"You! You're my boy!" Garret shook me around some more. "It's slang for friend. C'mon now! Keep up!"
"Wow." Tanner snapped out of his daze. "You really are a batting prodigy."
By this point, I think my face is permanently red from embarrassment. I don't really like all this attention on me, good or bad.
"I definitely won't go after Jake." Garret shook his head. "I rather him go after me, that way, everyone will even forget what I had done. Versus everyone comparing me to him and his perfection."
"Perfection?" Tanner asked. "Man, don't put so much pressure on him."
Garret just laughed. "You say that because you've never seen him in action. Jake would have a perfect batting average if we base it off just the machine."
"Wow. Yea, for sure let me go before you fools." Tanner said.
I just wanted to bury myself in the grass. Can they just stop already?
Luckily, it didn't take long to go through this station. It was pretty cut and clear. You pick your speeds, then the coaches will judge your performance. As we got to the last of us, Tanner made sure he went in before Garret.
Tanner told the coaches behind the netting what he had decided on. They nodded and he went to the batter's box. He was right-handed and the same went for his batting preference.
I followed Garret as he moved closer to the gate in order to watch Tanner. We squeezed through some of the guys, who were discussing their results.
Tanner got off to a good start, making solid connections with the 75mph pitches. Like Garret suggested, Tanner chose to do the 6/6/6/2 pattern. When it got pushed to the 80mph setting, he was able to connect with all six, yet one of them would have been a foul ball.
"Not bad, right?" Garret said as we watched. "Tanner is one of the better hitters on junior varsity. He's solid and consistent."
"Why isn't he on varsity then?" I asked.
"Outfield is one of the most competitive positions. Especially when there's over ten plus guys who can field all the same. So batting is what makes them different." Garret explained.
"Is he better than what we have? Do you think he'll make the team?" I asked some more inquisitive questions. I liked Tanner. He was easygoing and wasn't aggressive like some other people I know.
Garret thought about it. "Hard to say. Tony has been struggling at the plate, but he's a solid outfielder with a good arm. Yet, if I'm playing left field, Mahki will go to right. And Mahki has been heating up again. He came in clutch with that grand slam yesterday so it'd be hard. Then again…I'm not a coach and it's hard to know what they're thinking."
I nodded. I got it. There are plenty of players that do better in tryouts compared to real games and vice versa.
Tanner struggled to catch up to the 85mph pitch; hitting three, fouling two, and completely missing one. The last two pitches at 90mph would be a good test. The first one he whiffed, too slow and not even close.
I gripped my bat in my hands. "Try-try swinging your fastest with your normal swing." Tanner didn't hear me as he got set for the next and last pitch.
"Tanner! Swing your fastest!" Garret shouted.
The machine whirred and the pitch came. Tanner must have heard Garret since he started his swing earlier and that bat moved even faster than before. He fouled tip the 90mph pitch back, making us jump as it hit the fence protecting us.
Tanner grinned as he walked out of the cage. "Man, I was close to getting that last one."
"Yea, thanks to us." Garret scoffed. "Jake was too quiet with his advice that I had to yell it for him. Now you have to watch as I embarrass your performance." He laughed as he walked into the cage and went to tell the coaches what he wanted.
Tanner came over to stand by me, resting his bat against the fence. He took off his helmet and held it in his hands. "I didn't need the advice…I could tell from my first try at it, that I wasn't fast enough."
"Oh." I said in a small voice. "Sorry."
"I'm not saying you did anything wrong." Tanner laughed a little. "It's nice to hear the encouragement. Particularly in a competitive tryout. You didn't hear anyone else tell me something similar, did you?"
Besides Garret, who had repeated after me? "No."
"That's how it is with good teams. Normally you want your teammates to do well and succeed, because that means the team will do well too. But as soon as it's a competition within the team, it's every man for himself."
I could see that. Just in our group alone…only Kameron came off as aggressive, but it wasn't like the others were welcoming either. Tanner really is a good person. I hope he could make the team. Ah, but that would be wishing someone in the outfield off the team.
I turned my attention back to the batting cage, where Garret got set in the lefty's box. Garret was more than ready for his set of twenty pitches. He crushed the 75mph pitches; I think they would have easily been homeruns if we were using the field instead of a cage. Even the six pitches at 80mph couldn't slow Garret down. He smacked them back towards the machine with ease.
"Get It Garret!" Tanner hollered through the fence, happy to see his friend do well.
Garret shot an 85mph pitch back to the machine for a line drive that would normally be right up the middle. He was able to hit them all as well, they just happened to go all over the place. I couldn't tell if that was intentional or if he just couldn't control where the ball would go. As the coaches upped the speed for his last two chances, he turned to give us a cocky grin.
"He's going to hit both." Tanner clutched the fence. "You see that antagonizing grin?? He's going to overshadow the hard work I just put in."
I smiled at Tanner's remarks. "I can do the same to him if you want?"
Tanner casted a glance my way. "Let's see what he does first."
Garret was set. The first 90mph pitch came right down the middle. He swung, snapping his wrists, getting a piece of it, sending it forward. It'd be a grounder to the shortstop, I think. Garret did even better on the second 90mph pitch, hitting it up and over the machine. Could possibly be a homerun or a flyout. Again…hard to tell when you work in the cage.
Garret came out of the cage, flexing his left bicep as he carried his bat in his right hand. "That's right! I'm the champ! Which one of you hit all twenty pitches?"
The group wasn't amused. A few even sent glares at Garret, making me shiver. Maybe I should miss one.
"Jake will!" Tanner spoke up. "He even said he'd put you in your place!"
Ehhh? That's a bit different than just overshadowing him!
The group went quiet as all eyes fell on me.
Kameron snorted. "He's not that good. His batting average doesn't reflect how many times he gets walked because of his small stature."
Garret ignored the snide comment and smiled down at me. "How exactly do you plan to put me in my place?"
I shrugged. I haven't thought about it.
Garret laughed and slapped my helmet. "Do your best! I can handle it!" He nudged me to the cage.
I held my wooden bat tightly as I slowly walked to the coaches. They both sat near the pitching machine, behind the protective netting, clipboards in hand. I even recognized the bigger one as the coach from the bus just yesterday.
His eyes flashed with recognition. "Jake Hollander, is it?"
I nodded and they both wrote down my name.
"Do you know what speed you want to go with?" He asked.
Well…Garret said to do my best. I tugged a little at my shirt. "I'll go with the 90."
I saw a small tug at his lips. "The 90mph pitch? For how many?"
"All of them?" I shrugged.
The coaches looked at one another. The one I was semi-familiar with spoke up. "All twenty at 90mph? Are you sure? You won't get a break since we don't have to adjust the speed."
I nodded. And then shook my head after a second. "Maybe ten at 85mph, and the last ten at 90mph then?"
