For Marcus Semien, his performance on the field sometimes would impact how he felt at home.
If the A's shortstop went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, he would be frustrated and it would be difficult to turn that off.
"It's very intense," he said.
As part of NBC Sports' documentary, "HEADSTRONG: Mental Health and Sports." Semien detailed the ups and downs of playing professional baseball and how he has improved over the years with dealing with the stresses and difficulties it can bring.
Semien, who committed 35 errors in 2015, enlisted the help of Ron Washington in hopes of building his confidence and improving his defensive performance.
And improve he did. Semien cut his errors down significantly, ultimately being named an AL Gold Glove Finalist in 2018.
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Still, Semien knows he can't let his focus wane.
"There's been times where you're so hard on yourself over an at-bat and you bring it out to the field and you make an error on the field and you think 'Why did I just make that error?' cuz I was thinking about my at-bat," he chuckled.
But he's working on it.
[RELATED: Semien shares reaction to being named MVP finalist]
The 2019 AL MVP finalist continues to work on the mental side of the game, and knows that he and other athletes perform at their best when they're able to keep a level head.
You can watch all of the "HEADSTRONG: Mental Health and Sports" vignettes right here. The full documentary will play all month on NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California.
Check our channel listings page for times and dates.
