The Hitting Zone

Andy went before me, trying his best in front of Mr. Miller. They knew each other from the softball season, but didn't really give it away. Mr. Miller treated him like any other player, while Andy was completely focused on the drill. He didn't do half bad, but his timing could use a little work.

When I came up, I lined up as a righty as Mr. Miller got the baseballs ready. He put a ball on both tees before smiling at me. "Ready?"

I pulled my bat back and made sure my feet were set. "Ready."

"I'll call it when you lift your left leg." His eyes were down on my legs.

I leaned on my back leg and lifted my front leg, starting my motion.

"In-"

I adjusted my hands and swing, hitting the ball on the inside tee. Perfect line drive into the netting.

A new baseball was put on the inside tee and I got set again. I started moving.

"In-"

I didn't let Mr. Miller finish before connecting on the inside baseball again. Another line drive into the netting. I kept up with Mr. Miller, not letting him say the complete word 'inside' or 'outside'. Just 'in' or 'out' was good enough for me. Mr. Miller didn't let me do any extra swings though. When I was done, I was done.

I looked at him, kind of sad. "Can I do my left side too?"

He chuckled. "Maybe in a minute. I want to ask you some questions for the other boys to hear. Maybe give them some guidance on how to improve at this drill, and therefore improve their in-game decisions."

I nodded, trying not to shiver from the stares. I kept my eyes on Mr. Miller.

He looked around at our small group. "Jake is, without a doubt, the best batter in our program and within our league. I would even claim that he's the best in the division. He has the best reaction speed and knows how to put the ball in play. He maybe struck only two or three times."

"Wow."

"Is that even real?"

"In how many at-bats?"

"Has to be a lot since he was a starter."

"Just crazy."

There were a lot of mumbles and whispers as the players within the group gossiped about me. I took a glance and realized that the ones speaking were mostly the incoming freshmen. The returning upperclassmen didn't seem impressed. That's okay. As long as they weren't mean to me.

"Jake," Mr. Miller faced me. "Why don't you talk a little about your process? How do you approach this drill to be more precise?"

I awkwardly moved to where I was standing when I was doing the drill. I cleared my throat to ease my anxiety. "Well, I do my normal swing. Since it's a drill where I have to choose at the last second, I really only move my wrists to change the way I attack the ball." I showed them the two different movements, aiming for inside and outside pitches.

"What else?" Mr. Miller asked.

I blinked as I looked up at him. "What else..?" I repeated.

Mr. Miller nodded. He looked at the group. "At least half of you were late in your swing. Meanwhile, Jake could make perfect contact before I could finish talking. What do you think the difference is?"

"Bat speed?"

"He does swing really fast."

"So did one of the other guys, but he wasn't as perfect as Jake."

I thought about the difference between me and everyone else and came to a conclusion. A conclusion with a few answers. I looked at Mr. Miller, wondering if I was supposed to speak up.

He caught me looking and nodded towards me. "Go ahead, Jake." The group got quiet.

"I think..." I cleared my throat again. "The others...they hesitate."

"I don't." Someone claimed.

"I don't think I do either."

"Well, maybe a little, but that's just because I'm new to this kind of drill."

"It's not-" I tried to stop them, but they were too busy talking amongst themselves. A lot of them were starting to compare their swings, swinging their bats dangerously close to other players. I gulped.

"Don't mind them, Jake." Andy stepped forward, making eye contact with me. "I want to hear what you have to say."

I smiled lightly. "Okay." I noticed two other freshmen stepping a little closer to show that they were listening, so I tried to raise my voice above the chatter. "When I say you guys are hesitating, I mean, you're trying to change your whole swing just after he tells you where the pitch is going to be."

"Is that wrong?" One of the freshman asked.

"Well for this drill specifically, yes." I said. The three of them looked confused. "But it's extremely helpful to real games. You're never going to know for sure what the pitch will throw. Usually we look for a specific pitch to hit. Ideally something down the middle. Not every pitcher will throw what we want though. This drill, I think, can help batters fouling off pitches they aren't aiming for."

I took a deep breath and continued on. "But back to hesitating. Instead of changing your whole swing, move your wrists." I stepped back to the baseball tees and showed them again. "So step and swing, move wrists accordingly." I straightened up and faced them. "You really only need to hear in, move wrists down, tuck back elbow in. Out, you extend back elbow." I tried to show them again, slowly. "Really if you keep practicing, you won't even have to think about it during this drill. It's much harder in the game."

"Harder in the game..?" A freshman looked a little depressed.

I shrugged. "Well, yea. In this drill, the ball is completely stationary. It's not moving at all so you could do this blindfolded."

"Did you hear what Jake just said?" Someone who wasn't originally listening, overheard my last comment and drew attention to me.

"There's no way."

"He's gotta be lying."

"I want to see him try."

"Okay, that's enough discussion." Mr. Miller cut in. "Let's do another round, starting with Korrey again. Everyone will get twenty swings this time." He glanced at me. "Thanks for sharing, Jake. Those that heard you may have gained some enlightenment. You can go back now."

I nodded and went to the back of the line with Andy following me. The other two freshmen also followed but I don't think they were originally in the back like me and Andy.

Andy greeted them with a head nod. He glanced at me. "This is Davin and this is Andre. Both are freshmen like me." He pointed at me. "Jake."

Andre nodded and his smile stretched across his face. "Nice to meet you, man. I followed your stats online and definitely didn't imagine you to be so small."

I tried not to frown as I looked at him. "You're only a couple of inches taller." Maybe about the same height as Noah.

He laughed. "I didn't mean in reference to me. Your batting average is so impressive. If I had to guess, I would imagine someone like Zeke Atkins."