The Psychology of Failure in Baseball and How It Fuels Growth

Can failure be your greatest ally on the baseball field? Join us as we uncover how embracing setbacks can lead to extraordinary growth and resilience, transforming not just players, but entire teams. Drawing from my 27 years of coaching experience and insights from psychologist Dr. Carol Dweck, we explore how a growth mindset can turn frequent failures into powerful learning opportunities. We highlight inspiring stories like Derek Jeter's unwavering perseverance and the Kansas City Royals' epic 2015 ALDS comeback to illustrate how the game’s nature of constant setbacks can build mental toughness and emotional strength.

Transitioning our focus to high school athletes, we emphasize how baseball teaches life lessons that extend beyond the diamond. Most young athletes won’t play professionally, but the ability to handle setbacks and persevere is key in all walks of life. As coaches, our role is to guide them through failure, teaching resilience, curiosity, and determination. These skills not only forge better athletes and unified teams but also prepare them for future challenges in their careers and personal lives. Tune in to discover how fostering a culture that embraces failure can lead to greater success, both on and off the field.

Join the Baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast where an experienced baseball coach delves into the world of high school and travel baseball, offering insights on baseball coaching, leadership skills, hitting skills, pitching strategy, defensive skills, and overall baseball strategy, while also covering high school and college baseball, recruiting tips, sports coaching, and fostering a winning mentality and attitude in baseball players through strong baseball leadership and mentality.

Chapters

• 0:00 Embracing Failure in Baseball Culture
• 9:30 Navigating Failure

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

least understood aspects of baseball failure. In my opinion, the number one reason the average age of retirement from baseball is 14. On today's podcast addressing failure, it's going to happen whether in high school or playing in the major leagues. Those who handle it the best typically experience the most success. So I'm going to attack adopting a growth mindset and building emotional resilience.

Speaker 2: 0:33

Welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged with Coach Ken Carpenter, presented by AthleteOne. Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for baseball coaches With 27 years of high school baseball coaching under his belt, here to bring you the inside scoop on all things baseball, from game-winning strategies and pitching secrets to hitting drills and defensive drills. We're covering it all. Whether you're a high school coach, college coach or just a baseball enthusiast, we'll dive into the tactics and techniques that make the difference on and off the field. Discover how to build a winning mentality. Inspire your players and get them truly bought into your game philosophy Plus, get the latest insights on recruiting, coaching, leadership and crafting a team culture that champions productivity and success. Join Coach every week as he breaks down the game and shares incredible behind-the-scenes stories. Your competitive edge starts here, so check out the show weekly and hear from the best coaches in the game. On Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

Speaker 1: 1:31

Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. Presented by AthleteOne, baseball Coaches Unplugged podcast is helping baseball coaches to get their players to buy in to their philosophy, become more productive and win more games by applying unique leadership strategies from some of the best coaches across your country. I'm your host, ken Carpenter, and BCU is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. The netting professionals specialize in the design, fabrication and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, bp turtles, screens, ball carts and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches and cubbies. Also, the netting pros work with football, soccer, lacrosse and golf courses. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707. Or visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. And you can also check out Netting Pros on Twitter, instagram, facebook and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. That's right. Failure, the thing that every athlete, every coach and every fan dreads. But here's the twist when handled the right way, failure can actually be one of the greatest gifts in a player's development. Today, I want to explore how learning to manage and embrace failure can transform individual players and entire teams for the better.

Speaker 1: 3:16

The nature of baseball is that it's a game of failure. And first, let's acknowledge something crucial Baseball is a sport that revolves around failure, probably more than any other sport. Think about it If you're a hitter and you get a hit three out of every 10 at-bats, you're batting 300, and you're likely considered one of the better players on the team. That means you're failing 70% of the time and still achieving success. No other sport asks players to face failure with such regularity. This is what makes baseball mentally and emotionally unique. The game constantly presents opportunities to fail, whether it's a strikeout, an error in the field or giving up a walk-off home run. And the truth is, how players respond to failure is what separates them, the good ones, from the great, not just in terms of skill, but in terms of mental toughness and resilience.

