Pinch hitting: Jeff Wildfogel
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Next up in the Pinch Hitters series is Jeff Wildfogel, who used his knowledge of sports psychology to write about the mental side of baseball.
In most circumstances, this is exactly the kind of post I would want to avoid, but Jeff has the background to write as an authority. He is a performance psychologist and mental coach who has worked with elite athletes. He’s also a vigorous follower of the Yankees organization, and those of you who followed my blog in Scranton or follow the forums on Pinstripes Plus will recognize Jeff’s name as one of the more respected fan voices out there.
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In the Yankees meltdown in the ALCS against Boston in 2004, Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-12 with no RBI in Games 5 through 7 – and looked bad in doing so. From Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS until the 2009 post-season, ARod hit .143, 8 for 56, with 1 HR and 1 RBI in 16 post-season games and was an easy out with runners on, 0 for 15 with no RBI.
Sports psychologists know that the big mistake players make in pressure situations is feeling that they have to change what they are doing to match the importance of the situation. They try harder, take more (or fewer) pitches or change a thousand other things. The 2004 season was ARod’s first with the Yankees. Many Yankee fans and people in the media blamed ARod’s ineffectiveness in the last three games of the ALCS for the Yankees historic collapse. In response, it seems ARod took it upon himself to show the world, Yankee fans, his teammates, and himself that he could lead the Yankees to a World Series Championship. I don’t know what ARod told himself every time he got up with runners in scoring position in the post-season from game 5 in the 2004 ALCS until the 2009 post-season, but it was probably some version of, “C’mon Alex, you’re the man. Everyone’s counting on you. Show them what you can do and what you’re made of.”
What happened to ARod is what happens to players who don’t handle pressure well. They try too hard, become self-conscious of what they are trying to do and of their past failures, and become too aggressive or too tentative, or fluctuate from one to the other.
But then, in the 2009 post-season, ARod played like the best player in baseball hitting .358 with 6 HRs and 18 RBI in 15 games, including 11 for 25 with 3 HRs and 15 RBI with runners on base. What changed? The difference in ARod’s post-season performances might be random fluctuations in small samples as some claim, but I think that after being embarrassed by the steroid revelations and undergoing hip surgery, ARod finally realized that he wasn’t going to please everyone, couldn’t be Superman, and in many ways became comfortable being Alex Rodriguez rather than trying to live up to being the highest paid and best player in baseball.
With the internal pressure off, ARod performed like the great hitter he had always been. His physical skills hadn’t changed; his technique hadn’t improved. The difference was his mental approach.
While baseball players have access to pitching, hitting and strength coaches, and to instruction on just about every physical aspect of baseball, it’s only recently that the Yankees have hired sports psychologists to help their players improve their mental game. But have the Yankees done enough?
Question: How many sports psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: One, but only if the light bulb is willing.
This joke illustrates the problem I think the Yankees are facing. While it’s great that they provide players with someone to help with their mental game, it’s not so great if players don’t avail themselves of this help. In my experience, that’s exactly what happens more often than not. Players choose not to work with a sports psychologist for many reasons. Some of the emotional reasons include 1) concern that if they did work with a sports psychologist, others would think them mentally weak, 2) believing that players at their level should be able to master the mental game by themselves, and 3) that working with a sports psychologist implies that they have problems, an implication that makes them uncomfortable.
While such attitudes toward pitching, hitting, and strength coaches would be seen as absurd and counterproductive, that is exactly where baseball and mental coaches are too often today. The Yankees need to do a better job educating their players on what sports psychologists do and why it’s not a stigma to work with one any more than it is to work with a strength coach. Until the Yankees help players see why they should work with a sports psychologist and why there is nothing negative implied by doing so, many players who want to perform at their best under pressure, shorten their slumps, focus better, stay motivated when rehabbing from surgery, or want to improve any other aspect of their mental game, are not going to be helped by the Yankees having a sports psychologist around and will choose to fend for themselves.
If it took ARod several years to straighten out his mental game, and then only by chance, why would it be any different for Robinson Cano, Brett Gardner, Joba Chamberlain, and other Yankees? As a Yankee fan, I think it’s a great shame to have a $200 million payroll, the best coaches and instructors available, and then, in essence, leave each player’s mental game up to chance.
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Sam Borden
I appreciate your comments. I knew Tiger as a young kid and even at 15 he had a sports psychologist. Regardless iof his present problems he had to deal with a huge amount of pressure as a young guy.
My question to Jeff is … Robbie Cano obviously (at least to me) needs help to learn how to handle the additional pressure (which I think is mostly self imposed) when he bats with men on base.
From what you see, read and hear is Cano the type of person that can use the skills a sports psychologist can teach him?
Option 4 – Some guys don’t go to sports psychologists because they don’t need it. I doubt Jeter ‘needs help’.
Anyone can benefit from coaching whether it be on the field or mentally. These guys are already mentally tough with everything they’ve done to get to MLB. A sports psychologist can only help them get a bit more of an edge. Maybe Cano should get a referral to ARod’s.
It’s not a matter of “Need”.
I play a lot of pool. I’ve read a lot on the mental side of the game & it gives me that extra edge over my opponents.
Mental preparation doesn’t have to be the image of laying on a couch spilling your guts to a shrink.
Call me crazy, naïve or what-have-you, but I think, Alex’s new stance was the reason behind his post season success. It wasn’t Kate Hudson, or some sort of existential breakthrough, or even being liberated because he no longer carried the burden of being a cheater, it was the fact that he was able to stay back on the ball and drive it the other way.
The worst thing you can do is force a player to seek help. If you force them, they won’t get anything out of the experience.
The Yankees employ “Peak Performance” coaches. They are in essence sports psychologists, leaving out the word “psychologist” so players are encouraged to seek assistance without feeling stigmatized.
Its the way most teams are doing it today.
Frankly, not everybody needs a peak performance coach to perform better.
Mandate it and it defeats the purpose of having it available to players.
