10x All-Stars Keep Their Good Approach | Unaffected By Circumstances

I don't know if you really want to hear this. - I want to hear it, because Kay and my boys, they followed me last few days. - I hit three times a day. Usually, right when I do my early work defense first, that's my first movement, then I go in the cage and I'll do about eight swings off the tee and I'll place it in certain spots, and then I just do underhand flips. And I hit soft line drives. And we had now in today's cages, you actually can see your exit velocities in the cage now. And if I go over 87 exit velocity, I've swung too hard, so I try and stay under that. Just for me and how my swing works and my path, I just try and stay inside the baseball and soft. I do that, and then I'll go and hit an hour and a half later and I'll do the same exact thing, and then 12 minutes before the game. I'm not superstitious, but 12 minutes before the game, I'll be in the cage again. - Yeah, I'm not superstitious at all. - And it's the same thing every single day. I don't deviate from it. If I go over 20, it's gonna be the same thing on that next day. I believe in the process of plan, approach stays the same, 74% of pictures are usually middle to middle away, so I'm gonna hunt those pictures. - And then you're obviously the adrenaline of the game takes the swing, 'cause for me, when I swing too hard, I get too tight back here and it makes me cut through the zone. So if I can be soft with the hands, and that's why my routine is the way it is, then I can drop right in the slot and stay right in through inside the baseball. - Ben, here's a pen, do you wanna write all that down? - No, I shouldn't need any hope. - I should, no, that's a pro right there. - I wanna make this video here documenting Freddie Freeman. Freddie Freeman for anybody who doesn't know is one of the very best players in all the baseball. Freddie Freeman is a 10-time all-star, three-time World Series champion, 2024 World Series MVP. He's a 2020 National League MVP, three-time Silver Slugger, Gold Glove winner, Hank Aaron Award winner, two-time all MLB first team selection, three-time all MLB second team selection, and player choice, player of the year, Babe Ruth Award winner. He's got 2,500 career hits. He's one of the greatest, he's one of the greatest World Series performances ever, including the first walk-off Grand Slam in World Series history. He's gonna be first battle hall of fame. And when we listen to him talk here, I just think it's a really beautiful example of what the mental game looks like, and how simple it is, and it's a good or minor view that the game, whatever game you are playing, is very simple, and you are the one who is complicated. You're the one that complicates the process. And so he starts out by talking how he hits three times a day. He has early movement. He hits on the T's, off the T, he does some underhand flips. Really what I'm hearing here is that less is more. It's very simple. If you're a baseball player, you can hear how elementary his process is. It's the basics. And I do believe that the most effective tools are often the most simple tools. I work with a quarterback who is a quarterback in the NFL, and one of the things that we always talk about is that less is more. Less is more. It is that simple, less is more for him. In all moments, less is more. And I think when I listen to Freddie Freeman talk here, it's a very similar approach that less is more. I think when I listen to him speak in this video, he has very clear intentions. As we spoke about on this podcast, clear intentions are really what intention is as instructions for your brain. And when you give your brain clear instructions, it makes it easier to win. Your brain will work for you. And so he has very clear intentions on what he's trying to get out of this routine. And above all else, the routine is the routine is the routine. The pre-game is the pre-game. It's really irrelevant to the game. It's just an opportunity to get your body prepared and to get your mind prepared. It's something that is consistent, something that is familiar that can ground you in the present moment. Some people love a lot of structure. I know many people, as Freddie Freeman said, that at a very specific time, the routine starts. I know other people who are spontaneous. So recognize that this is his truth. This is not the truth. At the end, the woman in the interview says, "Hey, Ben Rice, you should be taking notes on this." And it's like, no, Ben Rice is an all-star. And Ben has his own process as well. And I think there's something very powerful about that when you listen to Freddie talk. He's clear that like, this is his truth. It's a way, it's not the way. I think that's a heart posture of humility. And then anybody that's been in this game understands that nobody has the answers. There is not a end-all-be-all. There are no rules. Everybody is unique and special in their own way. So you should discern what your process is and what works for you. And so I really love that it's simple, it's clear. He talks about how if his exit velocity, which is how hard he's hitting the baseball, if it's over 87 miles per hour, it's too much. And he knows that about himself. He's holding himself accountable. He's measuring his process. He knows that if he goes over 87, he's doing too much and that less is more. Sean Casey was a 300 hitter in the big leagues. He's a stud. I've gotten to talk with Sean Casey and he's just a beauty. And when he worked with Harvey Dorfman, I've talked about his book, The ABCs of