How Do Baseball Players Cure The Yips? A Sport Psychology Case Study For Charlotte, North Carolina’s Elite Athletes
The yips are a fixable brain-body misfire under pressure, not a mechanical failure. This case study details a 4-phase mental skills protocol used by Charlotte’s elite sport psychology expert on how to help baseball players overcome the yips by systematically calming the nervous system, repatterning throws with constraints, and stress-proofing confidence through a cutting-edge desensitization protocol called Brainspotting (a modified version of EMDR). The recovery process emphasizes achievable short-distance wins, tracking energy management, and returning to competition when target accuracy and fast recovery from yips throws are consistently demonstrated.
Published on 3/4/26, written by Benjamin Foodman, CMPC, LCSW, CSCS
Ben Foodman is a licensed psychotherapist & Certified Mental Performance Consultant (CMPC) through the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). He owns his private practice located in Charlotte North Carolina where he specializes in working with athletes to help them overcome mental blocks (the yips), increase mental toughness and improve focus using techniques such as Brainspotting, biofeedback, exercise science and sport psychology. If you are interested in services, use the link here! Enjoy the article below!
The Yips are a Fixable Brain-Body Misfire, Not a Character Flaw
I hear it all the time from prospective athletes that have the yips: my coach says I just need to get out of my head, or my other favorite, stop thinking too much. These athletes will describe how all of a sudden, out of the blue, they cannot complete even the simplest of throws. Their confidence gets annihilated every time they “yip” a throw and start to perseverate if they will still be on the team, and even worse, they start to worry that they will be “that guy” and experience anxiety about being judged by their teammates and coaches. Take heart: you are not broken. The yips are a learned neurological pattern, not a sign of a "weak mind." In this guide, I will give you a science-based explanation for what the yips actually are, how I have helped elite baseball players in Charlotte, North Carolina overcome this mental obstacle using a 4-phase protocol, and additional mental training interventions you can use to get over this problem and become the elite baseball player you know you can be. Let’s dive in.
What Are the Yips in Baseball, and How Do They Differ from a Mechanics Issue?
Short version: a brain-body misfire under pressure. The motor pattern is fine at low arousal, but it collapses when eyes and attention tighten.
Most of the baseball players I have worked with typically do not experience difficulty playing catch with a teammate in a calm environment. But when they are either in a competitive scrimmage or a live game, the story changes. This is because when we compete in sports, we are essentially engaged in a stress-test. This stress-test requires full body focus and full mental focus. But if any part of the body and or mind has an unresolved issue, the baseball player’s brain will create a type of “error-signal” as a way of signaling to the athlete’s conscious mind that they are unable to fully give themselves to the current moment. Essentially, there is hardware and software in our brains that are pre-programmed to create these yips responses. There is extensive research that supports this, such as the Journal for Medical Hypotheses:
Sensory information about the environment and body state received by the eyes, ears, touch, kinesthetic sense, etc. converges on the thalamus where it is processed and then passed on to the amygdala to interpret its emotional significance.
This occurs with lightning speed. If a threat is detected, the amygdala sends messages to the hypothalamus to secrete stress hormones to defend against that threat. The neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux calls this the low road.
The second neural pathway, the high road, runs from the thalamus via the hippocampus and anterior cingulate, to the prefrontal cortex, the rational brain, for a conscious and much more refined interpretation. This takes several microseconds longer.
If the interpretation of threat by the amygdala is too intense, and/or the filtering system from the higher areas of the brain are too weak, as often happens in PTSD, people lose control over automatic emergency response, like prolonged startle or aggressive outbursts.’
Why Do the Yips Show Up After Injury or Rehab?
The reason the yips shows up after injuries or rehabilitation has been completed is because while the physical site of the injury has been repaired, the baseball player’s mind has not.
Part of the reason there is generally very little success in helping players with this issue is because most sports medicine professionals are unaware of the neuroscience that creates a trauma-based memory. As such, most sport psychologists use introductory methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy. The problem though is that the yips cannot be ameliorated with this intervention, because the yips are not occurring due to “lack of insight”. Cognitive behavioral therapy is designed to help athletes reframe their perspectives on negative thoughts which can be helpful for some issues. However, the yips are an involuntary stress-reaction in the same way people are jump-scared when they are startled. For example, research conducted in the Journal of Sports Medicine illustrates how this happens, along with many other relevant experts in the field of trauma such as Bessel Van Der Kolk.
Through a natural assimilation process, the brain adaptively processes these experiences, so they are constructively integrated. What is useful from the experience is learned and stored in the brain with the appropriate emotion and is available for future use.
When an experience is successfully assimilated or digested it is stored in the brain with little attached intense emotion or physical sensation. When we recall such an incident, we don’t reexperience the old emotion or sensation with it.
In this way we are informed by our past experiences and memories but not controlled by them and with sports our present athletic performances are not burdened by emotional or physical baggage from the past, only learned experience.
By contrast, trauma or any strongly negatively charged experience isn’t adequately assimilated or processed. Instead, the upsetting incident remains stuck in the system in broken pieces’.
How Do I Reset My Throwing Brain? (The 4-Phase Protocol)
Use this 4-phase plan. The steps look simple, but their order matters for success. This protocol helps baseball players dealing with the yips get “quick-wins” and address the “low-hanging fruit” that can help them start to overcome this issue. This was a protocol that I developed when I was working with an ACC starting pitcher. He came to see me because he was dealing with the Yips. When we used this 4-phase protocol, he was able to successfully crush this problem.
