Lunch had just finished, and Jay and I were prepared to walk down to the field early and play catch. That’s when we were stopped by Rumi, Stirling, and Chloe, and the trio were all wearing safety vests, and they were the first aid team for SpudFest. Obviously, they weren’t that good because a kid still broke his elbow, but that’s beside the point.
Jay and I jogged down to the field, hit a little quick stretch, and started throwing the baseball around. We quickly went to 40 and then 60 yards, just letting the big dog EAT. And then tragedy struck. Team comp games started. Dang!
After the gruesome 30 minutes of Team Comp, we picked up the gloves again, and our arms were still hot, then we were launching the ball 70 and then 80 yards. Clearly, every girl was impressed by my ability to throw the ball nearly 100 yards. Right?! I knew they were even if they didn’t show it, the ladies loved watching us.
Sunday. Normally, a day us high schoolers tends to not love so much, even though it is a weekend day, it really means doing homework and going to bed early for school the next day. But today, I had a great day.
I woke up early to go to the gym, came home, made myself a breakfast sandwich, showered, got dressed, and then headed off to UCSB. There was a baseball showcase at UCSB today, and I was fortunate enough to be in attendance as a PO (Pitcher Only). Fulfilling my dreams, I was as I got to go into the locker room, meet the players, meet the pitching coordinator, and pitch 2 innings on the field. I pitched very good, letting up no runs with 3 strikeouts and only 2 hits.
It was great meeting all the new faces, getting to talk 1on1 with the coaches, and becoming friends with division 1 athletes.
Afterwards, one of my long-time best friends was there, so we went to dinner. I got a salad with shrimp and avocado in it. It was okay.
But the good performance made the trip worth it and hopefully my dreams can come true in the next few years.
Baseball, America’s favorite pastime, is a sport normally played in the spring and summer. Through the sunshine, the little white ball is hit, thrown, and caught. But for me this fall, I had to beat the heat of Scottsdale, Arizona, and also try to pitch my way to not get beat by the #1 ranked team in Arizona.
It was Saturday, 8 am, the game was just about to start, and it was already a brisk 88 degrees in Scottsdale, and my coach had given me the nod to pitch against the #1 team in Arizona, Swarm Red Elite. With me already shaking in my boots and beaming with sweat, it was already an uphill climb. The game started out hot with me picking up a quick out on 3 pitches, but then giving up a 2-strike single to the next batter, but I came out with no runs.
The bottom of the first was a huge inning for my team as we put up 3 runs with only 1 out. The game progressed, and I only got better until I gave up a huge 2-run single to their 3rd hitter, who was a big lefty. In the 4th inning, it was 3-2 us, and we haven’t gotten a hit since the first inning. When I went out to pitch, missed calls from the umpires and a couple of mental mistakes put a runner on 2nd base with no outs. I got a huge flyout, which advanced the runner to third. Runner on third, 1 out, and a 3-0 count, the batter pops the ball up to right field. The right fielder catches, throws to the cutoff, who throws the ball away, letting the runner score with ease, tie game, 2 out. I strike the next batter out.
I went on to finish the entire game, throwing a great game against a very good team that scrapped together another run on a sacrifice fly to left field. They kept us hitless from innings 2-6, which ended the game when we got no hits in the last inning, which happened to be the 6th due to time.
What was a great game for me turned into a devastating loss for the team, which took us out of bracket play for the weekend.
This weekend was a long weekend with 4 days off because of family weekend. I started each day with running pie everyday to get in shape with an average pace of 8 minutes per mile and the total time of 22 minutes. There weren’t that many trips this weekend besides the collection on Saturday night and Universal Studios on Monday. On Friday I watched the World Series with a few friends. Freddie Freeman’s walk-off was crazy. It was a really relaxing weekend. I finally got a good rest and am getting ready for the school next week. On Saturday we went to Dick’s sporting goods to get some basketball equipment such as compression shorts and KT tape for my knee. We also got some golf stuff like the new released Taylor-made golf balls, TP5X. We went to get food at the Korean barbecue place for dinner afterwards. Today we went to Universal Studios, we went on most of the main rides except Jurassic park because it was closed. However, It was a fun trip especially with all my friends together too.