Pitching. He's got the mental keys to hitting, the mental game of coaching. He's got so many great books. One of the greatest mantras are three keys to give it simple that he gave to Sean Casey that he gives to other people. It's to see the pitch 'cause that's the prerequisite to getting a good swing off, see the pitch. It's to be easy. Why, because less is more. 87 miles per hour, anything more than that is doing too much. So see the pitch, be easy, hammer it. Simple, behave your focus, task oriented. I think it's really good. And I think it's a reminder here that being easy, less is more is often the path for us to do what we want to do. And when the game speeds up, naturally you get adrenaline. And the adrenaline adds to whatever you already have. He mentions that in this interview. And so you have to leave space for the game adrenaline to take you over that hump to get you that last little bit. And you don't need to create that in the training environment. That's a discipline thing. A lot of guys would hit the ball 87 miles per hour in the cage and they would melt down over that. They're not hitting the ball hard enough. And what I can appreciate is that Freddie Freeman has a discipline with his mind to know his process, to know his routine and what works for him, and to follow his process. And naturally the adrenaline will take over and will help guide him to where he needs to be, which will be a harder hit based ball than 87 miles per hour. But the easy mindset of just being smooth and hitting the ball 87 is what takes him to where he wants to go. I have, I worked in the mental game for the last four or five years. And I worked under a great mental performance coach. And one of the things he teaches all of his hitters is that 80 takes me to 100. Sometimes he teaches pitchers that as well. 80 takes me to 100. I gave that affirmation to a soccer player. She loved it, she uses it. 80 takes me to 100 because that last little bit is brought to you from the game. And all you have to be at is 80 and the adrenaline will take you to the level that you want to be at. 80 takes me to 100. Maybe that works for you. Maybe it doesn't. Maybe it's 90 takes me to 100. You should hear this and you should discern whether or not that is your truth. But it's just food for thought. He said, I just try to stay inside the baseball. And I think he says and stay soft, right? Stay inside the baseball and be soft with it. And the game is simple. It's a simple and effective approach. And when we add to the facts, we subtract from the facts, we get caught up in this noise. We lose our good effective approach. And we're clear you can hear what Freddie Freeman, this all star, what his good effective approach is to stay inside the baseball and stay soft. He also says that 74% of pitches are usually middle and away. 74% of pitches are usually down the middle or slightly away and they're fastballs. And so he keeps his perspective simple. He keeps the game simple and he keeps his simple approach. I love that. He said, I'm going to hunt those pitches. Pay attention to the language that he uses. I work with another individual who's in the big leagues and his biggest thing is hunt or be hunted. The idea of hunting is the idea of playing to win. It's not playing to not lose, right? It's conviction. When you're throwing a baseball, a lot of the time people will teach you to throw the baseball through the target, not to the target. That's an intent thing that is a conviction thing. That's a little nugget I'd like to pay attention to. Freddie Freeman says, it's the same thing every day. If I go over 20, it's going to be the same thing the next day. I believe in the process, the plan, and the approach stays the same. That's Kurt Signetti, unaffected by the circumstance. That's Nick Saban and Kurt Signetti. First, you form your habits, then your habits form you. You have the freedom of choice. You do not have the freedom of consequence. And so in anything you do, you get to choose who you want to be, but whoever you choose to be, there are consequences for that. If you choose to be the guy that's or the girl that changes your process every single day, there are consequences for that. He does not change his process no matter what happens. There is a language for winning. That is what it looks like to be steady. That is what it looks like to be consistent. He says, "When I swing too hard, it makes me get tight and get through the zone. If I can stay soft, I can usually stay right inside the baseball." That's what he said. Again, that's going back to the 80 takes me to 100. It's a very simple approach, less is more. Then at the end, again, she says, "Hey, Ben, here's a pen. Do you want to write any of that down?" And Freddie Freeman has a humility to realize that that's his process and everybody is unique. And he's not just trying to convince people to follow what he does. He's just sharing his truth, which I think is something that people forget in the mental game, that there is nothing black and white in this game. Nobody really knows anything. The more you learn, the more you realize you don't know anything. And you're better off being curious and taking the things that work for you and leaving the things that don't. That takes discernment. That takes being comfortable in your skin. And that takes knowing yourself. So this is a master class on the mental game from Freddie Freeman. I just wanted to share that with you guys in a quick podcast. [BLANK_AUDIO] you guys think keep stacking hope you're hammering and we'll stay in process see you guys