Pre Game Routine

By Gus Ornstein

Every athlete has their own routine on game day to get themselves both mentally and physically ready to play. Some guys are very superstitious and go through the exact same routine for every game. They may wear the same clothes, or put on the right shoe first every time, whatever it takes to make an athlete feel confident and that he is prepared.

Travis Blackley is one such athlete who has his own unique game day ritual. Travis is a pitcher in the Philadelphia Phillies organization and is currently pitching for their AAA affiliate the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. Travis is from Australia and was originally drafted by the Mariners and had stints in the big leagues with both the mariners and the San Francisco Giants before making his way east to the Phillies organization. He has high hopes of returning to the big leagues one day and until that happens he is doing everything he can to have success at the minor league level. Listen to the following clip of an interview that we did with Travis about what he does on game day to get himself ready to hit the mound every night.

CLICK TO HEAR THE ENTIRE INTERVIEW

Tags: AA, AAA, affiliate, athlete, Australia, baseball, big league baseball, big leagues, clothes, earned runs, game, game day, game day routine, Giants, Ironpigs, Lehigh, Lehigh Valley, Major League baseball, Mariners, mentally, Minor league baseball, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Phillies, Phillies, physically, Pitcher, Pitching, rituals, routine, San Francisco, San Francisco Giants, Seattle, Seattle Mariners, strike outs, strikeouts, superstitious, Travis Blackley, valley, walks