Director - Behavioral Science/Major League Mental Performance
Melissa Lambert is in her seventh season with the Royals and fourth as the Director of Behavioral Science/Major League Mental Performance. She joined the organization in 2020 as the Assistant Director of Behavioral Science. In her role, Lambert provides support to the Major League players and coaches with mental performance, mitigates risk for any mental health issues and oversees mental performance programming for the department.
She previously served as an EAP and Mental Skills Coach with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2019, performing similar duties as her current role. Prior to getting into baseball, Lambert was a Mental Health Therapist and specialized in working with student athletes. She was also a Program Director for an intensive child and adolescent therapy program in Connecticut, a youth sports coach and a consultant for Athletes Acceleration on child development and performance psychology. She is certified in Therapeutic Crisis Intervention Training through Cornell University, a trainer for Mental Health First Aid and is a licensed professional counselor in the states of Connecticut, Arizona and Missouri.
In January 2025, she was announced as the Kissick Construction Game Changer Award honoree for the Women’s Sports Awards. The annual awards program is WIN for KC’s biggest fundraiser and the largest luncheon in the country celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day.
Lambert received her master’s of education in clinical mental health counseling from Springfield College (Mass.) in 2009. She also has a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Eastern Connecticut State. While at ECSU, she was an all-conference defender on the Warriors’ soccer team (2004-07) and was also named All-New England and an Outstanding Scholar Athlete.
A native of Montville, Conn., Lambert currently resides in Litchfield Park, Ariz.