Erik Bakich remakes Michigan baseball with mental training, community presence

Ann Arbor ? When Michigan baseball coach Erik Bakich walks into his office, the first things he sees are a framed ink drawing of his college coach and mentor, Keith LeClair, and a Sports Illustrated cover of Pat Tillman.

Bakich, hired last summer to replace Rich Maloney and revive a struggling program, prominently positioned those two items as part of what he calls perspective building, something he has extended to his players.

As soon as the 35-year-old Bakich arrived here, he instituted leadership training and mental game training. As part of the former, he had his players create "perspective posters" consisting of images and pictures, people and events.

"We have a compared-to-what mentality," Bakich said this week as his team prepares for Friday's season opener at California. Michigan's home opener is March 12. "You think you're having a bad day or you need a reminder how privileged and fortunate you are to be at Michigan or to be a college baseball player ? or even bigger themes like to live in a free country and have good health.

"For me, Pat Tillman and Keith LeClair, the coach I played for (at East Carolina), are two of mine. They're two reminders for me that a guy like Pat Tillman gives up his NFL career to serve our country and protected our freedom ? to me that's the ultimate."

This poster project, while tough and sometimes an emotional experience for players, along with visits to Mott Children's Hospital and the VA Hospital, is part of the foundation he's trying to build.

"The reason we do perspective posters and visit the hospitals is so these guys have a true appreciation for how fortunate they are," Bakich said. "But also with baseball, you build up these bottom-of-the-ninth, game-winning situations like they're life and death. When we actually go visit people who really have struggled with life and death, you understand we're playing a kid's game. We can actually perform better knowing it's not really a life-or-death situation. It's about execution and we'll make the opponent make it life or death."

'We're just young'

Bakich, the youngest coach of a BCS-level program, left his head coaching job at Maryland and at Michigan inherited a team that had NCAA tournament success from 2005 through 2008. But the Wolverines have dropped off in recent seasons, going 17-37 in 2011 and 22-34 in 2012.

The 2013 Wolverines boast a young roster with a couple returning stars ? senior captain and center fielder Patrick Biondi, All-Big Ten second team last season, and junior right fielder Michael O'Neill, who hit .329. Both are on the Big Ten "Players to Watch" list, but Michigan was not among the top six teams included in the Big Ten preseason coaches' poll.

"Overall, we're just young," Bakich said. "Our success is going to be determined a lot by the ability of our pitching and defense to perform at a high level. There is some talent, and there are some elite-level players who will provide a huge spark for this team. There are some bright spots, but overall it's just young."

Still, Bakich said team goals are high.

"I would be satisfied with a Big Ten championship," he said. "This season, our goal is to win the Big Ten conference tournament, and in order to win the Big Ten conference tournament, we have to get to the Big Ten conference tournament, which has been a little bit elusive the past couple seasons."

The Wolverines finished 10th in the Big Ten in 2011 and 2012 and failed to qualify each year.

"We have enough talent, we have enough critical pieces on our roster to do that, as long as we're playing well at the end," Bakich said. The big thing for us is to get these guys not thinking about what's going to be happening in May, and get these guys focused on the very next pitch. We have a phrase that we use called 'win this pitch.' We want to try to keep the guys present and very focused about their best effort on every single pitch."

Positive thinking

Bakich has enlisted the help of Brian Cain, a mental conditioning coach who has worked with several college baseball programs. Cain's purpose is to give players tools to understand the mental aspects of baseball.

"They've learned how to implement routines and use breathing and visualization and self-talk to not only help them maintain their confidence, but be able to focus on one pitch at a time," Bakich said. "Brian has been great for routine implementation and getting these guys to stick to the process."

And part of that process is, very simply, having the players work on their breathing, whether he's a pitcher, hitter, or playing defense.

The players also have been taught to recognize "signal lights," when game situations are getting tight and players begin to talk to themselves negatively. Every player, Bakich said, has a release, whether it's kicking dirt, taking his helmet off or adjusting his batting glove. Next, the player finds his personal focal point, whether it's the left-field foul pole or a spot on the bat, for example, and he then returns to positive thinking.

Is this new-age baseball?

"This is an approach some teams focus on and some teams don't," Bakich said. "You play on such big stages with so many external factors ? fans, scouts, media ? and it keeps them in the present.

"I told them in meeting one, the mental game training will be the most important thing we do all fall, and it has been ? that and the leadership training. More than any drill, any swing, any pitch, any physical baseball play we've done ? those have been the two most important components."

Source: http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130214/SPORTS0201/302140456/1131/rss17

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