The Hitting Zone

"No batting gloves?" Mitchell asked as I got closer to home plate.

"I like it better without them." I fixed my grip, getting in the lefty's box.

"You're going to try to chase his breaking balls?" Mitchell squatted into position.

"I have a good reach." I got my feet set and pulled my bat back, eyes on Garret.

Garret nodded at Mitchell's sign and got set. He started his motion. As soon as that ball left his fingertips, I was swinging. It was a straightforward fastball right now the middle. I sent it right back, dead center field.

"Really??" Noah laughed. "One pitch, one hit. Is that how you wanted to challenge Jake?"

"I was just showing you the difference between you and him." Garret quipped. "You swung out on the very same pitch that he could hit a line drive to center."

Mitchell threw Garret a new ball. "Okay, okay. No arguing with the peanut gallery. Get your head on straight."

"I'm fine." Garret toed the rubber, knocking on it with his cleat. He got set again. Him and Mitchell agreed on the pitch selection and Garret started his motion. This time, when it left his fingertips, I was a little more cautious. I swung a little late on the cutter, fouling it back.

The next pitch was the slider, and I fouled it down the third base line. 0-2. Slider again, just barely went foul. 0-2. Garret threw a fastball inside. I had to adjust and fouled it down the first base line. 0-2. It was just as difficult for a batter to swing outside and then inside as a pitcher who had to throw it. Pinpoint precision was required.

Another pitch, but it was breaking outside. Breaking way more than usual. I struggled and tipped it back…into Mitchell's glove. A foul-tip strikeout.

"YESSSS!" Garret pumped his fist on the mound.

Mitchell jumped up and jogged to him to celebrate too.

I simply stayed in the box. I even took a practice swing at the imaginary pitch. It was harder to reach. The trajectory was a little different. Maybe a new pitch type? Or like a cross between the cutter and slider…but it dropped even more. In terms of how much his breaking balls diverge, the cutter is minimal movement, coming in on righty's. His slider has just a little more break. Maybe an extra inch. But this-

I frowned and took another practice swing. It was hard to reach. It dropped out of the zone. I would have to hold back and let it pass for a ball. I looked up at Noah in the dugout. He was staring at me. "Hey…can you be the umpire?"

Noah jumped up. "Sure!"

"There's some extra gear in my bag that you can use for protection." Mitchell had heard me and told Noah. "Grab the mask at least so we don't have any accidents." He started to head back to home plate. "Let's keep going. We'll give Jake one more at bat, then switch back to you, Noah."

We really did keep going. Most of the afternoon until Dave showed up, telling us it was time for dinner.

"I was wondering why you guys were at the park for so long." Dave said as we untied our cleats and packed our bags. "I could see you two coming here together for practice, but didn't expect Garret and Mitchell."

"Yea, I brought them home to get their gear and then we messed around a whole lot." Garret explained.

"Messed around?" Noah repeated after him. He rolled his eyes. "If you were messing around, I would hate to see you serious."

"Okay, Jake and I were messing around and you were getting your butt kicked." Garret pushed Noah's cap down.

"You just want to claim it's messing around since you only struck Jake out once." Noah shot back.

"Yooo!" Dave exclaimed and came closer to Garret to slap him on the back. "You got Jake to swing and miss? What did you use?"

I tuned in, also interested what that pitch might be.

"It's a hybrid pitch." Garret explained. "A slurve. Slider and curve. Kind of. I can't explain it very well, but when I throw the ball just a little bit differently-" He picked up a baseball and showed us his grip. "The grip kind of stays the same, but just the angle I throw is a little bit like a curveball. Just a little."

"You sound so unsure of this pitch." Noah pointed out.

"It's still new." Garret said. "I could only get Jake once because he realized I didn't have the best control over it. That's why he asked you to be ump."

I looked up. "Well, that wasn't my first reason. I just thought it was harder to reach. And since I couldn't foul it off properly, I would let Noah call it a ball."

Noah laughed.

Garret talked Dave on the way back to the parking lot about him experimenting with different pitch types before getting ready for the draft. "You can't trust their coaches too much since they don't have the same goals as we do. I want longevity and consistency. Some coaches in the lower level might want that for me, or maybe they'll just want results for themselves. I'm already kind of toying with the idea of a pitch count for myself. Like not to do a hundred pitches in a game until I hit Triple A."

Dave shared that he liked his pitching coach so far and confident that he would help him become a better pitcher, but then shared his worry that coaches can change their job especially when they aren't in charge like the head coaches.

It took them awhile to break it up and we headed home, more than a little late for dinner.

Enough for Mom to get worried. "I was about to send your father out to look for you guys."

"Sorry, I just got caught up talking about coaches and coaching with Garret." Dave apologized first and took a seat. Noah and I did too. "It's weird to change coaches after being with Wilcox for the last three years. Plus, Garret doesn't know what he'll get in the minors." He looked at Kyle. "Be careful out there."

Kyle nodded.

But before he could say anything, Noah cut in. "I wouldn't worry about him. Kyle always looks out for numero uno."

Kyle rolled his eyes.

"It's good to be cautious around new people." Dad advised. "Don't blindly trust anyone for any reason. Kyle, we don't know where you might end up and it can be scary going where you know no one. Keep calm and know that your mother or I would be willing to come to get you if there's even a slight emergency." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝓌𝑒𝒷𝘯𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝑜𝓂

"We would do that for any of you boys." Mom assured, glancing at me and Noah.

I nodded, understanding. Mom and Dad would definitely do the most to make sure we were all safe and happy.

Grampa opened the sliding door and hollered for Dad to come help him get the steaks off the grill. He made the twin's favorite slices of meat, the way they liked it. After the meal, Mom brought out a special ice cream cake for each of them, with their names on it. We sang 'happy birthday' and they blew out their candles.