90% of baseball is half mental
In the Yankees meltdown in the ALCS against Boston in 2004, Alex Rodriguez was 1-for-12 with no RBI in Games 5 through 7 – and looked bad in doing so. From Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS until the 2009 post-season, ARod hit .143, 8 for 56, with 1 HR and 1 RBI in 16 post-season games and was an easy out with runners on, 0 for 15 with no RBI.
“More of the same BS? Check out Mantle’s WS numbers from 1961 thru 1963. Almost identical to Rodriguez.”
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Sports psychologists know that the big mistake players make in pressure situations is feeling that they have to change what they are doing to match the importance of the situation. They try harder, take more (or fewer) pitches or change a thousand other things. The 2004 season was ARod’s first with the Yankees. Many Yankee fans and people in the media blamed ARod’s ineffectiveness in the last three games of the ALCS for the Yankees historic collapse. In response, it seems ARod took it upon himself to show the world, Yankee fans, his teammates, and himself that he could lead the Yankees to a World Series Championship. I don’t know what ARod told himself every time he got up with runners in scoring position in the post-season from game 5 in the 2004 ALCS until the 2009 post-season, but it was probably some version of, “C’mon Alex, you’re the man. Everyone’s counting on you. Show them what you can do and what you’re made of.”
What happened to ARod is what happens to players who don’t handle pressure well. They try too hard, become self-conscious of what they are trying to do and of their past failures, and become too aggressive or too tentative, or fluctuate from one to the other
“Like everyone else, you seem to forget his other “non-pressure PS at bats prior to the 2004 Game 5. He was hitting well over .320 with power and just about carried NYY past the 2004 Twins. You also don’t mention Jeter’s failures. Or the failures of the pitching staff. Did they suddenly realize there was pressure in the PS and decided that they couldn’t deal with it?”
“Christ, just give this stupidity a rest and stop playing amateur pyschologist.”
Jeff, this is an absolute and unequivocal BINGO! So many times when Arod was underperforming and choking at key times, I would suggest that he should be talking to a sports psychologist. I think that fans are so driven to want success at all costs, they overlook the very important role of the players’ psyches. On the one hand, Paul O’Neill took the field the night his father died. Then you have the flip side of the coin: Bernie Williams folded like an accordian when his father took sick. Chuck Knoblauch’s career as a Yankee basically ended when his throwing problem took on a life of its own. David Cone began his descent as a pitcher as soon as he pitched the perfect game. Why oh why isn’t it routine for someone in the organization to almost demand that a player take the time to visit with the sport psychologist when it appears that there is some mental component to what is happening?
I’ve read so many success stories about baseball players availing themselves to their team sport psychologist, and for some odd reason, it doesn’t seem to be something the Yankees choose to go with.
Great job. Baseball players are not machines. The mental aspect of the game is certainly as important as the physical – if not moreso in varying instances.
What exactly does a sports psychologist do?
I’m not trying to be facetious or anything like that. I really don’t know.
It must be more than “cheerleading” and telling a player to “think positive” or “picture your success.”
How does one really delve into the psyche of a player to get him/her to address the mental aspect of their game?
LMAO
http://www.break.com/index/goo.....arody.html
Fogel??Is this you McLovin?
While I do believe that their is a mental aspect involved in playing sports, and you have to have an iron will to succeed I honestly do not believe that was A-Rod’s problem.
A-Rod is one of the hardest working athletes in the game and he’s always prepared, he’s too good not to always be prepared.
I think Alex was just in a slump. If you believe 56 at bats is significant of anything that is.
By the way, if Tony Clark’s double doesn’t bounce into the stands we aren’t even having this discussion about A-Rod’s non performance in 56 at bats.
Doreen – Ain’t it Just “Grand”?
February 9th, 2010 at 10:05 am
What exactly does a sports psychologist do?
I’m not trying to be facetious or anything like that. I really don’t know.
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I’m also curious about this
I thought I read Alex had worked with a sports psychologist since his time in Seattle?
How do you know players haven’t been talking to peak performance coaches and still slumped?
Its not magic. Most players today use peak performance coaches at varying degrees.
It isn’t something that if a player goes 0-12, he talks to the peak performance coach and voila, he’s going 8-12 and is “back”.
Doreen,
Each peak performance coach has a certain way of working with athletes. Some are sounding boards to give the players a forum to vent.
Others use visualization techniques to get the players to visualize success.
Others employ relaxation techinques if they feel the players needs to relax more.
Others employ all three.
Its really an a la carte type of thing determined by what the coach believes the player needs to perform better.
Pat,
He has. That’s why its an incorrect premise to state that had he employed a peak performance coach from Games 4-7 of the 2004 ALCS he would have perfomed better.
He has had one on his payroll for years.
that should read “availing themselves of”
ANSKY – not everyone needs it. But when you see a player making continuing mental errors – think Arod at 3rd behind Mike Mussina – that’s the time you want to send the guy to see a sport psychologist. You can let a situation try to take care of itself, but why not nip it in the bud if you can? I am all for sports psychologists. I’m pretty sure that Zack Greinke sought out the help of a sport psychologist.
I guess you can always wonder what might have happened if someone had done that – how many games’ difference might it have made for players like Arod, and Knoblauch, and Cone. And how might that have translated into different outcomes in the varying seasons. Interesting to think about.
Thanks, SJ44.
Doreen, I think that Jeff can better answer in terms of the exact methodologies concerned but I think of them as people who can help players overcome whatever anxieties they may have (playing associated anxieties). Whatever they use to help them calm themselves of course I don’t know. I’ve just read enough to think that it is a way you would at least want to try if you are having problems with your game and it has nothing to do with mechanics. Again, I think Chuck Knoblauch throwing the ball into the stands to the point where he was afraid to throw the ball.
Tales of Arod’s playoff ineptness are generally overblown.
There’s been some really bad series but in 200 AB’s he’s .302/.409/.568. which are very close to his lifetime #’s.
SJ,
That’s exactly my point I’m making. Was Alex simply in a slump for 56 at bats or did he finally relieve himself of the pressure and was able to perform well?
