SB is fine. Counting it, not so much.

and Kyle:

oh, I promise not to put it on my baseball card.

Pitched in relief in two games today: 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. Had a good slider and two-seam fastball.

Went 3-for-7 with the hardest ball I've ever hit in my life today. Cleared the 360+ foot fence in dead center while it was still going up. Absolute line drive blast; sounded like a gun went off when I hit the ball.

very nice kyle. what's the avg skill level in your league? Pitchers throw how hard?

Generally looks like an average HS Varsity team (from a large conference). Adjust your feelings down if you're from SoCal/Texas and up if you're from the NE.

I hit the dinger off a guy throwing in the mid-70's probably. Pitchers don't have their best velocity right now, including me (stress fracture in my lumbar spine is nagging me). But I am far ahead of the competition because I've been lifting seriously since August, hitting since November, and throwing off a mound since December.

My body hasn't healed completely from when I blew out my shoulder last year early ib the season, but finished out the year anyway. I thought it would be better after a few months of no throwing, but during the first time out in mid to late january after about 5 throws it started to hurt again.

So it will probably be a year of either DHing or nothing at all.

If I do end up playing it will probably only be until June, because I found a league for 4 year olds that I'm going to get my son into and get him started.

a league for 4 year old? I can't even imagine. My league for 4 year olds would involve my back yard.

How old could you be? I thought you were still in baseball 3-4 years ago.

First time in a country with out a proper baseball league. Found a fast pitch softball team to play with, meh, its better than no baseball.

Going to Philippines this weekend, if I like the baseball there maybe consider moving from Thailand.

6 months is long enough to get anyone out of pitching shape if they are not working out or throwing at all.

I'm so jealous, haven't played competitive baseball since junior high when I ruined my elbow. I couldn't hit when I was young but was a hell of a pitcher. Way overweight but hey, in the words of the late rod beck, "you can't pull fat" right? Will see if I can find a league with people as equally as bad as me. Until then, I'll just read this thread

What I gather from the info I've recieved so far, is that it is basically just a few weeks of practice to learn the fundamentals. We've already been doing that so he's got a good start. It's more going to be so he can get out with kids his own age, and play some with them. Instead of always playing with me and his uncles.

Handshake.jpg

I think old is a relative term, especially in a large community like this. I will be 30 soon and I know that isn't old but I have started feeling the effects of aging (probably a better word). I have thrown 3 bullpens since I pitched in an effort to start getting my arm in pitching shape - it is getting there but I just don't feel the same as a few years ago and really not much has changed other than not playing.

I'm playing hardball this summer after taking a 3 year hiatus, had the first practice 1 week ago and have begun to bond a little with my teammates who all have some talent to offer. Its a wood bat twilight league, and the team im on was 6 outs away from winning the league tourney last year. We got a lot of pitching arms, and decent hitting- should be exciting.
i hope to get playing time in the outfield, some infield and pitching.
after taking a 3 year break from the game, the only thing i am super shaky on is catching pop-flys (that was a lil embarrassing) so maybe ill be stuck in the infield, but will definately work on fly balls since i have never before had trouble catching fly balls they are supposed to be routine.
Spring training for me this year has included a ton of hitting off a tee (batting cages are super inconvenient in my area), and a handful of bullpen sessions and a couple long tosses- will continue this basic program for the rest of the season.
My goal for the summer is to continue to bulk-up and develop a line drive stroke w/ power, and improve my arm so i can consistently throw in the 80's off the mound. Will post video's if i have time

First game in one week. No idea of field location, time, opponent. Standard BS for my league.

Found a pick-up game yesterday. Typical sandlot stuff, guys aged 22-45. Nice people, beer in the dugout. Will be a good outlet for getting a look at some live pitching outside of my league games. Hit 3 week singles with my new bamboo bat. Nice stick--swing: still a work in progress. Threw a couple innings but they were not calling 3rd strikes so I had to keep in the middle of the plate for the most part and got hit around. Since I don't really have an outlet for bullpens, it worked fine.

Sandviper: I used to live in Chiang Mai '02-'04, never found a baseball field much less a team. Closest I saw was kids playing softball at Chiang Mai U. Good luck in your search.

pick up games, wtf?

[x] jealousy

Dude just put an ad on Craigslist like 3 years ago and started collecting email addresses. Has like 30 people on it now apparently. Decent players too.

tournament this weekend, woot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qfpFwrqV_w

This is from today. I wasn't planning on doing this, but had my cell phone and figured I'd try to get something from the tee at the end of my session. Next time I go back I'll try to remember to get something from the cage (I guess I'd need to bring a buddy, or set up the camera in the cage?)

All disclaimers apply. It's early in the season. I'm tired because it's the end of my session. I'm fat. I'm coming off an injury. And more I cannot think of at the moment.

And fwiw the shirt says white sux. I had those bastards.

thats pretty cool that you guys play rec hardball. do games ever get edgy, with dudes throwing inside and stuff?

Very rarely. In my 3 years I had only one real douchebag. Celebrating hits when we were up 8 runs, talking smack after a long foul ball while still at bat. Total DB. I had every intention of buzzing him when I came to pitch but of course he comes up with bases loaded. So I threw inside but on the plate because I didn't want a HBP or passed ball. Struck him out swinging

Had one incident last year where an opposing team thought our managers 17 year old son, who was coaching third for us, was heckling his pitcher. He wasn't. Guy threatened to throw at some of our guys but never did.

I play in an over 38 league so we are grown ups for the most part. And it is very rec, no real superstars, so egos are mostly in check.

Damn, I should get in shape and try to play again. I think it would take a while, though. As a former pitcher, I remember not throwing enough one offseason and being sore as hell during tryouts. The next season, my arm was pretty much never sore because I stayed in good shape year-round.

I was a finesse lefty pitcher. 12-6 giant curveball that nobody in HS could touch (lol HS hitters). Two-seam fastball that had a natural tailing action into righties, which made me effective against hitters from both sides of the plate (when I played outfield and made a throw to a base, I had to aim it left because it always tailed right). Not much velocity, but senior year, my fastball gained some noticeable steam. Probably topped out in the low-80's at best, which was probably why I never got attention from scouts or anything, even though all I did was get guys out on one of the best teams in the state.

I was really annoyed for a while that my varsity coach didn't let pitchers hit (except for one who could hit bombs), but I got over it. Batted once in my final two years. 1.000 BA, baby.

How about going in hard on the basepaths, etc?

I played company softball, and the marines on our team were a little, uh, unafraid of seeking contact. It was almost embarrassing at times.

This is awesome though. Does anyone play rec football too? I've always wondered what the hell that would be like for adults. I see 'em practicing sometimes in shoulder pads / helmets at the nearby park, and know a few guys who do it, haven't talked to them for years tho, just see their pictures on facebook lol.