"I’ll probably bat from the right side to even it out." I told him honestly.
His lips twitched. "You won’t be getting a hundred pitches this ti."
Oh. I looked at my feet.
Noah put his hand on my shoulder. "Don’t worry. I’m sure we’ll get a lot of batting in this week so it’ll be fine."
Coach Leroy stuck to his word and accompanied our group after everyone finished their turn in the cages. Chandler looked our way, but didn’t say anything. He just waved at the group to follow him to the field. The real field. The stadium.
Chandler took us through an open side gate, near the right field foul line. I didn’t know what to expect, but I sure didn’t expect to see a bunch of players already inside the stadium. Chandler took us to a spot in front of the visitors dugout, near first base. He faced us, glanced at his coach, then spoke up. "This is the next batting station. Live pitching. The pitchers you go up against will be random. Each pitcher is going up against three batters like a normal inning."
"Are we not running the bases at all?" Soone asked.
"There aren’t any fielders..." Chandler deadpanned. "Why would you run? You either strikeout or get a hit. It’s like any normal at-bat, but no running. Kind of like a simulation ga for the pitchers."
"So you’re testing us and them at the sa ti." Noah said, understanding the situation.
"Exactly." He nodded. "Get in nurical order again and I’ll let you guys know when it’s your turn." He walked away from our group and headed towards another counselor at the group in front of us. He was probably checking how long it would be.
"I’ll go check in with the other staff mbers and see how it’s going." Coach Leroy stepped away from Noah and I. He glanced at . "Try not to hit any line drives at the pitchers."
I shook my head imdiately. "I would never."
"Good boy." He gave a nod and left, heading for the coaches by the mound.
"You guys know Coach Leroy personally??" Travis whispered, leaning in. So of the other guys also looked at us.
Noah shrugged. "Kind of. Our oldest brother is going to be a freshman in the fall."
"Zeke Atkins..." One of the guys mumbled. "He’s the guy that turned down the MLB even though he’s a first-round pick."
"Crazy dude."
"I wonder why he picked college. Like what did Stanford really offer him?"
"Probably blackmailed him."
Noah stepped out of line and faced everyone. "Listen up, guys. Zeke made his decision based on reason and not so under-the-table deal. Would you say the sa things about Bradley Thompson?"
That seed to settled the group down. There was already a star playing at Stanford so what’s the big deal about getting another one to co to the school?
"I wish I could play with both of them." Adam sighed.
"Sa."
" too."
"I bet they win the college championship this spring."
"Agreed."
"With ease."
"I don’t know...Villanova has so good prospects. Stanford doesn’t rank too highly in the pitching categories."
"They’ll win for sure!" Noah spoke up again.
The conversation about college teams and playoff odds continued until Chandler ca back. Noah stepped back in line and everyone simultaneously straightened up in his presence.
"We’ll be up next. The pitcher’s get to rotate every three, but you guys will get three at-bats each. You’ll go up, announce your number, and step up to bat. After your at-bat, get in the back of the line. You’ll be guaranteed three different pitchers so don’t worry too much about the outcos of your first at-bat."
"Just worry if you get struck out two tis in a row." Noah speculated. "Got it."
Chandler cracked a smile. "Rember that the pitchers that co here are on the sa skill level, if not better. My advice: don’t do too much and treat it like you’re a pinch hitter." He looked at the first guy in line. "Go up."
The guy left the line and went up as a pitcher stood on the mound.
"Hey, do you think the catcher hates doing bullpen work like Mitchell?" Noah asked quietly.
I shrugged and whispered back. "This isn’t really bullpen work though. It’s like...a ga. Two versus one. The catcher still has to fra the ball after a successful catch."
"I wonder if the catchers are changing too." Noah said. "And did they co up with so kind of signs? Otherwise, how do they know which pitch is coming?"
I shrugged again. This was beyond .
"The catchers and pitchers are probably using the basic signals." Travis overheard us and told us his guess.
"What are the basic signals..?" I asked.
"Not like you need to know." Noah laughed. He looked over at Travis. "Do you think that ans we can peek down to get a hint as to what is coming?"
He shook his head. "I wouldn’t think so. They might not say anything, but I’m sure they’ll note it down."
Noah shrugged. "It’s part of the ga though."
"Breaking unwritten rules is not a good way to get stand out to coaches." He advised. "You can try it if you want, but I won’t."
Noah sighed. "Nah. I was told to behave. And this is just a test so I don’t feel like cheating. Maybe in a real ga, I might change my mind." He laughed. "But they wouldn’t use basic signals in gas so it’s a moot point."
I nodded. "Zeke would get mad if you cheated."
The line moved up as players in our group took turns batting. So got a hit, so struck out, one person even got walked.
"I wonder how they’re grading these at-bats." Travis humd as the person who got walked, ca back and stood last in line. "Obviously max points would be a horun. But without fielders, it’s not like we know if it’s a real hit or not."
"Strikeouts, slow grounders, and shallow pop ups are probably worthless." Noah surmised. "Walks are h. They might be looking for line drives. You know...solid hits." He looked at . "What are you going to do?"
I shrugged and looked around. I didn’t want to hit any players or coaches. "Probably a line drive down the left field baseline?" That’s open.
"You should try for a horun." Noah suggested. "You’ve done it once before."
I looked to the outfield. It was empty, but...the fence was slightly further away than I’m used to. "I don’t know..." Last ti could have been a fluke.
"I think you could do it with the right kind of matchup." Travis said, surprising by his optimism. "In the cages, you showed off so real power. You have one of the nicest swings and movents I’ve seen. Heck, I’ve never seen soone hit a ball so consistently before. Never mind the fact that the speed was being raised to max. That was so real crazy shit."
I blushed, looking away.
"I think you could do it too." Noah told . "We’ve been working out like crazy for the last month." He thought about it. "If you’re unsure, then aim for the corner again. That’s the shortest distance for horuns."
I gripped my bat. "I guess I could give it a go..."
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