A Pitchers' Duel and the End of Middle School Baseball

Friday morning, I woke up with an unfamiliar feeling.  A feeling a hadn't felt since the morning of the state championship finals vs. Giles County in Lawrenceburg for JP's Dodgers, four years ago.  

I was nervous.  

Not for me, of course, but for JP.  Coach Martin had held JP back so he could pitch him against a strong David Lipscomb squad in the first round of the HVAC tournament on Friday night.  JP was excited to get the start in a big game.  I knew he felt like he needed to carry the team for them to have a chance to win.

It's been an up and down season, as I knew it would be.  With such a young team, that was to be expected.  There is a big difference in the maturity level of seventh graders and eighth graders and I know that was challenging to Coach Martin.  All the more reason, I think, for JP to feel like he needed to pitch well and go deep into the game.  

And that's exactly what he did.  

JP and David Lipscomb's pitcher were evenly matched and it was clear, early, that it was going to be a low scoring game unless one team broke it open with a big inning based on walks or errors.  Both pitchers were throwing well enough that it was going to be difficult for the other team to generate any real offense.  Neither team threatened early.

I could tell JP had his good stuff from the beginning of the game.  A lot of hop on his fastball and good control.  He had his curve working well enough to keep batters off balance, too, and even struck a kid out looking on an 0-2 curve ball.  12 o'clock - 6 o'clock, like his guy, Clayton Kershaw.  Slow and sweeping.  He didn't his curve as much, really, as he was spotting his fastball so well that he was able to keep David Lipscomb's hitters off balance.  

Probably the most impressive part of his outing was that he completely kept David Lipscomb's first four hitters in check.  They are baseball players, particularly the shortstop (#27), who hit a 320' home run to deep left field in the game at Pitts Park a couple of weeks ago.  While he didn't overpower the top of their lineup, he induced multiple popups and fly outs early in counts, which kept his pitch count low.  To that end, JP had at least two five or six pitch innings.  

I always tell the boys that the most important thing a pitcher can do is keep the batter off balance.  That doesn't mean, necessarily, striking out a bunch of hitters.  What it does mean, though, is to pitch under control with good control, spot your fastball, work the outside of the plate, and force hitter to ground out weekly or better yet, to hit fly balls.  In other words, trust your defense and let them do their work for you.

By the fifth inning, it looked like JP was tiring a bit.  He gave up a hit or a walk - I forget - but got out of the inning with no further damage.  The sixth inning was more of the same.  As I recall, they leadoff batter walked on four pitches, never a good sign.  The next batter bunted a ball down the first base line - a good baseball play in a scoreless game - and beat it out for a hit when Gavin (at first base) and JP both tried to field the ball, while the second baseman failed to cover first base.  

Trouble.  Men on first and second, no outs, the number eight batter in David Lipscomb's lineup at the plate.  JP got ahead, early, and threw a fastball on the outside half of the plate, which the batter popped up in foul territory just behind first base.  Gavin drifted back and made a nice play to catch the foul popup near the fence just past the infield as David Lipscomb's players and fans jeered in a futile effort to distract him.  

JP noticed that the runner on first base had strayed off the bag, so he scrambled over to first base.  Gavin saw him and tossed the ball to JP to double the runner off first base in what was a veteran, thinking man's baseball play.  Gavin and JP are good friends and the leaders of the team, so it was good to see them make that play.  Two outs, runner at second base.

JP quickly got ahead of the batter in the nine hole.  He threw a fastball on the outside half of the plate, again.  To the hitter's credit, he got enough of the ball to hit a pop up down the right field line behind first base.  The right fielder - who probably was playing too deep - charged in and dove for the ball but couldn't quite get it.  It bounced off his glove just inside the foul line and the run easily scored.  1-0 David Lipscomb.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, David Lipscomb brought their shortstop in to close the game - old #27.  He throws hard.  The boys were overmatched against him when he closed out the game with the bases loaded in the 7-4 loss at Pitts Park.  One of the parents had a radar gun at Friday's game, I later learned, and he was hitting 75 mph.

