Expert: Willie Ansley Jr. - 6/30/2011

Question
I coach a 11U travel team. We have had many successes and failures over the last 2 years. With Baseball being 90% mental. Is there really any way to get the team out of a slump? Recently, my team played 5 tournament games and scored zero runs in 4 of them. Sounds bad, I know, I was there. However they played awesome D and had great pitching and only gave up a total of nine runs. From that point on I heard whispers of "We are in a slump" from the players and parents. Any way to combat this other than the traditional "Slump Buster"? Remember they are 11.

Answer
I would say more batting practice and practice hitting the ball to the opposite field. You may ha e a team full of pull hitters who can not adjust to different pitches and different locatuons. Have them also take more pitches in the game. Maybe swinging at alot of bad pitches.