This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here.Adamo Stornello was a teammate of Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski at Crowder College. Misiorowski has a 1.45 ERA for the Brewers and has thrown a pitch 105 mph. Stornello is an assistant coach at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.Jacob Misiorowski always seemed so mellow before games. In junior college, we would play a seven-inning game and then right afterward play a full nine-inning game. Miz always started the second game, so we would both sit and watch the first game.He would be absolutely chilling, talking to the guys. Toward the end of the game, I would head down to the bullpen to start getting my body loose. I would throw some plyo balls, warm up, get myself ready mentally.It’s funny because it always seemed like I warmed up way more than he did. Miz was almost zen-like.He would just look at me and say: “You ready to go?”He had unwavering confidence. It was almost as if he were thinking: It’s going to go right for me, obviously, because I’m more talented than everyone else. But I’m also better prepared.It wasn’t always that way with him.In junior college baseball, there’s a big culture around the weight room. Maybe it’s the dinginess of the situation.At least that’s how we were at Crowder College in Neosho, Missouri.We embraced the hardness of our workouts. We were going to push ourselves and yell at each other and get after one another and hold each other accountable, including Miz.He was going to be drafted out of high school, but he battled injuries, and COVID-19 ruined his senior season. So he came to Crowder instead and then tore his meniscus in his first start.It wasn’t going the way it was supposed to go, and I’m sure some thoughts were running through his head: Damn, I was supposed to be a major-league draft pick.Spencer Strider is a self-described "backwards thinker"Elise DevlinThere was a famous offseason workout at Crowder called nine-and-downs. It took place on Thursdays at 6 a.m. at the basketball courts.