Padres reliever Adrian Morejón is mastering the mental side of baseball, transforming from a pitcher prone to spiraling into a steady high-leverage arm.
When a sinker to William Contreras sailed over the fence for a go-ahead home run during Game 1 of the National League Division Series, Adrian Morejón did something he once would have found impossible: he let it go.
Following the 3-2 loss to the Brewers, the Padres reliever was already looking forward. It was just a bad day at the office. he noted. and the real task was figuring out how to be better tomorrow. For most, that perspective is merely professional boilerplate. For Morejón, it is the product of three years spent retraining his own mind.
Long before he became a high-leverage fixture for San Diego, the Cuban left-hander was often his own harshest critic. When a pitch went wrong. his internal narrative would unravel. leading to a cycle of self-doubt and perfectionism that leaked onto the mound. In 2023. coming off a series of injuries—including Tommy John surgery in 2021—and a frustrating season where he posted a 7.00 ERA in just nine major league innings. he reached a breaking point. Confidence plummeted with every walk. and the mounting pressure of his $11 million signing bonus and the expectations of a career started at 16 began to take a toll.
During that offseason, pitching coach Jose Rada noticed a glaring void in Morejón’s development plan. Looking at a list of relievers and their focus areas. Rada showed Morejón the document; next to his name. the space for mechanical adjustments was blank. His arm wasn’t the issue. The instruction was simple: work on the mental side.
It was a difficult pill for a young athlete raised in a culture that often views seeking mental health support as an unnecessary burden. It took the encouragement of his wife. Melany. and a persistent push from Rada in early 2024 to finally connect with mental performance coach Jeremías Alvarez. Since then. the two have established a year-round rhythm. meeting weekly online and texting daily to process everything from life transitions to the daily stresses of the bullpen.
By the 2026 season, the work began to yield tangible results. Morejón finished the year with a career-high 86 innings pitched. a 2.83 ERA. and a 1.08 WHIP. culminating in his first All-Star appearance in 2025. Pitching coach Ruben Niebla. who once felt the need to visit the mound to stabilize Morejón. now finds himself making far fewer trips. The pitcher who once worried about how a rough first month of a season would define his year now views setbacks as temporary hurdles rather than failures.
The philosophy is etched into his gear. Inside his glove, the word “Presente” serves as a constant reminder to stay in the moment. It is a mindset he credits to the example of elite athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. whose focus on self-awareness convinced him that ignoring the mental side of the game was a disadvantage.
As the Padres face elimination in Game 3 on Tuesday night at Petco Park. the stakes for the upcoming free agent are immense. While the future of his career—and his uniform—remains uncertain, Morejón is keeping his focus narrow. He has delegated the contract talks to his agent. choosing instead to prioritize the immediate task of helping his team survive the postseason. For a man who spent years fighting his own thoughts. the goal is simple: be the same person every day. regardless of the score. Just pitch by pitch. Presente.
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