The Hitting Zone

"David Atkins, right-handed pitcher, committed to Vanderbilt." I read next per Dave's request. The next sentence made me pause. I frowned and skipped to another sentence. "David showed he was ready for the next level, having closed out the California state championship of Division Three, only giving up one hit."

"Technically he gave up two runs on that hit." Noah pointed out. "He's just lucky it was charged to Garret."

Dave glanced in the rearview mirror. "Is that it?"

I shrugged, avoiding eye contact by looking at my phone. "Yea. Pretty much. Has some of your stats and awards too like being first-team all conference. That kind of stuff. Says you're unlikely to sign with a team if drafted."

"That's fair." He nodded slowly. "They have me pegged for being ready for college. That's good. I'm hoping to make an impact right away, even if I'm just a freshman."

"You'll be the biggest incoming freshman, I bet." Noah said, talking about how tall Dave was. He wasn't underweight at all either. Noah glanced back at me, but didn't say anything.

Feeling guilty, I looked away. I didn't want him to know I skipped a sentence about Dave. It wasn't something I wanted to say to him. Not that I think Dave couldn't handle it, but it just wasn't nice. It talked about how he was very injury prone and missed a lot of the season with various injuries. Which I didn't find fair at all. He doesn't play every game like a position player and that dislocated pinky was just bad luck. Plus there was the time he got stepped on and Coach pulled him just in case it was more serious.

Noah may have been a little suspicious about it, but his attention was drawn back to the game. Stanford and Cal State Fullerton kept it close until the end, with Stanford just barely pulling through 6-5. They would get their rematch with Texas A&M.

We had made it back to the stadium parking lot and hung out in the car with the updates. Mom called us right after the game, telling us that the stadium had to be cleared out and cleaned for the night game so we should just hang tight. They were being taken to an area where grampa could stay seated because of his old age.

The three of us killed time by texting friends updates and being on social media. I remembered to text Jeremy, telling him a little about our tryout then mostly about Zeke's game tonight. Surprisingly Jeremy got back to me right away, but then I remembered his game was earlier on the east coast. He should actually be on his way back.

"I mean, maybe?" Noah shrugged. "Draft starts at 4pm for the west coast and that's a few hours before the A's game start time at 7pm. He could do both so Jeremy could be present."

"You can ask Jeremy." Dave pointed out. "We're just speculating here. Invite him for Thursday then ask about his plans for Carson."

"Yea…okay…" I took a deep breath and started to type.

Me: Nothing special planned for Thursday but you can come over for dinner. You can bring Rose too. Ryan should be coming over as well, I think.

I mentioned Kyle's agent, knowing that he was a friend of Rose. They should all move in the same circles so it wouldn't be awkward.

Jeremy: We'll be there!

Me: Are you going to be able to be with Carson on Wednesday when he's picked?

Jeremy: Yea, the organization is going to let us use a conference room for him and the whole fam. They'll set up a laptop to keep an eye on the second round. I still have to warmup like normal, but should be able to catch the actual moment he's picked. Just have to sacrifice some team time. No biggie.

I hesitated for a minute before telling him:

Tell Carson congratulations from all of us when it happens.

Jeremy: I will! Thanks!

I cracked a smile. I could just imagine how happy Jeremy is just because I sent that.