677 V2 ch149 (2/2)
”Did he not hit well?” I asked, curious.
Rhys laughed. ”He was a hitter for sure.”
”Then why..?”
”Why didn't he get walked?” Rhys finished for me. I nodded. ”I think it has something to do with age. No senior likes taking the mound and then being told to walk an underclassmen. Pitchers have superiority complexes. They have to be the best out there.”
”Then what about the times we did get walked?” I wrinkled my nose, not understanding.
”Well, the playoff games are easy. They are the 'playoff' games. You can't be selfish on the mound. You have to follow the coach's instructions and follow the game plan, even if that means intentionally walking the other team's best batters.” He explained. ”Then there are other situations that walking a batter is a better option. You have to take into account the score of the game, how much the game matter's, and then the matchup of pitcher and batter.”
”Ah.” I was slowly starting to understand. ”So you think I won't get walked all the time?”
”Probably not.” He grinned. ”But if you smash a homer every game, then it might be a different story.”
”Jake!” I heard Noah's yell.
I looked up and saw him running towards us with a big grin on his face. We met him at the entrance of the cafeteria.
”Guess what?!!” Noah looked between us.
”I'm guessing you had a good game?” Rhys threw out his guess.
”A great game!” Noah corrected. ”I went 3-3 at the plate! All doubles!” He spoke quickly like we might interrupt his train of thought. ”I probably could have legged one out to be a triple, but it was too close to tell and I didn't want to risk it. So instead, I stole third base!”
”You were abled to steal third?” Rhys was shocked. ”That's impressive! Congrats.”
Noah grinned. ”They made a throwing error when trying to catch me too, so I was abled to make it home all on my own. It was exhilarating. I hope to steal more bases in the future. Use speed to cover up my lack of power.”
”Spoken like a true shortstop.” Rhys laughed.
”Coach Rhys?” A young player called out from a few feet away. ”Do you have a minute?”
”Sure.” Rhys gave him a friendly smile. He glanced at us. ”You guys go ahead. I'll see you after dinner.”
”Okay.” I replied.
Rhys left us to go see what the player needed.
”Rhys is a good person to be a counselor.” Noah stated. ”He's kind, smart, and approachable. He doesn't look down on others even before his surgery.” He sighed. ”It's crazy to think his high school team didn't want him anymore.”
”Is it?” I raised an eyebrow at Noah.
Noah caught my meaningful look. ”It's different for Rhys. He was the captain of his team as a junior like Zeke. He was a leader, on and off the field. Helped everyone with everything. If you need a tutor for a class, he would take the time to explain the material. If you were struggling with your swing and needed some extra batting practice, he didn't mind throwing some more pitches.” Noah rambled on. ”For him to give up baseball his senior year, it killed him to see that they didn't care. For me, I'm just mad.” He backtracked. ”I WAS mad. Now, I'm okay.”
”Are you?” I asked, knowing that the high school camp was next week. Noah sure wasn't okay when he found out that we couldn't play for his old travel team anymore. And that was barely two months ago.
Noah smirked. ”I'll definitely be okay after showing them up next week. I'll crush them completely in every drill and every scrimmage. I won't give them any chance to say that I made the team because of Zeke.”
My lips twitched. It didn't really sound like Noah was over it. More like, he was plotting revenge. Except, there wasn't much we can do when baseball is a team sport. ”What can I do to help?”
Noah grinned. ”I'll point out the pitchers that need your special attention.”