Dirty Birds – Week 3

I wrote my thoughts immediately after sucking and this is what came out. I slept on it, thought about deleting it and writing an editing version. That would have been double the work so I leave the original blog. I’ll take a breath or two and be ready to go on Tuesday against High Point. This was a stream of consciousness I had to let wash over me and then move along, I am fine, it is May. Plenty of time left to reach my goals for the season.

Ah failure. My constant companion. Always by my side. The question now is how will I bounce back from failure? Stay tuned next week.

A tough go around for Mitchell this week. I tried to blow one game but the offense bailed it out, and then gave up another few runs at the end of the week for good measure.

All offseason I thought I could manifest success and I believe it. I thought this year would be different. I finished strong in September and I was going to carry the momentum into 2022. I started out hot, but this week was a tough one.

It is going to be a long season and an uphill battle. What’s funny is I know it can get worse, but I’m going to battle and do my best to stop sucking as soon as possible. That’s the goal right? Don’t suck.

I pitched against the Wild Health Genomes, they are the 10th team in the league to make sure there is an even number of teams to play. They share the stadium with the Lexington Legends and my first go around versus them went fine. 1-2-3 inning. My second go I almost go out of a bases loaded nobody out situation. I really believed it. I kept telling myself on the mound that I was in control and I could work out of it. I got to 2 outs and a 2-2 count but the guy hit a double. It was his night, as he went on to walk us off in the 10th inning.

We welcomed the Legends to the beautiful state of West Virginia, and the rain had other plans for Friday. The rain started and never stopped which meant we play two seven inning games on Saturday. The key to a double header is throwing in the first game so you can relax the second game and enjoy the view. I got half of my wish by pitching in the first game.

It all started with a few check swing base hits, and I actually worked out of the bases loaded situation with no runs. That was nice. I was tasked with going back out for the final inning up 7-2 and finishing the game. My first two inning appearance I got the first guy which is the key. Then I went 0-2 and walked a guy because of course that’s what happens when you nibble and the automated zone says strike but the ump doesn’t. After a strikeout I got to face their big hitter and he made sure to hit one into the mountains. I got the next guy on a strikeout and the game was over. Crazy how one bad pitch can ruin the whole day. Ruins the fun of the day and changes my mood completely.

Shoutout Transylvania University

My walkless streak ended while I had two against Lexington, and my velo still down in the dumps. I can’t use the being 30 excuse since I was 30 in Wichita and throwing hard. What a week for the kid. You could say it wasn’t a whole lot of fun.

Speaking of fun. Sports are supposed to be fun. I’m not sure when the last time I was in a game thinking wow this is a lot of fun. Most of the time I’m thinking about executing a pitch or stressing out about nothing. That is what I’ll remind myself next time I’m on the mound. Hey this is supposed to be fun.

The best part of the week was driving back and the next morning making breakfast. My roommate was up there that I know from teams in the past, and he says “So when are you going to start throwing hard?” That’s the $15,000 question isn’t it? He didn’t mean anything by it as far as poking at me or being discouraging. I think that’s the vibe I was putting out there and he recognized my frequency and the stress I was putting on myself.

The one thing I usually have going for me I don’t have anymore. I haven’t changed anything as far as I know or made any adjustments that would limit myself. It hasn’t been coming out the same way but I can’t say it’s early because last year at this time I had the velo. Perplexing situation indeed.

If you aren’t throwing hard, you better strike everyone out, and so far I’m not doing that either. I am doing nothing to separate myself from anyone else. Johnny Righthand is what they call me, just a stock right hand thrower of baseballs.

The trend so far is signing starters which makes sense. As a reliever you have to show exceptionally well to get resigned, or that is the trend teams are showing play. I think the next few weeks of action will be very telling and I’ll reevaluate. I don’t want to make any emotional decisions after a shit week of pitching, but also if there is no chance then what is the point?

If you’ve made this far I thank you for your perseverance. The summer of irrational delusions is back as it always is during baseball season. Next up for the Birds is going back to High Point, then up to Southern Maryland. I’ll drive myself again because why the hell not? At least I can be a man and his thoughts on the road this summer. I’ll start treating the season as a driving simulator and the baseball is the side project.

