It seems the once dominant reliever Andrew Miller is another prime example of a MLB player getting the “yips.” For those of you who have never heard of it, the “yips,” according to the Mayo Clinic, “are involuntary wrist spasms that occur most commonly when golfers are trying to putt. However, the yips can also affect people who play other sports — such as cricket, darts and baseball.” The yips were often thought of as a performance anxiety, that it was entirely made up in the athletes mind. The idea of negative thoughts leading to negative outcomes, but we know that the yips can also be due to a neurological condition affecting certain muscles, medically diagnosed as focal dystonia. The whole problem with this condition is that even though we have seen it in many athletes, there seems to be no known cure for it. Most players who are hit with the yips never make it back to their sport even though at one time they were seen as elite athletes.
“I know what it feels like when I’m right. And I guess this is probably vague again. But the sensation I have throwing a baseball right now just isn’t consistent with what it is when I know I’m good. It’s just been a challenge.”
Andrew Miller Via Anne Rogers of MLB.com
Andrew Miller is the most recent player to suffer from this condition, a former two time All-Star and 2016 ALCS MVP with the Indians will not be playing until he can regain control of his pitches. His case dates back to 2019, his first year with the St. Louis Cardinals, Miller showed some flashes of the guy he can be, but ultimately finished with a 4.45 ERA and 70 strikeouts in 54 2/3rds innings. Miller has had multiple tests to see if it was anything with his body, but everything has come back negative. Even Miller said himself, he just doesn’t have the same feel of throwing he did before and there’s no pain when pitching. It is truly a shame to find out this happened to Miller, especially since he was one of my favorite players on the Yankees back when they had that fearsome bullpen combination of Dellin Betances, Andrew Miller and Aroldis Chapman. The Yankees were able to get quite a haul for Miller from the Indians that included players such as Clint Frazier, Justus Sheffield, Ben Heller and J.P. Feyereisen. That’s how dominant a type of pitcher Miller was and that’s how much the Indians, who were chasing a World Series, were willing to give up. So how can a play go from hero to zero so quickly?
The whole science behind the phenomena of the “yips” is fascinating and unfortunately it’s not something that gets much research behind it. There have been a number of examples of other athletes in different sports that experience the same problems. I really wish there was a documentary on all these athletes and how, if they even were, able to overcome it. Many have visited sports psychologists in order to try and get a a sense at what in the world was happening with their mind and bodies. To have the ability to perform an activity multiple times, over and over again, with great success and then one day out of the blue you can’t do it. No matter what your mind tells your body to do, it just doesn’t react to what you wanted to do. I’ve never understood the whole science behind it and I have known players who have gotten cases like that and it just leads you to more questions than answers. And the fact that other than a seeing a hyponsist or a sports psychologist, there’s no real cure. It shows you just how powerful the human mind can be.
The curious case seems to be most seen in golfers and baseball players, two sports that come with a lot of trial and error of the body. Two very stressful sports that have a lot more failure than success, and that can be extremely stressful on one’s mind. According to the May Clinic, “33% to 48% of all serious golfers have experienced the yips.” Players such as Steve Blass from the Pirates caught a case in 1973, having him retire only a year later because he never regained his pitching ability. More recently you can see Jon Lester’s style of yips that doesn’t allow him to to pick off a player at first base. He did not, I repeat, did not throw over to first once in 2014 and struggled later in 2015. Charles Barkley is always a prime example of the yips, just look at his golf swing. His mind and body just do not cooperate when swinging a golf club. In his mind that swing is how he can be successful, while every other golfer would walk away scratching their head. It’s one of those things that comes up in sports as a real mystery and I wish there was more information on it. The psychological part of sports can be just as important as the physical, especially in games in which it is very easy to fail. If you are not strong between the eyes, your game is going to suffer.
The Washed Up Athlete 