That Kid's Got "The Stuff"!

Today we had a little surprise at Ty's baseball practice. Benji Gil, who was the number one draft pick of the Texas Rangers, and won the world series with the Angels, was at practice tonight. He is a friend of Ty's coach. He was there today to help the kids with their pitching. I was excited for Ty to get pitching tips from a major league player, and hoped that he'd do well, and work hard on whatever Benji told him.

The evening started off great when I overheard Ty's coach talking to Benji about Ty, and saying, "That's Ty. He's the one I was telling you about."

Ty spent about 15 minutes working with Benji, as I watched him pitching from behind the pitching mound. It was like watching another kid. Ty has always struggled with his confidence on the pitchers mound, and hasn't always been the most accurate. Today, he threw strike, after strike, after strike. I was SO proud of him. Benji looked over at coach and told him, That kid's got "the stuff"!

Towards the end of practice, they had a simulated game with fielders, and batters. Ty was the last to pitch. Benji asked me to catch for Ty while he warmed up. The first pitch that Ty threw to me was so hard that I felt like he had broken my thumb. It had so much velocity on it, and was straight down the plate. I believed I cursed under my breath.

Ty was called up, and he was the last to pitch. What happened over the next 5 minutes was unreal. Every pitch that Ty threw was a strike, and he threw everything like it was a bullet. His coach commented early when his son was clocked throwing at 40 m.p.h. that normally kids in Ty's league throw around 30 - 35 m.p.h. Ty was clocked at over 50 m.p.h. The coaches were stunned and wondering what the heck had happened to Ty. One commented that they'd found their new number one pitcher. Another said that there wasn't a kid in the league that could hit those pitches.

It was like watching my little baby boy...on steroids! He blew me and his coaches away. Benji Gil was all giddy too. Here was a kid, who's never played baseball before this fall, throwing 15 m.p.h. faster than most kids in the league, and with great accuracy. I was one proud Dad.

I also just got a text from the coach saying that they can only protect 3 players from the draft in the spring, and he wants Ty to be protected, so he can be on the team in the spring.

WOW! Go Ty #4.