Reply to "Lesson to be learned"

Well I'm home finally and the camp is over.  It was a pretty good one although looking back at it I think they could have done more instruction but I'm big on teaching so maybe it's just me.

Anyway, after writing the initial post while I was laying in the hotel bed I read back over what I wrote and thought maybe I was being too harsh on this kid.  The kid hasn't done anything to me personally and his success / failure doesn't mean a hill of beans to me.  So I woke up today determined to look at this kid with fresh eyes not affected by how dumb his dad is.  

Boy am I glad that I did decide to make that change in my attitude.  I could finally look at this kid for him instead of through his dad.  I can honestly say this kid sucks royally and after paying more attention to him and how he interacted with the other guys he may be THAT kid.

So as I told you he hasn't really stood out doing anything the first couple of days.  Today may have went as bad as it possibly could for a player.

1.  In the pro style try out starting the day - he ran an 8.1 (timed with my cell phone but I feel pretty confident it was at least close to accurate).  He looks like a kid who could fly but his feet move like crazy to really go nowhere.  Take out the really younger kids he was top 5 in slowest there although nobody really stood out.

2.  Throws from OF - first throw to 3B ended up 3 hopping to the bag about 8 feet up the line.  Second throw to home never got there because he took out the catchers standing in 1B foul territory.  Let's just say it was a good thing there were no low flying planes going over the field when he threw.  They would have came down.

3.  Bullpen to get ready for game - we were sitting near the bullpen this morning (best shade spot in the OF where we didn't have to sit near anyone) and he takes about 5 warm up throws (2 hit the back wall) before he tells the catcher to get down.  He throws about 3 pitches before the catcher tells him to let him know what's coming.  Then the catcher had to teach him what the glove signals were.  He throws a total of maybe 12 pitches which several hit the back wall.  I looked at my BFF and said he and the catcher may fight before they leave the bullpen.

4.  Hitting in the game - I don't remember anything that he did productive.  I do know that he never touched first base.

5.  First inning pitching - first batter he strikes out (each batter started with 1 - 1 count).  Now that sounds impressive but it's really not.  It was one of those kids who barely made the older group age range and skill wise would not have stood out on the younger kids group.  He walked the next guy and got two pop ups to end the inning but those two guys just missed the pitches.  He was throwing SOOOO slow that I know several interstates where he would not get a speeding ticket.

6.  Second inning - fan meet $%(#, $&#@ meet fan.  First batter my BFF son makes a diving catch for an out on a pop up behind first base.  He then proceeds to walk the next 5 guys to walk in 2 runs.  The coaches finally told the teams to switch so he would get off the mound.

7.  His reaction - I'm not sure if it would be possible to walk any slower than he did off the mound.  Head down, shoulders hanging low.  Now here's the crazy part - these kids don't know each other but they actually gelled quite a bit on the second day.  This one kid playing 3B got the guys together on the field at the start of the game second day and made everyone glove tap, he was always there telling everyone great job and anything else you want from a player.  It spread like wildfire to both teams and it was fun to watch this develop.  But when superstar came off the field and sat in the dugout by himself nobody came over and said anything to him.  For a group of guys to gel and be so supportive of each other to ignore this kid tells me something about how he was interacting with the other guys.  I asked my BFF son how he was like and he said he didn't know because nobody wanted to hang with him.

I saw the dad a few other times during camp but he didn't say anything and most I got was a head nod.  He didn't say much to anybody else the whole camp.  

Threeunassisted I have no idea if this is the same guy but when I was talking (or should I say listening) to the dad the first day he said they have been to the field several times to watch USC so they can't be too far away.  He does play football too.  The guy you're talking about sounds like a nice piece of work.  

If there are any young kids reading this I'm sure you've heard the old saying "you never know who's watching" that's why you do things correctly and hustle.  I'm a nobody who knows a little bit of baseball.  If I'm noticing all this then how much do you think the people who get paid to notice everything will see.  Just do the right things all the time and you don't have to worry about opening yourself up to be criticized like this.  I do feel bad for bashing on this kid but, once again, his dad started all this.