Junior Year Box Set

“I’m glad you realize I’m the teacher here,” he said. “As an outfielder, you have to realize you’re the last line of defense. That means you never want to let a ball get behind you. Your first step when a fly ball is hit should always be back to get you moving. If you see it’s off to the side or in front of you, you can always adjust.”

I liked that Coach Way didn’t just assume we knew everything. His little coaching tips always reinforced what we’d learned over the years. It just reminded me that baseball was a simple game, and his little tips would make you a better player. I liked our time together.

He gave me a few more and then sent me in for my batting practice so he might share his words of wisdom with his next victim.

Tonight’s game was against our host country, Mexico. There were basically three tiers of teams at this point. USA and Cuba were in the top tier, as we’d already locked up the Gold Medal Game. The second tier was Nicaragua and Mexico. From what I’d seen and read, they were on equal footing. I expected they would fight it out for third and fourth place. Then there was everyone else.

From watching practice, I had a bad feeling that Mexico might catch us tonight. All the backups were starting and excited to play, but it somehow seemed that Mexico wanted this more than we did. The game would be broadcast live across the country, and I was sure they would want to give us their best game. More than once, I’d been the underdog in football, and knew it was a powerful motivator. Even though everyone seemed to be saying the right things, I was just afraid that they didn’t believe that Mexico was capable of beating us. I sure hoped they were right.

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I appreciated that the coaches said that those who wanted to could stay and practice football. It gave my Lincoln teammates people to practice against. The guy who had taken a giant step forward was my half brother Phil. Last year, he’d assumed that everything would be handed to him because he was related to me. At some point, the light had switched on, and he realized that he had to work to be good.

I believe the smartest move the boosters had made was to hire Connor Fletcher, our outside strength and conditioning trainer. Connor had transformed my teammates’ bodies. While Cassidy had helped them become lean and flexible, Connor had added strength and explosiveness. I’d noticed the difference when we’d gone skins versus shirts the other day. Yuri, Roc, and Phil had much better muscle definition than my baseball teammates. Usually, that wouldn’t have surprised me, because most baseball players don’t work that hard in the weight room. These guys who’d made the USA team were different; they’d worked their tails off. My only conclusion was that the difference was Connor.

The Greene twins, Logan and Royce, both played defensive back at their high school. In fact, Logan had been offered a scholarship to Western Kentucky. He was holding out because he wanted his brother to go to college and play ball with him too. Royce had received a baseball scholarship, but like his brother, he wanted to play football as well.

The reason I mention the Greene twins was that they were both going to be seniors in high school and played football at a high level. Roc and Phil would both be sophomores, and they were dominating the twins. Granted, Roc had a couple inches on them, but Phil was an inch shorter. It put a smile on my face when my guys would simply outmuscle the older boys and then outjump them. Roc was taking to the fade routes we were learning. He relished fighting for a reception and was getting good at causing the defensive back to lose his rhythm when he bumped them.

There was a lot of me in Phil. He liked the contact and wasn’t afraid to mix it up with the older boys. I couldn’t wait to see him in pads. I had a feeling he would surprise some people.

Roc hadn’t slacked off, either. Yuri told me Roc had claimed one of our JUGS machines as his own and used it regularly to catch balls. The results of his efforts were showing up in our practices. Bill Callaway, who now played at USC, had the best hands I’d ever seen. He was one of those rare players who made the people around him look better. I can attest to that because I’d thrown him footballs for two years. He rarely dropped a pass. Roc was quickly catching up to Bill in that regard.

During our practices, Roc was my go-to guy for deep balls. It was almost like when I played Madden Football and pulled out Jerry Rice. You just sent him deep and threw him the ball. Alan and Jeff had banned me from picking him after I’d dominated the video game for a few weeks.