So what really happened to the Braves and Red Sox that caused their hard to imagine collapses?
On the surface level, we could just very simply say that neither club performed well in September. For the Braves, one could focus on the fact that they did not hit well with runners in scoring position over the last month or that their outstanding relievers, Jonny Vetters and Craig Kimbrel saved their least effective month for September.
However, to fully understand anything, it is helpful to look at its origin. In the case of the Braves and Red Sox, their hitter’s swings and pitcher’s motions were not as good in September as they were for most of the season.
So looking at the origin of motion we must look at the processes in the mind. When we are doing anything in life, information or signals enter the pre frontal cortex of the brain. What determines fluidity of motion is how quickly and seamlessly these signals move to the motor system. When they move quickly and seamlessly, the more subtle fast twitch muscles in the body become enlivened which causes the motion to be fluid and effortless and thus be more effective.
When the opposite occurs and the signals get held up in the pre frontal cortex, the fast twitch muscles are less enlivened and the bigger, bulkier muscles dominate the motion. This causes the motion to be more forced and less effective.
Along with the bigger muscles dominating when this process occurs in the brain, the athlete also experiences time as speeding up and does more thinking instead of just reacting or “letting it happen.”
Kimbrel had the following to say after walking three in the 9th inning of the Brave’s loss on the last day of the regular season to cost them the NL Wild Card spot.
“Things started moving too fast. My head started moving too fast. My brain, I didn’t put it together. It was too late.” The translation of this is that the information he was taking in was getting held up in his pre frontal cortex.
He went on to say that his 9th inning collapse “would just make me work harder this coming off season.” Careful Craig! His working harder without understanding motion from the most fundamental level could easily cause his September to carry over into April 2011.
To better understand motion, you may want to view this video of Dr. Fred Travis.
Buddy Biancalana
Co-author, The 7 Secrets of World Class Athletes
www.zonetraining.net
727.417.7895
“These guys have discovered something in all sports that is going to have a huge impact wherever it is taught.” George Brett, Baseball Hall of Fame
3 Responses
First things first, it’s VENTERS not VETTERS.
That said I’m sure you know your science but if your cause is anymore than a minor impact on events why did they have 2 other periods with virtually the same slash line numbers? The hitters know their swings better than anyone, they work on them constantly and feel it when the swings aren’t right. The only swing significantly bad was Jason Heyward’s and it was bad all year long.
Yes, time speeds up when you’re under pressure and suddenly things aren’t working. An experienced pitcher comes off the mound, calls the catcher out or walks around the mound to take a deep breath and gather his thoughts. When it happens to a young pitcher like Kimbrel it’s up to the pitching coach, catcher or team captain/seasoned infield veteran to go in and have a word to allow him to breathe.There’s probably a scientific basis for that and yours may be it but, this isn’t news to anyone who played the game or watched it to understand for a long time.
With the Red Sox there were other more damaging dynamics involved.
The best pitchers on the staff were injured, those left were ineffective not just in September but for most of the year. The worst thing however was a collapse of team cohesiveness, Terry Francona admits to losing the team midyear. When a team is leaderless or indifferent to the leader they do not play as a team. Key players who might have pulled them together on the field were injured or didn’t have sufficient sway with the others to do it. Crawford was lost in his big contract move funk all year. Cliques formed and reports of pitchers drinking beer in the clubhouse during a game have been verified. That they collapsed so quickly was more a mental shoulder shrug than a mass failure in the motion of their swings. No focus, no commitment, no quality in play combined with pitchers who they expected in the back of their minds to fail when they took the mound brought the inevitable losses. That there were so many in a row with so much talent speaks to how badly the clubhouse was divided.
Merlin,
Many of your points are well taken. For the sake of my area of expertise, the purpose of the article was to educate people on processes in the mind that cause motion to be less fluid. However, just because a hitter knows their swing and when its not right, does not mean they are able to correct it. If so, they would never have a slump. What the majority of athletes don’t know is how to set up conditions in the mind that cause fluid motion at all times. This is what my partner and I teach.
I recognize the science there but correcting a slump is about more than the swing motion. What makes me less convinced about this (for the Braves) is that it happened in April and June as well with numbers relatively the same except when driving in runs. Much of the poor RISP production this year came from a philosophical change in the approach to at bats initiated by the now ex-hitting instructor for the Braves. I am not as familiar with the Red Sox but information leaking from the team indicates that many just quit on Francona. I know pros shouldn’t but they get paid win or lose and if they want him gone he’s gone. I’ve seen it many times. Again, I’m not questioning the science I do question the import on these events in the grand scheme of the collapses.