Giants

This fall Ethan is playing for the Giants (so it is quite exciting that they will be playing the Rangers in the World Series). We are actually lucky enough to have him and his cousin Garrett on the same team - which is SUPER handy for transportation purposes! He is playing at the "Rookie" level, which is just below Minors. They are learning how to pitch at this age so for the first 2 innings one of the kids from the team pitches and then for the remaining 2 or more innings a machine pitches to the kids.  Ethan is officially the "old" kid this year. There might actually be older kids on his team but I feel that this should be his last year at this level. I don't know that he will excel in the Minors yet but it will at least challenge him, whereas now he can be a little lazy and get away with it.

Ethan loves to play CATCHER! He always has! Even in T-Ball when there was no point in even having a catcher he wanted to be the one to sweat in the gear! This year we decided that if it was his true love we would would buy him his own gear - so we did. We decided on that for a couple of reasons. 1. Hygiene purposes - 13 sweaty boys all sharing the same gear - ick. 2. Knee Savers! The gear that the league provides does not have any knee savers attached to the back of the shin guards (and lets see you squat down for 15 minutes + and see how your knees are feeling!) and we wanted him to be able to walk as an adult. Of course he loves having the gear - it makes him feel pretty studly!

I must mention too - that he is a phenomenal catcher. Especially for his age! He can dig a ball out of the dirt like no kid his age can! I love to watch him catch. He totally understands the game from the perspective of the catcher. He has even been "framing" the ball. Which is where after he catches it in his glove he quickly pulls it in right in front of his chest so it looks like it was right in the strike zone! He is just awesome! ...and so cute!

 Since, at their age they still shuffle positions he usually only gets to catch once or twice a game depending on how many innings they play but he is a good team player so he doesn't really mind sharing the position. Last night, when I took these pictures he also played third base and left field. Both positions were a total bore for him. He was drawing pictures in the dirt with his cleats... and who can blame him - at this age... those positions really are a bore. zzzzzz

 Of course, just like all kids - he LOVES to bat! He is rather good at it too. He can usually get to first with no problem. Like Spencer, he has an amazing eye for the ball and so he doesn't swing at crappy pitches and as a result he walks a lot - but that is okay by me because there is a difference between walking because you stand at the plate and don't swing at anything and knowing what to swing at and what not to swing at.  Last night he walked at his first bats and the second time he got a base hit. (In the picture below you can see the ball come in and hit the ground in front of him after he hit it) Garrett was up to bat right after him and hit a TRIPLE and brought Ethan home, which started a huge rally for the team and we ended up winning 10-8! Our first win!

We are really proud of Ethan and the amazing little player that he is becoming and can't wait to watch MANY MANY MANY more years of  baseball!