Well, at least it stopped raining.

The tough part of playing on two teams right now is the scheduling. If everything goes according to plan we will have had baseball 9 days in a row by next Wednesday. And on at least 2 of those days we had direct conflicts between LL and travel. A very busy time for sure.

Speaking of Little League Rabbit is getting a lot of reps at first base. I would not be too surprised to see him playing there a bit this season. He is running very well and is making decent contact. As usual, his hitting will take a lot of concentration for now.

Travel team is now in the Sunday Double-Header set up. Every other Sunday we play 2. A nice idea and very low key. I am looking forward to those starting this week. Other than the previously noted we have mostly been waiting out the rain.

I heard my first bit of spring training games on the radio today. The anticipation of starting the season(s) is amazing. I can hardly wait.

Rain Rain Go Away

I am not sure why I am surprised about the weather anymore. It seems like every year we lose valuable practice time before the LL season to rain. This year is no exception. Rabbit has had just 2 practices with his LL team and one with Blue Wave in the last 3 weeks. We have seen 6 practices and a tournament rained out. We need the rain, but Rabbit is going slightly stir crazy.

The LL Bruins (like UCLA) look to be a good team this year. The quality of play seems consistent with the Travel Ball Rabbit has been seeing for the past year. I like and respect the coach and am enjoying watching the kids work together. Rabbit seems to be taking the majority of drills at 1B and will have lots of innings there. Due to the weather we have not had anyone work out at pitcher yet. I know the coach wants him to throw. As a double bonus, we have SIX left handers on the team, out of 13 players. I am pretty sure that violates some law somewhere.

Blue Wave is back to being a 10U team after some comings and goings. I think this will work best and we are looking forward to our Sunday double headers which will start in March. Between now and then we need to get Rabbit back into the cages. His swing is not great right now. My big fear is that he gets into some bad habits that will be tough to correct.

Otherwise we are thrilled that MLB camps opened this past weekend. I am scanning the papers daily to see which rookies are making an impact and which veterans are about to lose a job. Who needs soap operas when you have clubhouse gossip.

Be careful what you wish for

After a Blue Wave practice Rabbit and I were enjoying a dinner of burritos and tacos when we got the phone call from the Little League coach. He had been drafted into majors. This was very exciting for him and a reward for his hard work. Now the tough part. He knows he will not be the best anything on this team. I suspect lots of "pine" time for him and fighting for innings. However, he can certainly handle the pitching and will play to the best of his ability every chance he gets.

We got lucky with his coach as well. And to top it off, the team is the UCLA Bruins, one of Rabbit's "go to" schools. We have practice tomorrow when we get to see who else is on his team. I am sure we will know a few at least. Rabbit has a lot of work to do to prove that a 10YO can play in the majors. I know he will be up to the task.

Little League, Drama and Spring Training

We had Little League tryouts this past week. Rabbit wanted to be considered for Majors as a 10 year old. Majors is usually the 11-13 year old boys. I confirmed with the LL Board that it would be OK for him to try out for the higher league. Rabbit did well and looked like he would fit in nicely with the other players we saw try out. If there are 4 teams in the division I would expect that he would play in Majors. With only 3 I do not know if there is an open slot for a ten year old once all the 12 and 11 players are selected. Rabbit was upset that he did not do better in his tryout. He hit weakly and overthrew from the outfield. I am not too worried. He has played in this league for 4 years. Most of the coaches know him by now and understand what type of a player he is. If he does stay down in AAA this year I expect him to play lots of catcher and outfield.

Back to Blue Wave. As the "rec" ball season starts our numbers keep dwindling. We had always expected to play Sundays in the 10yo bracket. After the previous drama of the 11yo team becoming an 11/12 we lost, collectively, enough players that we are now looking at a 10/11 team. This is a real shame. The 10yo team was coming together nicely, making the finals 3 tournaments in a row. From that core group of 10 players, only 4 are still with the team. The main concern for now is where will Rabbit play. The 11 team has two good 1B. I expect that Rabbit will find some time on the bench as well as in the outfield. I like the kids, and parents, that still are with the team. I still feel that this is the right spot to be in. And I know from experience that once Little League ends we will have many more players. Our goal for the next 4 months is to have some fun and try to get as many games in as possible.

MLB Spring Training starts in 2 short weeks. I can hardly wait. We have all been watching the free agent moves and arguing about who did the best. I expect the Dodgers to be consistently mediocre. However, their infield is set for 3 years and looks fantastic. I also met with the OC Flyers last week. We have renewed our season tickets with them and are anxious to see them defend their GBL title. We have a great year ahead of us and are all excited at what the future holds.