The Hitting Wasn't There

On Sunday my team's last baseball game of the year was rained out. We finished with a record of 7-10 this year. That's a nice improvement over the 2-16 travesty of 2005 and the little improved 4-14 record of 2006. With three team's dominating the 12 team over 30 league I'm a member of, our 7-10 record placed us 5th best overall. That is quite the accomplishment.

After a fall and winter full of workouts during the '06/'07 off-season many of us had made eight wins as a team our goal for '07. With our last game being rained out we didn't have a chance at that but we all had a chance to attempt to reach our hitting goals. After hitting .400 in 2006 but with only a .467 slugging percentage, my 2007 goal was to maintain my high average but produce more doubles so I could raise my slugging percentage. I also had the goal of hitting one home run out of the park.

Unfortunately, my hitting results were dreadful. I finished the year with a .229 batting average and a .257 slugging percentage! Such paucity of power is simply amazing for a 6'3'' 210 pounder who lifted weights during the off-season. I hit one double all year -- in the first game on April 14th. Every other hit (and there were only seven others) were singles. This off-season I will be hitting the batting cages by myself more often so I can develop a repeatable swing that I don't have to think about when I'm batting. I'm also going to read some hitting books and maybe even buy a hitting video or two. My knowledge on the subject is sparse but I think I really need to work on transferring my weight and doing it at the right time during my swing.

The hitting troubles this year were puzzling to me since this is probably the first year that I've ever played baseball where I had virtually no fear of getting hit by a pitch when I was at bat. Perhaps I was too comfortable and lazy at the dish.

On defense I played every position but second and short. In the first game of the year I played third for four innings -- a position I'd last played as an eight year old in pickup games in my neighborhood. I was then shuttled to first (my favorite and natural position) and center over the next two games.

In the fourth game of the season I was thrown behind the plate. I had never caught before and I became enamored with the position very quickly. Due to my past umpiring experience I felt very relaxed catching and while I was poor and throwing out runners -- everyone who ran on me made it -- I did prove to be adept at snagging errant one-bounce throws by my pitchers.

From May 20th through June 2nd I caught three straight games in their entirety. While it was great fun and I felt more involved than ever in the flow of the game my knees were feeling very creaky and my recovery time after games was getting longer and longer. There was also a clicking sound in one of knees that I started to hear. Visions of me as a forty year-old with crotchety knees and being forced to play a statue in right field got me nervous and I split time behind the plate with a teammate for the rest of the year. My knees quickly recovered.

It appears that this year's off-season will be just as active as it was last year. At least ten guys on our fifteen man team can be counted on to show up to practice at least once a month during the off-season. Then we'll all start up again for real in April. And maybe we'll shoot for double digit wins in '08.