I felt like a deer in the headlights as everyone stared me down.
"Jake, why don't you bat first?" Coach Nate asked me. "Show us what you do in the cages."
I hurried to my bag to grab my bat and helmet. Anything to get away from these stares. I went back to Coach Nate, who held the gate open for me to enter the middle batting cage.
Rhys was behind the pitching machine, prepping.
I looked back at Coach Nate. "Do I...just do my own thing? Or did you want to see something specific?"
Coach Nate grinned and his eyes squinted. "Do what you did yesterday. You can hit until Rhys runs out of baseballs."
I cheered up. This was great. A dream come true. I stepped into the righty's box, happy that I'm getting the chance to even out my swings. I got a lot of work in yesterday from the left side, making my muscles feel the burn. I still felt the soreness when swinging from the right side, but it was different. Not as painful. So I'm still using the same muscles; it just differed which muscles got more work in.
"Didn't he bat lefty?" Someone asked.
"He did." He received an answer rather quickly. "I thought it was strange that he would bat left, yet throw right. I guessed that he might be a switch hitter, but he never switched in yesterday's game."
"I wish I could bat switch."
"Why? It's pointless."
"No way. It's gotta be worth something otherwise why do MLB players do it?"
"It's dying now though."
"Switch hitting is a good skill to have." Coach Nate spoke up. "It makes you more versatile, but it takes a lot of work. You have to spend twice as much time working on hitting than others who only bat from one side of the box."
No one spoke up after his commentary.
"Rhys, Jake, begin." Coach Nate instructed.
I got set in the box, drawing my bat back. Elbow up. Eyes on the machine. The machine got louder and the first pitch came. A fastball nearing 90mph. I took a step forward, and swung. The connection was made and the ball was sent back in the form of a line drive, just a foot above the machine.
I could hear some talk from the team, but it became background noise. My focus was on the pitching machine, feeding me pitch after pitch. The speed never changed so it was almost rhythmic. I would get set, swing my bat, then get set again. It was a great feeling. I almost forgot that I was in a baseball camp at a college.
The machine died down after the balls ran out.
My body relaxed. I took my helmet off and wiped the sweat that had accumulated.
"Great work." Coach Nate opened the gate and walked in. He grinned. "Hope you won't be too tired for tonight's game."
I've been tired since yesterday. I didn't dare to tell him that though.
"The kid is never too tired to bat." Rhys laughed as he joined us. He gave me a pat on the head. "I told you he was crazy good. This kid can even hit my fastball. I'll be surprised if the scouts don't come knocking next year."
"They already have their eyes on him." Coach Nate said. "I've had a few come up and ask for our specific game schedule after hearing about his accomplishments." He looked down at me and smiled. "You've got a bright future in front of you."
"Thanks..." I mumbled.
"Let's free this cage up for the others." Rhys put a hand on my shoulder and guided me out with Coach Nate following us. As soon as the three of us exit, a pair of guys went in to replace us.
"When the pitchers are done, I'll send them your way." Coach Nate told Rhys. He nodded at me. "See you tonight, kid." He went back to the bigger group. It wasn't long before we heard him giving advice to those inside the batting cages.
"Pack your stuff up and we can get to the next workout." Rhys told me.
I went to my bag and put my helmet and bat away. I put my straps on my shoulders and we went to a small group of four, just hanging out.
"Coach Rhys." They all greeted when we approached them.
One of them was Nic, the first pitcher of yesterday's game. He made eye contact with me, then looked up at Rhys. "He's coming with us too?"
Rhys laughed as he gave my head a pat. "Yea, why not? It's not like he needs to work on his batting."
The four of them all laughed and made sounds of agreement.
I blushed.
Rhys started to walk us out, heading for a small exit that led to outside of the stadium. "I told Coach Nate we would go to the gym for some weightlifting. Do you guys want to do something as a group? Or just go off individually?"
"Group."
"Group."
"Group!"
"Group."
The four all said, then put their eyes on me.
Nic gave me a meaningful look.
"Group..?" I echoed.
Rhys let out another small laugh. "Okay. Let's workout as a group. I'm warning you guys now; if you lift more than me, don't expect me to spot for ya."
"Do you not lift?" One of them asked.
Rhys gave a small shrug. "I do, but nothing too crazy."
I glanced at him. Rhys probably hasn't been able to lift a whole lot since he spent a lot of time recovering from his Tommy John surgery.
"How much do you lift, Jake?" Another pitcher asked me.
I scratched my cheek. "I don't know...not a whole lot."
"What?!" He grabbed my arm suddenly and gave it a squeeze. Before I could panic, he let go and chuckled. "I didn't expect you to have such noodle arms."
I grabbed my own arm and gave it a small squeeze like he did. I could feel some muscles. It wasn't as thin as before. I had put on weight and muscle. This is probably the healthiest and fittest I've been in my whole life.
Nic laughed at my actions. "Don't listen to him. You're still going through puberty. You'll get bigger and taller as you get older."
I straightened up. "I'm growing. I used to be much smaller."
"And you still made the varsity team?" The tallest pitcher asked, while shaking his head. "Crazy. You're like ninety pounds soaking wet. I don't understand how you can hit anything, especially with a wood bat. If this was a video game, I would report you as a glitch."
I looked up at Rhys, unsure if this guy was making fun of me.
Rhys smiled. "They're just cracking jokes. Size doesn't mean everything."
"Yea, but it helps." The tall guy flexed his biceps. "How else would I be so astounding on the mound?"
"My club team faced a pitcher just last month who was only 5'7" and maybe 150lbs." One of the other pitchers brought up. "He was crazy small, but he could still throw a mean curve. I heard that he was on the varsity team for his high school too."
"Just goes to show that skills matter more than physical appearance."
The tall guy shrugged. "And I'm saying, my pitching got better with size. Imagine if that shorty you played against, got taller and put on a few more pounds. He'd be a beast."
The guys all nodded together.
Nic looked at me. "How tall are your parents?"
I shrugged. "Taller than me."
"How much taller?"
I shrugged again. One is in jail and the other is dead. As far as I remembered, they're both taller than me. By a lot? I thought for a second. "My birth brother is tall."
"Over six foot." Rhys added. "Maybe an inch taller than me."
I looked up at Rhys. "Yea, but I think he's shorter than Zeke."
Rhys shrugged. "That's not the point. He's over six foot so you'll probably be that tall too. God willing."
"Does he play baseball?" One of the guys asked.
I nodded. "He does."
"Any good?"
I nodded again. Everyone says so, after all.
"Better than Zeke?"
Before I could answer, Nic stopped, causing one of the guys to trip.
"Yo, what's wrong?"
Nic looked at me. "Your brother..."
Ah. I know that look. I've already seen it a few times today. Everyone seems star-struck by Jeremy. I should have brought the leftover baseball cards with his autograph on them.
"What's up?" The tall one asked. "You know his brother?"
"You do too!" Nic exclaimed. "Did you see that interview that Jeremy Patterson did after the draft? He was in Minnesota, talking about Zeke Atkins! His brother's brother." Nic looked at me. "You're their mutual brother?!"
I let out a small laugh. "Mutual brother?" I've never heard that before.
We stopped in front of the gym.
Rhys looked around at the four stunned faces. "Okay, okay, I'll let Jake answer a couple of questions before we go in. But once we're inside, all focus should be on your performance. Understand?"
"Yes!" They answered together.