Junior Year Box Set

Today we met at Dedeaux Field, USC’s home baseball field, for my hitting practice. Coach Revilla wanted me to get some batting practice on a real baseball field. Coach Boyd brought with him a new prospect and one of his Triple-A pitchers who was being evaluated after a rehab.

The prospect was up first, and Coach Revilla told me a little about him before we got started.

“This kid is from Belize, and they thought enough of him to fly him up for a look. He claims to be nineteen, but you can never tell with these guys. The book on him is that he throws hard, so I want you to protect yourself. If you’re going to hit this guy, you’ll need to be aggressive. Remember the five steps and don’t overswing. With his velocity, you should be able to pop it out of the park if you get hold of it like I taught you.”

My first at-bat, he struck me out on three straight pitches. I had a good cut at each one, but he just threw it past me. What had me confused was his ball seemed to move unpredictably. Coach Boyd said all three pitches were in the high 90s.

My next at-bat I swung and missed the first time. I stepped out of the box, visualized success, and took a couple of deep breaths to calm myself. On the next pitch, I saw the ball well as it came out of his hand. When I get into the zone, everything seems to slow down a little, and it gave me the time to see where the ball was going to end up. I was just under it and hit a towering ball that flew almost straight up. They called it an out because it would have been easy to field.

I got all of the ensuing pitch. Coach Revilla was right, I didn’t need to try to crush it to get it out of the park. The following pitch I hit even harder, and the prospect’s head snapped around as he watched it leave the park. The pitch after that, I was clipped in the helmet as he tried to put the ball in my ear. Before I had a chance to pick myself up, Coach Revilla had hold of me so I wouldn’t kick the pitcher’s ass.

Coach Boyd dressed him down in Spanish. The prospect got a determined expression and looked to be focused. My next at-bat I fouled off six straight pitches. He decided to get cute and threw three pitches outside the strike zone to see if I’d chase them. Coach Revilla complimented me for having a good eye and taking those pitches. On the last pitch, everyone knew he had to throw a strike. Thankfully I had focused on the five steps because he threw a changeup. I was still a little ahead of the ball and ended up driving it down the third base line for a hit.

Coach Boyd then brought in his Triple-A pitcher. This guy was a completely different animal. His balls came at different angles, release points, speeds, and broke unexpectedly. Coach Revilla smiled as he tied me up in knots. I did get a couple of hits, but that was all luck. At no point did I feel I was in charge as I had with the other pitchers I faced.

“Was that a little different?” Coach Revilla asked.

“I’ll say. I have a long way to go to be able to compete at that level,” I admitted.

“You see why batting averages aren’t five hundred in the majors. Next time I’ll teach you how to fight off pitches until you get one you like. Given time, you can hit someone like him. You just need to see a lot of pitches.”

He gave me my tee-ball practice notes, and we called it a day.

◊◊◊

We arrived back at the studio in time for lunch. Typically, they had something brought in, but I decided to go to the cafeteria instead when all I saw was rabbit food. Zak and Jessup chose to join me. The cafeteria was almost full. They were doing a Roman gladiator type of show, and there were quite a few extras in costume. The last time I’d been here, there were cowboys and 1920s gangsters.

I was glad I’d brought Jessup because he showed me how to charge my lunch to the movie. We had a pleasant meal, and I apologized to Zak about my friends. He made it sound like it wasn’t a big deal, so I dropped it. When we were about ready to leave, Chubby Feldman sat down with us. Zak suddenly got quiet.

“Just the young man I wanted to talk to. When are we meeting? Have you had a chance to read the script?” he asked.

He was talking about the James Bond script.

“I thought Saul was setting that up,” I said.

“So you’re interested?” he asked, and I was surprised that he seemed nervous.

“Who wouldn’t be? I bet it’ll be a great movie.”

“I hear you had lunch with Laurent Vance. Are they considering you for The Royal Palm?” he asked.

“Saul said they wanted me, but I’m not sure Mr. Vance does. He told me he wanted someone with more experience.”

“It doesn’t matter what he wants, the studio wants you. I’d bet they’ll throw money at you to smooth things over. You should do it. If you have a good offer in hand, it’ll show the producers of the other movies you’re exploring that you warrant more money,” Chubby advised.

“I’d decided against it,” I admitted.

“No, no, don’t make that mistake,” Chubby said.

I just nodded. I would have to think hard about doing the movie if he advised that I do it.