I happen to believe in Alex’s case he was simply in a slump (for 56 at-bats). If Alex was really a victim to the pressure how did he perform so well in round 1 of the playoffs in 2004 and then perform so well in games 1 to 3 of the ALCS?
i dont know alex either but my guess is that he wasn’t getting enough bagels in his first few years with the yankees. But after cynthia threw him out, I think alex started going out for bagels. bagels are round and funny and loaded with cream cheese. add some lox (even funnier) and you’ve got the perfect food for calming the anxious batter.
the yankees spend milliions to aquire thier players but how much do they spend on bagels? you can get a dozen for less than 10 bucks. I think the yankees should hire a full time bagel baker to keep the boys feeling lose and ready to mash.
oh did i mention that i sell bagels?…
It isn’t like sending someone to the grocery store to pick up milk.
It doesn’t necessarily “nip it in the bud”.
Chuck Knoblauch saw a variety of sports psychologists/peak perfomance coaches. Nothing worked.
Its not a magic elixir.
Its a game played by human beings and sometimes they make errors. Sometimes, as luck would have it, it happens behind a certain pitcher.
That’s not a mental issue. That’s just stuff that happens.
The peak performance coach can’t wave a magic wand and make all bad things go away.
There are plenty of players who use peak performance coaches and still make errors, strikeout in clutch situations, and give up home run balls.
It happens because that’s baseball and there is nothing you can do about it.
“But when you see a player making continuing mental errors – think Arod at 3rd behind Mike Mussina – that’s the time you want to send the guy to see a sport psychologist.”
I don’t recall Alex having an error every time Mussina pitched.
To say a guy need a sports psychologist because he made a couple of errors while Mussina was pitching is silly.
I’ve always found it amusing that people were telling Alex not to try to be “the man” but expected him to be “the man” and held him responsible for not being “the man”.
Maybe the media and fans are the ones in need of a psychologist.
Sounds like a “paid advertisement” for sports psychologists. Each of us find our way, for good or bad. Circumstances will dictate results, thinking that therapy would have gotten A-rod there any quicker is silly, it took some life changing events to help him find his path….
“But when you see a player making continuing mental errors – think Arod at 3rd behind Mike Mussina – that’s the time you want to send the guy to see a sport psychologist.”
Mussina’s reaction to the errors is what makes you remember them. If fielders threw up their arms everytime Mussina gave up a HR, you’d remember him as giving up alot of HRs.
Ray,
That’s just it. A guy who has a slump in the post-season, which happens since you are facing great pitching almost every night, dosen’t make him a “choke artist”.
Its obvious to everybody that Alex pressed in big situations because he wanted to win so badly. Even so, his career post-season numbers were above average prior to Game 4 of the ALCS.
You can talk about it until you are blue in the face. In the end, its up to the player to find his comfort zone and allow things to slow down enough to perform at his best.
In Alex’s case, I think it was several things that worked in his favor this past post-season.
First, he was in a better place mentally. He spent the entire season not trying to do too much. Taking walks when he was being pitched around instead of chasing bad pitches.
That put him in a great hitting groove heading into the post-season.
His new stance also helped. It made him more balanced at the plate and he was really seeing the ball well heading into the post-season.
Finally, simply put, he was due. He was too good a player to struggle much longer. Same thing happened to Barry Bonds in 2002.
At some point, with enough opportunities, great players are going to hit. That’s why they are great players.
We as fans want to turn it into a romantic movie. However, in most cases, its just the law of averages turning into the player’s favor.
SJ – it works for certain players. I should say it has worked for certain players. If Chuck Knoblauch employed sports psychologists and it didn’t work, so be it. (I don’t have the energy to research it so I will take you word for it that Knobs had sports psychologists.) There is no reason in God’s green earth NOT to try it, however.
I think it’s comical that you use Arod throwing the ball away behind Mussina as “as luck would have it.” I know Mussina didn’t think it was sheer happenstance. But that’s neither here nor there.
You happen to be much more strident and less forgiving than I when players mess up. You’re all for lopping off their heads. You did it when Chad Gaudin had a bad game against the Jays and were ready to ship him out. While you tend to see the game in black and white, IMO, I see shades of grey. What is going on in a player’s life counts in my book. How that translates in the game counts, in my book. At that point it becomes a lot more than just “the luck of the game.”
The examples I used had to do with situations that kept repeating themselves and in which no mechnical issues were involved. I am not talking about player slumps. In any event, while it may not be a magic elixir it may still be a valuable tool.
According to your premise, in 1961, Mantle woke up one day and decided that he couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and choked away his next 46 PS at bats with 6 hits, 1 double, 1 homer and 1 RBI (the same numbers as Rodriguez). Would you care to know how much Ted Williams, Ty Cobb and Willie Mays choked? How about they just hit slumps?
And by the way, I am not suggesting that every player keep a sports psychologist by his bedside. (Who knows if they do…) But I am merely saying that there are instances where players could probably use the help of a sports psychologist and it is equally “silly” to say they shouldn’t avail themselves of the help if it is there.
I thought Alex was married to his sports psychologist?
In my experience at least the mental side of the game was always something that I had to figure out for myself. Many times confidence in baseball is obtained by a positive result and sometimes it was just good luck that a groundball got through or a flair fell in front of an outfielder and that’s all it took.
You get a hit in your first AB then suddenly you can relax because you know you’re not taking an Ofer that day.
I think that all of Jeters past success helps him relax in big spots because he has so much success equity built up that he doesn’t have to worry about things. Hopefully last postseason will help Arod in that regard.
blake, not everybody is wired the same way. I wonder if Ricky Ledee might have had a different career if he had seen a sport psychologist. (I am not going to randomly believe he had one because someone comes on and says he did!
)
Some people are a lot more mentally tough than others.
“I think it’s comical that you use Arod throwing the ball away behind Mussina as “as luck would have it.” I know Mussina didn’t think it was sheer happenstance. But that’s neither here nor there.”
