The Hitting Zone
chapter-706

Coach had most of us pair up and start tossing the ball around as he pulled the pitchers and catchers to the side. He sent them off with the pitching coaches from all levels, making the group a little smaller. Coach went around, giving us each a group number, assigning us randomly.

When it came to me, he put his sunglasses up on his hat. "Well, Jake, what do you think?"

I paused after catching Noah's throw. "What do I think about what?"

"Your group?" He looked down at me. "Do you need to be in the same group as Noah? You did okay during the midseason tryout, but this time there won't be Garret to keep you company."

"Will there be someone else from the team? Someone I at least know?" I asked.

Coach nodded. "I can set that up. Anyone will do? Sean, Jason, or Tanner? Maybe even Tony?"

I nodded slowly. "Or even Andy. I know him pretty well."

Coach nodded. "Okay. I can do that." He spared me another glance. "Don't be afraid to tell me if something isn't right. It's just camp. No need to be high-strung."

Some tension left my shoulders. "Yea. Okay."

He left and I threw the ball back to Noah.

After everyone had a grouped number, Coach let us go for a quick water break. At our bags, we talked about our group numbers and luckily Coach had listened to me, putting me with Andy. We were both assigned to Mr. Miller's group with about ten others. Some familiar and some not.

Mr. Miller looked around. "Hello, hello. Nice to see everyone looking eager to play this morning. If you don't know, I'm Coach Miller, or Mr. Miller, or just Coach, or Sir. I'm the groundskeeper for the baseball fields and an assistant for the Varsity team. I do anything and everything to help this program. I might not have all the answers, but I can make time for any questions you might have."

A freshman raised his hand.

"Yes?" Mr. Miller looked at him directly.

"I wanted to know if there was any rhyme or reason for the group we were put in..?" He asked, glancing at me.

"Mostly random for today." Mr. Miller answered. "To provide you boys with more personal coaching we broke the program down into smaller groups. No particular selection. If anything, tried to make it more balanced age-wised. Make sure each of you have someone you can relate to."

I looked around and didn't spot any other sophomores. Maybe Andy is the one I can relate to?

"We have a player from each grade level and from each team." Mr. Miller continued. "As all of you know, Jake here is from the Varsity level. Now a sophomore."

I held perfectly still as the guys took a look my way.

"Then we have a few guys from the JV team, a mix of juniors and seniors: Korrey, Brett, Matt, Chase, and Cole. Jonah is our other sophomore from the freshmen team. Then the rest of you are incoming freshmen."

I was curious as to which one was Jonah and if he was a part of the jerk group to Noah, but no one particularly stood out. Besides Andy, I clearly recognized Korrey, the junior from the JV team. He was at the banquet and won offensive player of the year for his team. He may have been an outfielder if I recall right...

"After lunch, you'll be divided into teams for scrimmages." Mr. Miller said. "Tomorrow morning, you'll be put into more selective groups like by position. But for now, we'll try to get to know one another and try to shake off some rust. We're going to start with the Three Cone Footwork Drill." He led us to a corner of the grass where three cones were set up in some kind of triangle. "This will help you boys on creating momentum towards first base to allow a stronger throw. I know not everyone is an infielder, but that doesn't mean you won't change positions in the future."

Mr. Miller went on to explain the drill. "A lot of young players like yourselves don't know how to properly charge a baseball. You'll run, then stop your feet. The goal here is to keep constant motion, working towards first base or your target. You see how that can apply to the outfielders as well? Or maybe you need to throw home?" He pointed at the far cone. "You're going to line up a few feet behind the cones, with the first person setting up behind the back cone. The player will work around the three cones in a circular motion, making sure that when you cross the cone, you field the ground ball inside your left foot, with two hands." Mr. Miller surprised me by actually demonstrating what he wanted us to do. Obviously it was in slow motion, but usually he didn't get so involved like this. "Now as you can tell, we don't have a first base, so instead we'll all have one of you boys playing over there as pretend first baseman."

"I'll do it." Korrey stepped forward.

Mr. Miller nodded. "Halfway through, we'll switch." He looked at the rest of us. "Go line up."

We moved back behind the cones; I stuck with Andy, trying to diminish my presence. Unfortunately, Andy is a lot like Noah when it comes to baseball. He was first in line, eager to start playing. I stood behind him, hesitant and nervous, but a little excited too.

I had trained all summer after all. Not just softball practice, but trained with Noah and went to the Stanford camp. I'm definitely a better player now.

Andy went first, perfectly executing the drill to Mr. Miller's instructions. I followed after him, moving swiftly around the cones and fielding the ball without stopping. This was something that Chandler helped me with just last week. He didn't have cones, but it was similar in the movements, especially transferring the ball to my throwing hand.

"Very good." Mr. Miller complimented me as I jogged to the back of the line.

"Smooth." Andy nodded at me.

I smiled. "You looked good too."

Andy merely shrugged. "The basics. It's not enough to prove that I deserve to make the team." He glanced around. "I'm aiming for JV as a freshman. I want to get a good start to my high school career."

I gave him two thumbs up. "I think you can do it. You're good."

"Everyone here is 'good'." The guy that went after me joined us at the back of the line. He was a senior from the JV team, Brett. He looked at Andy. "It's good to have goals."

I frowned. What's that supposed to mean?

"Thank you." Andy said politely.

Brett looked at me. "Your fielding has improved, Jake."

"Uh...thanks." I mumbled. It sounded like a compliment, but a little...more like a backhanded compliment. Like my fielding sucked before. Which it did. But he didn't need to say that.

"I'm Andy. Freshman." Andy introduced himself to Brett.

"Brett. Senior. Outfielder." He nodded.

I swallowed a lump in my throat. I turned my focus back on the drill to see how the other guys were doing.