YBE 062: The Mental Side Of Pitching with Brent Kemnitz

Brent Kemnitz, renowned former pitching coach for Wichita State, shares about how to coach the little-discussed aspect of the mental side of pitching. The mental game of baseball doesn't just apply to hitters! Coaches and pitchers may inherently know that the mental game is just as important as the physical game but how exactly do coaches and pitchers improve their mental game? This is Part 1 of a two-part interview.

Plus Justin Stone of elitebaseball.tv answers the Question Of The Week about what parents should focus on with travel kids during off-team practices, and Austin Wasserman of WassermanStrength.com introduces sled drags in his Wass Strength Tip Of The Week. Sled drags aren't just for football!

In this 37-minute episode, you'll learn:

• what Brent is doing now that his pitching coach days at Wichita State are behind him
• a major theme he wants all youth coaches to keep in mind
• the biggest barrier for pitchers, and how coaches can help them overcome that
• whether to talk to a pitcher who's doing well
• the tricky part of trying to individualize your handling of each pitcher
• one critical note about handling pitchers who respond to a "push"
• a warning about overpraising pitchers who do well

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• The Mental Game Of Baseball book by Harvey Dorfman on Amazon.com
• The Mental ABCs of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement book by Harvey Dorfman on Amazon.com
• Pareto Principle as it relates to youth baseball
• Austin Wasserman's Strength Tip Of The Week on Sled drags

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