Manaea’s mental approach tested
MESA, ARIZ. » Sean Manaea decided he would undertake an important personal project this spring, something he felt was necessary if he wanted to be successful on the mound: an overhaul to his mental approach to pitching.
Whether that meant avoiding getting wrapped up in the emotional lows of a bad outing or the highs or a triumphant one, the A’s 29-year-old left-handed pitcher felt it all needed improvement. And against the Giants on Monday, the final game of Cactus League play, Manaea’s work was stresstested.
In the top of the third inning, Manaea allowed two bloop singles and walked two batters on borderline pitches. It led to Manaea’s removal from the game. Still, he felt he handled the mental aspects well.
“When I was younger, I definitely would have let that stuff affect me,” Manaea said after his team’s 7-2 loss. “It definitely did affect me in a certain way. But I feel like the way I carried myself was OK. I can definitely work on controlling it better.”
For the most part, Manaea felt his mental approach held up against the Giants despite a statistically shaky outing. In just 3.1 innings, Manaea allowed five earned runs, five hits and four walks. At times he lost control of his pitches and struggled to place the ball in certain locations.
There were plenty of positives, though. Manaea’s breaking ball was sharp and his fastball kept the Giants’ hitters off balance at times. On paper, Manaea described the outing as “not good at all,” but he’s choosing to look beyond the stat sheet.
The upcoming season, which opens for the A’s on Thursday night at the Coliseum, represents a significant opportunity for Manaea to prove he’s capable of handling a full workload for a starting pitcher. After five excellent starts in 2019, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Between that and the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season, Manaea has pitched just 83.2 innings in the last two years, a total he wants to more than double in 2021 alone.
He’s also making sure not to get ahead of himself.
“At the end of the day, I have to take it day-by-day and just monitor things through that,” Manaea said. “I feel like I’m in a good spot and just need to control those things that I can control and just be prepared every day.”