Cole Wright

Pete Crow-Armstrong says the mental side of baseball is still the part he struggles with most, and says he’s hired a mental skills coach to help with his process because if he unlocks that part he could reach Aaron Judge’s tier “That’s probably the last piece to the puzzle for me. I know my swing is always going to, I could be Aaron Judge, and his swing doesn’t always feel great. So the mental part really feels like the last thing that can take me to another level.” “That’s what I’m still figuring out. I don’t really know yet. I’ve done the therapy thing. I’ve talked to mental-skills people. But there’s definitely always something that drives you. I love playing baseball, and I love how difficult the sport is. There’s something new about it every day. You’re constantly learning. You’re making do with what you’ve got that day, and I think that’s super special.” “Honestly, the days you wake up feeling like death are probably my favorite days, because you’re like, ‘How are you going to make this work today?’ But I’m not really the one to talk about the mental side of things just yet, because I struggle with that the most. So I just try to take little bits and pieces from dudes I admire, mostly guys on my team.” “Last year, Justin Turner was a big one, just because he has so many years of experience. But Nico Hoerner is probably somebody whose mindset I admire the most. He talked to me about being kind to yourself and being emotionally aware, because the season is so long. You forget how you’re actually feeling sometimes when everything is about baseball.” “He’s like your model baseball player. If I had kids, I’d be like, ‘Watch how he runs to first base and then comes back to the dugout.’ He’s wired all the time. He lets his emotions out when the time calls for it, but other than that, he’s super stoic. So I lean on him very heavily.”