Slump Buster

We are very busy at Cold Omaha headquarters and since we haven't had time to post in a couple of days, we thought we would break out a little something from the old website. It's the MLB all-star break, so why not bring back a little slump talk from thesplog.com. This was originally posted in May of 2005

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Baseball players are funny people. And, while I am not technically a baseball player by definition, that is – I am not spending every day of my life playing the game – I do, however, still play on weekends in a somewhat competitive league made up of former college players.

Yes, go ahead and push play on "Glory Days" here.


While I can’t really call myself a baseball player, I do play and I do still love the game. Well, I like it. Sometimes. And, that’s where things are starting to get a little uncomfortable. I used to LOVE baseball. There was nothing I liked more than playing the game. In my time, I was a decent player. Not great, but not terrible either.


And now? Well, let’s just say I am bordering on terrible, at least over the last couple of weeks. And it’s having an impact on how much I like the game.


You aren’t supposed to talk about a slump and you really shouldn’t write about it. Just bringing up the fact that you aren’t doing well can only make the slump worse, not better. However, I think at this point (my stats through 4 games look like this: 3 singles in 15 at-bats (.200) with 3 strikeouts, 0 RBI, and 1 run scored) it isn’t going to get much worse. I did walk once and I got hit by a pitch, so my OBP is .300. Yeah, that’s pretty crappy too.


Since the stats don’t lie, I thought we could take a look at why hitters get themselves into slumps. If I knew how to get out of them, I wouldn’t be writing thesplog.com, I would be playing baseball. Some of these reasons are personal – I’ll let you guess which ones.
Thesplog.com’s Top Five reasons (excuses) why baseball players slump at the plate.


5. Too much golf.
The beauty of this reason is that it works on the baseball field and on the golf course. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the term "baseball swing" on the links. But, it transfers over to the diamond too and it is a legitimate excuse, er reason. Golfers have a long swing. In baseball -- a short, compact swing is best. Bat speed slows down when you play golf, the muscle memory changes and the two swings, even though they look similar, are quite different. So far, this has been my most often cited "reason" for my steady decline over the last month.


4. The Bull Durham Theory.
I won’t get too far into this reason so we can stay a PG13 site – just go see the movie again and it will be self-explanatory. Crash Davis tells Nuke LaLoosh that he needs to stop "visiting" with "Baseball Betty" Annie Savoy because it is taking away his energy to compete on the baseball diamond. This is a great movie for so many reasons. First, Tim Robbins was still like-able back then, Susan Sarandon still had her fastball, and Kevin Costner moved into the pantheon of guys who can’t really act but can still carry a movie. To this day, I am not sure how he does it. Anyway, the Bull Durham Theory goes both ways – if you are getting too much or not enough, it can have an effect on your game. It is science people -- and you can’t argue with science. You also can’t argue with the body, because it’s an argument you can’t win.


3. Guessing instead of reacting.
I think there are two types of hitters, those who react and those who guess when they are hitting. I react. I hate knowing what pitch is coming because I am always thinking fastball and then can adjust and hit the curve, slider, or change-up as needed. Lately I have been guessing way too often and am looking for the fastball only when I am ahead in the count. Not the best way for me to hit and obviously not very effective. Plus, I hate standing in the batter’s box and I hate long at-bats. I am a first pitch hitter and things just get worse for me the longer I have to stand in there. Its always been that way. First pitch fastball, first pitch breaking ball – it doesn’t matter as long as I can get my hacks in right away and get on base. Yeah, not really a money ball type player – I know.


2. Not getting dressed the right way.
Baseball players tend to be superstitious. Sometimes people have the same pre-game meal, leave for the ballpark at the same time, or even get dressed in the same way before every game. If these things get disrupted, chaos ensues. I have some of these superstitions. Let’s just leave it at that.


1. Diminishing skills, combined with infrequent playing time = not good times.
When I was playing in high school and college I played a game every 4-5 days. Now, I play once a week. And, I am about ten years older than I was when I stopped playing in college, I am in a lot worse shape now than I was in college and my timing and bat speed are both considerably slower now than in college. Kind of makes sense that I am in a slump. However, I am only 31 and am supposed to be in the middle of my baseball prime.


So, none of those reasons are legitimate excuses. Its time to hunker down – I just need to get to the cage and work through this thing. You can’t hit enough and you can’t work hard enough to break out of a slump. Baseball is still fun – it’s a kids game but I will play it for as long as I feel like I can be good at it. That might be one year, it could be ten. Honestly, the next couple of months will be the real test and it will give me the answers.


We shall see how it goes…