[BeanSobie]

Rookie League games are about getting at bats, showcasing, and building your skills. The game results truly do not matter, the parts equal more than the sum. I need to keep telling myself that or else I will get too excited that in my first professional game ever my team blew the roof off offensively.

Going against the Brewer’s 7th round pick, a right handed high school player out of California, I was batting sixth. I was selfishly glad when our first three batters went down in the first, getting a chance to be out in the field and recognize that this game would not be so different than any game I’ve played before helped me calm my nerves.

The Brewers were up 2-0 when we came up to bat. We started the inning with a strikeout before Luke Miller got on and in scoring position with a double. I expected my manager Zac to tell me to go out and take the first pitch, but he offered no words of wisdom as I left the dugout. I did recognize that the Brewers' pitcher was most comfortable with his cutter, and Miller's double was hit off of his changeup so I was expecting that cutter early. He obliged on the first pitch and I sent it straight down the line into left field. I rounded first seeing the outfielder cut it off before the ball could get past him, but the third base coach sent Luke home. The shortstop fielded the the cut off as I pulled back to first and Luke crossed home plate.

My first ever professional pitch seen and I hit an RBI single. I would advance to second after a passed ball, but two strikeouts left me stranded.

My next at bat was in the 4th where I was due to lead off. I practiced a lot more patience this time around. The same California kid was on the mound and he tried to get me to bite on a Slider, then a high cutter; I took both balls. Then he missed with another slider before registering his first strike against me as he went back to his trusty cutter. At 3-1 he gave me another cutter and this one I smacked right over the head of the first basemen. It landed in the outfield before rolling toward the foul area. I cruised into a stand up double, now two for two in my pro career.

Our shortstop Austin Filiere was from Chandler, Arizona. He had the largest fan section in the crowd by far as it seemed his entire family had made it to the park. He had struck out two innings ago, but with a man on second and no outs this was his best chance to make his family proud (he had already impressed me with his defensive plays). I heard the thunderous cheers after he smacked the ball toward the hole between first and second. I was given the go ahead to try for home. I wasn’t even challenged with a throw.

They pulled their pitcher after that hit but the bleeding was just starting. We got another batter on, then our lead off man Carson Jackson emptied the bases with a home run that just cleared the left field wall. Two more runners got on and Luke Miller was able to send another one home with a blooper into shallow right. When I led off we were down 4-7, now I was batting for the second time this inning and we were up 9-7. The pitcher they brought in to replace their starter had just gotten the hook so I was up against someone I hadn’t seen pitch yet. He got me swinging on the first pitch, and eventually he struck me out to end the inning.

I wouldn’t get a chance to bat again until the top of the 7th, and I ended up striking out in three pitches against the same pitcher who had retired me in the 4th. Then in the 8th we added 3 more runs, I stepped up to bat with Luke Miller on second and two outs. On the 2-1 pitch their pitcher hung a curve right over the plate for me.

I launched it into left-center 426 feet.

When I met Luke and Austin at home plate Austin gave me a high five and offered to buy me a beer afterwards. We did just that. I don’t think people realize how young rookie league players are until you look at the 15 guys who played and realize that only 10 of them can legally drink. A lot of the team didn’t want to come out and celebrate our professional debuts, the players who didn’t get to play didn’t have much to celebrate, and others thought it would be unprofessional for us to go out partying after just one game. In the end it was just me, Austin, Canadian Left Fielder Gareth Morgan, reliever Sean Guenther from Atlanta, and Luke Miller (who we did not tell the bartender was still a few weeks away from his 21st birthday).

“A toast,” Austin held his Miller Lite high. “Some came further from others, some will go further than others. But for now, here’s to making it to Peoria, Arizona. And here’s to all of us who make it out.”