Watched my son's last two baseball games for the year

[KitchenWitch]

:cry:

He pitched, he played catcher, he hit, he had 3 RBI, and he played well in the outfield.

[cssmall]

1. Congrats to him! How old is he?

(Played baseball until age 18, when a repeat injury forced me to retire from AA)

[KitchenWitch]

2. He is 14

:bounce:

Who did you play AA ball for?

[cssmall]

3. D-Rays.

That's why I was in Double AA. :D I played two games, injured my shoulder again and was gone. Catcher that moved to LF and 3B.

On Edit: Sounds like a hell of a player, what were his season stats like?

[KitchenWitch]

4. Catchers are a special breed

My son loves catching.

[cssmall]

5. *laugh* My dad tried out and made the Cards as a pitcher.

He tried to make me a pitcher, but that was my brother, who was better than my dad, just less dedicated. They needed a catcher. I know most everything about catching. ;D Anyway, what were his stats like this season?

[KitchenWitch]

6. In his fall league he was hitting like .290

No errors. but not many chances, the way they rotate them around in the fall league.

Summer league

ERA around 2.4
FLDA around .978
BA .358
OBP .487
SLG around .425

Singles hitter mostly (pulls them down the third baseline)

[cssmall]

7. Takes some walks?

And, his average shows for being a pull hitter his age, which is GREAT! I couldn't pull a ball until I was 16. He probably needs to work on not pulling the ball and just pushing it to the same field. Slugging shows he's a singles hitter. How's his swing? Long or compact? If it's compact, it's probably too short and he's not generating enough power. If it's long, then he probably needs to shorten it to get the full power in.

Edit: Which is great anyway, because he's 14, by 16 he should be hitting well.

[KitchenWitch]

8. His swing is longish

I would like to see his slugging percentage go up. I plan on getting him to some clinics this winter before he tries out for his high school team.

[cssmall]

9. He just needs to shorten it slightly, there's probably a sliiiiight hitch.

Don't push him on the slugging too much, he obviously pretty fast down 1st baseline. I had to force my hands higher to get rid of the hitch, but it worked and I started hitting for more power. From 14-17, I hit 0, 2, 16, 20 in those seasons. He'll figure it out. Tell him to watch Albert Pujols and Todd Helton, those guys are perfect. Manny Ramirez, Jim Edmonds and David Ortiz are not.

Anyway, PM me if you have any questions, I might be able to explain some stuff for you. I'm always happy to help someone with baseball, though I may be miles away.

[KitchenWitch]

10. Very cool!

Thanks!

Of all the sports my son participates in, baseball is his best and my favorite!

[cssmall]

11. Night!

:hi: