Rake Every Day

The mental side of baseball is vital in recruiting.

This week on the podcast, I chatted with Brett Wallace, hitting coach for the California Golden Bears.

Brett runs the entire offensive program at Cal.

He also played 6 seasons in the major leagues.

I asked Brett:

“What’s a good mindset to have when you're going through your routine, you're going through batting practice? If you’re coming off of a good BP or a bad BP, how do you keep that from affecting you in the game?”

I love his response:

1. Never let batting practice get in your head

"Young hitters, college hitters, big leaguers, they all fall into the same trap.

"They let the result dictate how good they feel, and batting practice is the biggest trap.

"I had some of my best games in after I had a bad BP, and I had some of the best games of my career after a good BP.

"At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what your BP looks like. You have to have an irrational confidence in who you are as a hitter."

2. Rake every day, no matter what

"Dustin Pedroia told me one time when I was in college that his attitude was just like:

“'You rake. No matter what someone’s telling you to do, what your BP is like, what kind of day you had, you rake.'

"That message carried over from then on for me. I just told myself that I raked every day, no matter what." 

3. Repeat it to yourself, every day

"If I felt terrible one day, I reminded myself of the good days that I raked, and that they’re in trouble.

"When I learned that and took it with me, it really helped.

"My BP didn’t dictate what I was going to do on that day. And it took the pressure off BP."

I love the idea that 'you rake no matter what' for recruiting

It’s not just BP that gets in players’ heads.

The recruiting process is very similar.

College coach there to see you play?

You rake.

College coach didn’t show when you thought they would?

You rake.

College coach in the stands and you’re 0-for-3 so far?

You rake.

Don’t forget the story of the high school player I worked with who went 0-for-5 in a game with a college coach on hand to see him play.

And still got offered.

Your result is not what college coaches are there to see.

They want to see how you handle yourself.

If your attitude is always “I rake,” coaches will notice.

Because it will show in everything you do, on and off the field.