To actually get somewhere with makeup, the players and coaches are going to have to accept that going to a psychologist doesn’t mean you are weak which will take some take. It’s funny to because you always hear people ask how much of the game is mental and the answers are usually around 90% and yet the coaches and players spend almost no time on the mental aspect of the game. I know this isn’t exactly what you mean by making strides with makeup but they are going to have to open up the door and let trained professionals in for there to be any progress.

All sports are moving past the point of knowing what they want physically in a guy.

Considering how important media relations and all that is…I have no doubt what you term “Jungian Baseball Analysis” will be huge.

is definitely 3D modeling of balls in play.

MLB is working on this now. Its already amazing what is being done with PitchFX. HitFX would absolutely revolutionize how we measure things like defense and batted ball data. It would make what is done now seem like guessing. Its scary what we could learn.

As for the makeup issues… The Celtics and some others swear by the work of Dr. Jon Niednagel, who specializes in sports personality typing. Yes, that ESFP, INTJ stuff… http://www.braintypes.com/bglobe.htm

That stuff is pretty interesting. Ive been wondering for awhile how useful it would be for MLB entry draft purposes. The only issue is teams sometimes dont know much at all about who theyre drafting… Its hard enough to scout them all on a baseball level… So finding out their personality types or much more about their makeup is hardly feasible. Im pretty sure this is the future, though. Its just hard to say when it will arrive.

i don’t think this story is about the makeup of Odom… we all have our demons …. this is about the asshole who traded him for F’ing bats!!!! WTF???!! ..is this a common thing in baseball? … why don’t you study the makeup of the C*nt who traded him for 10 pieces of wood… holy crap what a disgusting story

Perhaps not directly but would a normal human being with a stable, healthy mind fall into the same traps? Would they become a heroin addict? Would they become an alcoholic? I think not. If I were traded for maple bats, I’d tell myself this isn’t the profession for me and move on to bigger and better things. If more emphasis was placed on the psyche of the players and the emotional stability of the players then this sort of thing might be avoided. Maybe the Giants don’t even sign him, maybe they sign him but mandate sessions with professionals…I don’t know because there is almost no importance put on this sort of thing.

The post below by slacker george is correct, athletes aren’t treated as human beings and often no celebrity is in any profession. The general public believes their rights are basically waived because they spend money on their products and should have the right to infringe on the celebrities rights which makes the media do the same so they can get the general public to buy their products. That certainly does give some of the blame to the system but if organizations were concerned with a players emotional health then this sort of thing might be avoided. I think that is where the “makeup” comes in and where if pro sporting teams hired professional psychologists for their you may see less of this sort of thing.

I go to school at a D1 school and every team works with exercise psychology students and teachers. They help them recover from injuries, deal with personal issues, deal with anything they may need help with. John Smoltz has often credited much of his success to the psychologist that he went to early in his career when he was having problems. The problem is coaches and players feel it’s unmanly or weak to do these types of practices even if it will help them succeed. Rich Rod was a good example, he did not respect WVU’s practice of having psychology students work with the players and his mentality is what I believe most professional coaches to be. I’m not sure how Huggins feels about it but I know Beilein was an advocate for it. Just depends but I definitely think there is merit to the idea that work could be done in this area to help and improve players.

Great post John - looking forward to reading more of your thoughts on this issue.

As someone who will be a licensed psychologist (1 more training year to go), I think this is a huge area for growth and understanding. In my own work, I feel that having a broad and in-depth understanding of the individual’s coping methods & tendencies (both from a behavioral and emotional perspective) is an imperative area for assessment (and down the road, quantitative/statistical modelling)

I feel this area, more than personality and other dispositional type traits, provide a good understanding of how the individual will cope and adjust in the face of future stressors whether they be baseball or non-baseball related.