Slumping Jays hitters need to have short memories

‘You’ve got to know you’re better,’ second baseman Travis says of hitting woes

After a slow start to his sophomore season, Devon Travis has grown into one of the Blue Jays’ steadiest hitters, firmly establishing himself as the most obvious name to write into the top of the lineup card and ending the debate over who should be the team’s leadoff hitter.

Since the all-star break, the 25year-old second baseman leads the team with 63 hits, 10th in the American League over that period. He was hitting .304 on the season and was riding an eight-game hitting streak heading into Monday’s series opener against the Tampa Bay Rays.

So he’s seeing the ball well, as the cliche goes. But Travis knows the good vibes at the plate can be fleeting, so he can empathize with Josh Donaldson, the reigning MVP who is hitless in his last seven games, or Michael Saunders, the first-time all- star who took Donaldson’s spot in the batting order on Monday and is just 4-for-24 since the calendar flipped.

“It’s the hardest game in the world,” Travis said. “I think that’s something a baseball player tells himself two, three times a day. You can do everything right and still fail. You can hit the hardest ball you’ve ever hit in your life, you can take the best swing on the toughest pitch you’ve ever had in your life and you can make an out.”

The average fan can usually see for themselves when a player is going through an unlucky stretch: when they’re hitting rockets straight at guys or getting robbed by good defence. What may be harder to make sense of is how an elite player can go through a stretch when it seems like they have forgotten how to hit.

Travis says there is a dramatic difference in how you feel in the batter’s box when you’re streaking versus slumping. Streaks and slumps can be self-fulfilling, in a sense, as momentum affords a definite mental boost.

“When you’re 3-for-3 and you step up there for your fourth at-bat, it’s pretty comfortable and you feel like you’re going to get that fourth hit,” Travis said. “When you’re 0-for-3 and you’ve had three at-bats that aren’t so hot, you do feel it a little bit.”

Asked to liken the feeling to something a non-professional athlete might experience, Travis said it would be like if you’re a salesperson and you “have a sick week in sales” and you come home feeling good.

“You did your thing, you had a good week. Then the next week you come in and you have a client who you think is going to be one of the biggest hits of the year and you strike out that week, you go 0-for-10, you don’t pick up one new client. You go back and you say, ‘How did I have the best week ever and then rolling into the next week have all the momentum and you think it’s going to be another sick week and you fall flat on your face?’ ”

One momentum-halting whiff can throw you for a loop and lead to the next failure. All of a sudden doing what felt so easy a week ago feels impossible. Then you get inside your own head, where you tend to make things more difficult.

In baseball, the advantage is always with the pitcher, who on average will get an out two out of every three at-bats. A hitter has to delude himself when he steps in the batter’s box. Travis, who has an insatiable appetite for advice, says he often asks veterans how they stay positive.

“They’ll say, ‘This is a tough game. You’re going to have ups and downs. But every time you walk into that batter’s box, you’ve got to know that you’re better than that guy on the mound and if you believe that and continue to tell yourself that — obviously it’s a lot harder when you’re going through a tough time — but if you continue to tell yourself that it’s the only way to break out of those tough times.”

Another key, Travis said, is to have a short memory.

“Every day you walk in this locker room you never know what happened the day before. That’s what a lot of these guys thrive off of, being the same person every day and not letting the past affect us or the future affect us, just taking care of the now.”