Trisha are you aware of the FACT that A-Rod had only 13 error in 2007 and 10 in 2008. Are you saying that EVERY error Alex had came when Mussina was pitching? Or did Alex only sometimes decide to make an error when Mussina was pitching?
Again, your premise is indeed quite silly if you believe that something was wrong in A-Rod’s head because he may have made an error once or twice while Mussina was pitching.
Maybe Jeff can pinpoint the exact day that Alex Rodriguez became “mentally untough”.
Anyway, since Jeff wrote the article and is the expert in the field (and has dealt with elite athletes) I think I will let him fight the good fight on this one. I am thinking of it as a positive in the generic sense. I cannot swear either way what would have happened with any particular player, nor can anyone else here. I just see it as a valuable tool, and maybe in certain cases, a necessary tool.
Onward and upward.
Anyway, since Jeff wrote the article and is the expert in the field (and has dealt with elite athletes) I think I will let him fight the good fight on this one. I am thinking of it as a positive in the generic sense. I cannot swear either way what would have happened with any particular player, nor can anyone else here. I just see it as a valuable tool, and maybe in certain cases, a necessary tool.
Onward and upward.
blake, I think you have a good point about past successes. I think that is why last year’s team was so successful in come from behind wins, especially the walk offs. Once they had won a few in that fashion, they knew they could. In that extra innings game w/ the red sox you could see how loose the Yankees bench was as opposed to the sox bench (which was highlighted by the broadcasters, not my interpretation of events)
I heard a sports psychologist speak to a group of young ladies once. Everything he made sense at the time, but the only thing I can remember now is “re-frame”. The gist of it was, once a [play] is over, re-frame and focus on the next [play] or whatever it is. Whether you made an unreal play or an error, let it go and get ready for the next [play].
Sorry to be late to the party but I just scrolled through the comments on yesterday’s post about the Yanks’ catching.
I was surprised to see no comments on Jose Molina. Aren’t people worried about Posada’s pitch calling? Aren’t people worried about AJ’s ability to focus with Jorge behind the plate? Aren’t people astounded that a guy who started five playoff games for the Yanks hasn’t found a team yet?
Guess not.
Why does things always have to be one way or the other with some people?
Some slumps are just random occurrences exaggerated by small sample sizes.
Some slumps are mental.
And I’d add it isn’t HOW you think that’s the bugaboo. Its THINKING at all.
THINKING inhibits reflex and reaction. Fractions of seconds, but ALL important fractions.
Not that there isn’t such a thing as mental approach (like hitting to the right side with a man on second and no out), but a righthanded hitter going the other way is a product of muscle memory as well, you just have to plug in that program (ala the Matrix) and let your muscle memory take over.
To me it seems obvious A-Rod was thinking too much during this post-season struggles. The somewhat ironic aspect of sports psychology is getting players to turn the brain off at appropriate times.
Wave, no need to be mean about this. If I had read that thread, I would have commented on Molina.
Now maybe the reason nobody did was because people also realize the value of the heir apparent Franciso Cervelli.
And I wouldn’t open another can of worms by wondering why Molina hasn’t been picked up (i.e. questioning his value). One Johnny Damon also sits without a contract…
Trisha,
I don’t disagree with that statement at all. People are wired differently.
“Aren’t people astounded that a guy who started five playoff games for the Yanks hasn’t found a team yet?”
You may want to double-check your facts. The Cardinals signed somebody to a $120M contract…I’m pretty sure this was the guy.
I don’t think anybody is debunking the science. There is no question it works for some people.
The point some of us are trying to make is, its not a one size fits all science.
Mike Mussina’s feelings about errors committed behind him is not the reason for one to seek out a sports psychologist. Its an absurd premise.
I would have liked Moose to not spit the bit in Game 5 of the ALCS in 2004 but, that’s just me. I didn’t expect him to seek out a sports psychologist for that failure.
There is no magic elixir in sports. Its like folks on here calling for Kevin Long’s head when the team doesn’t hit for 2 weeks. He’s not less of a hitting coach because the team is in a slump. It happens.
There isn’t a sports psychologist in the world who can unlock every athlete he or she deals with. If some are saying they can, they are full of it.
Just as every player who took steroids didn’t turn into the next great HR hitter, every player who seeks help on the mental front doesn’t overcome their issues in that area.
trisha-
We are on the same side, mostly, about Damon (we differ in that I think he’s well worth signing by some team, but I agree the Yanks didn’t seriously want him).
After reading the last thread I couldn’t help the snarky comment about Molina. However, it wasn’t aimed at you – we were allies once so as far as I’m concerned we are friends.
“Aren’t people astounded that a guy who started five playoff games for the Yanks hasn’t found a team yet?”
tk, I think Wave was talking Johnny Damon.
Stuckey what is amazing is that’s its one way or the other depending on WHO people are analyzing. One guy fails in a particular series and he faced dominate opposition. Another guy fails and he needs a shrink. There is no consistency from the people who think its ALL mental.
That’s what I find funny in reading these comments. And as far as my opinion I agree its a mixture of both. Sometimes guys over think, sometimes the other guy is better, etc.
As far as why some players are still unsigned? They’re either too picky about where they want to play or, they’re trying to milk every dime in a depressed baseball economy, while their skills have eroded from the last time they signed a contract. Damon might have been a $13 mil a year center fielder but he isn’t a $7 mil a year left fielder anymore. Washburn isn’t a $11 mil a year pitcher anymore and Molina isn’t worth $4 mil over 2 years. That’s what they think they’re worth, but, nobody else does.
i sure dont miss mussina and his whining…glad he wasnt on last year’s team.
Wave, I didn’t think you meant me! It’s funny because one of the biggest “criticisms” I’ve received in life is that I don’t take things personally enough! Ha ha.
And I’ve never NOT considered us friends! Baseball debate is just that, no matter how heated it becomes. If underneath it all you have the Yankee bond, friendship is an automatic.
