KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Hall of Famer Yogi Berra famously said, “Baseball is 90% mental. The other half is physical.”
It’s Melissa Lambert’s job to make sure the Kansas City Royals are prepared for the “mental half” of the game.
Lambert originally joined the club as assistant director of behavioral science.
VOICE FOR EVERYONE | Share your voice with KSHB 41’s Tod Palmer
She’s now in her fifth season with the Royals and second as the director of behavioral science and major league mental performance.
She made MLB history last year when the Royals added a mental-health professional to a team’s dugout staff, becoming the first woman to be part of the Royals’ on-field staff.
“When we talk about mental performance, that’s — what is it you need or what skills do you need to mentally be in the space to perform at your optimal level,” Lambert said. “That’s everything from preparation, managing performance anxiety to just your routine, what your motivation levels are, your recovery."
Lambert became the Royals’ first female on-field coach last year when joined the club’s dugout staff.
“It was a struggle, because, one, you kind of go in, especially as a female and being the psych role, you almost have a little bit of that imposter syndrome that kind of comes in like, ‘Can I do this? Can I provide what these guys need?’” she said.
Lambert helps the Royals’ players and coaches keep a sharp mental performance and oversees mental-health programming.
Moving her into the dugout signals that mental health is every bit as critical as the physical skills the game requires.
Lambert is right there alongside Manager Matt Quatraro, Bench Coach Paul Hoover and the staff’s hitting, pitching and defensive coaches.
But it was a steep learning curve for Lambert to learn the ropes being embedded with the team, a challenge that was compounded by a club-record-tying 106-loss season.
“Baseball being such a high-skill sport, there’s failure every single day and you have to be able to have that acceptance aspect of it,” Lambert said.
It’s her job, but getting players to understand that is often easier said than done.
“Melissa’s been tremendous,” Quatraro said. “She’s extremely intelligent, has a good way about her, is really caring, understands some of the demands that go on here with the players, and has done a really good job building relationships with players and their families. She understands the pressures of what goes on on the field, but also off the field. The players have been very accepting and understand that she brings a lot of value to the team.”
First baseman Vinnie Pasquantino said the clubhouse accepted Lambert right away.
“As far as what she’s brought, I think peace to the team a little bit,” he said. “When things are up or down, she can bring you back to even, to that 50/50 spot. She’s been a great addition to this team and we’re all very thankful to have her around.”
The life skills she preaches — things like “learning how to build confidence, learning how to manage and understand who you are, your emotions, how do we handle stress, how to we stay connected to people” — are important for people who never make the major leagues, too.
Lambert spent the morning at Win for KC’s Camp WIN, where she talked about the importance of mental health to hundreds of young girls — and told a few baseball stories.
“Our baseball players, oftentimes I’d tell you the same thing, they can feel like they’re on an island at times when things are going well,” Lamber said.
Of course, things are going much better for the Royals in 2024. The club has a better than 54% chance to make the postseason, according to Fangraphs, which brings a new kind of pressure.
“We went from losing 106 games to now we have a different level of pressure, where we’re winning now, so, on the day to day, there’s a different level of expectation than maybe what we had last year,” Lambert said.
Pasquantino said it’s actually not all that different for the players.
“Even though last year was a tough year, we still have expectations of ourselves,” he said. “As far as that goes, I don’t think anything’s really changed. It’s just there’s been a few more wins on the scoreboard. As far as expectations, it’s the exact same thing — go out there and win a game every single night."
—
