In the Box: Your Focus is the True Separator

By Kevin Wilson

Last week I went to pay a visit to one of my professional clients playing in A-ball.  While I was there, I was introduced to one of his teammates, a recent first-round draft pick.  The player is 18 years old with a lot of tools (that’s what got him drafted so high in the first place) and has a good head on his shoulders.  But he is missing something that a lot of players his age are missing. FOCUS.

This is one of the most common things I see lacking in young ballplayers today.  They lack the ability to stay focused on one thing for a period of time. It could be six swings in a cage.  It could be 7-9 innings in a ball game. Regardless of what the task at hand is, they are not capable of devoting the same amount of focus to what they are doing on the field as they do when looking at their iPhone or playing Xbox. 

What is preventing young players from focusing on the ball field?  The answers can be numerous, but we can start with what kind of purpose, or lack thereof, these players have.

Most young hitters can get by on pure talent alone.  They don’t need to focus on much that’s 60 feet, 6 inches away because not many of those pitchers will overpower them. ...