Velocity continues to climb. Arsenals are being optimized. Opposing hitter scouting reports are better than ever.

Hitting is harder than it’s ever been. Prepare accordingly. https://twitter.com/darenw/status/1313327946678104064

What does “preparing accordingly” look like?

Nola’s pre-game routine - After some technical work, we would replicate the starting pitcher’s release point and FB characteristics. He always wanted it to feel MORE challenging than the game - That’s why he’s scooted up here.

Starter’s out pitch was his CH. To simulate it, the feeder is randomly turning the machine off prior to feeding the next ball. Nola is forced to react/delay without the perceptual cues that are present when facing a live arm. Music is blasting so he can’t hear the wheels slow up.

What was his success rate in that round?

Nola ran a 126 wRC+ this season. He is a very good ML hitter, and he just failed on at least 4 out of 7 pitches. Failure doesn’t feel good. It all boils down to one question -

Do you want to feel good, or do you want to be prepared?

However, there is a lot of nuance to this subject.

Feel good BP has its place. Hitters need to be exposed to game-like perceptual cues, and facing a live arm provides some value in that regard. It also breeds confidence for the vast majority hitters.

That being said...

Nola enters each game with supreme confidence not because he feels good, but because he knows that he’s prepared.

You can’t control how you feel, but you can control how you prepare.

We need to push our hitters to derive their confidence from the quality of their preparation.

Long story short - The stuff in today’s game is too good to train the way we’ve always trained. We need to prepare accordingly.

Pumped to watch Austin play tonight. I know one thing for sure.. No one on that field will be more prepared.