18 months ago, my then 9 year old son decided that he wanted to try to play competitive baseball. It was kind of surprising as the interest came out of the blue. We went to several Rays games over the previous three years but he never showed any interest in playing. So I signed him up for the fall instructional league and before his first practice, I took him to the local batting cages. Since he writes with his right hand, I had try hitting right handed. He took 20 swings from the right side against the beginner pitching machine and missed all of them. When he played soccer and basketball, he was more left side dominant so I had him try from the left side. He did a little better. He hit one out of twenty. He said "Dad, I don't know if I can't hit the ball." He then started his first fall season with a coach that ... well let's just say he was not a nice man and now has the arrest documents to prove it. Things got better when he moved to a different team for the remainder of the fall season and his first year in spring ball went okay. All the while my son tolerated practicing with his old man with the arthritic elbow. I was throwing 1 out of every three pitches into the ground in the cage and striking out when I tried to hit balls to him
Entering his second season of spring ball, I asked him what his goals for the season were. He said he wanted to learn how to pitch and he wanted to make the all star team.
Well he played mostly first base (his best position) and the corner outfield positions. He hit over .400 for the season He did get to start a game (first inning 1,2,3, second inning not so much). He came in as a reliever a couple of times with similar results. His coach chose him to start an elimination game in the end of year tournament. He tossed 4 no hit innings before being subbed out due to a high pitch count.
Today he was selected to his league's All Star team. I can confidently say he got none of his baseball skills from me
