Angels hire sports psychologist Ken Ravizza as consultant

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The Angels have hired Dr. Ken Ravizza, a professor of applied sports psychology at Cal State Fullerton and an authority on performance enhancement, stress management skills and coping strategies, as a consultant.

Ravizza worked with the Angels from 1985-2000, and for the last two years he has been on the Tampa Bay Rays staff as their performance consultant and sports psychiatrist.

Ravizza is a longtime friend of Rays Manager and former Angels bench coach Joe Maddon, and he is credited with helping Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria develop into the American League rookie of the year in 2008. The two worked together when Longoria played at Long Beach State.

In addition to his extensive work with Cal State Fullerton athletes, Ravizza has worked with the Dodgers, the New York Jets, the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Toronto Argonauts.

As a sports psychology consultant to the Fullerton baseball team in 2004, Ravizza placed a small toy toilet in the team’s dugout so players could ‘flush’ their mistakes. Pre-flush, the team was 15-16 and pressing badly; post-flush the team went 32-6 and won the College World Series.

No word on whether Ravizza, who was in spring-training camp with the Angels on Tuesday, placed one of those toilets in the locker of infielder Brandon Wood, who hit .146 in his first season as a big league starter.

-- Mike DiGiovanna