Mike Cameron: Mentally Challenged

Mike Cameron is the kind of guy that cares so much about doing the right thing that he actually spirals into a helpless mental state when struggling. Cameron's current struggles are mental (and have throughout his career, too).

As far as athletic ability goes, he's near the top of the MLB food chain. He can scale fences, has significant power in his stroke, can make diving catches, tracks balls while sprinting, and is even daft with the ladies.

The problem is, however, that much like Burnitz before him, he's not the brightest bulb and prone to these mental lapses. Now that he's out of the cozy confines of Seattle and thrust into the media scrutiny of NY City, he's struggling and spiraling. He can watch any local sports show or pick up any NY paper and see his name, regularly, on the back page in a negative light.

Last night, I watched Mike Cameron race back to the track to cut off a double before it hit the wall. There are only 2-3 centerfielders in the game actually cut that ball off. He then braces himself against the wall, turns around, and fires towards home. Unfortunately, he completely missed both of the cutoff men. What was he thinking? Was he not thinking at all?

Later, on a single up the middle, he allows a first baseman to go from first to third when he double clutches a ball before throwing to third. These stuff is covered in Fundamentals 101, yet he's caught looking like a third baseman trying to learn a new position.

You see, fundamentally, Mike Cameron is still sound. His throwing motion, his movments towards fly balls, his mechanics when making a catch; All are fine. Being mentally prepared in advance, however, is something he is not. He is doubting himself on every play.

The same is true on offense. Cameron is looking for a fastball when breaking balls are thrown and caught looking for a breaking pitch when they blow one by him. Every guess is wrong, he has no confidence and is flustered beyond belief. He feels someone is out to get him and just can't understand why all of this is happening to him (sound familiar Jason Phillips?).

He is letting his anxiety about his offense effect him in the field, then making errors and letting those errors effect him at the plate. Right now, Cameron is thinking "Don't hit it to me" in big spots, and thinking "Please let someone else get a big hit" so that he doesn't keep getting up with a key run on third and less than 2 outs.

When I look in his eyes, I see a deer in the headlights. I see a guy who has the wind knocked out of him and wants nothing in the world more than to make Mets fans happy.

The good news, however, is that it is mental. His ability is still there and I am confident that if he can get over the mental hurdle, he will really pick it up.

Remember how people felt about Burnitz in his first year back with the Mets?

April: .242, 5 HR
May: .161, 3 HR
June: .247, 1 HR
July: .181, 2 HR

When September started, Burnitz was hitting about .215 with 12 homeruns.

Look familiar? Here is how Cameron started with the Mets this year:

April: .231, 4 HR
May: .169, 3 HR
June: .182, 0 HR

Frighteningly similar to Burnitz. Considering that both guys are not exactly tough mental players, both guys are high strikeout guys, both high OBP, both low average and both 25-30 HR people ... they have a lot in common.

Once Burnitz regained his confidence late in 2002, he hit 7 homeruns in September. He continued and started off 2003 hitting 18 homeruns (with a .275 average) in 234 at-bats for the Mets. His confidence was up, mentally he was in the game, and making great plays in the OF as well.

The question becomes, when will Cameron regain his mental confidence, if at all? I tend to think it will happen, and for some reason, I tend to think it will happen when the Mets drop out of the race and he no longer feels like he is the reason the Mets are not contending. In other words, right after the all-star break.

Also on a bright note, Cameron offers a lot more than Burnitz. Although they have an almost identical offensive game, when on, Cameron is a gold glove CF with the ability to steal 30 bases. We saw this early in the season (early May) when he was on pace to hit 35 homeruns and steal 40 bases. In comparison, Burnitz is a RF, where much better offense is expected. If Cameron can deliver numbers like Burnitz did when he was on his game, he would be invaluable.

I looked into his historical splits and Cameron has had a significant number of months where he has hit under .200. He's an extremely streaky player that might give you .300, 8 HR and 8 SB one month while giving you .185, 1 HR and 0 SB the next. On an average season, he usually has 2 months or so where he slumps like he is slumping now.

Unfortunately for him, he's had two bad months in a row after only one good month, so his stats are awful and he's as cold as an iceberg.

Hey, snap out of it Mike, we could use ya.