Thursday, July 2, 2020

The Diamondbacks

A while back, I made the difficult not to coach the Junior Dodgers this spring/summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  I didn't feel like I could keep seven and eight year old boys safe and socially distanced from each other during practices and games.  All of the parents agreed with me, which was nice.  Still, it left Joe out of baseball this spring for the first time in four years.

Last week, at an informal practice we had for J.P.'s Dodgers at J.T. Moore MS, I ran into Oliver, a friend whose son Joe played basketball with last fall and winter.  Oliver is a great guy and an outstanding baseball coach.  He asked if Joe had any interest in joining his Diamondbacks for the WNSL spring/summer season, which had just started.  Joe, of course, was ecstatic about the opportunity to play baseball.


I described Joe as a rental - a player trade to a rival team in the last year of his contract.  He'll return to the Junior Dodgers the fall but, for now, he's a Diamondback.  I'm excited about it, too, because it's great for Joe to play for another coach and to hear a voice, on the baseball field, that's not mine.  He's one of the older players, too, which provides him an opportunity to be a leader on the field, which is something I'm excited about, too.


Yesterday, I coached third base for the Diamondbacks at Oliver's request, as a couple of the assistant coaches were out of town.  It was great to be there, on the field, but without the responsibilities of being the head coach.  Plus, I got an up close view of Joe playing baseball, and I didn't even have to coach him.  I did, however, have to wear a mask while coaching third base, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic and a much needed mandatory mask order from the public health department.  That was different.

Joe batted third and played most of the important positions - important, that is, for 7 - 8 year old baseball - first base, second base, pitcher, shortstop, and third base.  The work Joe (and J.P.) and I have been doing in the batting cage, along with Joe's new baseball bat, seemed to pay off.  Joe went 4 - 4 and hit the ball hard to the left side of the infield each at bat.  More importantly, he encouraged his teammates and was a vocal leader, something that comes naturally to him.

The play of the day, as I far as I was concerned, occurred in the fourth inning.  Joe was playing shortstop and Oliver's son, Preston, was playing shortstop.  There was a man on first base when the batter hit a hard grounder to Joe at third base.  Joe fielded it cleanly, looked to second base, double clutched to give Preston time to get there, and fired a strike to Preston for the force out.  The fact that Joe immediately knew the right play to make - a baseball play, no less - and made it, was impressive.

The crowd paused for a moment, then cheered as the boys ran off the field.  Joe and Preston slapped gloves as they headed toward the dugout.  Standing in right field, I nodded my head and smiled to myself.  My guy, Joe, making a baseball play.  There were probably two players on the field that could have made that play - Joe and Preston - and one of them was mine.

The boys won 17 - 0.  They really do have a good team.

I miss my Junior Dodgers, but we'll be back with them in the fall.  For now, go Diamondbacks.


Notice the Dodger blue shoes.  Nice.

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