Cleveland Guardians mental performance coaches helping prospect Tyler Freeman

The Guardians organization maintains its focus on mental performance, helping players at both the major-league and minor-league levels.

As we watch this exciting Guardians season unfold, it is easy to see how the mental game of baseball can be extremely important. For instance, the Guardians players have shown great resilience and have focused on playing one pitch at a time. Not only do they focus on the process, they genuinely appear to be having fun playing the game of baseball.

Having fun and playing the game one pitch at a time is exemplified by Guardians rookie Steven Kwan. His pre-pitch routine, where he goes through the same physical motions and takes a deep breath before each at-bat, demonstrates an incredibly relaxed approach at the plate where Kwan is in control of the process.

To have fun off the field, Kwan and other Guardians players have started playing chess together in order to take their mind off baseball and have fun.

In addition to the Guardians’ MLB players focusing on important mental skills, the organization’s minor-league players also receive coaching on the mental game.

Led by Dr. Charlie Maher, the Guardians’ mental performance coaches include Brian Miles, Martin Rasumoff, and Sean Swallen. Miles is the mental performance coordinator for the Guardians’ MLB ball club while Swallen works with players at the Arizona training center.

An example of how mental performance coaching is applied within the Guardians organization can be seen in the assistance provided to top Guardians prospect Tyler Freeman.

Sports writer Justin Lada recently discussed how Freeman utilized the Guardians’ mental performance resources. In fact, Freeman noted that the mental performance staff helped him successfully deal with an injury he sustained during the 2021 season.

Freeman explained that in order to overcome the various mental hurdles that occur when returning from an athletic injury, talking with the Guardians’ mental performance coaches was very helpful. They helped him to stay positive and maintain a positive outlook.

Freeman is now returning to form and helping the Columbus Clippers have a successful season.