JP was leading off and took a first pitch fast ball for a strike.  The pitcher threw a curve ball in the dirt, which JP laid off of for ball one.  The next pitch was a fast ball.  JP absolutely smoked it to left center field.  I was thinking double and he was, too, as he took a giant turn around first base.  The left fielder fielded it cleanly and discretion being the better part of valor, JP returned to first base with a leadoff single.

Now, here's where it gets tricky.  I would have had JP stealing own the first pitch, as he's not been thrown out stealing all season long.  Instead, JP stayed put and the next batter tried twice to bunt him over but couldn't get a bunt down.  With two strikes, he hit a ground ball to the left side and forced JP at second base.  The same boy quickly stole second and MBA had a runner in scoring position.

With two outs, Gavin - a lefty - poked a base hit thorough the left side of the infield.  Coach Martin waved the runner home - I would have, too - and the left fielder made a perfect throw to nail him at home by couple of inches.  Inning over.  

When JP came out to pitch the seventh inning, I was surprised, even though I knew his pitch count wasn't high.  As was the case against Ensworth,  the adrenalin was flowing, as JP's fastball had some real pop as he warmed up.  I knew he wanted to finish the game and I loved it.  

David Lipscomb's batters were overmatched - and I don't say that lightly - and JP got out of the inning with five pitches.  I was stunned.  I walked back to where Jude was standing and gave her a kiss.  I think we both had tears in our eyes.  

I watched as JP walked off the field at 42nd Street for what was likely the final time as a middle school baseball player.  Coach Martin met him, stopped him for a long moment, and with his arm around him, congratulated him on a stellar pitching performance.  

I continued to watch as JP sat down on the bench and his teammates, one at a time, lined up to congratulate them.  One after the other, they walked up to him, and patted him on the back or shook his hand.  It was an emotional thing for me to watch as a father.  I wondered what JP was feeling at that exact moment.  Relief.  Pride.  

David Lipscomb retired MBA in the bottom of the seventh inning and just like that, the season was over.  JP's middle school baseball career was over.  

It was a great baseball game between two even matched, well coached teams.  Really, a pleasure to watch.  

It was such a blessing, for me, to watch JP compete - and lead his team - like he did Friday night and, really, all season.  It was exactly the type of season I wanted him to have playing for Coach Martin.   I was, and am, so proud of him.

These are the days.

JP and Gavin.  Team leaders.

JP and Coach Martin.

  

Joey Baseball

I'll cover it at length at some point but for reasons that were out of my control, Joe and the remaining "Junior Dodgers" - Ram, Trey, George, and Nico - ended up without a baseball team to play on this spring a week and a half before the signups for WNSL closed.  Through a fortuitous set of circumstances and after I spent a week working the telephone - and with absolutely no help from Oliver Davis, whom I had coached with on the Diamondbacks for three years - I found a spot for the boys on the Nationals in the WNSL Majors (11 - 12 year olds).

It's been an adjustment to be sure, for Joe and me, playing with different boys and me watching and not coaching.  Again, another story for another time, in terms of how it all went down.  For now, though, we're moving on and enjoying playing baseball with the big boys.

Early in the season and as was the case last season, too, Joe has lost velocity when he's pitching.  I'm convinced he threw harder from the mound when he was nine years old, almost ten, then he has the past year or so.  There's nothing wrong with his arm because he makes all the throws from shortstop and I've seen him throw runners out at home as the cutoff man on balls hit to the outfield.  Also, when he warms up or we long toss, he hums the ball.

What I've decided is that when he pitches, he aims the ball rather than just letting it fly.  There are probably multiple reasons for that but it's been frustrating - for him and for me - to have him take the baseball to pitch and end with balls that have a noticeable arc to them.  This is especially true when he one of his 10 year old all star team's most dependable and durable pitcher last summer.  

