Unlike most sports, in baseball there is a lot of down time to think; a player can be consumed by his or her own mind and not even mean to do it. The one or two plays a player gets during the game can dictate how he or she plays the entire game.

Mental Game of Baseball expert Dr. Tom Hanson author of Play Big: Mental Toughness Secrets that Take Baseball Players to the Next Level.

Dr. Tom Hanson explains the human thought process and how it directly correlates to baseball. According to Hanson, “During a game, a player should use a process I call the ABCs.”

He explains the mental process by stating “During stage A, the player needs to lift his head and chest. During stage B, he must take as deep of a breathe as he can, [and] during stage C they need to commit Big. They should do this pitch after pitch, play after play.”

Dr. Hanson says, “The biggest thing for a player to have is self-awareness, to be aware of what is going on around the player.”

“I assess players in three stages,” Dr. Hanson states. “The first being behavioral, [and] you can normally see this right away: is he the type to get up at 5 and run, or does he like to be social? The next is what motivates a player, and, finally, the processer or how does the person think, what are his values.”

During a player’s younger years, the parents can actually be the worst enemy. As Dr. Hanson puts it, “Parents often take emotions overboard towards their player.”.

Dr. Hanson explains why “It is very difficult to be a human. There are so many difficult and complex emotions, especially when playing a sport. People don’t know what they don’t know, and we, as people, often don’t know what our emotions and thoughts actually are.”

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