Skylan Joyner reached down to pick up a baby goat.
“This is greatness,” he said as he petted it while in his arms.
The goat was the last of several animals Joyner got to interact with at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex in Vero Beach, Fla., on Aug. 4. His favorites included ducklings and a boxed turtle, while the biggest animal he said he carried that day was a pig.
“It wasn’t actually that bad. You just gotta be confident,” Joyner said. “They’re calm, so it’s not even as bad as you think it would be.”
Farm pet therapy was just one of the many ways Joyner -- along with all participants from each of the 24 baseball and softball teams representing the United States, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic -- were able to reset mentally ahead of the Nike RBI World Series.
“We’re doing mental wellness activations with them, to teach the components of stress reduction and positive self care,” said MLB vice president of social responsibility April Brown. “Our athletes are really great about their physical health. We want to make sure they’re just as great about their mental health.”
MLB Together, in collaboration with Nike RBI, ensured there were multiple different stations available so each athlete could relieve some stress and talk about mental wellness in the ways that spoke to them. Other options included a Hyperice station to help reduce muscle tension, gaming consoles with MLB: The Show, cornhole and other outdoor activities.
Players also got to speak with Dr. Jorge Aguilar, a sports psychiatrist and MLB consultant who does a lot of work with rookies. Dr. Aguilar mentioned that he gets asked a range of different questions from the young athletes, from how they can improve their focus at the plate to what they can do about their frustration when they’re struggling on the field, to questions about careers outside of playing baseball.
“You can feel everybody relaxing almost instantly as you are with them,” he said. “It’s just a reminder that there are things we can do that are within our control to relax a little bit. To take it easier, to recover, to recharge when the game or life gets a little challenging.”
Since launching the mental wellness programming in 2023, Brown said she’s noticed it grow in each of the three years the league has held it. It’s now at the point where some coaches sit in on the sessions themselves and take what they can from them, which is exactly the goal MLB Together hopes for.
“When they leave here, when they go to school, when they’re with their families and friends, know that it’s okay to be kind to yourself. To be good to others,” Brown said. “To -- most importantly -- know if you need help, you can ask for it.”
It’s a lesson that Nike RBI alum and current Washington Nationals prospect Sir Jamison Jones took to heart from his experience. So when he heard his old team, the RBI White Sox, were in town, Jones knew he had to come pay it forward as someone who has experienced a lot of what the current Nike RBI players are currently dreaming of -- getting drafted and playing pro baseball.
“A full circle moment,” he said. “ ... I just feel like it’s not only my duty to give back, but I’ve been blessed to be in a position where I can give back and give the knowledge that I’ve learned through my journey.”
This year’s RBI World Series players also got the opportunity to give back themselves, with the help of the Jessie Rees Foundation. The players created “joy jars,” or containers filled with toys, stuffed animals and other things that would then be sent to kids fighting pediatric cancer.
It was a favorite among several of the athletes, and it carried an even bigger significance for Yenli Nolasco, a player with the Braves RBI team.
“Coming from a family who [has] been around social work, it means a lot because it’s showing that it’s more than just baseball,” he said. “You gotta focus on everybody.”