JP and I took Joe to David Lipscomb last Sunday for a pitching workout.  I caught while JP stood with Joe and fine tuned his delivery a bit.  Then, JP and I switched, and he caught Joe while I modified his starting position from the stretch, the position of his feet, and worked with him on balance, driving with his legs, and allowing his momentum to take him toward home plate as he finished each pitch.  One workout with more to come because we agreed that Joe was pitching his best a couple of years ago - during the pandemic - when JP was throwing with him every day.

Last night, because he's Joe - and I'd like to think because he's my son - he told Coach Troy he wanted the ball against the Dodgers.  I love that about him.    

Joe is the youngest player on our team.  He's young enough that we could have played him down this season with the 9 - 10 year olds but he didn't want that and I didn't want that for him either.  JP and the Dodgers always moved up early and that's what we wanted to do with Joe.  Better to struggle, early, against 12 year olds, hitting and pitching, then to dominate 9 year olds.  

At any rate, Joe's work over the weekend immediately paid dividends last night.  It was clear he was throwing harder from the get go without sacrificing much control.  I had told him, multiple times, that I was okay if he walked batters as long as he was throwing hard.  He may have walked one or, maybe, two batters last night, but he also struck out seven batters in three innings.  

Now, the Dodgers we played were not very good at all but, still, Joe was throwing hard and piling up the strikeouts.  It was a good, confidence building game for him.  His hitting was average, at best - we're working on that, too - but his pitching was much improved.  The outing was something for him to build on, for sure.  

The key thing for me, of course, is that Joe wanted the ball.  It's the same with JP, too.  He wanted the ball - and he'll get it - this afternoon when MBA plays David Lipscomb in the first round of the HVAC middle school baseball tournament.

Gamers, both of them.  And I love it.

What a Father Wants to Hear

Sometimes, it's not about the results.  

Before the MBA middle school baseball season started, JP and I talked about our expectations about how the season would go.  I reminded him that most likely, his team would struggle at times, given that there were 13 seventh graders and only five eighth graders.  It would be different from last season, when he was the only seventh grader on the A team.  

What I told him, as well, is that I wasn't really concerned about his performance on the field this season.  My goal for him was to grow as a leader, recognizing that this was probably his last chance to truly lead a school sports team until he was a junior or, more likely, a senior in high school.  I was looking for growth in the leadership department.  I thought this was a unique opportunity for JP to develop his leadership skills and I wanted him to take advantage of it.

Sure enough, the team has struggled at times.  They're slightly under .500 right now with the regular season in the books.  The HVAC tournament starting tomorrow night.  It's been frustrating for JP, at times, because some of the younger players don't pay attention or consistently work hard in practice.  JP is a grinder.  He puts the work in and he expects his teammates to do the same.  He's having to learn that winning and losing - and improving individually - isn't as important to everyone as it is to him.  

What I think I'm finding out - and I already suspected - is that a lot of kids these days (especially private school kids) just aren't that hungry to improve, to excel, to achieve.  Somehow, it's become cool not to work hard or strive for success and individual improvement.  So many kids JP and Joe go to school with have everything.  Nice houses, nice cars, extravagant vacations.  Why work hard when it's all given to you?

That's not the way Jude and I are raising our boys.  I'm beyond thankful that JP and Joe understand the value of hard work, maybe because on some level they see Jude and me grinding every day.  They also see me run, often, to try and stay in shape.  They see - I hope - that it takes hard to work to gain a measure of success in life.

Last Friday night, JP played a game at Pitts Park in Antioch.  It's an old school baseball park and one of my favorites.  I was talking to a dad before the game who also happens to be one of JP's favorite teacher thus far at MBA.  He told me how much he enjoyed having JP in class.  He told me JP made his class better my participating and helping lead thoughtful discussions.  Continuing, he complimented JP on being so well rounded as a scholar and an athlete.  Coming from a teacher and coach that JP and I respect, those comments meant a lot to me.  

Tuesday, during a home game at the MBA field on 42nd Street, a father approached Jude and asked if we were JP's parents.  He introduced himself and told us his won was a seventh grader and teammate of JP's. He told us that while JP is a good baseball player, what really had impressed him was what a good leader he was for this team.  Always encouraging other, younger teammates.  Getting the guys ready to play before games.  