Speaker 1: 4:20

The importance of adopting a growth mindset, a term that was coined by psychologist Dr Carol Dweck. Athletes with a growth mindset view failure as an opportunity to learn, adapt and grow, rather than as a reflection of their ability or self-worth. So how does this apply to baseball? When a player strikes out, instead of hanging their head and internalizing that failure I'm not good enough. The coach is going to put somebody else in the lineup. I'm going to get pitch hit for. We want them to think what can I learn from that at bat? Did they chase a bad pitch? Were they too passive early in the count? Did they blame the umpire? By turning the moment of failure into a moment of analysis, they begin to see that every setback is an opportunity for improvement.

Speaker 1: 5:15

A great example of this mindset is retired New York Yankee Derek Jeter. Jeter wasn't just known for his clutch performances. He was famous for his ability to bounce back after bad games. Jeter had his share of slumps, but his mentality was always forward looking. He never let one bad game, or even a string of bad games, define him. He had a short memory and when it came to failure, which allowed him to move on quickly and stay mentally focused on the task ahead.

Speaker 1: 5:52

Now, failure isn't just an individual experience. It's a team experience. When a player makes an error that costs the team a game, the entire squad feels it. But here's what makes it interesting If the team culture embraces failure as part of the learning process, those moments of adversity can actually strengthen the team. An example of this could be if you remember the 2015 Kansas City Royals in game four of the American League Division Series against the Astros, they found themselves down six to two in the eighth inning. A few costly mistakes put them in a massive hole. Most teams would have crumbled under that pressure, but the Royals had built a team culture that didn't fear failure. They fought back, scoring five runs in the eighth to win the game. The key wasn't just their physical ability but their mental resilience. They had a team-wide understanding that failure was part of the journey and they weren't afraid of it, and I'm sure everyone can look back at a game this past season and can remember a comeback that took place. When a team is built on that kind of resilience, when they can trust each other to bounce back from failure, it breeds confidence and unity. Coaches, this is something we can foster in our players. When someone makes an error, the message should be we got your back. Instead of focusing on blame, focus on the team and how they can learn and respond together. This approach turns failure into bonding, more of a bonding experience and even galvanize a team for future success.

Speaker 1: 7:41

One of the hardest things for young athletes to deal with is the emotional side of failure, especially in high school, where players are often juggling the pressures of academics, social life and their identity as athletes, failure on the field can feel overwhelming. That's where, as coaches, we need to help players normalize failure as part of their development. When a player feels like they've let their team down, how we respond is crucial. If we react with anger or disappointment, we're reinforcing the idea that failure is catastrophic, but if we respond with understanding and guidance, we help them to see failure for what it is a step in the learning process. Now don't get me wrong. If it fails consistently, yes, you do have to make changes, and all high school baseball players understand that.

Speaker 1: 8:45

Let's take Clayton Kershaw, for instance one of the best pitchers in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, but he was notable for his postseason struggles. He was for years, he was haunted by the narrative that he couldn't perform in October, but instead of letting that label define him, he continued to put in the work. He learned from those failures, adjusted his approach and ultimately in 2020, led the Dodgers to a World Series title. The lesson here Failure doesn't define you. How you respond does the long-term benefits of embracing failure. Let's zoom out a bit.

Speaker 1: 9:30

Why is learning to deal with failure so important for high school athletes? Because baseball is a game of life lessons, because baseball is a game of life lessons. The ability to handle setbacks, adapt and keep pushing forward isn't just a skill for the diamond, it's a skill for life. Very few high school athletes will go on to play college or professional baseball, but every single one of them will face adversity in some form, whether it's in their career, their relationships or personal growth. As coaches, we have the opportunity to teach these young athletes how to navigate failure in a healthy, constructive way that sets them up for success beyond the field. So to all the players and coaches listening today, remember failure is not the enemy. It's part of the journey and when we embrace it, analyze it and use it to improve, it can become one of our greatest assets. Let's teach our players to respond to failure with resilience, with curiosity and with determination. That's how we build better athletes, better teams and, ultimately, better people.

Speaker 1: 10:46

Be sure to tune in every Wednesday for a new episode on Baseball Coaches, unplugged, and, if you get an opportunity, leave us a review. It helps us to grow. The show. Today's podcast was powered by the Netting Professionals Improving Programs, one facility at a time. You can contact Will and his team at 844-620-2707 and you can visit them online at wwwnettingproscom. I'm Ken Carpenter and, as always, thanks for joining me on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.