This story was excerpted from Thomas Harding's Rockies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.
MIAMI -- Rockies righty reliever Jake Bird ended a difficult 2024 season searching for answers after his mental approach deserted him at times. It didn’t take long to realize he had the answers all along.
Through 26 appearances, Bird has a 1.53 ERA with 42 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings in a performance that, if middle and long relievers were more recognized, could put him in All-Star Game consideration.
Bird’s performance represents a turnaround from last year, when he posted a 4.50 ERA in just 35 games while dealing with injuries and inconsistency. He was trusted for 70 games in 2023.
“Mental skills was kind of a consistent thing from day one of the offseason,” Bird said. “I was reading different books, trying to see what approach works best for me. It was a work in progress, even in Spring Training. I feel like I know what gets me in a good pocket right now.
“It’s kind of funny. A lot of the answers have been right in front of me over the years. But they become overlooked, or they almost become cliche so you forget about them. Sometimes the simple stuff -- the cliche stuff -- is the most important stuff.”
Bird, 29, did extensive research before arriving at old advice.
He found inspiration in movies and TV -- “‘Ted Lasso’ is a great show,” he noted. He looked into other sports. Friend and former Rockies Minor Leaguer Joel Condreay recommended “The Inner Game of Tennis,” by W. Timothy Gallwey. Bird referenced the tennis book on his phone before his two-thirds of a scoreless inning at Miami on Wednesday, as the Rockies completed a three-game sweep with a 3-2 victory. He also read up on golf psychology.
In the end, Bird said simple words from John Savage, his coach from UCLA, came back to him.
“I think it’s a baseball-wide mental cliche -- maybe it’s not -- but coach Savage preached it all the time, so maybe that’s why it’s in my head,” he said. “But, ‘pitch to pitch, get your breath.’ It seems super basic. Anybody can say that. But it’s a huge deal.”