708 V2 ch180 (1/2)

When I came up, I lined up as a righty as Mr. Miller got the baseballs ready. He put a ball on both tees before smiling at me. ”Ready?”

I pulled my bat back and made sure my feet were set. ”Ready.”

”I'll call it when you lift your left leg.” His eyes were down on my legs.

I leaned on my back leg and lifted my front leg, starting my motion.

”In-”

I adjusted my hands and swing, hitting the ball on the inside tee. Perfect line drive into the netting.

A new baseball was put on the inside tee and I got set again. I started moving.

”In-”

I didn't let Mr. Miller finish before connecting on the inside baseball again. Another line drive into the netting. I kept up with Mr. Miller, not letting him say the complete word 'inside' or 'outside'. Just 'in' or 'out' was good enough for me. Mr. Miller didn't let me do any extra swings though. When I was done, I was done.

I looked at him, kind of sad. ”Can I do my left side too?”

He chuckled. ”Maybe in a minute. I want to ask you some questions for the other boys to hear. Maybe give them some guidance on how to improve at this drill, and therefore improve their in-game decisions.”

I nodded, trying not to shiver from the stares. I kept my eyes on Mr. Miller.

He looked around at our small group. ”Jake is, without a doubt, the best batter in our program and within our league. I would even claim that he's the best in the division. He has the best reaction speed and knows how to put the ball in play. He maybe struck only two or three times.”

”Wow.”

”Is that even real?”

”In how many at-bats?”

”Has to be a lot since he was a starter.”

”Just crazy.”

There were a lot of mumbles and whispers as the players within the group gossiped about me. I took a glance and realized that the ones speaking were mostly the incoming freshmen. The returning upperclassmen didn't seem impressed. That's okay. As long as they weren't mean to me.

”Jake,” Mr. Miller faced me. ”Why don't you talk a little about your process? How do you approach this drill to be more precise?”

I awkwardly moved to where I was standing when I was doing the drill. I cleared my throat to ease my anxiety. ”Well, I do my normal swing. Since it's a drill where I have to choose at the last second, I really only move my wrists to change the way I attack the ball.” I showed them the two different movements, aiming for inside and outside pitches.

”What else?” Mr. Miller asked.

I blinked as I looked up at him. ”What else..?” I repeated.

”Bat speed?”

”He does swing really fast.”