Question by : What should I do? (baseball, long)?
Hi I’m having a bit of a problem here regarding playing baseball. As a little league player from 5-14 years old I was always one of the top players in our city’s league. I always had this love for the game where my dad and I would go to the park for hours on weekends and he would hit me fly balls or set up the pitching machine or have me pitch to him. It always shocked me how we were the few ones there and it wasn’t because I wanted to make myself better, it was because it was fun. In the winter when the parks were frozen over we would go to the gym at the school my dad worked at and throw or do whatever. As I would wait for him to come home I would generally throw against my pitchback while everyone else watched TV or other things. In my last year before high school I had a slumping hitting season but did wonderful pitching and fielding wasn’t bad either. I set the record in the league by striking out 11 straight batters and then later striking out the first 14 batters of another game and I only threw fastballs the entire game.

Then high school hit and I lost interest in the game and decided not to tryout. My sophmore year I came back and had literally forgotten how to throw a baseball and that year was just a joke and I knew after the first day of tryouts I wasn’t going to make it. Then came Junior year (this year) where I had been working off season throwing with my dad and lifting 4-5 times a week. I came to tryouts and did excellent, I had one of the fastest sprint times and my fielding and hitting were all up to par with anyone else out there (I was trying out for outfield). I thought for sure this was my chance to redeem what alot of people saw as a promising baseball career. I had rushed home to check the roster on the internet to find that I didn’t make it. Months of offseason work not paying off just shattered me. Now my brother had left with bad terms on the coach the year before and not ever being on the high school team before probably didn’t work in my favor but I felt I did everything right.

Now I am going to be doing a summer league team and hopefully try out next year but I fear that the same thing will just happen and even though I do great the coach will look the other way and take others. My dad insists that I work hard and prove him wrong but I feel like I did all I could at those tryouts. If I don’t make the team next year I think that my once pro bound baseball career will be thrown out the window and that would just kill me. Would I ever have a shot at a college team if I never played on the high school team? Is there someone who is more deserving at a living in baseball than the kid who spent most all hours of his free time fielding 300 ft flyballs at age 12 and spending countless hours gathering blisters in the batting cage and throwing baseballs at his pitchback until it was too dark to see the ball coming at you? Is it really to those whose parents have the money to get them tutoring from those quote unquote pros that will change your playstyle to their liking and introduce you to curveballs before your arm is fully developed? Is there any hope left for the kid that ever since he can remember shared a passion even greater than his love for family to play this country’s past time?

Best answer:

Answer by pstewart5
Trust me, you are not the only person going through this. In my town, “who you know” plays a much bigger part than “how you play.” Generally speaking, a coach will not take a senior for his first year over a younger player. With you, he only gets 1 year where as if he takes a sophomore he will get 2 more. Play this summer and HAVE FUN. If you enjoy it then stick with it. Try out next year and if you make it great, if you don’t it is not the end of the world. You throw the ball, you hit the ball, and you catch the ball. Win or lose the sun will come up in the morning, whether you can see it or not!

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Question by Poppy: This is a bit of a long one, if you have the time to read it?
What do you think?

You say that I’m abrasive now,
a rusty spanner in your works
Sandpapering your skin, oh how
I wish you didn’t need me still,
although you do and always will

I was a cog before I flew,
the oil that kept your movements smooth
and steady, then I looked at you
and saw my future, saw my end
I saw my path begin to bend

Away from you I knew I’d grow,
of course still bound by our shared roots
that’s something I cannot let go
You know that it was killing me
A sapling dies by shade from trees

In my defence I kept it up,
that damn machine that broke my back
I like to think I held a cup
when looked inside appeared quite full
…but god your kickbacks cut awful

I didn’t jump like how you said
at any opportunity
I only rushed to save my head
from destiny’s sharp guillotine,
it spooked me with its looming gleam

So tell me that I turned my back,
but don’t point to the ones in yours
I shifted to a better track
An eagle cannot just devolve
into a dove when blood’s involved

I came back and I squashed your nest
Oh, eagle, you’re not welcome here
Revert back to what you know best
You’re wounded and I am the sand
so deep within your bleeding hand

Then don’t keep pressing on the point
I gained when all my sides were filed
And couldn’t get into the joint
(So guarded by square-looking pegs)
I’d fit in if I were to beg…
Devolve, as in the opposite of evolve.

Best answer:

Answer by Matt
It’s very thought provoking. It moved me to read you piece. Thank you.

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