The Mind is What Matters for Sean Roby
Photo Credit: Alex Stimson | Eugene Emeralds
“People don’t realize how mental this game is,” Sean Roby told me as he prepared to begin his 2022 season, “I think it’s more mental than it is skills [based].”
It was the mental aspect of the game that really challenged him in 2021 as he went through a long, pronounced slump through the middle of the season that left his batting average below the Mendoza Line at the end of July. Baseball development can be a lonely business, especially when going through tough times. Keeping a positive mindset proved even more challenging than trying to problem solve his swing. “It was really hard. I just didn’t really know who to talk to or just communicate with.” It turned out that the solution to both issues was the same — human connections.
“I just started talking to our hitting coach, [Cory Elasik], …and we became really close. And it actually helped. Communication. Communication is the key.” Eventually, Elasik came up with a drill — gleaned from volleyball practices — that helped with the swing, focusing on keeping his weight on his back foot and not getting out front and pulling off of pitches. From there, they progressed to hitting with foam balls. The new work helped turn Roby’s season around. The slugger hit .316 over his final six weeks of 2021 with 11 home runs and a robust .980 OPS.
But as much as the drills helped him turn things around, the communication and the friendship that developed might have been even more important. That sense of connection and belonging extended to Roby’s teammates as well. In Eugene, hitters were encouraged to keep a notebook and talk over their at bats with teammates — peer reviewing their development process as it were — and keeping that dugout camaraderie strong is a point of emphasis with the group this year in Richmond as well.
“All of these guys are nothing but positive. We all talked about it before we came here [to Richmond] — it’s important to talk to each other and not shut each other out. So, that’s what we’re going to try to focus on this year: better communication with each other.”
Of course, for many of this year’s Richmond roster, those bonds were strengthened last fall as the team made a dramatic drive to the High A West championship. “That was actually one of the best times I’ve ever had in my life. You’re pretty much with the same guys throughout the whole year…and our bond is just unbreakable. These guys are pretty much just another brother.”
Despite his struggles for much of the year, Roby ended the season on a high note and went into the winter feeling good about his first full season. He was particularly proud of the fact that he didn’t give up during the down times, stayed patient and worked to improve every day, and ultimately salvaged the year with a very loud final act. Which brings us back around to his sense that success in the game of baseball depends more on mental skills — the way players respond to the intense challenges and many failures inherent in the game — than on purely physical tools. Players who believe in themselves can, in Roby’s view, outplay their skills level.
It’s not surprising then, that when I asked Roby what his goals for his first season at Double A are, he focused on his mindset. “I just don’t want to give up. I want to keep the same positive [mentality], have good mental skills, stick to my approach, talk to the guys and have good communications….That’s what I want to be is consistent this year.” Consistent in mind, if not always in results.
Roby’s focus on mental skills fits well in a Giants organization that has moved steadily in the direction of supporting the whole player in recent years — mind, body, mental health. Each and every aspect of supporting the person behind the player has become an organizational focus. They employ Drew Robinson, whose dramatic failed suicide set him on a path to help spread the gospel of emotional health and well-being. Kellen Lee roams the system as an organizational mental skills coach. Laura Nuñez officially operates as the director of the organization’s education and cultural development, but that job is a de facto personal support role for the many players coming up through the Giants’ international program. They even have a support dog, Willie, whose main job skills would seem to be lying around looking adorable and offering up his super soft fur for petting. In every way, the organization shows that it understands that feeling good mentally is connected to performing well physically. And players like Roby are definitely buying in.
That doesn’t mean Roby hasn’t focused on his body as well this offseason. “I actually feel a lot faster [this year]. I lost a good amount of weight [over the winter], so it’s better on the knees. So I feel faster, which is actually feels really good. I can finally move. I feel confident!”
It’s clear, talking to Roby, that confidence and positivity are a major focus for him, as is building his connections with the people in his life — including his relationships off the field. Over the past year, his parents began to focus more on their religious life, and sharing that process as a family has helped keep Roby on an even keel, even when things aren’t going the way he’d like on the field. “Talking to my parents [last year] helped a lot. My parents started becoming more church people and trusting in God and they obviously started helping me with that. So praying a lot and just being patient helped out a lot, too. Just being patient, keep trying to get better every single day, helped out a lot. So, can’t complain.”
A positive mind, a clear heart, strong relationships and a patient work ethic are the parts of his game Roby truly prides himself on — even more than that powerful swing of his. Together, he hopes they will produce another year to be proud of in 2022.
To hear more from Sean Roby, listen to this week’s There R Giants podcast:
This was a Free For All post. If you’d like to get my daily wrap ups of all the action on the farm system delivered ad-free, straight to your Inbox, why not become a There R Giants subscriber? In honor of opening week, now through Thursday, you can get an annual subscription at 30% off, just $49.99 for a full year of There R Giants content!
Jambo from Kenya Roger and thanks for the great content for those of us who bleed black and orange. Very insightful article. Roby has amazing tools, it would be scary to see it all come together. Who are the other players that could take a big step if they balanced the tools with the “mental”?