Customer Reviews

The Mental ABC's of Pitching: A Handbook for Performance Enhancement

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I am an assistant coach at the University of Virginia and love Dorfman's work (see The Mental Game of Baseball). The information he provides in this book allows pitchers to take control of their performance. So often, players work hard, but cannot figure out why they don't perform better. This book shares the experience of a person who has actually taught major league pitchers how to perform near the highest level that their ability allows. It is well-written and a must for any high school (and up) pitcher who truly wants to find out how good he can be (that is - he is willing to pay the price of hard work for success on and off the field).

This is a really beautiful book to read. It is a must for all pitchers and their coaches. But it is more than that because it is also about life in general though especially relevant to anyone who loves baseball. It is about being philosophical about our failures and being courageous enough to go out to win in the face of them. In that sense anyone who reads this book will feel a little wiser about life both on and perhaps also off-field regardless of whether they are a baseball player or not.

Roy Halladay read this book cover to cover. He threw the 20th perfect game in Major League Baseball history on May 29, 2010 versus the Florida Marlins.

Noooooo !! Don't let the book aside because it seems to be a usual or boring ABC dictionnary. Take your time to look at the content. The paragraphs are linked together with a lot of callbacks. It really forms a great GLOBAL mental APPROACH to the act of pitching and not only a sum of psychological analyses. This book is mainly descriptive, based on experience and examples and that can repulse some people. However if you have the commitment to go further reading, you will profit from the KEY POINTS and PRACTICAL ADVISES given at the end of each paragraph. Put these tips into your practice program progressively, learn them, try them, adapt them, get feedback down the line and adjust. If not used, this reference will be wasted and will only remain a good book that you have read on the sofa. It is said "Every player and coach will HAVE one". Even if it is highly interesting only reading it, I hope that every player and coach will USE it to complement its program in the bullpen. It will be hard to write a better book on the subject before a long time.

This book gives exactly what is needed to pitchers who have not explored their craft to the fullest. This book gives you, the pitcher, the opportunity to not only get better, but to become a professional at the game you love.

This is a book that any pitcher or any pitching coach should have. It covers every aspect of what it take to succeed mentally as a pitcher. Pitching, as is the rest of the baseball, is being able to repeat an action several times over a course of a game. Your body has the ability to do it physically, but the reason why people struggle is because of their weak mental game. This book can enhance any pitchers mental approach to a ball game. Great for all ages!

I retired early from my faculty position to spend more time with the love of my life--BASEBALL! Sure, it's NOT a matter of life and death--it's more important than that!

I am now the Pitching Coach for Wiscassett, HS (Maine) and this book was quite a find for me. With all the emphasis on the physical aspects of pitching, the other side, the mental and emotional factors, are usually ignored. Many HS coaches play the "grizzled, macho man" with the players and this book allows me to address these other issues in an organized manner.

While not for the casual fan, for anyone coaching baseball, this book is extremely useful.

As a college pitcher you tend to do whatever it takes to get to the next level. An achillies heel of mine has always been the mental aspect of my game. After reading the first few chapters I really noticed that this book definetely pertained to me and my style of the game. As I progressed through the book I started picking up different strategies I can use on and off the field to make me a better pitcher. I suggest this book to anyone who wants to improve their pitching strategy and their overall mental ability to play the game.

Not only is this a great book on preparing yourself mentally for the game of baseball, it is a great life skills book. I am a swim coach who has a 13 year old playing baseball. It has helped him tremendously with his handling of pitchers when catching and has helped him when he pitches. I have almost completed the book and have gone through 4 topics my son picked out. We are going to review 4 new topics each week. I highly recommend this book. Think small and focus on the task at hand. Your next pitch.

Covers alot of info, a must read for any serious pitcher,or parent, my son isnt a big reader, but he went half way through it before putting it down.