The MVP Machine: How Baseball's New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players

by Ben Lindbergh

Bauer was interested in Robert Nideffer’s “Theory of Attentional and Personal Style” as it related to athletic performance. In 1976, Nideffer had published and theorized something of a Punnett square of performance mindsets. He found that at any one time, an athlete’s focus is determined by two dimensions: width (broad or narrow focus) and direction (internal or external focus). There were four possible mindsets: narrow-internal, broad-internal, narrow-external, broad-external. An internal focus meant an athlete was consciously thinking about their movement, which is detrimental to pitching. A broad focus meant the athlete was aware of much of their surroundings. What Bauer was after was a narrow-external focus. Narrow-external shifts one’s attention outside oneself and upon a specific task. That was ideal for pitching or, say, shooting in basketball or sinking a putt in golf.