The Rookie commentary, part 8: ‘You just threw 98 mph’

The Morris family is seated at the breakfast table one morning. Jimmy is feeding the baby and engaging in a conversation with Hunter and Jessica about Captain Crunch. Lorri is bustling about before heading out the door for the day. Jimmy tells her he has nothing going on, although he then tells Hunter to “remind me not to forget Jamie (the baby) if we go anywhere.”

Next thing we know, we can assume Jimmy is headed to this baseball tryout to live up to his end of the bargain with his team. The pickup cruises past a road sign for San Angelo 97 miles away.

Jimmy and his kids show up at baseball tryouts and – shocker – most of the players jogging around the baseball field are young studs. Seeing this, Jimmy looks reluctant but pushes the baby’s stroller toward the registration table anyway. One of the scouts, Dave Patterson, recognizes Jimmy right away. For the viewer’s benefit, Patterson mentions that he saw Jimmy when the Brewers drafted him back in the day. The scout assumes Jimmy is there to bring some of his players for the tryout.

“I’m here for me,” Jimmy says.

Awkward… “Well, all right then,” the scout responds.

Jimmy waits for the scouts to take a look
To set the scene, it’s time for another musical montage as the players take part in various batting and fielding drills on the field. Meanwhile, Jimmy sits and plays tic-tac-toe with Jessica, via a coloring book resting on top of their cooler on the grass.

Later, he’s still waiting to get the call and is in the middle of changing the baby’s diaper in the back of the pickup. Hunter points out that it’s the last diaper they brought, but Jimmy is way ahead of him, saying they’re going to hit the road. Jimmy tells a disappointed Hunter that there’s nothing he can do if the scouts won’t even take a look at him.

So, of course, the scout calls Jimmy over and says he’s up. Shocked they’re giving him a chance, Jimmy scrambles to get the baby settled, puts Hunter in charge of his sisters and says he’ll be right back.

Jimmy heads to the pitching mound, wearing jeans and a gray t-shirt. Yes, the traditional Jiffy Lube hat is still there. I wonder how much the company paid to get that much screen time in the movie?

Shooting his shot
He decides to go ahead without any warm-up, and the scout says “don’t hurt yourself.” Jimmy takes his traditional stance on the mound, moving his foot back and forth to kick the dirt away. Holding the baseball low behind his back, he shakes it around before raising it to his glove and eventually firing a pitch into the catcher’s mitt. Cue up that country-twang music.

Jimmy goes to work, bringing the heat with a sequence of pitches, complete with those same “whooshing” sound effects on the throws and ending with the “smack” of the catcher’s mitt. The scouts glance at their radar guns, but the audience and Jimmy don’t have a read on the speed just yet. Unsure of where he stands – and probably thinking he’s throwing grapefruits up there – Jimmy asks if he should keep going. The scout asks for a couple more.

After a bunch of pitches, including one in slow motion showing Jimmy’s focused, deadlocked eyes demonstrating his concentration once again, the scout says that’s good.

Jimmy quickly leaves the mound. He must be thinking this is the end of the line, really. He tried out, he kept his promise to his players, that’s it. But the catcher jogs over and offers up his two cents, for what they’re worth.

“Pitch, pitch. Man, you were bringing some heat out there. You got ‘em talking.”

He threw how fast?
Jimmy immediately puts his dad hat back on (although really, the Jiffy Lube cap never left) and strolls over to a metal garbage can to throw away a dirty diaper. Scout Patterson comes over and casually asks Jimmy how fast he threw the baseball back in his prime. Eighty-five, 86-mph, Jimmy replies. Then Patterson drops the bombshell.

“You just threw 98 mph.”

Skeptical is an understatement for Jimmy’s reaction here. He’s not buying this pity for a second. But Patterson says three radar guns on a dozen straight pitches all showed the same thing. Then we get a little scouting lesson, although it’s really not rocket science: Rule No. 1 is that pitching arms slow down with age. Mind blown on that one.

Patterson outlines the dilemma about the next step here. If he calls his higher-ups about a guy twice the age of the rest of the players, he’s going to get laughed at. On the other hand, “if I don’t call in a 98-mph fastball, I’m going to get fired.” Basically, Patterson lets Jimmy know he might get a callback.

The Rookie commentary, part 1: ‘What kind of baseball do they have? … They don’t.
The Rookie commentary, part 2: ‘There are more important things in life than baseball’

The Rookie commentary, part 3: ‘Yeah dad, bring the heat!’
The Rookie commentary, part 4: ‘You don’t have dreams, you don’t have anything’
The Rookie commentary, part 5: 'You got your shot at baseball. You got hurt.' 
The Rookie commentary, part 6: 'State! State! State!'
The Rookie commentary, part 7: 'It's your turn, coach'