This story is part of Peak, The Athletic’s desk covering the mental side of sports. Sign up for Peak’s newsletter here.Alex Avila caught Justin Verlander more than any other catcher. Verlander announced last week that he plans to retire after this season, his 21st. He is one of 11 pitchers to win at least three Cy Young Awards. On the days he started, Justin Verlander would walk into the clubhouse, headphones on, with a nearly blank stare. It was as if he was looking right through you because the whole day was about getting ready for his start.You didn’t want to get in his way. I only spoke to him to go over the other team’s lineup and our game plan. After that, it was straight back to his headphones.A lot of starting pitchers would act like it’s any other day and then go out there and pitch. Justin’s mentality was different: Every fifth day I’m on the mound, that is my day. That’s my one day to make an impact for this team. I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure I’m as successful as possible on that one day.He wanted zero distractions, and that’s what separated him from being a good pitcher to being a killer on the mound.Great players always start with incredible God-given physical ability that they develop over time. Bigger, faster, stronger. But for every Justin Verlander, there are hundreds of guys with the same ability who either never made it or never had anything close to an average career.What separates the great ones is the mental part of the game. A lot of the time it’s finding a routine that helps you lock in mentally and reach that level. You have to really work to that mentality, that focus.And Justin was almost maniacal when it came to that part.Everything about his routine was mapped out to the minute: When he got dressed. When he put his cleats on. When he walked out to the field. When he would start to throw.The system Shohei Ohtani used to achieve career goals Elise DevlinWhen I first started catching him, I would go through his entire warm-up routine. From playing catch to playing long toss to throwing in the bullpen. He was specific about how many throws he would make. Then he would go into the bullpen and throw his warm-up pitches.He was essentially throwing a full game’s worth of pitches before the game even started. I couldn’t keep up. It was killing my arm.