The season - and my comeback - is fully underway! As a write to you today, I have thrown a total of eight innings so far and have yielded just one earned run. I've had three total appearances, two of which were with the second tier and the other being a start with the Division I squad. I've thrown in three games over the past 10 days. The team is trying to get me completely back in shape before they begin to lengthen out my starts. I've felt more and more comfortable with each appearance.
My first appearance and start was on the road at Newport. The guys warned me beforehand that the field would be a little different than what I was used to back in the US. The bullpen featured a five foot rubber mat underneath of the pitching rubber - which was extremely slippery and uncomfortable to throw on. The field conditions, although poor, were something that I had to get over. I threw two full innings on the day and picked up the win with four strikeouts and one hit. I never fully felt comfortable on the mound as my mechanics felt everywhere and I just didn't have that great of a feel on the ball. This was something that was expected and it was just my first real outing.
Three days later I received the start against Newport's Division I squad. This outing was much better as a threw three innings and did not allow an earned run. I ended up with four strikeouts and gave up a pair of hits. My mechanics still did not flow the way that I wanted them too but again, I'm still a work in progress. I want immediate results but understand there is still a period where I need to take it one step at a time. In this second start, I had glimpes of where I felt fully back to where I was this past summer. Late in the game I was boom-boom-boom, hitting my spots with sink to both sides of the plate.
I had my last appearance on Sunday with the seconds. I came out of the bullpen to throw three innings and again, no earned runs. This was the best I have felt yet as I was hitting my spots with total consistency. I had much more downward action on the ball as well. After looking at some photos of my previous outings, I saw some minor things that I was doing wrong. My dad helped me pick out a couple of others as well. The main problem lied in one small thing - eyes. I had been pulling my head off just before I released the ball. This caused my eyes to shift direction and the ball was being released in a completely different spot than what I thought. I saw this and now am not taking my eye off the glove from when I toe the rubber to after I release the ball. The concept is pretty elementary and almost funny as something so small as this was the reason for some inconsistency.
One thing I'd like to add is the only hit that I gave up this past weekend was a rocket up the middle. It was the first really hard hit ball hit back at me since the one I was faced with on July 2nd. It was weird because I never thought twice about the ball being hit back at me until someone in the dugout mentioned it. Just a further indication that I'm not afraid of the ball. To those who told me that I would be timid once a ball was hit back at me for the first time, thanks but no thanks. You're wrong.
I'm heading to the beach tommorow with my roomate and hopefully I can get a little sun. We play at Doncaster on Thursday and I'm looking to get some mid-relief time. I will throw then and this Sunday in minor appearances before starting to go deep into games the next week. At that point, I'll be fully ready to go seven strong. It's a work in progress and I understand that...but hey, its only January right? I'm playing baseball in amazing weather, with a bunch of great people, and continuing the journey to my dream. What a great life!
God Bless.