Time to revisit the – where will they land – guys:
Damon – I have no flipping clue. I could easily say Detroit or Atlanta but I’m going to go with the wild card that I’ve gone with from the start and say Baltimore.
I think he fits for that park as a DH and sometime LF – he would be an upgrade over Luke Scott in that role, the park should be conducive to him having a good year.
Blalock – Dodgers. We know they don’t have any money, which is fine since Hank won’t cost them much at all. They are lukewarm on Loney because he doesn’t produce any power at all. Hank could be a nice bat off the bench for them.
Looper – NY Mets. He’s far from the pitcher they need, but seriously, I don’t care what they are saying publically they can’t really go into this season with John Maine, Ollie Perez and Fernando Nieve making up 3/5 of the rotation. Can they?
Jermaine Dye – Oakland. They can’t GIVE money away. They had some interest in Damon, maybe they miss out on him and bring in Dye.
Washburn – Seattle. That’ll be a nice top of the rotation for them with Lee, Felix, and the veteran lefty.
Speaking of wild, as of today I am picking Seattle as the wild card team (if they don’t take the division). Maybe I value the Cliff Lee/King Felix tandem more than I should….
Buster ranks his top 5 rotations in baseball:
Quote:
#1 Red Sox: Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Clay Buchholz, No. 6 Tim Wakefield. On a paper, a strong group — if Beckett has a season worthy of a contract drive; if Lackey succeeds in making the transition to the AL East; if Matsuzaka can finally get on the same page as the Red Sox staff; if Buchholz continues to improve.
#2 Yankees: CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett, Andy Pettitte, Javier Vazquez, Phil Hughes. As usual, A.J. Burnett is the key for this group; it could be the best if he pitches at an elite level.
#3 White Sox: Jake Peavy, Mark Buehrle, John Danks, Gavin Floyd, Freddy Garcia. Peavy looked great in the three starts down the stretch last year. More on that in Wednesday’s blog.
#4 Angels: Jered Weaver, Scott Kazmir, Joe Saunders, Ervin Santana, Joel Pineiro. Lackey is gone, but if Santana is healthy, this could be an excellent group.
#5 Cardinals: Chris Carpenter, Adam Wainwright, Kyle Lohse, Brad Penny and somebody else. Penny, by the way, appears to be in great shape and is motivated to have a big year.
trish – very brave going out on the same limb as pretty much everybody else…
I would say that’s fair about the Sox and Yanks. I thought AJ was a key last year and he could be a key this year, although you could also say Joba/Hughes and Bucholz are the key. I’m surprised he put Phil there – I really think it’s going to be Joba (for various reasons). I haven’t heard anything about Phil reporting early this year – that would surprise me if he didn’t. He usually does, after all.
Pretty good list by buster. I wouldn’t have the Angels in that list. The Mariners, Braves, and Giants would all be ahead of them on my list.
Betsy,
I’m pretty sure Phil lives around Tampa area so he’s probably already working out at the complex.
I think Phil will be the 5th starter and Joba will be setting up Mo which is the way I like it.
oscar the grouch from queens
February 9th, 2010 at 11:14 am
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Okay, kind of loving this handle.
Hi Oscar!!!!!!!!!!!
Erica – always OPPC – Wishes Damon would fire Boras and COME HOME!
February 9th, 2010 at 11:30 am
oscar the grouch from queens
February 9th, 2010 at 11:14 am
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Okay, kind of loving this handle.
Hi Oscar!!!!!!!!!!!
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Do we have a new member of the Sesame Street Mafia???
LOL-you JUST beat me-I was going to post something along the same lines.
Kind of funny that the number one ranked staff by Olney has an “if” in front of everyone’s name.
Not saying they don’t have a really good rotation, but wouldn’t you think that the team you ranked first wouldn’t be one big contingency?
A Rod went through more than just your normal slump those 3-4 yrs in the postseason. In those 56 abs he barely made contact. He looked completely lost and clueless and his lack of confidence was totally evident to anyone with eyes. he was being blown away against rudimentary stuff.
It would be different if he was making hard contact and the hits just weren’t dropping in, that’s a normal slump. A Rod was clearly caving under the pressure of producing in the brightest spotlight in the game,hitting cleanup in the postseason for the NY Yanks.
The Sox rotation may be better than the Yankees at the top but the best pitcher on either staff is CC Sabathia and that’s huge especially come playoff time.
Erin
February 9th, 2010 at 11:31 am
Okay, kind of loving this handle.
Hi Oscar!!!!!!!!!!!
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LOL-you JUST beat me-I was going to post something along the same lines. Do we have a new member of the Sesame Street Mafia???
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Probably not, but I totally have visions of a cute little green grouch sitting at his computer commenting. LOL
Wasn’t WYH talking about Jose Molina?
And what is tk talking about? Who did the Cardinals sign for $120M that started 5 games in the playoffs for the Yankees?
As for the Yankees/Red Sox rotations, neck & neck. For the Yankees it’ll be consistency and for the Sox it’ll be staying healthy. I am loving the mini-drama involvoing Wakefield who thinks he’s part of the 5-man rotation. They’ll be pushing him out the door soon enough.
Buster brings up a great point, how will Lackey adjust to the AL East? And those tiny parks? Fenway, Camden, & NYY play smaller than the Coliseum and whatever it’s called in Seattle.
Blake
As Buster said it’s a ranking of 1-5 starters and there is no way that the Mariners staff after Felix and Lee is better than the Angels’ 3-5 starters. Neither are the Giants with Sanchez and Zito and he said the Braves trade of Javier knocked them down a peg.
He has the list about right.
Erica – always OPPC – Wishes Damon would fire Boras and COME HOME!
February 9th, 2010 at 11:37 am
Probably not, but I totally have visions of a cute little green grouch sitting at his computer commenting. LOL
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Love the image.
The premise for a sports psychologist is simple. Pressure and anxiety can negatively impact a player just like they can influence us in our lives. As people who perform in public, it is logical their pressure could be quite high. I expect all athletes, like all of us probably should, use various means to deal with and lessen anxiety. At least, I hope so.
