Hey,
I’ve been coming to this site for about a year now and find it extremely helpful. I’ll give you some background to why I am starting a log:
I am a left handed pitcher, I have always been above average in pitching and I want to see where I can get. I’ve been playing ball since I was 6 and I love it to this day.
I lived in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada my whole life, my whole family is from Dominican Republic, the baseball country. My father and other family members taught me how to play baseball and advance in it. It all started around Febuary of 08, when I just turned 12. My uncle called from D.R (Dominican Republic) and talked to my dad about a baseball trainer that is looking for left handed pitchers between the ages of 12 and 14, apparently “They are like finding gold”. I happened to be in those guidelines and as soon as my dad finished explaining to me, I couldn’t wait to come. So that summer I came for a week with my dad, we went to the place where he trains and he liked what he saw. Fastforward to the next summer, last year. I spent 2 and a half months here in the summer living with my aunt and her family, she just happens to have a son and we are the same age, he decided he also wanted to go with me to the training. My other cousin who is a year and a half older also decided to join us.
That summer, I improved a lot, better control, velocity and everything. Near the end of my stay, so early August, he brought two scouts to see some of the older guys and they brought a radar gun. They let everybody be clocked to see where we are at. In the group of cousins and I, I am the youngest, my cousin Derlly's is 6 months older, and my other cousin Hugo is a little under 2 years older. Out of the 3 of us, Hugo was first to be gunned, he got 82, he was 15 at the time. My cousin Derlly's was next, he hit 67, he was 14. Then it was me, nervesnous filling my body but me trying to shut it out, I got 73 MPH, at 13. That was my highest my average was 70.
That occurence made me realize that if I push myself hard enough, I can go great things with baseball. That fueled me to come and live here this year, new school, new people, new everything.