Joey Strike Zone

Sunday afternoon, in their second game of the spring baseball season, Joe's Diamondbacks played a team of fourth graders from Brentwood.  We knew they would be good - probably the best team the boys play all season - and they were.

The plan was to start Oliver's son, Preston, who is our best pitcher.  Oliver and I were hoping to get three innings out of Preston, then close the game with Joe, probably our second best pitcher.  As is so often the case with youth sports, however, the plan quickly went awry. 

Preston was hit hard in the top of the first inning and, as Oliver and I watched from the third base dugout, it looked like he was having some discomfort in his right arm.  Oliver, our head coach, went to the mound to talk to him, and left him in to see if he could work through it.  Really, it was impossible to tell if the issue with Preston was mental or physical but when he started lobbing balls over the plate - normally, he is our hardest thrower - Oliver visited the mount again and took him out of the game.  

Joe left shortstop and came on to pitch in relief of Preston.  One pitch.  Popup.  The Diamondbacks were out of the inning.

It's interesting and probably not altogether surprising but from what I recall of JP's pitching at age 10, Joe has a very similar style and approach.  Joe throws hard but not too hard.  He has good control.  He never gets rattled.  No moment is too big for him.  JP was precisely the same way, as a pitcher, at the same age.  In fact, I treated JP like our closer, often bringing him in to pitch in relief in high leverage situations.  I knew his emotions wouldn't get the better of him and, more importantly, I knew if he failed, it wouldn't crush him.  Joe is exactly the same way.  

In the end, Joe got hit, hard at times.  The boys lost 15 - 5 against an older, more experienced, better baseball team.  But Joe pitched his ass off.  He three 71 pitches, considerably more than I had planned or would have preferred.  He pitched strongly the whole time, though, and at one point, after he struck out the last batter to end the inning, the Padres' third base coach patted him on the back as he walked across the infield to get his players ready to take the field. 

What I really loved - and, again, Joe was channeling JP - was that before the last inning he pitched, I stepped into the dugout, found Joe, and asked him how he felt.  

"I'm good, Dad."  Joe said.  

"Do you want another inning?" I asked.  

With genuine emotion in his voice, he looked up at me and said, "YES, of course!"  

After our boys finished batting, Joe walked out to the mound and pitched another inning.  He battled.  And I was damn proud of him.

Can he learn to throw harder?  Yes, in time.  Can his control improve?  Yes.  That, too, will come in time.  Will he put the work in, like JP has?  That remains to be seen but I think he will.

What is awesome to see, though, at age 10, is his confidence and his mental and emotional makeup.  Joe is never afraid of the moment.  He's never afraid of failing.  He wants the ball in his hands - baseball or basketball - in key moments.  Does he always succeed?  Of course not, but he always competes.  And he leads, verbally and by example.  

I'm blessed, I know, to have two boys that love to compete - in sports for now but, later, in life.  I'm especially blessed to have a front row seat to it all.