I think its a bunch of bull, by someone who has never played sports and wishes they did. Sorry just my opinion. You cannot solve a person’s problems for them, you can guide them but not solve it. It hasn’t worked and won’t work.
Champ,
I disagree. The M’s just signed Bedard who has big upside of he stays healthy. The Giants have a great 1-2, Sanchez is poised to breakout, Zito is pitching better, and Bumgarder should fight for the 5th spot. I also would rather have the Braves 5 starters than the Angels 5 starters.
Its all opinion but the Angels have a full staff of 3rd or 4th starters IMO which doesn’t get you on a top 5 list to me.
Craw, that’s right – I forgot that he bought a house down there a couple of years ago with some sort of bonus $$. They did a segment on Yankees Magazine with Phil, Joba and Ian playing some sort of Halo game? I think that’s what it was called.
I’m not a fan of Matsuzaka, but he’s a pretty nice #4 starter to have and Bucholz at #5 is also good. Phil and Joba are pretty big question marks…….I’d have to give the Sox an edge, but that edge is mitigated by the fact that the Yankees are a better team just about every where else. The fact that the Yankees are a better team elsewhere AND have a rotation that’s about as good as the Sox is pretty scary.
Javy Vasquez is the best #4 starter in baseball. That’s a huge advantage to the Yankees.
If you have the best #1 and #4 starters, which the Yankees possess, everything else could be a draw and the advantage is still to the Yankees.
Either way, at least going into ST, the Yankees and Red Sox do have the best staffs in the game.
New Post: Another guy named Chad
“Wasn’t WYH talking about Jose Molina?”
Yes
“And what is tk talking about? Who did the Cardinals sign for $120M that started 5 games in the playoffs for the Yankees?”
Facetious comment about Lohud’s most popular topic of debate–Molina’s perceived value.
New post
I think sometime long ago Arod got his baseball/sex wiring all crossed up.
I would have liked Moose to not spit the bit in Game 5 of the ALCS in 2004 but, that’s just me. I didn’t expect him to seek out a sports psychologist for that failure.
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In fairness to Mussina, who it is now fashionable to discredit, that was a kangeroo court of a strike zone. A pitcher like Mussina just has to get certain calls to succeed. Especially when they are clearly strikes!
…whom it is now fashionable to discredit (mea culpa).
M1kew wrote
“I appreciate your comments. I knew Tiger as a young kid and even at 15 he had a sports psychologist. Regardless iof his present problems he had to deal with a huge amount of pressure as a young guy.
My question to Jeff is … Robbie Cano obviously (at least to me) needs help to learn how to handle the additional pressure (which I think is mostly self imposed) when he bats with men on base.
From what you see, read and hear is Cano the type of person that can use the skills a sports psychologist can teach him?”
Glad you appreciated the comments.
Robinson Cano, who hit just .207 w/RISP in 2009, certainly didn’t seem comfortable at the plate in those situations – and I saw most of the games. He also hit just .210 w/RISP in 2005, his rookie year. But, in between Robbie’s numbers w/RISP were OK. His other BAs w/RISP: .306 in 2006, .290 in 2007 and .263 in 2008 (the year he hit .271). Robbie’s numbers and pattern suggest to me that his .207 BA w/RISP in 2009 was partially due to what he was doing differently with RISP and partially due to bad luck. In 2010, I’d expect him to hit closer to his career .256 BA w/RISP (794 AB) if he made no changes. However, Robbie is a career .331 hitter with the bases empty (1503 AB), so I suspect something is going on.
If I were working with Robinson Cano I’d ask him to recall specific ABs with the bases empty and to tell me his approach going into the AB, as well what he was doing before and after each pitch. After “looking” at perhaps a dozen ABs with the bases empty, half of which he had good swings and half of which he didn’t have good swings, I’d ask him to do the same things for 12 ABs w/RISP.
I have found that professional athletes have amazing recall of their performances and I suspect that Cano would have no trouble picking out ABs in which he remembered what he was thinking and doing, but if he had no difficulties remembering them, he could get the footage of his ABs and watching the ABs would probably be enough to help him remember his approach and what he was thinking and doing.
What we would be looking for is anything that Robbie is doing/thinking differently w/RISP from what he is doing/thinking with the bases empty. In my experience working with baseball players – and other athletes as well as sales people, musicians, engineers, and other people in widely different endeavors – usually something pops out pretty quickly in terms of what they are doing or thinking differently in pressure and non-pressure situations, at least if they are having difficulties performing as well in pressure situations.
People are usually surprised at what they discover. Much of my job as a sports psychologist is helping them look in the right direction. Once Cano discovers what he is doing or thinking differently in pressure and non-pressure situations, we’d examine if he’d be better off taking the same approach in pressure situations as he’s taking in non-pressure situations.
You might be surprised that some people still think they should be doing/thinking what they are doing/thinking in pressure situations even when they clearly can see that they are doing poorly in pressure situations, but their view of what they are supposed to do (e.g, try harder or tell themselves to relax) is so strong that they have difficulty letting go of it even in the face of evidence that their approach is not working. In order for Cano (or anyone else)to change, they have to “own” the change – think it is the right way to go – or they will simply go back to what what they were doing. Good sports psychologists rarely try to convince their client of anything but instead looks to find different ways to have their clients discover what works best for them.
Even this example is simplified, but I hope my example gives you a better idea how a sports psychologist might work with Robinson Cano.
btw, my educated guess – but it is just a guess without talking to Cano – is that Robbie is being too passive or focusing too much on just making contact w/RISP. For his career Cano gets singles in 21% of his ABs with the bases empty and 16.9% of his ABs w/RISP, giving him 24% more singles/AB with the bases empty. But his extra base hits (EBH) with the bases empty vs w/RISP are much more striking. Cano has 40% more EBH/AB with the bases empty than he does w/RISP. Cano hits a HR every 27.8 ABs with the bases empty but only everty 41.8 ABs w/RISP and hits a double every 12.4 ABs with the bases empty but only every 18.9 ABs w/RISP.
