Simon: Standing ovation probably means more to Mets’ Syndergaard than we know
From SABR member Mark Simon at ESPN.com on June 1, 2015:
The most important thing that happened last Wednesday may not have been that Noah Syndergaard hit a home run or pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings.
Those were fantastic individually and even better collectively, but the thing more likely to have an impact on Syndergaard was the standing ovation he received when Terry Collins removed him from the game after he got the first out of the eighth inning.
“He deserved to hear that,” Collins said after the game.
Syndergaard, who will pitch against the Padres in San Diego tonight, was rather modest when talking about it afterward, describing the moment as “awesome” but it’s something that may linger for him for a long time.
Often fans think of players as robots, but there is an emotional response that goes with their line of work. When they’re going well, everything feels good. When they’re going bad, everything feels awful. Players are trained not to get too high or too low emotionally, but there’s value in embracing a moment like this.
“When a manager does something like that deliberately, especially like what Terry Collins and Jeff Bannister (the Rangers manager, who did something similar later that week) have done, it’s more than just a confidence boost from hearing the fans,” said Geoff Miller, a mental skills coach who has worked for four major-league teams over the last 11 years.
Read the fu ll article here: http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/104001/standing-o-probably-means-more-to-syndergaard-than-we-know
Originally published: June 2, 2015. Last Updated: June 2, 2015.