Phase 1: Develop A Pre-Performance Routine
Stack parasympathetic triggers before every throwing session to lower your nervous system's threat response. For example, research conducted in the Journal for Applied Sport Psychology supports the efficacy of using specific breathwork patterns to reduce pre-performance anxiety which can contribute to the Yips. Additionally, there is also other research that consistently shows how two, 20-minute sessions of daily 1:2 diaphragmatic ratio breathwork can achieve long-term success.
Breathing: For every 1 second you inhale, exhale 2 seconds.
Relaxation: Make sure that this is done in a calm, environment that is optimal for focusing.
Pacing: Try to use a breathwork app that will pace your breathing (e.g. iBreathe, Heartmath, Kardia, etc).
Metric (Optional): Work with a sport psychologist that uses biofeedback to track progress.
Phase 2: Measure Available Mental Energy
As corny as it may sound, mental energy is a real thing. The brain encompasses approximately 2% of a baseball player’s total body weight but consumes up to 25% of all energy reserves (and that is just during non-sport activities). Most athletes underestimate how psychologically and emotionally demanding events outside of baseball can take a cumulative effect on them, which can lead to the yips. I have athletes start tracking this using a simple 3-step formula:
What is Your Number: On a scale from 1 - 10 (1 being terrible, 10 being great), rate how much energy overall you have to tackle the day.
Match Expectations To Energy Levels: Most athletes have 10/10 expectations, but with this strategy, match your expectations to your actual energy capabilities (e.g. if you are a 2, identify how you can be 100% of a 2).
Rule Out What You Can’t Do: identify the high-level athletic movements that a 10/10 version of you would be able to do, and rule those out if you are lower on the number scale.
Work smart, not hard: Most athletes think they have to show up as a 10/10 athlete to achieve their goals…this could not be further from the truth. The elite MLB players I have worked with, perform with what their body can give them on that day, not what they wish their body can do.
Phase 3: Use Pre-Hab Strategies Immediately
This is probably the one rule I have for all athletes I work with. Athletes can use whatever strength & conditioning protocol they want, but regardless of the type of training an athlete uses, prehab must be baked into that process.
Keeping Things Even: Prehab focuses on keeping the body even and balanced.
The Perfect Blend: Prehab is a perfect blend of physical therapy and advanced strength & conditioning protocols.
Why It Helps The Yips: Prehab focuses on body control and tiny muscle movements but also reduces the likelihood of injury. These are all issues that can be associated with the Yips, and targeting these things can help reduce symptoms.
Phase 4: Regularly Use EMDR and/or Brainspotting
The yips has literally nothing to do with lack of insight. Using visualization skills or positive reframes will not save you from the miserable experience of the yips. This issue originates from a region of the brain that has nothing to do with logic or deep insight-based thinking.
EMDR: This is the gold standard for sport psychology and psychotherapy. It is an evidence-informed practice that is rooted in neuroscience and trauma-informed care which match perfectly with what the brain needs when it is going through the yips.
Brainspotting: This is essentially a modified version of EMDR. Developed by Dr. David Grand, this intervention has shown promise but is still very new and is not yet considered an evidence-based practice, but is well on its’ way to being widely utilized.
Why Should Brainspotting & Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) Be A Part Of My Mental Training?
All sports are stress tests that take a cumulative toll on athletes. Physical injuries, sports humiliations, verbal and emotional abuse are common experiences that athletes face on a regular basis. Because of this, they usually develop the Yips which is essentially an involuntary response that the brain produces as a result of trauma. EMDR & Brainspotting are trauma-informed therapies that most likely will be the appropriate intervention for this issue.
Because the previously mentioned experiences are a regular part of the life of being an athlete (especially a baseball player), these types of interventions will need to be regularly implemented because in the same way that an athlete’s body gets beat up over the course of a season, so too does their mind.
Ongoing mental training should be viewed the same as ongoing work with an athletic trainer or strength coach
The mind needs regular care and maintenance in the same way the body does over the course of a season
EMDR and Brainspotting are rooted in trauma-informed neuroscience which makes them more relevant and effective than traditional cognitive behavioral interventions
The Yips is an involuntary stress response that are produced by a region of the brain called the subcortical brain region. Cognitive behavioral interventions interact more with the neocortex…which is not where the yips originate from.
Frequently Asked Questions About Baseball Yips
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Yes, but it’s complicated.
The Yips is an involuntary stress response. If you continue to experience trauma or compounding stress, it can come back
You can significantly reduce the likelihood of the Yips coming back if you do ongoing EMDR / Brainspotting and use the other 4 phase protocol interventions.
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Always consult with your doctor first on any medical questions that you have. Typically, most doctors will refer out for athletes experiencing the Yips to speak with a sport psychologist or a Certified Mental Performance Consultant.
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No. The Yips are an involuntary stress response that is produced in response to either compounding stress or trauma / PTSD.
The Yips are an involuntary stress response resulting from PTSD
The overwhelming majority of baseball players that I work with in Charlotte, North Carolina that are dealing with the Yips, usually have a history of trauma or are suffering from PTSD. When collecting a history what I often find is that these athletes have experienced several of the following obstacles over the course of their career: moderate to chronic pain, injuries that have resulted in one if not several surgeries, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, in some instances sexual abuse, sports humiliations, car accidents, extreme athlete identity developed early in life. While I am not always successful with every athlete I work with that is dealing with these issues, many of the baseball players that work with me in Charlotte, North Carolina experience the following benefits when they fully commit to the style of mental training that I offer:
Decrease in symptoms if not complete elimination of the yips
Improved velo and return to baseline ability to locate
Batting average returns back to baseline average
Increase in speed of recovery and decrease in injury
Increase in ability to focus, be more aggressive
Return to baseline confidence
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