The thing I wish my 14-year-old self knew earlier.
I made everything bigger than it was.
(This is a life lesson, too)
Every at-bat felt like the whole season was on the line.
Game 7 of the World Series with 50k people watching.
And that's the thing that beat me. Not the pitcher. That exact feeling.
Self-imposed pressure.
You make it up in your head.
The pitch is the only real thing in front of you.
One pitch.
Simple, focused.
Everything else, let it go.
It's this pitch. Then the next one.
Just like you're in the backyard with the boys, where nothing exists but the ball coming in.
Not thinking about girls.
The chores you gotta do.
What's for dinner.
Compete like crazy on that one pitch. Give it everything you've got.
Just don't drag a hundred things into the box that don't need to be there.
One pitch. The only real thing.
Win it, then go win the next one.
That's the advice I've sent to hitters that struggle with the same thing, and it's worked really well.