I have never really been interested in sports, especially when I was younger. I never played a sport seriously, nor did I have any interest in watching it either. I think the reason why I overall completely avoided sports was because I felt like I couldn’t do it. I felt like every time that I tried to play sports in elementary school I just didn’t have the “skill.” This was a pretty negative way of thinking. I didn’t want to try. I didn’t have any motivation to, just because I thought I was not going to improve if I was not good at it immediately. This caused me to not branch out and try to find something I liked, which actually applied to other areas in my life involving skill as well. I simply lost motivation way too easily. When Covid hit and online school started, I hardly ever exercised. I thought sports weren’t for me. When I first joined my current school, I was nervous about all of the sports options. There were so many things that I hadn’t tried before. I heard many of the girls in my grade that were joining volleyball, and because I didn’t know what else to do, I joined it as well. When I first began to play volleyball, I was very discouraged. I started putting more effort in, and even though I was so terrible, I enjoyed it. I was excited to go to practice. I would talk to parents about it, and how happy and nervous I was to play in a real game. It is my third year playing volleyball, and although I am still in the JV team (and not good at all), I am so thankful that I first tried playing it.
Also, at the end of September, my best friend and I went to go see a baseball game that she invited me to. I have actually been to one baseball game when I was younger, but I can’t remember very much about it. My best friend first invited me to go during the summer, and we were so excited and ready for the day to come. When we arrived, just being in the environment with so many people passionate about this sport made it all the more exciting. We got into the stadium, and my best friend bought both of us matching jackets! I hadn’t even seen the baseball field yet and I was so happy. I had such an amazing time there watching the game with my best friend who made it even more special, and there was even a fireworks show afterwards. I’m really happy that I have come to appreciate not only playing sports, but watching them too.
My high school baseball career has come to a close.
I recently contracted Covid-19 which caused me to miss our round 2 playoff game, which would ultimately be the final game of our season and final game of my high school career. It was a weird feeling knowing I just my time as a high school athlete ended without being able to do anything about it. I got so many texts and phone calls from people telling me how sorry they were that this happened to me but I didn’t feel sorry for myself nor did I feel any emotion at all. I was just focused on making sure the people around me didn’t get sick while everyone else was focused on the fact I can no longer play high school baseball.
The funny thing is I am content with my career coming to end the way it did. For instance, in the last game I played in we won, our school got its first-ever playoff win in school history, and I balled out. So there’s no bad taste in my mouth about how my high career came to an end. I am also playing baseball in college so that makes this ending not too bad.
However, there are a few things I miss about high school ball. I’ll miss the road trips to away games, the inside jokes with the guys, getting yelled at by my head coach, and getting out of class early on gamedays. I’ll miss the early morning lifts, the post-game workouts, the late nights hitting off the tee, the extra work after practices, the sprints, batting practice, catching bullpens the day after catching a whole game because we don’t have a backup catcher. But the one thing I’ll miss the most the memories I’ve made with all my teammates.
I don’t mean this post to be controversial, but it probably will be. Oh well.
Baseball
I’m so sorry to every baseball fan. I despise watching baseball. It goes on for so long, and it’s honestly not entertaining to me. Even when I watch my own school playing, I get bored and distracted like 10 minutes in. It’s just not my thing.
Same complaint as baseball that it goes on forever. Literally, there will be ten minutes left in a quarter and the game will go on for forty. It just feels so anticlimactic too. Like, everybody cheers when someone’s running, then they get tackled and have to start all over again. Plus, the fanbase can be a little insane sometimes, but that can be said about almost every sport.
This one is mostly just a noise complaint. I’m super sensitive to loud noises, so I hate that they fire a blank to signify the start of the race. Like, they couldn’t just blow a horn or something? Do they think they’re so cool that they need to shoot a gun? Hate it.
This explanation is going to sound so stupid. I’m acknowledging it in advance. Since it’s in a pool, water polo is almost always played in the sun. I HATE sitting in the sun. You have to sit on hot bleachers with the sun on you while praying that somebody splashes you and cools you down. Not my thing. I think I’d enjoy it more if I actually knew the rules, which I probably should know since my cousin is an Olympic water polo player. Let’s pray he never finds this blog post.
I love watching any other style of riding. Horse racing just is the worst. It’s basically a sport invented for gambling and materialism. Watching horses run as fast as they can isn’t even enjoyable. Especially when you know the way they treat the horses behind the scenes. And if you argue that not all racing stables abuse the horses, they still start the horses when they’re way too young to have riders on them and before they’ve even stopped growing or fully developed their bones. It’s literally just the money that people like about it.
Sure, it’s cool-looking. There just aren’t enough events and not enough variety in the routines to make it interesting to watch for longer than an hour. Let’s let the men compete in cooler events and have nicer routines so that watching them is actually enjoyable.
