Manaea trying to establish a mental edge
Before the 2020 postseason began, Tyler Pazik sent A’s pitcher Sean Manaea a story about Greg Maddux hiring a mental health performance coach that helped the Hall of Fame star.
“We doin’ this or what?” Pazik asked his best friend in a text message sent with the story.
“Hell yeah,” Manaea responded.
Manaea, 29, said he met with his one-time Indiana State teammate after the 2020 season at the Pazik Performance Group in Denver to find his center.
“The biggest thing is believing I’m nasty,” Manaea said. “I feel like I’m too nice.”
Manaea, who has fluctuated between brilliance and inconsistency on the mound, added that he is “too easy-going when I
need to hype myself up. Those kinds of things are big changes for me. Believing I have disgusting stuff and I have to believe that and use that.”
Three years removed from shoulder surgery that led to missing most of the 2019 season, the lefthanded pitcher has not been a reliable starter for Oakland.
There is the Sean Manaea who threw a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in 2018. Then there is the pitcher with a 4.50 ERA in 2020.
A handful of circumstances have chipped away at his confidence. One was the multi-home run, shortened outing in the 2019 wild-card loss to the Tampa Bay Rays. Another was the gradual decline in the velocity of his fastball. He was clocked at 96 mph six years ago. Now he’s lucky to hit 90 mph on a good day.
He has stayed effective with a changeup and the potential for a potent three-pitch mix that includes a slider.
Manaea had an epiphany last year. The pitches were not the problem. He needed a confidence boost, he said.
With the help of Pazik, the belief came from establishing a basic mental and physical routine on the mound, Manaea said.
“A lot of it is routine, making it intentional,” Pazik said. “A lot of athletes get to the highest level without really knowing what got them there. But the best stay there because they make the unconscious, conscious. They do things intentionally and constructively to help them in the game.”
Pazik pitched at Indiana State, where he met Manaea. Instead of pursuing baseball, Pazik earned a Master’s degree in sports psychology at Texas Christian University and launched his company soon after.
“My job is easy, all I do is ask questions,” Pazik said. Manaea “does the hard part which is being vulnerable.”
Pazik helped Manaea discover a routine that he said the pitcher can use to control his thoughts and stay sharp this season.
Manaea tends to bring his glove up in front of his face before he pitches. He shakes his arms a bit. Manaea now tries to use those body movements to remind him of what he should be thinking about on the mound, Pizak said.
Pizak said he has taught Manaea to focus on what he can control when conditions are less than perfect, such as disagreeing with an umpire’s call or a pitch doesn’t go where he wants.
“It’s being able to notice those yellow or red light thoughts to get back to green,” Pizak said. “The way you do that is through a physical routine. Through physical actions, you can remind yourself of what you need to do to be successful on the mound.
“If you’re thinking of two things at once, you aren’t focused. He now understands why he does what he does. It’s not happenstance. You can draw a lot from that.”
Manaea said he’s a different pitcher than years back. It’s come with some different workouts to strengthen adductor muscles, which help his rotations.
Pizek helped him appreciate the strengths he has. They include knowing when to throw hard and when to lay off.
“I don’t want to be verbal or like that,” Manaea said. “Just how I carry myself on the mound. I internally believe it, but it’s about expressing it on the mound.
“At times in the past, I struggled after giving up five runs or dealing with an injury. Those things slowly diminished my confidence over time.”
Manaea said he does not care as much about those issues anymore.
“I’m here to pitch and help this team win a World Series,” he said. “If I make things complicated, my mind is all over the place. Keep it simple and have that belief.”
It seems simple enough.