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[This is part of a series exploring the Baseball Tarot. If you would like to prompt for a part of the game or a card from the deck, all the rest of the month is available for your curiosity, about either baseball or Tarot. Leave a comment with a prompt if you want in. All other comments are still welcome, of course.]
"Eye on the ball" is a fairly common thing to hear said to a batter currently trying to get a hit. The mechanics of the swing have the batter watching the pitch all the way in until contact with the bat. This is much tougher that it appears, and the evidence is in watching bad swings. Swings that ends up being big whiffs, more often than not, show the batter turning their head before contact, looking forward to where they intend to run or where their hit will go. Sometimes the pitch selection helps the swing look bad, but mechanically unsound settings will appear in super slow-motion on television cameras, or on the faces of the players as they get nothing for their efforts.
"Eye on the Ball", then. Although, for me at least, I could never watch the ball well the way in - I tended to close my eyes when committing to the swing. About the only time I could watch it in all the way was when bunting. Which actually involves two decisions - is the pitch good enough to bunt (excepting in very, very specific circumstances, one only bunts strikes, and prefers to bunt strikes that stay up in the strike zone down into the ground) and can it be handled cleanly, as bunting off-speed pitches and breaking pitches is...part of the reason that bunts are highly unpredictable, even when you can watch them all the way on to the bat and go from there.
Keeping the eye on the ball is generally a shorthand for requiring focus, as even fielders and runners have to keep their eyes on the ball, to catch it, to make decisions about running to the next base, all of those things require knowing where the ball is and where it is going. Any player that turns their head prematurely before seeing the ball to its proper place runs the risk of adding one to the error column, and prolonging an inning past the point where it should have ended. Or worse, losing a high profile or playoff game and being known as a Goat for a good long time (and being in the blooper reel).
As with most things in life and baseball, paradoxically, they're are plenty of times where looking at the ball is exactly the wrong thing to do. Players at the beginnings of the learning level are somewhat prone, whether as fielders or as baserunners, to watching the ball when it is hit. On hit balls, all the players excepting the one who is directly fielding the hit have responsibilities to cover bases or set up relays to get the ball sufficiently back into the infield so as to halt the advance of runners. If they instead stare at the ball as it goes, they will be unprepared for what has to happen next to complete the play. Which can mean a good fielding catch that has a throw to a base that is correct, but that there is no person there to receive the correct throw. This tends not to happen at older leagues, excepting for plays where there is just enough time to field and throw for the hope of another out, such that the fielder is just arriving to their assignment as the ball is.
I can also attest to having collected an extra out in the outfield by having thrown the ball back in to the correct base while the runner, a few steps off the base, was admiring the catch, instead of retreating to the base once it looked like the ball might be caught. Runners and batters don't need to look at the ball - the base coaches will keep them informed of what needs to happen. The runner's focus is rightfully elsewhere.
When this card appears in your reading, it represents focus. Watch the ball until you make contact, or the ball goes completely into your glove. Pulling your eyes prematurely or getting distracted by something else, like the sun, may mean not getting what you actually want. Only after achieving your goal can you relax your focus.
Be careful of hyperfocus, however. Staring at the ball to the exclusion of other things will result in bad things. Be aware of your surroundings and your situation so that you aren't caught too far off the base and either get out or miss your opportunity to make an out or hold a runner. This may mean having to trust that other people are watching it for you, which can be a scary thing.
(Incidentally, this card, despite being about balls and bats, is correctly placed in the suit of Bases, as the focus required is a practical and fundamental thing of baseball.)
"Eye on the ball" is a fairly common thing to hear said to a batter currently trying to get a hit. The mechanics of the swing have the batter watching the pitch all the way in until contact with the bat. This is much tougher that it appears, and the evidence is in watching bad swings. Swings that ends up being big whiffs, more often than not, show the batter turning their head before contact, looking forward to where they intend to run or where their hit will go. Sometimes the pitch selection helps the swing look bad, but mechanically unsound settings will appear in super slow-motion on television cameras, or on the faces of the players as they get nothing for their efforts.
"Eye on the Ball", then. Although, for me at least, I could never watch the ball well the way in - I tended to close my eyes when committing to the swing. About the only time I could watch it in all the way was when bunting. Which actually involves two decisions - is the pitch good enough to bunt (excepting in very, very specific circumstances, one only bunts strikes, and prefers to bunt strikes that stay up in the strike zone down into the ground) and can it be handled cleanly, as bunting off-speed pitches and breaking pitches is...part of the reason that bunts are highly unpredictable, even when you can watch them all the way on to the bat and go from there.
Keeping the eye on the ball is generally a shorthand for requiring focus, as even fielders and runners have to keep their eyes on the ball, to catch it, to make decisions about running to the next base, all of those things require knowing where the ball is and where it is going. Any player that turns their head prematurely before seeing the ball to its proper place runs the risk of adding one to the error column, and prolonging an inning past the point where it should have ended. Or worse, losing a high profile or playoff game and being known as a Goat for a good long time (and being in the blooper reel).
As with most things in life and baseball, paradoxically, they're are plenty of times where looking at the ball is exactly the wrong thing to do. Players at the beginnings of the learning level are somewhat prone, whether as fielders or as baserunners, to watching the ball when it is hit. On hit balls, all the players excepting the one who is directly fielding the hit have responsibilities to cover bases or set up relays to get the ball sufficiently back into the infield so as to halt the advance of runners. If they instead stare at the ball as it goes, they will be unprepared for what has to happen next to complete the play. Which can mean a good fielding catch that has a throw to a base that is correct, but that there is no person there to receive the correct throw. This tends not to happen at older leagues, excepting for plays where there is just enough time to field and throw for the hope of another out, such that the fielder is just arriving to their assignment as the ball is.
I can also attest to having collected an extra out in the outfield by having thrown the ball back in to the correct base while the runner, a few steps off the base, was admiring the catch, instead of retreating to the base once it looked like the ball might be caught. Runners and batters don't need to look at the ball - the base coaches will keep them informed of what needs to happen. The runner's focus is rightfully elsewhere.
When this card appears in your reading, it represents focus. Watch the ball until you make contact, or the ball goes completely into your glove. Pulling your eyes prematurely or getting distracted by something else, like the sun, may mean not getting what you actually want. Only after achieving your goal can you relax your focus.
Be careful of hyperfocus, however. Staring at the ball to the exclusion of other things will result in bad things. Be aware of your surroundings and your situation so that you aren't caught too far off the base and either get out or miss your opportunity to make an out or hold a runner. This may mean having to trust that other people are watching it for you, which can be a scary thing.
(Incidentally, this card, despite being about balls and bats, is correctly placed in the suit of Bases, as the focus required is a practical and fundamental thing of baseball.)