My guess is that Cano’s success strategy with the bases empty is something simple like, “see the ball, drive the ball” but that w/RISP he’s making it more complicated than it needs to be for him, perhaps telling himself to get a hit or to just go for a single to get the runner in, or ironically given almost everyone’s complaint about Cano, to be more patient. We know what Cano does and thinks with the bases empty works for him – for his career, he is hitting .331/.363/.528 with the bases empty, sporting an .892 OPS, more than 200 points better than his .689 OPS w/RISP – so what Cano needs to do w/RISP is to use the same success strategy that he uses with the bases empty.
If my guesses proved accurate, we could then speculate why Cano developed two different approaches or why he developed his unsuccessful approach w/RISP, but all that speculation, while perhaps fascinating, is totally unnecessary for helping Cano discover what changes he needs to make to improve his hitting w/RISP.
Ya know sometimes guys are just due. I would almost rather have a guy who is ohfer 8 or so up in a high pressure situation than a guy who is in the zone. Sooner or later for most of them things change.
Yet another ignorant post that still points to Arod was the sole Yankee to blame for the team’s post-season failures from 2004 ALCS Game 4 until 2009.
The 2004 ALCS was a tale of 2 teams from Games 1-3 and Games 4-7. The Yankees absolutely mashed as a TEAM in Games 1-3, but went cold offensively as a TEAM in Games 4-7. Blaming Arod for the TEAM collapse would show that the accuser either didn’t watch the games (I attended all 4 home games) or just plain hates Arod.
The #s for Games 1-3:
Jeter 2-11 .182
Arod 6-14 .429
Sheffield 9-13 .692
Matsui 9-15 .600
Williams 6-15 .400
Posada 3-10 .300
The #s for Games 4-7:
Jeter 4-19 .210
Arod 2-17 .118
Sheffield 1-17 .059
Matsui 5-19 .263
Williams 5-21 .238
Posada 4-17 .235
No doubt Arod struggled at the plate in Games 4-7, but the same 6 guys who combined for a blistering .449 average in the first 3 games batted a paltry .191 for the last 4 games. I’m as big a Jeter fan as anyone, but he has the fortune of never catching heat for any down performances, including easily having the lowest BA of the group for the series at .200.
The bitter taste in my mouth from that series is how Joe Torre, who always lacked a killer instinct, panicked with a lead in Game 4 by removing Tanyon Strutze, who absolutely owned Boston that year, and bringing in Mo to start the 8th. We all know what happened from there… I was amazed that a reporter after the game had the guts to ask Saint Joe the question that I demanded an answer to: ‘Why did you remove Sturtze?’ Clueless Joe’s answer was ‘He threw 25 pitches.’ I went ballistic over that answer because Sturtze was a STARTER for the first half of that year. His mindset should have been to do all it takes to bury Boston that afternoon. He took his foot off of Boston’s neck and gave them life by making a panicky move that backfired on him. I am usually quite an optimist when watching Yankee games, but I told everyone who would listen at the time that Torre may have blown the series with that one critical move. Unfortunately, my fears proved to be well-founded.
I digressed a bit with the Torre rant (thank God we have Girardi), but my point is that the Yankee post-season failures during that period were as a TEAM, a concept that few fans and media get. No player had as glaring and negative spotlight shined upon him during this time while other name players on the same teams struggled mightily and had their performances ignored. In baseball, TEAMS win and TEAMS lose. It’s not about one player’s performance. It’s the team’s responsibility to pick up a player who is slumping and to overcome any stumbling blocks in the lineup.
The negative treatment of Arod during that period actually made me embarrassed to be a Yankee fan. Let Boston boo Arod or their own players. I will never boo someone wearing the pinstripes, as I want our players to be comfortable in their own Stadium. Heck, I even cheered for Carl Pavano when he was on the mound, even though I disliked him personally.
A final note for those who point to Arod for the championship ‘drought’ – The Yankees won zero titles with Mike Mussina, Don Mattingly as a player or coach, Gary Sheffield, Jason Giambi, Randy Johnson, Jeff Weaver, Kevin Brown, Jaret Wright, Shawn Chacon, Kyle Farnsworth, Cory Lidle, Sidney Ponson, Bobby Abreu, Doug Mientkiewicz, Wilson Betemit, Carl Pavano, Luis Vizcaino, Ivan Rodriguez, or any other higher-priced players who came to the team either by trade or FA signing. Forget about how much a player makes (not Arod’s fault that teams are willing to pay him dearly). The collective result on the field is all that matters. That’s why baseball is considered a TEAM sport.
Doreen asked, “What exactly does a sports psychologist do?
I’m not trying to be facetious or anything like that. I really don’t know” and Erin followed with “I’m also curious about this.”
SJ44 correctly noted that there are different things that sports psychologists do. He noted three: 1) acting as a sounding board so players can vent, 2) having players visualize success, and 3) teaching players relaxation techniques so that they can relax more when that is needed.
These three aspects of sports psychology are some of the most well-known things that sports psychologists do and I suspect all that some sports psychologists do. But for me, these three aspects are a just a tiny drop in the bucket of what sports psychologists do and far from the most successful ways that a sports psychologist can help a baseball player improve his game.
Part of the reason sports psychologists have such widely different approaches is that their backgrounds are widely different, too. Some are therapists that transferred their therapeutic skills and approach to working with athletes and within the field of therapy there are literally over 100 types of therapy so the therapist who go into sports psychology will, by themselves, have over 100 different approaches to what they do.