I have discussed this with my friends and feel confident to be on the baseball team. However, after two weeks of practice, my baseball career ends right away. I didn’t practice a lot because I was on a camping trip and then the winter break happened, so I’ve been sitting on the bench for the first couple of games. I started to think about if I should switch my sport to weight lifting instead of sitting on the bench while not practicing for baseball. The game is happening almost every day. I decided to quit baseball because, during the last game, the coach came to me and said: “You will be the pitcher for the next game.” It sounds pretty good, right? The coach is so nice that he is thinking of giving me a chance to play, but do you know it’s impossible for me to be the pitcher. I, as a beginner, can’t even throw a baseball that far or fast and couldn’t catch every ball they throw. Then how do I become a pitcher? Plus, there are only a few practices I will be able to hit and throw. With this short amount of time, it was just impossible for me to be the pitcher. It is kind of him that he gave me hope to push myself more, so I might play in the future. I pretty much enjoy playing baseball and I love it, but I just don’t want to spend the rest of the time sitting on the bench.
Story is one of the few players that can hit for power and contact while also being an elite runner. His 2021 season was very uncharacteristic for Story, but he still manged to post a fairly decent year slashing .251/.329/.471. He also hit 20+ home runs, drove in 75 runs, and stole 20 bases as well.
Story will be switching divisions an inking a 8 year/126 million deal with the Texas Rangers
#3 Kris Bryant
Bryant, who was traded in July to San Fransisco will not be eligible for the qualifying offer so he will go straight to free agency. He was an all-star in 2021; hitting 25 home runs and drove in 70+ runs. Not only does he provide a plus-middle of the order bat, but he is a plus defender in the field. Bryant is able to play all three outfield spots and both corner infield positions.
Bryant will be back in the orange and black signing a 5 year/115 million dollar contract with the Giants
#2 Corey Seager
Seager is arguably the best shortstop in baseball, when healthy of course. He only played in 95 games this season and was still an elite hitter. Seager posted a .306/.394/.521 slash with 16 home runs and 57 rbi’s. He is a plus defender at short and has the arm to make the move to third once he gets into the later part of his career.
Seager inks a 10 year/330 million dollar contract with the Yankees
#1 Carlos Correa
Correa is a top 3 shortstop in the game of baseball, an arguably a top 10 player too. He is 26 and only getting better, which is evident by his gold glove award in 2021. Correa hit .279 with 26 homers, 92 driven in, 34 doubles, and a 131 ops+. He was an All-Star and finished in the top 5 of AL MVP voting
Correa will re-up in Houston but not on the length many would expect, I think he signs a 3 year/145 million dollar deal with the Astros.
Stroman, who opted out of the shortened 60 games 2020 season, had an incredible bounce-back year. He tossed 179 innings while maintaining an era around 3 for the majority of the year, finishing with a 3.02. In his age 30 season Stroman, lead the league in starts with 33. He doesn’t have an overpowering fastball but does mix his various pitches extremely well, disrupting the timing of his opponents.
I think he signs a 3 year/72 million dollar deal with the LA Angels
#9 Kevin Gausman
Gausman had his best season of his career in 2021. He had a 2.81 era, struck out a career-high 227 batters, and was named to the National League All-Star team in mid-July. He also won a career-best 14 games out of 33 stars. Gausman had a 1.04 WHIP in 192 innings and tossed an impressive 145 era+.
I believe he re-ups in San Fransisco, signing a 4 year/77 million dollar contract with the Giants
#8 Robbie Ray
Ray was the best pitcher in the American League this year, by far. He lead the AL in several categories; era with a 2.84, games started 32, innings pitched 193.1, strikeouts with 248, era+ at 154, and a whip at 1.04. Ray will most likely receive the AL CY Young award and will also earn himself a bag this off-season.
I think he stays north of the border as the Blue Jays go all in signing him to a 4 year/117 million dollar deal
#7 Freddie Freeman
Freeman is the first bat to pop up on my list. Freeman led the Braves to a world series title in 2021 also had himself quite the year following an MVP award in 2020. He was named to his 5th career All-Star team, won his 3rd straight silver-slugger award, hit 30+ home runs, and lead the league in runs scored.
Freeman or “Mr. Brave” will remain in Atlanta for a while signing a 6 year/215 million dollar contract with the Braves
#6 Marcus Semien
Semien had his best season to date in 2021. He had career highs in home runs, rbi’s, and slugging percentage. Semien has already been awarded a gold glove and silver slugger as well as being an All-Star, he will finish in the top 3 for AL MVP too. Hitting 45 homers and driving in 102 runs as a middle infielder will definitively get a big paycheck this off-season.
I think he signs a 5 year/122 million dollar deal with Seattle
#5 Max Scherzer
Scherzer has been arguably been the greatest starting pitcher of this generation. His second of the season with the Dodgers was insane, unfortunately for Scherzer his arm ran out of gas come playoffs. However he is Max Scherzer and his numbers in 2021 were very impressive he had a 0.86 whip, a 2.46 era, and struck out 236.
I think Scherzer signs a 2 year/ 66 million dollar contract with the LA Angels
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