Honestly, I get a bit emotional writing this, because as a father, it's exactly what I wanted to hear someone else say about my son.  It's exactly what JP and I talked about before the baseball season started.  JP's grown as a leader, I think, and it makes me really, really proud to see another father notice that about him.

My enduring memory of JP's eighth grade baseball season may be what I saw later that game, after the father talked to Jude and me.  JP was the designated hitter and after his buddy and teammate, Gavin, worked out of a jam to end an inning, Coach Martin and JP, burst from the dugout, side by side, clapping and encouraging the boys as they trotted off the field to bat.  JP looked like an assistant coach, in part because he's bigger than most of the seventh graders.  

Snapshot moment to be sure and one I will remember for a long time.

JP Ohtani

JP's MBA middle school team played Ensworth Tuesday afternoon, at home, on our baseball field on 42nd Street.  JP was hyped for the game because Ensworth is a rival and it was a league game.  Also, he suspected he would pitch.  He was ready.

Fortunately, my work schedule was such that I was able to get across town from Franklin to the game with no problem.  It was a beautiful day for baseball after a lot of rain last week.  Days like Tuesday remind me how lucky I am to be a father and to have the opportunity to watch JP and Joe compete in a variety of sports.  

JP's buddy, Gavin, started the game pitching.  He's a crafty left hander who struggles with his control at times but is a very good pitcher.  He and JP are a good lefty-righty combination, one that I suspect I'll see a lot more of in the years to come.  Gavin's also a fantastic young man.  Polite, respectful, funny.  He's the kind of boy I want JP running around with, to be sure.

Gavin hit the leadoff batter with his first pitch, the irony being he's a friend of his.  He hit the same boy later with two strikes on him.  That's baseball, though.  

Gavin gave up a run in the first when the home plate umpire missed a call.  Gavin covered home on a passed ball and swiped the runner with a nifty tag after an underhanded toss from the catcher.  I sit to the left behind the backstop and had a perfect few of the play.  The runner never touched home plate and Gavin tagged his foot.  Still, the umpire called him safe.  That's also baseball.

In the bottom of the first inning, JP, batting third, laced an RBI single to right center, plating a run.  He stole second and third base, then scored, to give MBA a 2-1 lead after one inning.  

Gavin ran into trouble in the third inning after recording two outs.  Coach Martin brought JP in with runners on first and second in an effort to put out the fire.  That's what JP did, striking out the only batter he faced in the top of the third to end the inning.

In the bottom of the third inning, JP rolled over on the first pitch from Ensworth's pitcher - a big, hard throwing right hander with a suspect curve ball - and ground the ball to third base.  The third baseman rushed his throw and pulled the first baseman off the bag.  JP stole second and third base again, then slid head first into home after the pitcher attempted to look him back on ground ball before throwing to first base for the force out.  4-1, Big Red, after three innings.  

Ensworth nicked JP for a run in the top of the fifth inning.  JP threw an 0-2 curve ball to a hitter toward the bottom of the lineup that likely couldn't have caught up with his fastball.  The batter beat out a slow roller to shortstop and later scored when Ensworth's best hitter - the pitcher I described earlier - dropped a high first pitch fastball just over the shortstop's head into left center field for an RBI single.  JP got out of a jam by striking out Champ, the cleanup hitter, and a great kid that JP played basketball with for a season a few years ago.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, JP absolutely smoked a two out double to left center field.  It was the hardest hit ball of the day for either team.  It was nice to see him hit the ball well two his three times at bat.

I was mildly surprised to see JP walk out to the mound to pitch the sixth and final inning.  He appeared to be tiring in the bottom of the fifth inning but I was wrong about that in a big way.  His first pitch to the first Ensworth was a ball, a high fastball, but it had real pop.  I could tell at that moment that JP's adrenaline was flowing and he was going to close out the game.

That's exactly what the did, too, striking out the first batter swinging.  The second batter lined out to third base.  Then, after getting two quick strikes on the third batter on fastball, JP dropped a curve ball in for strike three, looking.  Three up, three down.  Ballgame.  MBA 4 Ensworth 2.

