244 Stanford University: Saturday 4

Shawn looked even bigger on the mound than any pitcher I've ever faced. It was like he demanded all eyes on him. As he threw a few warmup pitches, I started to notice a peculiarity.

"Is he throwing funny?" I asked Noah as we unwrapped the foil around our hotdogs.

Noah looked up to see. Then he tilted his head. "He has a weird setup. And throwing motion."

"You dummies." Dave, who sat beside me, knocked us both on the head. "His delivery is just different than the average pitcher."

"What's different about it?" I asked as the game started and the first opposing batter stepped up to the plate.

Dave paused. Then scratched his head. "It's- I think it might be- uh..."

"The mechanics, timing, and style are all his own." Zeke said from the other side of Noah. "Shawn is the top pitcher here. I think he leads the league in strikeouts, ERA, and WHIP."

**A/N: Reminder: ERA- earned runs average. WHIP- walks/hits per inning pitched.

"Oh, oh!" Kyle bounced in his seat, excitedly. "Does that mean he's going into the draft too?"

"He could." Zeke replied. We watched as Shawn struck out the lead off batter. "He's also trying to be an athletic trainer."

I nodded. I remember him saying that when him and Nick spoke about fallback plans. Speaking of Nick...I scanned the field and found him at the shortstop position. I nudge Noah and pointed.

Noah grinned when he figured out what I was pointing at. "Of course, Nick plays shortstop like me. You think any other position could have better hands than me?"

"It's not the hands that decide the position." Zeke refuted before I could say anything. "It's someone's personality."

"That's not true!" Noah argued. "Shawn even started to be a pitcher because of his strong arm and good balance. It's based of skill and talent."

Zeke shook his head. "Look at Shawn now. He's comfortable on the mound and in control. His personality reflects his position."

"Can you say that about the twins when they take the mound?"

Zeke paused for a moment, before saying. "It's part of the player's attitude. If you feel awkward the way you play, then you aren't going out with all you got, which means that isn't the position for you."

"I still don't agree." Noah huffed.

The family's attention was on the game, but my thoughts were still lagging behind, thinking about what Zeke and Noah argued about. If Zeke was right, then that I meant I wasn't playing up to my full potential. I still felt more uncomfortable at defense than anything. Actually, the only time I felt comfortable was batting. Preferably against a machine. But hitting against pitchers is fun too. If I could, I would want to try and face that guy from University Preparatory just one more time.

Shawn dominated the other team in the first four innings, only allowing one hit and one walk. The more he pitched, the more interested I became in his delivery. It was very fluid, yet it seemed to take forever to complete only for the ball to come blazing by the batter to the catcher.

Even though I found him the most fascinating on the team, he wasn't the star. Bradley Thompson was the college version of Zeke in my eyes. Every at bat he had, he was able to send the ball to the forest passed the outfield fence. The score became an amazing 7-0 in no time.

Throughout the game, Noah and his brothers would say tidbits about the sport as we watched. It felt more like a study session on the game of baseball than actually watching it just for fun. I didn't mind though. I liked hearing what they had to say about Shawn and how they would face someone like that at our level.

"Is there anyone in our league that throws in a weird manner like Shawn?" I asked directly, while holding my Ghirardelli chocolate that we bought earlier.

Noah shrugged. He didn't know that much more than me when it came to other players in the league unless they had a significant ranking or something. Noah turned to Zeke and stared him down until he turned to look back at us.

"What was the question?"

I cleared my throat and repeated myself. "Is there anyone in the league that throws in an unusual way?"

Zeke thought about only for a second before throwing us a name of a school. "Golden West."

"Ah! The sidearm dude!" Kyle blurted out. He leaned over Dave and poked me a few times until I looked him in the eye. "Have you seen anyone throw sidearm off the mound?" I shook my head, of course not. I just started playing baseball games when I joined them. "It's weird, but if you don't get overwhelmed easily, you can tell that it's nothing special speed wise. It also won't have too much movement."

I frowned. "Then why do it?"

Kyle leaned back to his own seat. "Who knows. It's really bad for your elbow too. No scout would want something like that. Right, Mr. Ramsey?"

Willie, on the other side of the parents leaned forward to look at us. He sighed. "There's a benefit of throwing batters off rhythm, but I can say it's only effective if you're a relief pitcher. Even then, the few sidearm pitchers in the big leagues didn't start out that way. They usually have good over the top mechanics to work off of." He looked at the twins specifically. "Don't throw your arm away."

Dave and Kyle nodded obediently.

Tonight I found out that college games go to nine innings just like the majors. Shawn pitcher for six only allowing four hits, one run, and two walks. But he got eight strikeouts.

Bradley Thompson stoke the show though with his three home runs and one intentional walk. He also made some nice catches in the outfield looking like he was a man among children.

Stanford University easily won the game 12-1, and didn't have a need to bat in the bottom of the ninth. The stadium cleared as the student population went crazy celebrating and breaking off into smaller groups to finish hanging out on their Saturday night. With some space, we stood up and stretched.

Mrs. Atkins squeezed through to get to Zeke. "What are your plans for tonight? What time should we be here tomorrow morning?"

Zeke shrugged. "I'll just hang out with the team. Wherever they go, I'll follow. As for tomorrow, just come after you check out of the hotel. I might have to run a few more drills, but that's not too important. Afterwards, Coach will want to sit down and speak to us about scholarship money and what he can offer."

Mrs. Atkins brightened up immediately. "Isn't that great? Maybe it'll be a full ride and you won't even need to take a single loan."

Zeke remained expressionless, not leaning one way or the other. But that was good enough for his parents, who had assumed he would be committed to just the draft. After a little small talk and a mini recap of the game, we parted ways with Zeke. He went to join the team now that they must be done with their showers, and we headed back to the hotel. After a day of running around, sightseeing, and eating whatever came my way, I was beyond exhausted. Almost like the first time I trained with Drew. I fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow.