Former Padres talk mental health with high schoolers: 'Know you're not alone'

SAN DIEGO -- Whether you’re a big leaguer or a local high schooler, the Padres and Major League Baseball wanted to make it clear: maintaining mental wellbeing is crucial. It isn’t easy. And no one is alone in struggling with it.

On Wednesday morning before the Padres’ game against the Marlins, two former Padres -- longtime Major Leaguers Mark Loretta and Carlos Quentin -- took the stage at the Petco Park auditorium and shared their stories with 80 local high school students.

In an event titled “Understanding Mental Wellness,” a panel of Padres spoke for approximately half an hour to those students, who had completed a mental well-being course to be on hand for the event (as well as the ensuing game between the Padres and the Marlins). The session was part of the league’s partnership with Everfi, an online educational company. Radio broadcaster Jesse Agler served as emcee, and Dr. Laura Sudano, who works at UC San Diego Health and serves as the Padres’ employee assistance coordinator, spoke on the panel as well.

“Mental health is certainly as important, or maybe more important, than physical health in a lot of ways,” said Loretta, currently the Padres’ special assistant to the CEO, speaking before the event. “In this day and age as well, with social media and a lot of pressures, the anxiety levels have gone high -- youth in particular and society in general. We’re going to share some stories about some of the performance anxiety we felt in our career. … It’s just a neat program, and I think MLB’s initiative league-wide with mental health is pretty impressive.”

Loretta and Quentin spoke and shared their experiences, and Dr. Sudano offered plenty of expertise. But the event was more of an open forum, with students engaging and asking questions. When the forum ended, they broke into smaller group discussions.

On the surface, the parties involved might not seem all that relatable -- two former Major Leaguers, speaking about the stresses of their jobs, with a room full of teens. But many of the mental challenges proved similar. Same with the methods for dealing with those anxieties. At one point, dealing with failure specifically came up.

“The only time you ever have is the moment right now,” Loretta said. “In baseball in particular, you’ve got to have a short memory. You’ve got to say whatever happened last night, good or bad, that’s over. Today is a new day, I am focused on this. If you can live that way -- it’s easier said than done -- but if you can, get in the habit of being like: ‘There’s nothing I can do about yesterday, all I have is today, and tomorrow will take care of itself.’”

Easier said than done, indeed. Quentin spoke next.

“I love Lo,” he said.

“Love you, too,” Loretta interjected.

“But I’m just going to be honest here,” Quentin said. “This guy was way, way better at that than me. I was awful at it. Every day, I lived on a roller coaster, which sucked.”

Quentin was raw about the challenges he faced and the anxieties he felt growing up in San Diego and being identified as an elite athlete, feeling as though he needed to live up to expectations. It’s why, since retiring, he’s dedicated his time to improving the ecosystem of youth and amateur sports for the players to fully enjoy those settings. He’s even started his own company, “Before the Field,” with that mission in mind.

Loretta, the Padres and Major League Baseball all share that goal -- which was the impetus behind Wednesday’s event, and a May full of Mental Health Awareness Month initiatives.

“Everybody deals with mental struggles to some degree,” Loretta said. “It’s part of the human condition. Maybe it’s more out in the open now. It’s always been there. But people who struggle with that should know you’re not alone. … And there’s a lot of help and a lot of resources that are available.”