Griffin Canning had a lot of time away from baseball in 2021 and 2022. Sidelined with a stress fracture in his lower back in August 2021, he would go 20 months in between appearances with the Los Angeles Angels.
Needing something to fill his time, the Mets right-hander decided to explore spirituality.
“When I came back, I tried to make it a point that I was going to enjoy myself and have fun and not try to put so much pressure on myself,” Canning told the Daily News on Friday at Citi Field. “I read some books and just kind of went down more of a holistic avenue, I guess, and it just resonated with me.”
One book in particular has been important for Canning. “The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment” by Eckhart Tolle he says is “probably the best book” he’s ever read. The author brings in various spiritual outlooks and traditions to illustrate how to stay present in the moment.
Canning saw a connection. Pitching is all about control from moment to moment and hitter to hitter. While it does require some forethought, prep work and coaching can help with that. For Canning, relying on his pitching instincts helps him from overthinking about each at bat, allowing him to stay present with each pitch.
“I think it kind of boils down to just how present I am on any given day,” Canning said. “The more I can kind of get out of my own way and just kind of let my intuition and stuff like that come to me, I feel like I usually won’t over-pitch.”
Canning finds that meditation helps focus him in on the task at hand. It keeps him calm and able to stay present and keyed in on each situation that comes during the game and during his work days in between starts. It’s something he started in 2023, his first season after the back injury. “The Power of Now” includes guidance on meditation.
If Canning overthinks a situation on the mound, he won’t throw his pitches with conviction. Most pitchers will tell you that you shouldn’t be throwing pitches without conviction. Thursday night against the St. Louis Cardinals, catcher Luis Torrens called for a changeup to Brendan Donovan with two outs and a runner on third. Canning had some pause, feeling that it might not be the right pitch, but he still threw it on 1-0.
Donovan sent a hard ground-ball up the middle. Shortstop Francisco Lindor made a diving stop on the edge of the grass but couldn’t make a play, and the runner scored.
He could have shook off Torrens, but he didn’t. And he doesn’t blame Torrens for calling the pitch because so far this season, it’s been effective in generating ground-ball outs. While giving up a run was frustrating, that one at-bat proved beneficial in helping Canning and Torrens realize the St. Louis lineup was waiting on his offspeed pitches.
He started throwing more fastballs to keep them off balance, and didn’t give up another run.
“I had that feeling where it was like, ‘No, I shouldn’t throw this,’ because I felt like that’s what he was looking for,” Canning said. “But I think it more comes down to like just coming in between innings just kind of talking through the thought process of what I was seeing versus what other people are seeing, and then kind of collaborating. Then you move forward, and it probably helps just get on the same page a little.”
Canning isn’t a pitcher who can rely on pure stuff. The 28-year-old isn’t going to overpower hitters or blow it past guys. The UCLA product relies on guile and guise with his mid-90s fastball and a slider, using a changeup and an occasional cutter. So for him, the mental aspect of pitching is just as important as the physical aspect.
“There are the outliers in the league that are just better than other guys, but for the most part, we’re all pretty even in our inner talent and skill level, so it’s pretty much all mental, ” Canning said. “I try to judge myself after a game not on physical aspects, but was l present in the moment? Stuff like that. If I felt like I was in the right state of mind and I didn’t get the results, I can live with that…
“But if I’m overthinking or just don’t feel as focused or present, then those are usually the outings I’m not happy with.”
Meditation and spirituality have helped him outside of baseball as well. It helps him flush bad outings easier and get back to work in between starts, and it also helps ease his mind away from the field.
“I feel like the best seasons I’ve had, I’ve been able to kind of distinguish life here and away from the field,” Canning said. “It’s really easy to go home and just, like, think about your mechanics or everything like that, but for me, that doesn’t work very well.”
