Moohead Radio

How is it possible they all stop hitting at once? Wedge will say they’re pressing. A Cow would ask, “why are they pressing?” Slumps are part of baseball. Good managers recognize the unique pressure that good players heap on themselves. Hitters turn inward and look for answers from weird sources. But just like sleeping and concentrating, the answer lies in relaxing. And this is where the team suffers.

Eric Wedge is a volcano barely under control. He is the furthest thing from Mr Relaxation. He exudes twitchy nervousness, and internalizes his team’s deficiencies. He clearly is unable to get his guys to relax in the clubhouse. And the internalized Wedge becomes, the more prone he is to fall back on his “work your way out of it” mentality…the worst possible approach to a slumping group of players.

If I were in charge? I would implement neurofeedback programs for the players to do in their spare time. These programs help sharpen the mental process through accentuating relaxation (alpha waves) and dinishing the ruminatory high beta waves. Brain entrainment is being used by the top athletes in the world. And rather than actually swinging a bat 1000 times, the principal is to relax and envision the desired result, and bring that quiet focus to the game. In essence, taking a step back to correct the thought process encourages the player to adopt a relaxed focus at the plate.

No yelling, screaming, mandatory extra BP, or Ozzie Guillen calling you a joke. Brain entrainment and positive feedback help compose rattled players. Especially when their coaches are rattling them. If you must, consider neurofeedback as a high tech method of allowing the players to ignore Wedge’s demeanor.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 25th, 2007 at 9:47 am and is filed under Indians. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.