I guess this was inevitable too

I guess if you have a relatively talented, left-handed boy who likes baseball, and is pretty good at it, that he'll end up being a pitcher.

Baseball season started Saturday with our first game. The Pirates vs. the Orioles. He's in the Single-A division, which plays 2 innings with a "pitching machine", 2 innings of "player pitch" and then 2 more innings with a "pitching machine".

At Michael's age, they don't really "focus" on one position; instead they rotate the kids around to a variety of positions throughout the season (and actually throughout the game). He played third base, left field, 1st base and pitcher in Saturday's game. He was pitcher during an inning where they actually PITCHED.

Mike had come home from practice a week or so ago and said Michael had thrown some at practice and had done pretty well. He can actually throw the ball pretty hard for a 7-year-old. And while it isn't exactly accurate yet, he still gets it near the plate.

So, we get into the 4th inning and the coach called his name to pitch. Michael goes on the mound and takes a few practice pitches. The coach helps him with his stride (he basically can't pitch a full windup yet, just from the stride) and then the batters come up. He faced 5-6 batters (I didn't keep exact count) and in the end, got all 3 outs of the inning with strike outs!! (See, I was building up the suspense to the great ending!)

So, I guess he'll be pitching some more this season!