# Colt Keith has changed everything – mind, body and even his breathing
full article, not sure if I posted this previously or not.
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Everything Keith did over the winter and in spring training was designed for him to get off to a better regular-season start, after a history of slow starts.
Back in 2024, Keith struggled through April (hitting .163) before heating up in May (.342).
Then, in 2025, Keith struggled through March (.154) and April (.186) before heating up in May (.288).
To Keith, the solution was obvious: He had to change how he prepared for the season. Mentally and physically.
It’s still early, but to this point, the results have been unmistakable.
Cutting calories and slimming down
The first thing Keith did was change his body.
During the offseason, he reduced his daily calorie intake. Instead of consuming 3,200 calories, he cut it to around 2,800. “I thinned down a little bit body fat, just so I can be a little quicker, faster, more agile."
“Less body fat,” he said. “Then I worked on speed and agility and took an absurd amount of ground balls at third and second, way more than 100 a day.”
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He also tweaked his setup in the batter’s box, focusing on being loose and relaxed, instead of robotic and stiff.
“The key for me is just going to be making sure I stay loose,” Keith said. “When I reflect back on it, I feel like I’ve tried very hard to have success early in the season, and that correlates to me being tight and trying to muscle up. That’s never good when you’re trying too hard at something. So that’s my goal. Just try to be smooth and play loose and play free at the same time, attacking the pitcher, attacking the ball, attacking everything, but also being under control and making sure that I’m loose.”
His goal was to find the swing mechanics that he had in 2022 and ’23 when he was hitting his way through the minor leagues. “I had a little bit of a leg raise and better timing, more flowy of a swing, instead of a stagnant, robotic swing,” Keith said.
Indeed.
Robotic swing: Bad.
Flowy: Good.
His new approach was because he changed in 2024 and ’25, when he spent two years “trying to survive,” he said.
“I want to get back to what I can put more power into the ball and backspin the ball to fields.”
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Using the fancy tools
His next change: Keith spent more time hitting in a Trajekt batting cage. It’s a fancy (and incredibly expensive) machine that is like a robot that simulates different MLB pitchers. It plays the video of any pitcher’s windup, then spits out pitches that mimic that hurler’s repertoire.
“I’ve been facing Trajekt every single day, trying to see the ball as best as I can, to get that timing down,” he said Feb. 20. “That’s as close as you can get to the real thing. That way I can get going earlier in the season, like just trying to get as much live pitching as I can.”
That day, he faced Casey Mize in a live batting session. “Today, I’m facing Casey and I should be able to get five or six of bats,” Keith said. “Hopefully just get as much as I can. Then, later in camp, I’m going down to the minor-league side later in the day and I want to lead off every inning in their scrimmages, stuff like that. I’m just trying to see as much as I can so I can get my timing and see spin before the season actually starts this year.”
While some of his teammates were ramping up slowly, Keith was going as fast and as hard as he could, trying to push the limit. But it did come with a risk.
“God forbid, I get injured, but that’s the worst case,” Keith said. “I just want to toe that line between being sore every day and not being so sore I can’t play. I’m trying to get the start earlier instead of in July. I feel like I’m doing more than I ever have early in spring but I feel like I’m recovering well and I should be fine.”
So, when you saw him cranking doubles in his first week – he had four in his first six games – that’s where it started. By being sore every day in spring training. Doing all kinds of extra work.
Just breathe
There’s one more thing Keith has changed: His breathing, of all things.
He has been concentrating on taking deep exhale breaths as a calming technique.
“I’m trying to get a lot of carbon dioxide into my body before I hit,” he said. “It kind of lowers the heart rate.”
He got the tip from the Tigers’ strength coach, as well as a mental skills expert with the Tigers, and he practices breathing techniques using an app on his phone. “It takes you out of fight-or-flight mode,” he said. “Your coordination and everything works better. There’s a whole science to it.
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consistently that Tigers manager A.J. Hinch moved him up to leadoff during a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“He’s less anxious at the plate,” Hinch said. “He is more in control of his game plan. He’s delivering the bat with excellent bat speed and precision. Just overall, more confident player entering this season than he’s been. That’s what experience does. Now, he fully feels like a big leaguer here, as he should.
“I want him up to bat a lot and he controls his at-bats. He’s walking. He’s hitting the ball arguably as hard as he has his whole career, and he’s a real offensive threat.”
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Through his first six games, Keith is hitting .364 and just missed a couple home runs.
So, is everything fixed?
“Talk to me in May or June,” he said.
This is the new Keith. He has a maturity about him. He has found a perspective.
He’s not thinking in terms of a single at-bat. Or a single game. Or even a week.
“Obviously, results-wise, I’ve been hitting the ball well and seeing it well," he said. “Come back to me middle of May, and we’ll see how it goes. But as of right now, I’m seeing it well.”
The reason seems obvious.
Keith has put in a ton of work, grinding through the winter and spring, working on his body and mind – shoot, even his breathing – to get off to a fast start.
So, right now, don’t hold your breath – or maybe, everybody should just exhale deeply, along with Keith, and find that inner calm – because it’s working
