Overcoming Slumps: How MLB Players Can Build Psychological Flexibility to Reclaim Peak Performance

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Slumps happen—even to the most elite players in Major League Baseball. One week, you're driving balls into the gap with ease; the next, it feels like the strike zone shrunk and the pressure expanded. But a slump isn’t just about mechanics or timing—it’s also about mindset. And more specifically, psychological flexibility.

At COMMIT-TO-ACTION, I guide professional baseball players through mental adversity, helping them turn setbacks into setups for comebacks. In this post, we’ll break down what psychological flexibility is, why it’s critical for MLB players, and how to strengthen it so you can bounce back stronger than ever.

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What Is Psychological Flexibility in Baseball?

Psychological flexibility is the ability to stay open to difficult thoughts, feelings, and experiences while still acting in alignment with what is important in your life. In other words, it’s the mental skill that lets you acknowledge the slump without becoming consumed by it.

Instead of trying to control every negative emotion—like frustration, fear, or self-doubt—you learn to make room for them and still take committed action on the field. That is, choosing behaviors that are in service of what it is important--finding what works!

In a sport like baseball, where failure is baked into the game (a .300 hitter still fails 7 out of 10 times), psychological flexibility is not optional—it’s essential.

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How Elite Players Mentally Overcome Slumps

When you're mentally rigid, slumps tend to spiral. Here’s what that looks like:

• Over-identifying with poor performance (“I’m just not good enough anymore.”)

• Avoidance behaviors like over-training, disengaging, or blaming external factors

• Overthinking mechanics to the point of paralysis at the plate

• Letting emotions drive actions, rather than choosing alternative behaviors that are more likely to bring you satisfaction in service of what is important--like being a proficient hitter

  
  

Instead of playing loose and focused, you grip the bat tighter, push harder, and become mentally reactive. That’s not how elite players rise.

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Tools to Reclaim Focus and Mental Toughness

1. Lean Into Fear: Trying to avoid uncomfortable feelings—like shame or fear of letting the team down—can shrink your game. Accept discomfort as a sign of your investment in the moment. It is a natural response.

2. Clarify What is Important to You: What kind of player do you want to be, slump or no slump? COMMIT-TO-ACTION helps athletes defines this by using the Acceptance and Commitment Training Matrix, a framework to align mindset with purpose.

3. Shift From Control to Commitment: You can’t control stats or outcomes—but you can control preparation, effort, focus, and behavioral choices that are most likely to bring you satisfaction and success. Ask: What does “committed action” look like today?

4. Practice the ACT Matrix: Practicing the framework helps you to reset between pitches and builds mindfulness, resilience, and improves decision-making under pressure.

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How COMMIT-TO-ACTION Helps Athletes Break Mental Slumps

At COMMIT-TO-ACTION, I help MLB players train their mental game by using a proven tool like the ACT Matrix:

• One-on-one help in how to use the tool and understand the basics of Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACT)

• Game-day focus plan for using the tool

• Defining what is important and discovering those behaviors that bring satisfaction in service of what is important

  
  

I give you more than “motivation”—I help you help yourself build habits that sustain confidence, composure, and elite performance.

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Final Thoughts: Slumps Don’t Define You—Your Response Does

Slumps are part of the game—but they don’t have to take you out of it. The key is learning what works while struggling--without becoming paralyzed from the struggle. With psychological flexibility, you can break the cycle and get back to playing free, focused, and fierce.

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Ready to Reclaim Your Mental Edge?

Let COMMIT-TO-ACTION help you bounce back and build the mental toughness MLB demands. Lock In Your Session!