What Does "Trust the Process" Mean?

Trust the process. Embrace the Grind. To quote the great Austin Powers, “Yes, but what does it all mean Basil?”

Having someone casually drop the phrase, Trust the Process is often met with an understanding nod from a player or parent. Unfortunately, no one ever takes the time to explain what that process is, or what it means to trust it.

Short Explanation:

• It’s roughly 13 Phases

• Starts when players 1st begin playing the game

• It’s Continuous

• It is not easy

Phases:

1. A child starts by Playing the Game.

2. Finds enjoyment & with more experience, their strengths/limitations within the game.

3. Enjoying the competition & being challenged, they move from “just for fun” to “let’s start keeping score”.

4. Having a little success/handling a little failure.

5. Choosing to put some work into the game to get better, this gives the player a vested interest in the game.

6. Finding success through the extra effort.

7. Relaxing, resting on their laurels, it’s inevitable and necessary that a player unintentionally lets up a little bit.

8. Failure following the relax period.

9. Re-evaluation of the importance of the game, this is a very personal decision, do I put more work in, or is it worth it? (A lot of players will get out of the pool here)

10. Work period, sustained effort towards getting better.

11. Sustained Work Period, this is when the work isn’t providing instant success and a player must constantly choose to keep going.

12. Perseverance Phase. Things slowly start to line up and improvement gains traction.

13. Reward Phase. The player is rewarded with success/opportunities and has a considerable vested interest in the game. They make better choices off the field, to avoid losing what they’ve gained, and have an appreciation for their success.

As players go through their own process, it is important for parents to understand that it’s like anything else a child goes through. The best way I can describe it is to imagine a player’s experiences like being on a train going on a long journey. The hardships and obstacles are tunnels through the mountains. While the first instinct is to protect our players, we must recognize you are simply stopping the train in the tunnel. As much consoling and comforting may help you feel better, you are simply letting them out the side door of the train. At some point, they will need to get back on the tracks and finish going through the tunnel.

These tunnels will inevitably occur for every player at one stage or another. It is also important to point out that while every player’s journey will be different, none of them are necessarily “easier” in the long run. Those who enjoy success early on are often at a greater disadvantage down the road, while those who learn to work through the ups and downs of the game at an early age gain a greater appreciation for success later on. Envy and jealousy will tend to creep in, especially for parents, and I’d advise those who are quick to discount another player’s success in front of their kids. Use those moments as an opportunity to encourage hard work and use the desire to catch those ahead of them as motivation.

It is these experiences that shape us in many ways. Another example would be a player who plays on losing teams early on will appreciate winning more, and will be less likely to take the team's success for granted. They will be less likely to ease up when they get a lead, and be more apt to put their foot on the gas to ensure victory. Baseball is a team sport, based on individual concepts. Each player has the choice to focus on their own opportunities to help the team win. A player can choose to focus on each at-bat, each pitch, and each play, or they can choose to allow the score to dictate their effort level. As you might have guessed, those who choose the latter don’t usually play very long.

So where does the process impact each player? This can depend on the age and position, but let’s go through some examples. Take an 11U shortstop for example. Usually one of the most athletic players on the team, the process takes on many forms. For his fielding, he’ll need to continue to improve his fundamentals, his arm strength, as well as his speed and quickness, if he hopes to stay at the position going forward. At every level, he will be challenged by other shortstops vying to take his spot. The more routine plays he can make, the more range he can exhibit, the more likely he’ll be to stay there. His batting ability will also be a key factor, as a player with slightly less range can overcome this deficiency by being more valuable at the plate.

Once he gets to high school, he’ll be competing for playing time against all the other best athletes from their teams, and will constantly have to prove himself. He must be confident in his abilities, or this can be frustrating. To earn playing time before his senior year, he’ll have to beat out older players and exhibit greater levels of skill, once again, versus the best athletes from their respective teams growing up. It isn’t always as simple as being the best at your school, you must now be the best at your school and the best among players your age and 2-3 years older. You also must be able to outperform younger players coming into high school each year, and thus the drive to never be satisfied with where you are currently becomes increasingly important.

If his arm strength isn’t up to par, a move to second base might be in order. If his fielding doesn’t stay sharp he may be moved to the outfield, where as a coach once put it, “all the hitters who can’t field a ground ball go”. Each position has different values attributed to different skill sets. It is for this reason, baseball can be very tough on players and parents. The position a player has worked at for years, can suddenly be taken away and replaced with a new position that must be learned at the highest level the player has played at thus far.

As far as skill set development is concerned, the process is much different. Players need to be very careful about being consumed by two things: velocity and power. I’ll have another post dedicated entirely to this subject, but keep in mind that at the foundation of each are simple concepts.

1. A player’s physical maturity will play a key role in both up to a certain point.

2. Getting the body stronger and moving more explosively will help achieve both.

3. Hitting the ball on the barrel and having efficient mechanics will be crucial.

4. There is no magic potion, program or drill that will unlock years of playing lazy catch with poor mechanics or taking half-hearted swings at bad pitches.

Let's discuss the process for hitting as an example. When I get a hitter, the first thing we'll do is hit off a high tee. No instruction, just a high tee and I'll say try to hit a line drive straight ahead. Here I'm trying to figure out a few things:

1. What's his swing look like?

2. How consistent are they? Is this something they work on, usually can tell by balance or consistency of contact when the ball isn't moving.

3. What does it look like they're trying to do?

From there, I'll ask them: What are you trying to do right here? I want them to explain their thought process. Are they analyzing their own mechanics? Are they just trying to hit the ball? There's no right or wrong answer, but now we have a baseline.

If their problem is pulling off the ball, we have to get to the root cause. Having done this with youth players for 12 years, and having experienced hitting lessons as a kid, I can tell you not all players learn the same way. There is one thing that has seemed to work for my hitters in a one on one setting, something I call “swing manipulation”. I’ll do another post entirely on the subject, but it’s basically using different drills to allow the hitter to make his own adjustments. It forces the hitter into a more efficient path without using lingo that may or may not make sense to them.

The process might involve angled front toss with a short bat, with the goal being to hit line drives to the opposite field. To increase the level of difficulty, I’ll use a heavier short bat, so the hitter can’t let the barrel drop below his hands too early which is another problem a lot of hitters have that use ultra lightweight metal bats.

For our example, let’s say the hitter stops pulling off the ball and now is staying through contact. Problem solved right? Hardly. It is now up to the hitter to ingrain those changes into their swing through practice. Lots and lots of practice. Otherwise, the next time they go up to the plate, *POOF* they’ll be back to their old swing, and back where they started.

Hope this helps!