I went 0-for-36 once. That's not a typo. Thirty-six straight at-bats without a hit.
It was the worst stretch of my playing career. And here's the thing nobody tells you about a slump that long. It doesn't start in your swing. It starts in your head. By at-bat 15 I was already a different person. I just didn't know it yet.
I was swinging at the first thing I saw rather than letting the ball come to me. I was moody in the dugout. Snapping at teammates over nothing. Chirping at umps for calls I'd let slide six weeks earlier.
Finding excuses everywhere except the mirror.
I wasn't fully present in any of it. The numbers were the symptom. The head was the source. Most players try to fix slumps in the cage. Take more swings. Tweak the load. Drop the hands. Try a new bat. Sometimes that works. Most of the time it doesn't. Because the cage isn't where the slump lives.
Here's where it turned for me.
In the middle of the 0-for-36 I picked up Brian Cain's book.
I didn't read it because I thought it was going to fix me. I read it because I'd run out of other ideas.
That's where I first learned Well/Better/How.
Three questions. Run them on yourself after every game.
What went WELL today?
What could be BETTER?
HOW specifically do I fix it tomorrow?
That third question is the kicker.
"How" forces precision. Vague self-criticism is useless. "I need to be more focused" doesn't fix anything. "I need to take a 10-second reset between every pitch and pair it with a cue word" can fix something.
Once I started running Well/Better/How, I started catching the head slump before the numbers caught up.
I snapped the streak.
Then I started breaking the game down better. Better at-bats. Better debriefs. Better recovery between games.
The slump didn't ruin me. It taught me a system.
Here's the diagnostic question for any player reading this.
Are your stats fine but something feels off?
That IS the slump. It's just early. The numbers are the box score. The head is the source. Most slumps start at the source and work their way to the box score over 7-10 days. If you catch them at the source, the box score never crashes.
THIS WEEK'S TOOL
Run a 5-minute Well/Better/How audit this week. Once. Sit somewhere quiet. Phone face down.
Three things going WELL in the last 14 days. Be specific. Not "my swing is fine." Try "I've stayed in my routine on game days even when I was tired."
Three things that could be BETTER. Be specific. Not "my focus is off." Try "I've stopped doing my between-pitch reset after the 5th inning when games drag."
One specific HOW for each Better item. Not "be more focused." Try "Set a phone vibration in my pocket for every defensive half-inning to remind me to run the reset."
Total time: 5 minutes.
Frequency: once a week during the season. Catch the head slump before the box score crashes.
Can’t Hear Excuses!
Dr. Skip
P.S. If you're in a slump right now, the answer probably isn't more cage time. It's a Well/Better/How session. Try it tonight. Reply and tell me what you found.