The Boys of Summer, Spring 2012 Edition

After delays with scheduling quirks and rainouts, our Pirates have finally played half of our regular season games, plus a five game non-league tournament over the past weekend.  We are having a great time with the boys, and their families, even as they remind us frequently that they are just nine and ten years old.

The tournament, played against teams in the neighboring towns, gives us an opportunity to play kids in new positions, pitch players who have never pitched before, and use usual batting orders.  The coaches of our league like to do this every year in order to give kids new opportunities to play, but also to develop players in new positions (particularly pitcher) that we will need for the playoffs when multiple games put a squeeze on every team due to strict pitch limits.  We followed this practice over the weekend, which gave some kids a chance to experience the pitcher's mound for the first time, but also revealed some hidden gems that will help us later in the season.  The teams from other towns do not follow our practice, so we ran into difficulty in our first four games as we faced their best pitchers and regular defense.  Even though our bats performed in two of the games, our defense and pitching were not up to snuff.

Our last tournament game was against another Moraga team, so we went back to our normal lineup and used our top pitchers, who had not gotten enough work over the weekend.  It was another beautiful day, so to get the kids to loosen up and enjoy the game, we traded in our baseball pants and Pirates sweaters for shorts and Hawaiian shirts.  The kids laughed, the parents loved it, and we played our best game of the season by far.  Our pitchers (Michael was one of them) were precise and efficient, our batters knocked the ball all over the place, and our defense was solid.  It was a great way to end a fun weekend, and helped us forget the feeling of losing the other games.

Michael has turned a corner in his development.  He has become a very good player in all aspects of the game.  In the weekend tournament alone, he had five hits in seven at bats (they are shortened games), scored five runs, stole four bases, drove in a run, and pitched three innings, giving up one earned run while striking out five.  He also plays solid defense wherever we put him.  He made three putouts at third in our last league game before the tournament, caught a long fly ball in the tournament, and tonight had assists from pitcher, third and shortstop, the last on a nasty bad hop.

Bringing the heat on the mound

It is a pleasure to see Michael play so well, especially at the plate where he struggled most of last year.  He is now in a groove as a reliable hitter who puts the ball in play but also leads the team in walks.  He picked up his first double tonight off of one of the best pitchers in the league.  His effort and smarts have always been a positive, but now he is performing up to the level of his thinking.  While he is probably the third best hitter on the team, he may well be our best overall player thanks to his elevated play in all areas.  On a night like tonight, when we faced dominant pitching and our defense completely broke down, he was one of the few bright spots, making defensive plays, getting on base and pitching well (even as defense let him down).

Drilling a ball to right

He is not destined for the majors, but he is among the top players in his age group in town, which is a fun place to be.  He knows all the hard work he has put in is paying off -- his swing, in particular, has lost its little-kid uppercut to become something close to textbook -- and is having a good time.  He likes wins, but he does not need to be on a winning team to love playing (fortunately, in our case).  I probably will hang up my coaching spikes after this season, so this is a memorable time for me, too.