Gedman Baseball: What is your Routine?

There is a time for mechanical thinking and movements during a game. The time is on deck and in between pitches of your ab. When the ball leaves the pitchers hand thats when you need to just see the ball and react. The ab above is borderline ridiculous with how much time they give Manny in between pitches of the ab but you can see him reinforcing his mechanical cues after every pitch. Now at the amateur level unless you swing you still have to stay in the box but you should have a routine that you go through between pitches.

As a younger coach I used to always tell my hitters to put your body on auto pilot during the game and just try to be the best player in the country at seeing the ball. I still think the #1 thing is seeing the ball well but you can't see the ball well until the pitcher lets go of it. Hitting is a craft that you never master but taking ownership of your swing creates a better feel and understanding of your swing. How many reps do we miss out on as hitters because we don't think about mechanics at all during games? The worst feeling as a hitter is failing and not knowing what's wrong. In the daily struggle to master mechanics you can't take game days off. You need to keep reminding your body of the proper muscle memory you want to enforce. You need to figure out what your mechanical and mental self talk key words are. What can you tell yourself during a game that will get you back into the present. You will only find this through daily effort to be present and searching to understand how your body is moving. As a coach we can teach you about concepts and tell you what it looks like but we can never tell you how it feels, and we can't go up to home plate with you. That's why it all comes back to you taking ownership of the development of your swing. The more you can feel the movements the easier it is to make adjustments.

Below is a few gif's from Manny's ab. A few things to point out: Manny has a routine that he goes through on each pitch. Although you can't make yours as long as his it is clear that there is a mental process he is going through. Manny, like a lot of great hitters is big on the scalp load of his top arm and you can see him reminding himself of that movement throughout the ab. He goes through this same movement when he is in the cage. My favorite gif is the second one. Manny gets too far out front with his stride. He reminds himself to stay back and then reinforces that thought with practicing his load. A lot of Manny routine is to get himself prepared for the next pitch and it keeps him relaxed. What is your routine?