hard on yourself.

2) Putting more pressure on yourself only makes hitting MORE difficult. As the outs add up and the batting average decreases, it’s only natural for players to try to do too much at the plate. RELAX! Once players start to press at the plate they often grip the bat too hard, start swinging at bad pitches, pull their head because of a lack of focus, etc, etc. The extra pressure slumping hitters put on themselves almost guarantees to prolong the slump.

3) Think positively! Instead of walking up to the plate thinking about making another out (as often happens during a slump), think back to a ball you hit really hard earlier in the season. By painting a positive picture in your brain before the at-bat starts, you are preparing yourself for success, not failure. Remember the "don't think of a pink elephant" mental exercise we do at camp. Think about what you want to have happen, not what you don't want to have happen.

4) Redefine “success” at the plate. Getting a hit is not the only positive result from an at-bat. Remember, your ultimate job at the plate is to help your team score runs, not increase your batting average. When you get in a slump, stop thinking about your personal statistics and start focusing on having quality at-bats, whether or not it ends with a hit. Quality at-bat are generally defined as:
1) Driving in a runner
2) Advancing a runner
3) Hitting the ball hard
4) Drawing a walk
5) Seeing 6 or more total pitches
6) Seeing 3 or more pitches after getting to 2 strikes

Notice how 5 of the above quality at-bats examples might actually result with the batter getting out. Defining a slump as simply “not getting a hit” really isn’t a good way to measure whether or not a hitter is in a slump. If you are able to do something to help your team score runs in most at-bats, then it’s really impossible to “slump” – even if you never get a hit.

Detroit Tigers leadoff hitter Austin Jackson had a game about 10 days ago where he went 1-6, lowering his batting average considerably. However, in those 6 plate appearances, he managed to rack up 4 RBI and scored a run leading his team to a much-needed win over the Blue Jays. Do you think he or his teammates cared that his batting average dropped that game? NO WAY! He helped his team score runs and that's all that really matters when we put the team's success ahead of our own.

So why I am talking about slumps now? Well, with post-season tournaments and All-Stars right around the corner, it’s more likely that young ballplayers will put more pressure on themselves to get hits in games of greater “importance.”

As coaches and players prepare for their final games this year, I would encourage them all to focus on staying relaxed and having good at-bats – getting a hit is NOT the only way to help your team score runs!

Good luck the rest of the season and I’ll see you at Summer Camp!