Slumps drive Baysox batty By THERESA WINSLOW For the Blade-News
When Jonathan Tucker's in a slump, he sometimes takes his bat home with him for extra practice.
Once, his roommate caught him swinging in his underwear.
Anything to break out of a slump and get back that certain feeling - the feeling that he's going to get a hit, no matter who's on the mound, no matter what's thrown.
"Baseball is probably one of the biggest sports where your state of mind is fragile," said Tucker, 24, an infielder with the Bowie Baysox. "I've had times that I feel I can't get out, and then in one swing (it's), 'Oh my God, what happened?' Slump."
That's why he brings his bat home - to start "tricking his mind" into positive action, he said.
The worst thing to do is attempt to work it out at the plate, to start thinking and dwelling on things while trying to catch up with a 90 mph fastball. "If you think too much, you're (toast), to put it lightly," he said. "Ask any hitter."
Given these observations, Tucker isn't unfamiliar with sports psychology. Neither were other Baysox, who definitely backed its value, even if their study of the subject has been more on the job than in the classroom.
Outfielder Nolan Reimold, a top prospect in the Orioles organization, for example, is a big believer in the power of positive thinking and staying fairly even-keeled. He said dwelling on past failures makes it incredibly difficult to perform at a high level.
"You know you're going to go through ups and downs," said Reimold, who hit a home run the day after he discussed slumps. "You've got to stay positive and know that you're going to come out of (a slump) eventually."
Head games
Pitcher Chris Waters, 27, who was recently promoted from the Baysox to the AAA Norfolk Tides, said positive thinking was one of the things that got him through a long, tough rehabilitation from extensive arm surgery in 2004.
"It was seven months before I could throw a baseball again," he said. "(And) now, in 2008, it's the first time in four years I've felt normal."
He uses the same positive mind-set when he's on the mound, using tunnel vision to focus not on the players, but just the catcher's mitt. That way, he doesn't dwell on who's up and whether that hitter has done well against him before.
"If you see small, you miss small," he explained. "I just locate the mitt."
Waters' term for thinking too much and listening to that little voice in your head is "fighting the midget."
"If you get down on yourself, it's contagious," he said. "Think positive, basically. Like Mom always told me, it's easier to smile than frown."
Baysox Manager Brad Komminsk, who spent 17 years in professional ball as an outfielder, said sports psychology is stressed a lot more now than when he was playing. But Komminsk, who admitted he's "old school," said he doesn't necessarily see the value of it. His cure for a slump is nothing more than playing your way out of it.
"Guys hit .300 50 years ago when they didn't have them (sports psychologists)," he said. "But if it can help one guy ... it's worth it. It depends on the player and how much it's emphasized by the team."
