How old is Chase??

As we arrived to the park, the skies were gray and it was drizzling.   I was a bit concerned on whether or not Mother Nature would cooperate and allow us to watch some tee ball, and for the most part, she did!

Different from the previous two weeks, the Orioles started out in the outfield hitting off the tee.  Chase was the second to hit and he started out using a different bat than his own.  He hit a couple nice balls, displaying the beautiful left-handed swing.  About halfway through, Mommy brought him his bat to hit with.  He took a few more off the tee and grabbed his glove and headed out to shag.

There was no coach present at this point, which was a bit off.  So pretty much all the parents policed their children.  Chase did a better job this week having fun going after the balls, but not upset like last week if someone else got it.  I had him go up and give one of his teammates a five for a nice play, and Chase went up and smacked the kids hand without saying a word of why he was giving him a five.  I then explained to him he has to say "Good Play!" so his teammates aren't thinking he just smacked them for no reason.

The biggest part of any team sport is doing your own part and working well with others.  That's the biggest thing he can't get at home right now in the backyard with just he and I, so it's crucial that he can get at least that out of this six-week instructional league.

Following the hitting, the Orioles went behind second base where a coach was there ready to roll them ground balls.  It was there where I heard someone ask me for the second time that night, how old is Chase?  I think some of the parents wonder because he knows the game so well already, but is so tiny.  The follow up question was, "Does he watch a lot of baseball."  Yep!  Daddy has the Yankees on every night.

Chase turns three in two weeks and this was a league for 3-to-5 year olds.  We basically had to beg for them to allow Chase to play.  We even tried during the summer before coming to a compromise to allow him to play fall ball.

I'm hoping by starting him early and him seeing some of the older kids, he'll advance himself even more than I already think he is.

After ground balls, we hustled out to center field where a field was setup in the outfield grass.  They started out forming a line and running the bases.  I liked this coach a little better because he talked to each kid beforehand.  "Where are you going to run?"  "Okay, you're going to run when I say go." "Go!"  The kids had a lot of fun running around bases

After the Blue Jays were done hitting off the tee, we came together to play a rain-shorted one-inning game.  Chase hit a nice ball up the first base line and ran hard to first base.  On defense, he played first base and I think was starting to grasp the concept that his teammates that field the ball might throw him the ball to try and the throw the batter out at first.  None of the kids actually did throw it, but at least he's understanding.

After both teams hit, the two teams went through the line and said "Good Game!"  Following the fives, I called all the Orioles team in together to do a team cheer to conclude the practice.  We all had our hands in the middle and of course Chase races and says, "1-2-3 Orioles!" before any of the kids knew what was going on.  So then I told all the kids we're going to yell "Orioles!" on the count of the three...

1-2-3 ORIOLES!  Another great day of tee ball where Chase and the rest of the future stars left with smiles on their faces!