The Hitting Zone

I saw Mitchell in my second class of the day and immediately looked down at his left hand. It was a nasty shade of blue and had a lump on it. I looked at him in a panic.

Mitchell read my expression and laughed as he waved for me to sit down. "It's ugly, I know. But nothing broke so it's not bad news."

I frowned as I sat in my seat. "Not bad news doesn't mean good news."

Mitchell shrugged. "Instead of being out for the rest of the season with a broken bone, I'm out for two weeks with a contusion. It's kind of a small win."

I did the math in my head. "You'll be back for Servite."

He nodded. "Until then, I'm on ice and Tylenol. Probably do workouts with Drew that doesn't involve catching. Or stuff like weights and push-ups."

I reached out to pat his shoulder with pity. I knew what was coming for him.

Mitchell was taken aback. "What's that look for?"

Sean laughed. "I think Jake thinks you'll be running the whole time."

I nodded.

Mitchell frowned. "No way. Right? I'm a catcher. We don't need to run. It's not like I'm slow, but I don't need to steal bases like Noah."

"It's probably to work on your endurance." I told him. After giving it some thought, I kind of knew Drew and his motto. "I see a lot of squats in your future too."

Mitchell looked stunned.

"If I ever get hurt again, I hope it's something in the legs still." Sean joked. "I've seen what Drew does to those with healthy legs."

We talked about Drew and his training tactics until class started. Coach Luis was laidback, but everyone still gave him respect. I don't know if that was because he looked uptight or if everyone just wanted to keep him happy. I knew that he was just straightforward and would classify him as a good guy.

After Spanish was a break. I met Noah at our lockers, grabbed a snack, and told him about Mitchell's hand.

"Two weeks? Damn." He munched on an apple. "There's five games before Servite. He's really missing out. Hope Oscar can handle things behind the plate."

"You think the twins might ask you to catch for them?" I asked.

"No. And even if they did, the answer would be no." He told me. "They have a proper catcher. They can't be picky. They don't know who or what thir catchers will be like in the future. Old or young. Big or small. Good or bad. They have to deal with what they've got."

That sounded right so I nodded along. We talked about watching the softball game after practice today while eating some snacks. We parted ways and I headed to Calculus with the twins.

Just as I entered the classroom and was about to head for my seat, Mr. Petrus waved me over. Besides teaching my favorite subject, he was my favorite teacher to be near. He understood me on a deeper level and never called on me in class to talk.

"I saw your game yesterday, Jake." He told me with a small smile. "Congrats on the win."

"Thanks." I replied automatically. "Actually, it was all thanks to Dave's pitching."

"Yes, he did well too. But I actually wanted to talk to you about your fly out at the end."

Oh. I rubbed the back of my neck embarrassed. "Yea...I'm working on hitting for power. I think I might start lifting more to get stronger."

"Perhaps." He tapped his desk rhythmically. "But I know you. You weren't using strength before to get it over the fence."

"I like to use angles." I didn't mind telling him about my thought process since it did involve some math. "The corners of the field are the shortest distance so I try to aim there. All of my homers are the corners."

"But not yesterday." He pointed out.

"Yea. I don't know. It happens I guess." I shrugged.

"I don't think you've noticed since it's been subtle." He said. "But your swing has changed."

Instinctively, I started to shake my head, no. I know my swing.

"It's only a little bit but it's there." He continued. "In math, we need a lot of the variables to come up with an answer in an equation, right?"

I nodded.

"You even spoke about angles and aiming for corners so I know you use a lot of thinking in that batter's box. But you're so zoned in, you're not taking a look at what has changed."

I frowned. "What has changed?"

The bell rung signaling that class was now in session.

"I think you'll be extremely interested in today's lesson." He stood up slowly, looking small and fragile, kind of resembling Grampa. "Go ahead and take your seat."

I headed to my assigned seat with the twins. They looked curious as to what we were talking about, but couldn't say anything as Mr. Petrus started to talk to the class. I hurried to get a notebook and pencil out, ready to take notes.

Mr. Petrus didn't dance around what he wanted to teach today. "I'm sure we all know how good the baseball team is." A lot of eyes drifted our way and sounds of agreement were made. "I watched yesterday's perfect game by our very own, Dave Atkins." Applause broke out and Dave took a stand to bow and be obnoxious. "Yes, yes, very well done. I like to show how much calculus can be found in everyday life such as baseball games."

He went to the whiteboard with his dry erase marker and continued. "In baseball, calculus can be used to optimize the pitcher's throw to achieve maximum efficiency. Also, calculus can be used to calculate the projectile motion of baseball's trajectory and to predict if runners can make it to the next base on time given their running speed and the speed of a hit ball." He started to write down two very important formulas.

I earnestly copied everything down from what he said to what he was writing. He talked about how to find the kinectic energy of a baseball thrown and how players could figure out how much force they need to exert on the ball to reach the place where they want the ball to go.

"Granted. It's much easier said than done." He commented. "Meanwhile, figuring out the collision of a bat and ball are a little bit more complex. Every player has a typical swing with small variations. We can calculate the average force on the bat during a collision by first calculating the change in the ball's momentum. We know that the momentum of an object is the product of its mass and its velocity." He continued on talking about force and time, and how we could find the force of a batter's swing.

A lot of questions were asked from the class and Mr. Petrus patiently answered. He gave out examples on the board and we worked through the problems as a class. The pitcher formula was much easier grasped than the batting force, but I started to understand what he wanted to point out to me. Nothing like going around in a maze to tell me that my mass has changed, affecting my force. Kind of like me thinking if I was stronger, I could hit the ball farther. Which I wasn't totally wrong about. I just didn't factor my recent growth in height and weight.

"What a headache." Kyle complained after the bell rung and we packed up. "I'm going to have to go pro no matter what round I get drafted in. I just can't sit through math anymore. Such a pain." He patted Dave on the shoulder. "I wish you the best."

"I have to pick a degree that doesn't require high level math classes." Dave stated firmly.

"I suggest a Bachelor of Arts instead of a Bachelor of Science." Mr. Petrus had snuck up behind us, making the twins jump and look embarrassed, getting caught talking trash on his teaching subject.

"Thank you, Mr. Petrus." I told him sincerely.

"Keep working, Jake. But don't forget to have fun." He instructed.

I nodded with a smile. "You made it fun for me today."

He nodded back and walked to his desk, letting us leave without further comment on the twin's complaints.

"What the heck?" Dave muttered when we were in the clear.

"You thought that was fun?" Kyle asked me, jerking his thumb back at the classroom.

I nodded. "Enlightening too."

Dave held my head between his hands. "You poor unfortunate soul. We need to take you out more. To the beach. Ride some rollercoasters. Go rock climbing. Anything else than math."

I laughed and gave a light slap to push him away from me. "You don't get it. There's a lot of math in baseball. I like math. I like it even more knowing that it'll make me a better player."

"You're so weird." Kyle shook his head.

Thankfully, I didn't have to stick with the pair for too long. I headed straight to my next class that I had with Alisha.