I was proud of JP because he didn't have his best game, catching, in a tough 4-3 loss to BGA last week.  He let that game go and battled against Ensworth.  

In a family text string during the game in which I was keeping everyone updated, Tracy's son, Matthew, who rarely ever responds to texts, sent a beauty to the group.

"JP Ohtani."  

Indeed.

When Will it Ever End?

JP's 15th birthday was Tuesday but our celebration was muted, to say the least, after the mass shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville on Monday.  I'm not sure any of us felt comfortable celebrating JP's birthday in light of the tragedy that had occurred less than 10 miles from our house.

Nashville's private, or independent, school community is close knit.  Many of the kids went to elementary school together, played sports together, went to camps together, or go to church together.  So many kids, and families, are connected in some way, large or small.  As a result, a tragedy like Monday's, in which three nine year old children and three adults were slaughtered by a deranged 28-year old killer, effects so many of us as waves of grief ripple across our city.  

Monday night at bedtime, JP walked back downstairs in tears because in searching for news about the victims of the shooting on his laptop, he realized that he went to school with Hallie Scruggs' brothers at MBA.  Jude and hugged him and struggled to find words of solace to comfort him.  

What do you tell your son, on the even of his 15th birthday, when he looks you in the eye and asks how can something like this happen?

In that moment, I don't think I've ever felt more inadequate as a father.  How can I explain to JP that he lives in a world where three nine year olds and three adults can be murdered on a Monday morning, at school of all places?  How can that happen?  How can we, as a society, allow that to happen?  Where is God in all of this?  So many questions to ponder this week, many of them existential in nature.  

I don't understand how so many in our country - I would call it a vocal minority - became so gun-loving and gun-worshipping that preserving their right to own an assault rifle is more important than keeping schools safe and preserving the lives of our children.  Why can't we come together, as Americans, and have a reasoned discussion about meaningful gun reform and devoting more resources to mental health treatment.  Wouldn't that be a good place to start?

I can't comprehend how the families of the victims feels today, Sunday, as they prepare to go to church.  The parents of those three innocent children - I can't stop thinking about them.  I don't know how you go on.  I really don't.  

Jude and I had multiple conversations with JP and Joe this week, together and separately.  We've tried to help them process what happened and to answer their questions.  I guess we've tried to give them space but, at the same time, to be there when they wanted to talk about it.  There is no blueprint for how to handle something like this.  No blueprint for the families for the victims, for our family and other like ours, and for our city and our community.  

At one point, on one of our many rides to and from MBA this week, I talked to JP about my faith in God.  I confessed to him that, at first, when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, I was lost and angry at God.  For a time, I stopped going to church on Sundays, instead going to see her at Maristone and, later, NHC Place in Cool Springs.  Finally, I talked to Father David at our church - St. Patrick - and he helped me gain some much needed perspective.  

I also told him that, for me, it is important to feel like God has a plan for everything and everyone.  I probably couldn't function in life if I believed there was a randomness to everything, particularly the tragedies that occur.  I have to believe that God has his hand in all of it, the good things and the bad things.    All of it.  Now, we're not going to understand the "why" part of God's will but true faith, to me, is trusting that God has a plan.  Someday, somewhere, we'll understand it, but not during our time on this earth.  

I don't know if that was any comfort to JP or if it provided him with any insight.  I do know that JP, on his own, reached out to our priest, Father Hammond.  He's going to have a private conversation with him and I'm grateful for that.  

I'm at a loss and I feel empty, as I finish my Sunday morning coffee at Dose.  On a week when a school shooting occurred so close to home, literally, JP turned 15.  In many ways, the perfect son.  Hard working, kind, dedicated, respectful, earnest, inquisitive, disciplined.  A quiet leader in so many ways, on and off the athletic fields, and in the classroom.  

As I strolled with him through our old neighborhood in the City Elite, I dreamed he would grow up to be the kind of boy he actually has become.  In that way, sometimes dreams really do come true.