What a Mental Performance Coach Really Does in Baseball: Adam Bernero on the Mariners’ Mental Game
As the Seattle Mariners push toward the playoffs, one of their most important contributors hasn't thrown a single pitch or taken an at-bat. Adam Bernero, the team’s Major League Mental Skills Coach, spends his days focusing on the side of the game that rarely makes headlines: the mental game.
When an early reader of this blog suggested I write about the role of Mental Performance Coaches in baseball, I reached out to Adam, who was gracious enough to sit down with me. In this conversation, he explains what Mental Performance Coaching looks like inside a big-league clubhouse, how the Mariners have built out their staff in this area, and why the work goes far beyond “X’s and O’s.”
We also talk about the mental side of Cal Raleigh’s historic 2025 season, the differences Adam sees between today’s players and those of his era, and who he considers the most mentally tough player he’s ever played with or coached.
Q: Start out by sharing your title and what your role is with the Mariners.
A: Yeah, so the title is Major League Mental Skills Coach. I’m part-time with the big-league team. I work with everybody—coaches, hitters, pitchers—and that includes spring training. We have maybe 70–80 guys in camp, and I work with all of them. Then they filter out to the minor leagues, and we end up with our 26-man team at the end. I stay with that team and work with those guys. And then, of course, with players I already have relationships with who get sent down to Single-A, Double-A, or wherever, I stay in contact with them too.
Most of my work is one-on-one with players, coaches, and staff. I do group work as well and have my own structure for that. I’ll lead some coaches’ meetings and player meetings, but if you collected all the time spent, the majority is one-on-ones.
Q: How many Mental Performance Coaches do the Mariners have?
A: I think we have five. Stephanie Hale is the coordinator of the minor leagues and the mental skills department. Then we have three others—Kellen, Austin, and Ivan. They’re spread throughout. Ivan is in the Dominican full-time, and the others are in the minor leagues.
Q: So you have a full-time coach in the Dominican?
A: Yeah, we kind of lucked into that one. Ivan is an absolute stud. He studied sport psychology, was passionate about it, and wanted to get in. He started with us doing video work from the Dominican. As he was finishing school, we transitioned him into more mental skills work.
Q: That’s really cool. I’d imagine there’s some variability between organizations in how much teams invest in mental performance. Where do the Mariners stand in the broader spectrum?
A: I’d say we’re in the upper echelon in terms of the number of mental skills coaches. That’s shifted over the years. At one point it was just me and another guy. Then we had three, then back to two, then three again, and now we’re at five.
It’s special that our front office prioritizes mental skills. Every year it’s gotten stronger. You can’t go into an affiliate or the big-league clubhouse without it being part of the conversation. Everything runs through mental skills. I think that’s the biggest difference compared to other organizations.
I’m not in other orgs, but from what I hear, it can be tough to speak in coaches’ meetings or even have time to coach. I feel lucky, we all feel lucky, to have that space. And I think we’re better as an organization because of it.
Q: I’d imagine no two days are the same for you, especially with travel and the variability in the schedule. Can you paint a picture of a day in the life? Without specifics about players, what kinds of themes or areas do you usually work on?
A: I usually get to the field pretty early. It’s different at home versus on the road. At home I’ll get there around noon. Players show up around one. I always have at least one player in mind that I want to connect with—someone I’ve been thinking about. I’ll prioritize that conversation and make it happen.
At some point during the day I’ll text that person or catch them when they get to the field. Every other series or so, I’ll also look to have a group conversation with hitters or pitchers. I prepare something for coaches’ meetings too. We meet before the first game of every series, and I’ll share observations about the team’s pulse, energy, or focus.
That said, sometimes none of those things happen. The other day I had things planned, and one thing led to another, and we just didn’t have time.
At home I have an office, but I don’t just sit in it. It’s more a place to be available. Organic conversations happen there when guys walk by. They also happen in the food room, out on the field during batting practice, or when pitchers are playing catch. I try to be visible and available. Most coaches have to stay in the office preparing X’s and O’s for the game. I don’t, which is great—I don’t enjoy that side of it. I love walking around, being available, mixing it up, and building relationships.
Some players have routines with me. We’ll go for a barefoot walk in the outfield—guys ask for that, and I make time. That usually happens early in the day, around two o’clock. Other guys like to do breathwork before games. But really, like you said, every day is different. There’s no set “three o’clock appointment.” Things just come up.
Q: Your ability to stay flexible and responsive to the schedule must be important—maybe even modeling flexibility.
A: Yeah, absolutely.
Q: Something that often confuses people: when mental performance or sport psychology is brought up in the media or online, it’s often conflated with counseling or therapy. How do you see the difference?
A: It’s a tough distinction sometimes. A lot of what players are working through is identity, habits, discipline—patterns shaped by how they grew up. I often describe it like this: when players come to me, they’re already in the waterfall. I want to get upstream to the spring, to where it all started. If we can understand that, then when the river starts flowing, maybe we never have to reach the waterfall—where things become absolute panic.
