Page 4 of Rain Delay

Before I could say anything else, the crack of the bat echoed across the field. Some of my teammates were coming back to take their session of batting practice. The familiar sound settled my nerves immediately. There’s nothing quite like this.

The smell of dirt, fresh-cut grass, and pine tar. The sunshine beating down on you, and the sound of fans cheering for you as you played the sport you loved. No matter where you were, the game was at home.

I grabbed my helmet and started heading toward the clubhouse.

“You know,” Liam added casually as he followed me.

“What?”

“Apparently they’re looking at doing something with MLB for the media,” he tells me and I groan.

“Well, they can stay away from me. I’ll be totally fine without that media shit,” I chuckle. “They need to work with you. Since you love the attention anyways.”

“It has to be a hot girl, though. I ain’t working with some grumpy man.” Liam replies.

I roll my eyes and grab my gear for the game. “Which is exactly why they should work with you. You’re more interesting to work with.”

“You act like an old man.”

“I’m twenty-six.”

“And you act like you’re eighty-four.”

If there was one thing I hated about becoming a popular name in baseball, it was the constant need for content. Everyone wanted insider access into our lives. They always wanted to know what we were doing when we weren’t swinging a bat or throwing a ball.

“I’d rather take a splitter to the face than deal with anything media related.:”

“Come on,” Liam says. “It couldn’t be that bad.”

“It absolutely would be.”

“It could actually be a lot of fun.”

“It won’t be.”

“It could, though. You have to give it a fair chance!”

I stop walking and look at him. “When has forcing a camera in someone’s face ever made anything fun? Or even sounded the least bit entertaining?”

Liam opens his mouth, pausing. “Fair point.”

“Thank you.” I say, tucking my helmet under my arm.

“But imagine the possibilities it could bring!” He suggests and I sigh in frustration. “What if they send a hot social media manager to follow you all season?”

“Maybe you would like that. However, I won’t.”

The thought of being assigned a media manager sounded like pure torture. Doing interviews was my worst nightmare, having cameras up in my personal space made me uncomfortable. I understand it’s what comes with being a professional athlete, but I just wish it would cool down a bit.

Everyone wants to see Wyatt Mitchell. They want to know what I’m doing when I’m not at the ballpark. It felt invasive. I liked keeping my personal life separated from baseball, and this would just combine everything together.

“I heard they’re assigning people to specific players this year,” Liam nudged my shoulder.

I freeze. Specific players? That sounded astronomically worse.

I didn’t need a distraction like that when I was trying to chase another win.

It ran in my blood. The need to be the best. Last season is a thing of the past; no one is focusing on that anymore. They’re looking at what I can do this season for my team, if not better.