Ankiel was one of baseball’s top pitching prospects when he broke into the majors with St. Louis in 1999. But he struggled with his control in the playoffs in 2000, throwing five wild pitches in his first postseason appearance, and was never the same pitcher again.

He restarted his career as an outfielder and made it back to the majors, finishing with a .240 batting average, 76 homers and 251 runs batted in through 11 seasons. He played his final game in 2013 with the Mets.

“For me, I’m a resource and a confidant for these guys,” Ankiel said when asked to describe his new role. “Anything they need help with. If they want to talk about stuff on the field, or if they need help with stuff off the field, whatever it may be. I’m just here for them to lean on and pass along all the things I’ve learned along my way.”

Ankiel worked with the pioneering sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman during his playing career and plans to pass along much of what he learned.

The Red Sox announced in January that they had hired Dr. Richard Ginsburg to run their new behavioral-health program. Ginsburg is also a co-director of the Paces Institute of Sports Psychology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Bob Tewksbury, Laz Gutierrez and Justin Su’a were named mental-skills coaches. Tewksbury, who won 110 games in 13 seasons in the majors, had the same position with Boston for nine years before he spent last year with the players’ union.

Chicago unveiled its new mental-skills program in February, with Lifrak joining the team after spending 10 years as a mental-conditioning consultant at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla. The former major league outfielder Darnell McDonald and Rey Fuentes are coordinators for the department, and Dr. Ken Ravizza has agreed to take on a consultant’s role.

Ravizza also worked with Maddon during his time with the Los Angeles Angels and the Tampa Bay Rays.

“I think that everyone can use someone to talk to about how to improve their focus, how to deal with failure, how to deal with stuff off the field,” Hoyer said. “It makes a lot of sense, and we’re hardly alone. I think a lot of teams have gone the route we are. It just makes sense. It’s kind of another tool in your toolbox to deal with playing baseball at a high level.”