That doesn’t mean we can’t deal with the waterfall, but I’ll sometimes say, “Tell me about growing up. What was that like for you?” That gives me a lot of information. I’m not pretending I’m trained for deep therapy work, but I do know when something is outside my scope. Honestly, it rarely gets to that point. Usually, it’s just teasing out the influences and habits that are still showing up.
For example, a lot of guys are perfectionists or people pleasers without ever knowing where that started. They only see it in the narrow context of their current struggles. If you broaden it out, they realize they’ve been this way their whole life—it showed up here, didn’t work there, maybe helped in another place. From there, they can see patterns in their life, how those patterns held them back, and how they got through other challenges. Then we can start working on course corrections—“Hey, you’re falling into that old habit from when you were ten. How do we shift this?” That’s where tools and strategies come in to change behaviors.
For me, just focusing on skills isn’t enough. What excites me is working with the whole person. Early in my career I thought you weren’t allowed to do that—but it’s the only way to create meaningful change. Of course, you have to deliver concrete tools too.
And life experience matters. I’m almost 50 now. I can sit back in the rocking chair a little bit—
Q: Do you bring a rocking chair with you?
A: (Laughs) I should get an inflatable one. Or pack a wooden one. That’d be good.
Q: I’m glad you brought up your experiences as a player. You were drafted out of high school in ’94 and again out of Sacramento City College in ’98. You pitched parts of seven seasons in the majors. How did that shape your path into this work?
A: It helps with trust immediately. I don’t have to prove myself—players give me respect right away because I’ve been there. It makes it easier for them to open up.
That said, I don’t approach it as, “This is how I did it, so this is what you should do.” My experience was mine. I use it more to empathize: I know what stress felt like for me, but I want to know what it feels like for you. Where do you feel it in your body? How do you relate to it on the mound or in the box?
Honestly, I wasn’t very good at handling the mental side as a player. I didn’t have a coach to guide me through it. That’s why I’m passionate now. I can imagine what would’ve helped me, and I try to be that for today’s players. It’s about understanding their experience, not pushing mine.
Q: How is the mental side of the game different today than when you played?
A: Younger players today are much more vulnerable and aware of their emotions. They’ll say things like, “I’m scared out there. This part of the game freaks me out. What can I do?”
In my era, it was just “pull yourself up by your bootstraps, throw harder, grind more.” Nobody spoke openly like that. Not every player today does, but compared to then, way more are acknowledging that the mental game is important and can give them an edge.
Q: You’ve been there for what might already be the greatest offensive season ever by a primary catcher—Cal Raleigh’s 2025. From a mental perspective, what goes into a season like that?
A: Honestly, I don’t know. He’s breaking records, and everyone wants to know the reason. But I don’t think you can pin it to one thing. Maybe something clicked mechanically. Maybe something clicked mentally. Maybe the stars just aligned. It’s probably a mix of everything. The only one who really knows is him—and he might not even be able to articulate it.
Q: Or maybe he doesn’t want to.
A: Exactly. Maybe one day, sitting in that rocking chair, he’ll look back and say, “These are the things that came together that year.” But when you’re doing something that’s never been done, there’s not always a clear answer.
Q: What do most people not understand about mental performance in baseball?
A: My gut response: people will say it’s important, but they don’t really know what it is. A big part of my job is explaining what “mental skills” actually means. And a lot of it is physiology more than mindset.
Mindset is only a small part. The nervous system, the body, the gut—that’s where the real work is. We’re human beings constantly flooded with information. Our minds are full of it. So people think, “I’ll work out more, eat better, sleep better.” That’s all great. But why do so many people set those goals every January and fall off six months later? It’s because their body and nervous system aren’t aligned with their mind.
If your body isn’t in alignment—if it’s carrying trauma or stress—you have no chance of making lasting changes. You can’t lose weight, fix mechanics, or sustain habits until body and mind connect. That’s why I say mental skills isn’t just training your brain. Training your brain is perspective-shifting, and that’s valuable. But I want to know, “What’s your body doing when you think about those things?” Without that, perspective shifts don’t stick.
Q: Final question: Who’s the most mentally resilient player you’ve ever played with or coached?
A: The first person that popped into my brain was John Smoltz when I played. He was just… the best players are guys that have this unstoppable, burning desire to kick your ass. And he had that, you know what I mean? He was very grounded in who he was, and part of who he was was like, “I'm gonna beat you.” And he did that every single time.
I just remember there was this one game he was pitching for the Braves, and I was with the Rockies, and one of our coaches, Walt Weiss, had played with John, and John came in to close the game against us. They were up by one and we hit a leadoff triple, and I'm sitting there next to Walt, and I'm all fired up. I'm like, “Yeah, we're gonna come back in this game!” And Walt just looks at me like, “Watch this. We're about to lose.” And I’m like, “What?”
And I remember looking out at John, and something shifted in his eyes, and he struck out the next three guys. And it was like… he just wasn't gonna lose right there.
Beyond the Boundary is a reader-supported publication. If you enjoyed this article please consider subscribing to receive the latest articles directly in your inbox.