Slinging it

Hopefully in a month or two I’ll look back on this post and say hey remember when I was down in the dumps early May? Those were the days. That’s the plan. Right the ship and go from there. Quick shoutout to my guy Herget getting signed, pending physical, and my throwing partner eventually getting signed because he’s crushing it. I’ll have to break in a new throwing partner but it’s exciting for them to get out of here.

Thanks again for being an outlet and riding with me through the ups and downs. I’m lookin forward to reporting on the good vibes of the next road trip. Here’s to having fun.

Goodnight bad week, onto the next one.

Dirty Birds – Week 2

The second week and first full week of the season is in the books. It wasn’t the best week for the Birds but we played close in every game.

The start of the week had the Long Island Ducks come to town and they are the Yankees of this league. From what I have been told they are the top dog in the league and it would be a good test for the team. The series did not go our way but I had the shortest inning of my career as far as I can remember.

I had a five pitch inning against the Ducks in a tie game. It felt nice to get out there and pitch again after opening weekend. The more reps and experience I get is better for me. I am better the more frequent I throw, and since we had a short spring training these first few outings are crucial. They lay the groundwork for the rest of the season and set the tone. I’m still not where I want to be but if I can hold my own while I ramp up that’d be ideal. That was my only action against the Ducks and then it was onto High Point.

The High Point Rockers are a newer team to the league and their setup was nice. They have an all turf field and they stole the pink locker room trick from Iowa football. The original idea was pink was a soothing color and the visiting football team would be relaxed instead of amped up to play. The playing surface and everything was fine but the clubhouse snacks and food were lacking. Another hiccup was the hotel was overbooked and they gave us one bed and a couch. That meant one guy on the couch or floor and one guy in the bed. It is a small thing, but for a league that reminds us they are the premier league, to not have beds for players is something I did not expect.

The plus side of playing against High Point is the drive was only 3 hours and I drove myself. The first time I have driven myself to a professional baseball game and I could get used to it. The ability to explore new cities and areas of the country is a perk of the job and I’d like to take advantage of it. I was able to go to stores that aren’t in Charleston, and I could see the local sights and sounds.

My outing in High Point wasn’t as “good” as my others if that is the way to judge it. I gave up a solo home run and then got the next hitters out. This new sinker produced some major league fly balls, but I think that’s a focus thing. I need to lower my focus again and not worry about anything else.

The second or next gear that I had at the end of the year last year has not shown up yet. When will it show up? Nobody knows, but I know it is in there and it will come out as the season moves on.

I won’t see discredit myself after one pitch. I remind myself that these guys are paid to play as well, but my dreams of a scoreless April ended. The pressure is now off, even though there was no pressure to begin with. My brain likes to add added pressure on myself for no reason when I know that I don’t control if teams are paying attention to this league or not. I know teams aren’t expecting perfection but there had to be a reason they want you over the next guy. My usual reason is velocity and spinning the ball so when the velocity ticks up I will be as happy as a clam, whatever that means. It is hard to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel but we press on after 10 games, a lot of baseball to play.

If teams are looking at me then I know they won’t judge someone on one or two games. As the season progresses it’ll be interesting to see how teams look in a month or two when players start moving to and from the league.

I didn’t feel as shameful or stressed on the mound afterwards, and although it was just High Point, I handled myself well for the first road game. The comfort in visitor ballparks will come with reps, but I’m glad to get the first one out of the way and we won the game. It is interesting to me how my body doesn’t differentiate between A,AA,AAA, Indyball, etc. It all feels the same to me when I pitch and going forward I think it will stay that way.

This upcoming week we head to Lexington, KY to play one of the two teams that call Lexington home. The league had 9 teams and had to add a 10th before the season to make sure it was an even number. The Wild Health Genome and the Lexington Legends share the same ballpark. We play both teams this week starting with the WHG tomorrow and Lexington coming to Charleston on the weekend.

The last thing I thought of heading into this series was last year at this time I had just signed on with Arizona after not knowing what was going to happen next. A year ago I thought I was done or wondering when I’d play again, and bam just like that someone scooped me up. Will that happen this year? Who knows, and sometimes it feels like why would anyone choose me over the plethora of talent in the league. If that’s a bad mentality then okay, but it’s a thought that washes over me and goes on it’s merry way. I’m improving at letting those thoughts come and go and replacing them with better ones.

The Dirty Birds are 10 games in and we are coming in hot to Lexington and then back to the friendly confines of Charleston. Thank you everyone who is following along and I’m excited to see where this season ends up.