With a showdown set for the afternoon, there was a lot of smack talk going on. Noah, Ansar, and Cody were going to face Landon, Travis, and Adam.
Noah nudged me. "Hey, what was playing in a game like?" The other guys leaned in too, eager to hear about my experience.
"Uh…pretty much the same as always..?" I offered. "Seven innings. We warmed up, then played." Oh wait. "Pitchers only got to do an inning at a time." I told them.
"That's kind of nice, but also not so nice." Landon sighed.
"Why?" Dylan asked.
"It's nice when you're facing a pitcher that's kicking your butt, because you'll get to see someone new on the mound. But then, you're facing someone completely new. No info on him at all. So stressful." Landon complained.
"Jake has no trouble at all." Dylan laughed. "He beat up every pitcher he faced. The pitchers that didn't face him, had fared better."
"Jake is too good at the plate." Noah sighed helplessly. "All we can do is out-hustle him." Then he revealed a sly grin. "And tell our pitchers and coaches not to let him hit."
I pouted as everyone laughed and nodded in agreement.
"I'm kidding." Noah told me. "They probably won't do intentional walks here. It's a skills camp after all." He gave me a pat full of consolation. "But, the best pitchers will probably want to face you. So it may be a little tougher on you."
I shrugged. "That's better than being walked. So boring."
"What a showoff."
"My jealously is at an all-time high."
"I wish my bat was so good, so young."
"You're only a year older than him."
The table laughed harmoniously as they talked about my batting. It was a good feeling, it also felt like there was a rock in the pit of my stomach. Would they still be this cheerful if they were on the same team as me? Only one person has really talked to me on the team and the rest seemed upset about my playing time. Maybe I can have Rhys talk to Coach Nate for me.
After lunch, we had about an hour of free time. Some of the guys decided to come to our room to hangout and just relax.
I took my bat out of my bag and started to clean it, checking it for cracks or splinters. It was my only bat at the moment so I had to take care of it. I mean, I would still take care of it even if I had more bats, but it was especially important to me right now.
"I can't believe you use a wood bat." Travis said from the floor. He was lying down but had his legs up on the wall. "It just makes you even more impressive. Like dang. I've used a wood bat for a tournament before and it was crazy."
"Crazy how?" I asked.
"Crazy bad." He laughed. "Only like three people got a hit. Good day for the pitchers though. Not a whole lot of high schoolers will use a wood bat. Takes a lot of power away from you."
"What's crazy is that he hit a homerun with that bat." Adam pointed out. "In a college stadium." He looked up at me. "Do you think you could hit a homerun in every at-bat?"
I shook my head. "No way…that…that was-" I paused. "I felt like I had something to prove."
"I think an outfielder could have robbed it." Noah pointed out. "Jake isn't that strong, but he's been working out all summer under Zeke's supervision. Don't be surprised if you hear his name in the news soon enough."
"Ah, I've heard it." Adam said nonchalantly.
"You have?" Noah asked, surprised.
Adam glanced at me before answering. "Yea, I looked up your championship win. You can find Jake online. A lot of his information actually…"
A weird silence fell over the room.
"Would this be a bad time to look him up?" Travis joked.
Noah glanced at me. Seeing my blank face, he shrugged. "You can if you want. It's not really a big deal. Just…if you annoy Jake, I will hit you."
"Wow. So violent." Travis laughed as he whipped out his phone.
I noticed Landon and Dylan doing the same. They had been quiet but curious.
"Your brother is Jeremy Patterson??!!" Landon's jaw dropped. He looked at me like I was actually Jeremy. "Can I get an autograph?"
"Hey, hey, if you ask for an autograph, you're putting him in an awkward spot." Adam said. "If you get one, then he'll have to give everyone an autograph."
Landon blushed. "Sorry. It's just…I'm a huge A's fan. This is just mind blowing. Do you like, go to games all the time?"
I shrugged. "Occasionally."
"Have you met the whole team?" He asked.
I shrugged again. "Kind of. The only one that ever really spoke to us is Maberry."
"Jack Maberry?!?" Dylan yelped. "You've 'only' spoken to him. Plus, your brother is Jeremy Patterson. You're living every baseball player's dream!"
Am I? I looked to Noah for help.
"Every player's dream is to make it to the big leagues." Noah corrected. "Being related has its perks. But really, I'll be there soon enough too."
"That's true, but that's a much harder path than being related." Dylan said. He looked at me. "How many games have you been to?"
"A handful." I shrugged. It's not like I was keeping track.
"What I don't get is-" Landon stopped mid sentence.
"How Jake is my brother?" Noah offered.
Landon was still red in the face, but he nodded.
"It's a long story. Some of it can probably be found online." Noah told him. "Basically Jake's birth mom wasn't a good person. He got placed with my family and now we're in the process of adopting him."
That seemed to kill some of the excitement in the room, but it didn't stop them from asking questions. I answered the best I could, but it's not like I have a long relationship with Jeremy. And he's only been on the A's for a few months. I couldn't believe how popular he was already.
"He didn't do so well in the game last night." Dylan brought up at one point. "Actually, he's been struggling for the last few games."
I thought back to the emergency he had last Wednesday. He was now on a ten day road trip with the team so it probably wasn't a good time to be stressing.
"It's probably just a small slump." Noah spoke up for Jeremy. "He's been carrying this team for awhile so it's good to make the others work. Like Maberry. Getting hurt so early like that almost killed the season."
Landon laughed. "Hey, he came back in good shape. No issues with batting or running. I really hope they can hold on to their divisional lead. Could you imagine?"
"We would have to get better pitching." Adam pointed out.
The conversation had shifted to playoff odds and what other teams were looking good, but my mind was still on Jeremy. I wonder how he was doing. Maybe I should give him a call tonight or tomorrow. I checked the schedule and saw that he was playing in Boston tonight. By the time he gets done with the game, I'll be practicing, and by the time I get done tonight, he will be sleeping. Tomorrow, I'll try calling in the morning.
When it was time for the afternoon practices and games, we headed down together, coming across other players. Dylan saw a teammate and split off first.
"Do you know where you're going?" Noah asked me.
"Batting cages next to the stadium." I reported.
We walked outside of the dorm building and I saw a familiar face waiting for me. Rhys was here to pick me up. He and the Atkins really deserved one another.
Noah grinned and greeted him. "Hey Rhys! Here to take Jake!"
Rhys grinned back and gave Noah a pat on the head. "Of course. Zeke put me in charge of him. I've got to make sure to do my job." He topped the bill of my cap. "You look half-dead. Are you going to be able to hold a bat today?"
I fixed my hat. "Yea, but I'll probably just bat righty today." My muscles were all sore from yesterday, but it felt unbalanced.
Rhys chuckled. "Well, it's practice so it's not a big deal how you do it, but don't expect to be hogging the cage to yourself."
"I know." I sighed. Then glanced to Noah. "Wouldn't it be nice if we had our own batting cage like Rhys?"
"Hey! I have a bullpen." Rhys corrected me. "That's different from a batting cage. Machines aren't cheap so you'll have to save up your allowance."
I stared at him. "I don't get an allowance…"
The guys that heard me, all started to laugh. I guess it was funny…but it was true. My birth mom never gave me a dime. Meanwhile, the Atkins have provided me with everything since the day I came. Food, clothes, and basically anything that involved money, wasn't a problem for me. Even at The Cages, one of the boys would always pay. Noah really took care of me like a big brother. So I looked to him.
Noah grinned. "We should ask Mom and Dad when we get back." I knew I could count on him to support me.
