Tucson
Clint Barmes wasn’t a shortstop. He was a walking self-help book. From May through September, Barmes served as his own worst enemy. He ravaged himself mentally, made worse by his willingness to listen to concerned teammates teeming with practical suggestions.
He entered spring training fighting with Troy Tulowitzki for a starting position. But in reality, Barmes v. Barmes is the competition.
“That’s what makes this game so hard. You can have all the tools, but the mental part comes in and just grinds away at you,” Barmes said. “I struggled all last year with it. I have the talent. But if you aren’t right in the head, it doesn’t matter.”
Confidence is what separates players at this level. Nearly every guy in Rockies camp was the best on his high school or college team, where neighbors still tell stories about them. But it’s hard to walk around with a puffed-out chest with a .220 batting average that mocks you on the scoreboard and crawls into your dreams like an unwanted cockroach.
“I was embarrassed to be seen,” Barmes said. “I knew what I was doing was wrong. But even when I fixed it, I would talk myself out of it.”
That’s Barmes. He was born with his sleeves rolled up. Make a mistake, and he’d let himself have it. No practice was enough, no tongue-lashing too sharp.
“I’d tell myself I was the worst player on the field or a piece of junk,” Barmes said.
The scathing remarks worked when he was younger, pushing him to the big leagues. Last season, however, this self-motivation became counterproductive. In a game based on who fails the least, Barmes didn’t need negative reinforcement. He needed patience.
“The biggest thing I learned is that you can’t make things happen, you have to let it happen,” he said. “It’s something I feel I am lot better at it.”
Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd called the mental grind the biggest cause of sophomore slumps. It’s where expectations collide with urgency, “then the player overreacts and tries to change the past instead of living in the moment,” O’Dowd explained.
Barmes didn’t need humility. He had never been on a family vacation his entire life until this winter, when they traveled to Maui for his wedding. The man, who spent last season on an island, found peace on an island.
No baseball, no batting average. Waves and sun. He returned to Denver with his mind uncluttered. The change is noticeable this spring beyond holding his hands higher in his batting stance.
Barmes is in a better place. If he loses the shortstop job, Tulowitzki will have to beat him out, because Barmes is done beating himself up.
“The more upset I get, the worse I will do,” Barmes said. “I have to trust myself.”
Footnotes
Chicago White Sox GM Kenny Williams, on locking up starting pitcher Javier Vazquez with a three-year, $34.5 million contract: “He wanted to be here. He wants to win. And he proved it.” … Vazquez’s contract is further evidence Jason Jennings should get at least $40 million from Houston.
Troy E. Renck can be reached at 303-954-1301 or trenck@denverpost.com.
