Baseball: Pitching
Pitching is about mental toughness. In fact, pitching might be equally about mental toughness as about what stuff youve got. The great pitchers are able to compensate when they know they dont have their A game. Pitching is all about adjustments. If you dont have the mental toughness, you might just collapse when you find that your breaking ball isnt breaking as much as it should.
If you do bring your A game, mental toughness is about never faltering. Some pitchers, like Rick Ankiel, have had problems with the mental side of the game and theyve suffered for it. You can learn all the grips, all the principles of rotation, all the best ways to plant your feet, but if you turn to jelly while on the pitchers mound, it doesnt matter how great your mechanics are.
Relief Pitching
Starting pitchers get all the glory, but for my money, relief pitchers are just as important. They have to be just as mentally tough as starting pitchers. Usually theyre coming in from the seventh inning on. These days, major league pitchers dont go more than seven. Its rare for a pitcher to pitch a complete game–maybe theyll have one or two a season.
Relief pitchers come in the late innings, a very tense time. Maybe theyll only pitch an inning, or even to just a batter or two, but every batter counts. If you dont have the stuff to be a starting pitcher, relief pitching is a valuable job. Coming into a game with the bases loaded and getting a key strikeout can be electric.