baseballdelusions.com

Sunday’s game was under the lights against the Blue Rocks, the current first-place team in the Rocky division. Our pitching (Hiroki and Bobby) was lights out, the defense was excellent (only one minor error), and we crushed the ball. The final score was 17-3.

I played right field and second base and didn’t get any action at either (sans a single to right that I threw in), but Zane asked me in the seventh if my arm was feeling good to pitch, so it’s good to know that I haven’t totally fallen out of favor with the team as a pitcher, despite my struggles. At the plate, I went 1-for-4 with a single, but the process felt pretty good. I got myself out in the first at-bat, making poor contact on a low and away fastball. The pitcher got me out in the second at-bat, locating his curveball on the outer half of the plate and getting me to roll over on it with two strikes. In both of these situations, I was able to move the runner(s) over with one out, so I still had some productivity to speak of.

The third at-bat saw me taking a fastball away to right field; I made excellent contact and was very happy with the at-bat. They brought in a reliever for my fourth at-bat, and he had been throwing a ton of curveballs earlier in the inning, so I sat on a curve and was ready to swing at one if he hung it. Sure enough, he hung his breaking ball right over the plate and I swung, made great contact, but got under it just a bit too much, sending a long flyball to center field. I don’t regret swinging at the first pitch - that was the best opportunity I would get in that at-bat by knowing what he’d throw and being prepared for it.

I’m learning a lot about baseball in general this year, specifically the ability to guess at which pitches are coming based on glove positioning, number of times the pitcher shakes off the catcher, pre-setting the grips, and other visual cues. Getting these “reads” on opposing pitchers will not only help me as a hitter, but also as a pitcher, knowing that other batters are doing the same thing as me.