VERO BEACH, Fla. -- Several camp attendees gave mental skills coach Geoff Miller a standing ovation after he finished his presentation Saturday night at the 2025 Hank Aaron Invitational in Vero Beach, Fla.
In a week full of unique instruction -- games and drills led by former Major Leaguers; speeches from the likes of Eric Davis and Ken Griffey Jr. -- a conversation on mental health may not have topped the bucket list for this batch of young ballplayers.
Nonetheless, it may have been the most important talk they’ll receive at the camp.
“There’s so much for them to learn right now,” Miller said of the camp’s attendees, who range from ages 15-18. “And I think it’s very easy to get confused in the world today with so much social media and so many chances to rank and compare.
“You want to stay focused on how you’re developing as a player, and it’s easy to get lost.”
Miller has been helping athletes hone in on the mental side of the game since 2005. What started as a founding partnership with Winning Mind, a high-performance consulting group, ballooned into a 17-year Major League career, with Miller providing mental skills services for the Pirates, Nationals, Braves, Angels and Phillies from 2005-2021.
Now, he’s the owner of Dots Miller, where he specializes in executive coaching, performance psychology and athlete career transition.
“The way I say it is, [baseball is] 100 percent physical, and it’s 100 percent mental,” Miller said. “I think you can’t have one without the other.”
His talk came at an opportune moment for players in attendance at the Invitational, who number over 100.
Some are already committed to Division I programs. Others hope to use this opportunity as a springboard to get them on college coaches’ radars. And every player seated in a chair Saturday -- from the highest ranked to the lowest -- is striving to be one of the 44 invitees selected to participate in the Hank Aaron 44 Exhibition Game.
That’s pressure.
So it was no surprise to see dozens take Miller up on his offer for questions after his lecture, filing one by one into a line in efforts to pick his brain.
His presentation was chock-full of gems, and it was packaged with the digestibility of a high school English course.
It had logical (logos) appeals.
Miller gave athletes practical frameworks for framing their focus, delving through situational thinking and strategies for diminishing comparison. He also introduced the four channels of focus: broad vs. narrow and external vs. internal.
It had anecdotes for credibility (ethos).
MIller provided numerous examples of athletes who struggled at certain points during their careers, emphasizing the importance of persistence and grace.
These included mentions of Derek Jeter’s 56 errors in his first full Minor League season, John Smoltz’s 2-11 start in 1991 before closing out the season 12-2 (after seeing a sports psychologist during the All-Star break) and Andrew McCutchen’s rough start in the Minors.
It had emotional appeals (pathos).
Miller detailed the benefits of deep breathing, of training one’s focus to a singular point to counteract feelings of unease in tense moments.
He taught players how to release from gripping too tightly (using Rickey Henderson as an example) to relax their body under pressure.
He discussed visualization -- not just acting, but feeling as if they had already put together a successful at-bat, or struck out an opposing hitter, or played in the 44 Exhibition game.
And he emphasized that these skills were not just ones that could constitute success on the diamond, but in the game of life.
Miller left players with a meaningful charge to take with them in their continued endeavors, one that can be followed by elite athletes and everyone else:
“Be a good teammate to yourself.”