Besides therapists, physiologists, educators, social psychologists, cognitive psychologists, sports coaches, and athletes themselves have all gone into sports psychology and each of them bring a different set of experiences, skills, and perspectives. And some people have a mixture of backgrounds they bring to sports psychology. I was trained as a cognitive social psychologist (the focus in on people’s thoughts and perceptions – and the person m remembers talking about “re-framing” was using one of the techniques employed by cognitive psychologists) who did his Ph.D research of why people respond differently to pressure situations before the field of sports psychology was established, who also ran a marathon in 2 hours and 37 minutes (6 minutes/mile pace) and played slap ball, punch ball, stickball, baseball, football, and basketball in the streets and playgrounds of New York just about every hour there was day light that I was not in school.
Stuckey is right in that often the job of the sports psychologist is to get athletes to stop thinking when they should be performing. SJ44 is right that sports psychology is not a magic elixir and that some athletes will respond better to one sports psychologist or sports psychology than another sports psychologist or psychology. Bronx born was partially right when he said “You cannot solve a person’s problems for them, you can guide them but not solve it.” My guess is that he thinks sports psychology is “a bunch of bull” because he thinks sports psychologists try to solve a person’s problems, but that is not what the good ones do, as my example about Robinson Cano illustrates. As noted above, he is also wrong that the piece was written “by someone who has never played sports and wishes they did.” That’s such a convenient way of dismissing something you don’t agree with – or in this case even understand – but in this case, it is wrong.
Back to Doreen and Erin. As I tried to illustrate, it is hard to say what sports psychologists do because there are so many completely different approaches. I can give you my approach as a sports psychologist. From my background as an athlete and cognitive psychologist, I see confidence, performing well under pressure, proper focus, getting out of a slump, recovering from setbacks and the like as mental skills that can be taught.
I work with athletes to discover their patterns of thoughts and actions in different settings and circumstances. We look for what works and disrupts the success of that particular athlete because, although there are general principles, what works for one athlete might disrupt the success of another athletes.
I have created literally hundreds of, what I call, mental tools for learning different mental skills because I have found that different athletes respond better to different mental tools. For example, one athlete my improve his confidence by creating a mental “highlight film” of his or her best performances and reviewing that before each game, another may improve his or her confidence more by keeping a “confidence log” of things that they have done above their average in practice and game situations as well as any insights that they have learned that they believe will improve their game, while a third athlete my improve his or her confidence more by imagining that they have just succeeded in their game or event and are answering a reporter’s question on how they were able to put so much effort and focus into their performance. The athlete’s answer to the imaginary reporter’s questions usually reveals what they most believe in about themselves and that is what they can focus on when they need a dose of confidence. Even with the hundreds of mental tools I have developed I use a concept of “adapt before you adopt” by which I mean that each athlete needs to adapt the mental tool to their experience, patterns, personality and goals and only when they do that will they make the mental tool their own and one that work best for them.
For me, sports psychology is not about positive thinking. Thinking “I am the greatest” when I am not, will usually lead only to my not working on things I need to work on to improve. For me, sports psychology is not about discovering some deep-seated issue that started in childhood. For me that is therapy and unnecessary for most athletes who want to improve their game, but the therapists out there will probably disagree with me vehemently, and that is why I prefaced the statement with “for me”.
There are many paths to the same goal. Some paths used by sports psychologists are probably better than others and some better for some athletes than others. I don’t think it is my place to say which types of sports psychology are better than others because I clearly have my biases. And finally, as several people have commented, the mental game is only one aspect in a big picture. When I worked with the Stanford Woman’s basketball team the first year that Tara Vandeveer became their coach, she told me that I was going to have more of a positive affect three or four years down the road because her players needed to develop their physical tools first. She recognized that if you have a great mental game but you don’t have the proper techniques for shooting, rebounding, passing, playing defense, etc, the great mental game won’t take you very far. She was right, too. Four years later Stanford won the NCAA championship.
I don’t think sports psychology is the answer for all situations and probably is never the only answer for any situation. However, I do think a good mental game is part of the pie needed for athletes to perform at their best, and right now, sometimes a pretty big piece of the pie because we have become so good at teaching physical techniques, strength and flexibility training, etc, and are so poor at teaching the mental tools and approaches necessary to best use the techniques and training that we have taught athletes.
I appreciate the questions and hope that I have answered those questions. Sorry for not getting to them earlier, but I am on the west coast and three hours behind east coast time.
I appreciate well-reasoned comments, both those that liked what I had to say and those who disagree with what I said.
To comments like “According to your premise, in 1961, Mantle woke up one day and decided that he couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and choked away his next 46 PS at bats with 6 hits, 1 double, 1 homer and 1 RBI (the same numbers as Rodriguez)” I applaud yor knowledge of post-season statistics, which I know well way, by the way.
But that is your premise. My premise is not that all poor stats over 46 AB mean that the player is succumbing to pressure. There is more than one reason for a group of statistics.
Mantle was injured in September of 1961, played in only 15 innings of the Yankees last 10 games and played his two games in the 1961 WS with an abscessed hip, with blood soaking through his uniform. In 1962, Mantle once again, limped home down the stretch, and in 1963, when Mantle was 2 for 15, batting .133 with 1 HR and 1 RBI, the entire Yankee team batting .171 for the WS, 22 for 129, with 2 HRs and 4 RBI. The Yanks ran into a hot Koufax, Drysdale, Podres, and Koufax again, and Mantle did about as good as most Yankees, better than most, keeping the Yankees alive in Game 4 with his HR against Koufax.
With ARod, it seemed to be a different story.He seemed healthy and the Yankees were not dominated as they had been in the 1963 WS. As others commented, ARod had very few good swings. He was swinging at pitches outside the strike zone, taking strikes, and popping up and hitting weak grounders on pitches that he normally hammered. Do I absolutely know for sure that ARod was succumbing to he pressure? No of course not. However, it sure looked like he was physically healthy but not getting good swings. It sure looked like the pressure was getting to him.
To comments like, “Yet another ignorant post that still points to Arod was the sole Yankee to blame for the team’s post-season failures from 2004 ALCS Game 4 until 2009″ I can only say, “please read and understand the original post before responding.” I never came close to saying or implying that I thought ARod was the sole Yankee to blame for the Yankees post-season failures.
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