I’m the Chaplain for our town’s minor league baseball team–have I told you that? Well, I am. I love it. I love the game of baseball, love the atmosphere of the park, love the guys I get to pastor, love the people I get to mingle with at the games…I love it. MInor league baseball is the best, and the State College Spikes are one of the best run teams in the whole game. They’re part of the Pirates’ family, and even though the Bucs are on pace to have their 18th consecutive losing season, it’s fun to watch the newest members of the Buccos playing this game that we love.
As we made our way into the park tonight, they were announcing the starting lineups. Playing shortstop and leading off was a newcomer, Andrew Maggi, drafted this summer in the 15th round out of Arizona State. He didn’t waste any time making himself acquainted with professional baseball, either. He laced a line drive into an outfield gap, sprinted out of the box, and slid into second base with a nifty double. I wonder how many young men have gotten a hit in their first professional at-bat…
He went to third on a ground out by Mel Rojas, Jr. and scored on a Adalberto Santos sacrifice fly, deftly sliding past a sweep tag from the Jamestown catcher.
Before his next at bat, I snapped the picture below. It’s kind of fuzzy, but if you look closely, you can see his batting average: 1.00 Perfect. One at bat, one hit. It doesn’t get any better than that.
No one ever stays perfect, no matter how good they are. If a guy makes an out 7 out of 10 tries, he’s pretty much a lock for the Hall of Fame. Hitting a pitched ball is hands-down the toughest thing to do in all of sports. A batter has about .2 seconds to see the pitch and swing. That’s about the time it takes to blink your eyes! In that time frame, the batter has to decide if the pitch will be a strike, and if it’s a fastball or something off-speed. If you’d like to see how your reaction time is, click here for a little experiment.
Maggi went hitless for the rest of the night, finishing his professional debut with one hit in four trips to the plate. That’s not too bad a start. But for a moment, he was perfect. I’m guessing that he’ll sleep well tonight!
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