We are definitely in the thick of this baseball season now. It has pretty much taken over and might only get worse for a bit with two kids playing now. Craig and I will get a break via the Dominican Republic, but I feel a little bad transferring it over to my parents for a few days!
Ironically, Carter's season was supposed to be nearly over by now. Our last scheduled game is next Wednesday, but the league told us they were extending the season for a week due to rainouts. We haven't seen additional games come through, which is only making me crazier because that would be the week we're gone and I need to know what my parents will need to cover. It's hard to believe how fast the season has gone, especially since early on it felt like it just couldn't get going due to a pretty brutal run of weather. I think we've settled in pretty well, though the weather has still been unpredictable. The team is playing well, really only struggling against the one team that has an ace pitcher who strikes out nearly everyone he faces. Luckily the last time we played them he barely got to pitch--we suspect he played significantly the previous game--but of course they brought him in for the last inning of a tie game to secure the tie. That's actually pretty shady if Carter actually did overhear the coach say that he was impressed with how the kid threw despite throwing 92 pitches the last game. I find that hard to believe--maybe it was an exaggeration--because they have very specific pitch limits at this age, but who knows. I'm sure the temptation to overuse him is massive. We have one clearly strong pitcher as well, and God knows it's usually a relief to see him pitching--and yet he's nothing like this other kid. We're a bit more balanced, for sure. Carter has struggled a bit more lately with strikeouts, but he's been retooling his swing a bunch so that's probably part of it. But his fielding is stronger and he's still really enjoying it. I'm really proud of him.
Last game we had a scary moment when he got hit by a pitch. I happened to catch it on video since Craig was at Jacob's game and I was recording his at-bats.
He teared up a bit and the wind got knocked out of him, so his coach had him walk it off a bit. He stayed out there, and sure enough he stole a couple bases and ended up scoring that inning. Then shortly after that he got run over at first by a baserunner! It looked pretty bad, but that one was fine. But for his mama, it was a tough game to watch! Shockingly he didn't end up bruising. He's still sore, but he's good.
As I mentioned, Jacob had a game that night too. He actually had his first game Saturday against a city team. We weren't sure what to expect on either side, but it turned out that even though practices looked a little rag-tag, the team actually wasn't half bad. Now, the other team WAS pretty bad, and in the end Jacob's team won 24-2. Jacob got a hit and played overall pretty well. This was the hit:
He did have one minor fielding issue, but he recovered well and was instrumental to ending the game. It was fun to see him back out there after all these years, although now he looks like a giant! His second game, the same night Carter got beaned, ended up a tie (just like Carter's game). Jacob got a double in that game, but he also got his first strikeout, maybe ever, but definitely one of very few. Jacob almost always got on base when he was little. I'm sure there were a few ground outs and things like that, but it was rare that he ever didn't get on base. So, striking out this time was a little surprising! There's probably more of a learning curve than he thought, but on pure talent alone I think he's a couple steps up from a lot of these kids.
As a whole I think both teams struggle with the same issues, albeit at slightly different levels. What we can surmise at this point is that most of the good players have moved on to travel baseball or are playing for school in the spring and choosing not to do Little League. What's left is a bunch of mediocre players, which isn't a bad thing as it gives the players like Carter a shot at fitting right in despite their lack of experience. Both teams struggle with fielding and especially pitching. Sometimes you see a kid that can't even bat, but I don't think that's much different proportionally than the earlier stages--there were always one or two who just couldn't get the hang of it and probably are happier playing music or creating art these days. Fielding being a problem surprised me at both levels--lots of bobbles, missed grounders, and off-target throws. I don't remember it even being this bad during Jacob's last year, but that was also before they played travel at that age so there were probably enough good kids still around to keep it tolerable. I would argue that a good catcher is an underrated help as wild or uncaught pitches account for probably 90% of runs, especially at Carter's level. They always steal bases on pass balls, and when your pitcher is iffy and your catcher can't catch either, there's a lot of those. It wasn't bad when they couldn't steal home early on, because once bases were loaded, it meant they would either walk someone in or at least be forced to do some fielding if there was a hit ball. But once they could steal home, they usually do that so often that half the time the bases empty out on one bad series of pitches to one batter, before there's ever another hit. We hit a lot of inning run limits now as a result.
Speaking of which, more than anything, pitching is a huge issue and a major game changer. If you have one above-average pitcher and a couple decent pitchers in relief, you will likely win. Most pitchers can't do more than two innings because of pitch count limits, so if you can get an edge on the other team through two innings and just stay even with them the rest of the way, you're in good shape. As I mentioned, Carter's team has one kid that's emerged as the go-to guy. He seems like a really sweet but sensitive kid. He gets a good number of strikeouts, but sometimes gives up more balls than he'd like. The other night he came over to his parents on the verge of tears after the first inning. Even though he'd struck out two batters, he was upset he'd given up enough balls for them to get a few runs, which is not at all uncommon. At the end of the game I made sure to tell him that he was already better than a bunch of the pitchers we saw in Jacob's first game, despite them being so much older. I hope that reassured him.
As I mentioned, the team we were playing Monday had a dominant pitcher. The kid throws hard and accurate, and he's almost unbeatable. It's unlike anything I've seen so far in any other game. When he came in for the last inning, he struck out all three of our batters in a row (including Carter) to preserve the tie. Last time we played them, he killed us--we lost 11-2, our only loss of the season. We feel like he pitched more than he should have in that game, but I guess it's tough to tell because he can likely keep his pitch counts low by throwing a lot of strikes, which means he can probably last more than the typical two innings. We were surprised he barely pitched in the tie game, but it almost had to be previous game pitch counts. Truthfully, I'm guessing any coach would strongly consider bending the rules to get him in for an inning in a situation like that to salvage the tie, but it was pretty suspect. That kid should probably be playing travel (for everyone's benefit, including his own future prospects, considering how good he is).
The pitchers and catchers at Jacob's first game were only slightly better than most of what we see in Carter's games--our team, at least. The other team was probably no better. Overall they had more legit hits and fewer stolen bases since the field is big(ger) enough that there's not always enough time to steal on a pass ball. That made it better baseball overall, but I'd still say a good number of the 24 runs were actually walked in. Ouch.
Both teams' games go longer than they should. Carter's have a two-hour limit and we've generally made it through four innings at that point. Jacob's first game was a little faster in general, but I think that first one got called on a mercy rule, but only after they got through four innings. The last one got called due to darkness, but at least they made it to the fifth inning in that one. But generally they are slow. It makes me jealous of the t-ball kids on the other side of the complex, just happily running around the field and wrapping up after an hour. I can't say that was great baseball with the rules they used, but it was blissfully short and therefore tolerable. Coach pitch was the best of the worlds - better rules, decent pitches, and a good number of hits. Kid pitch is when it gets ugly, and in fact I'm pretty sure that's part of the reason Jacob quit when he did. Yes, lacrosse was his focus by then and the idea of doing travel lacrosse was exciting, but I think it was only able to leapfrog baseball because baseball got super boring when he hit kid pitch. We knew what we were getting into with Carter coming back into the next age group up, but I don't think we expected it as much with Jacob's current group. It's fine, we're making it work, and truth be told I'll probably be a little sad when the season is over. Because, honestly, who wouldn't want this view?
So, anyway, we're just really proud of the boys for taking this on this summer, and it's been (mostly) enjoyable to watch. I miss having easier dinner planning and my workouts are taking a hit, but it only lasts so long and there are few things better than a nice day at the field watching your kid do what they love. I don't see either of them giving it up anytime soon, so we're along for the ride as long as it lasts.
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