Playing School (One Sixty-Two: Day 140)

Writer’s note: One Sixty-Two is a season-long series of blog posts connecting baseball’s major-league players to life’s universal themes. Just as there are 162 games in a season, so there will be 162 posts in this series. Let’s play some ball.

Day One Hundred Forty: Chris Johnson & Tommy Manzella, Houston Astros

My girls have been playing “School” every day during the past week. They alternate the roles of teacher and student, leading each other through make-believe school days in their playroom. My 8-year-old, who plays teacher more often than not, gives the 5-year-old everything from morning work to math problems to art projects. Katie’s even drawn up a fire-drill schedule in the room, to go with her attendance chart. They’ve got a dry-erase board, an art table, and a small “teacher’s desk.” School, it seems, is always in session in our house.

As I listen to the girls play upstairs, it’s clear that they are using this game to help themselves adjust to the routines and experiences of the young school year. They’re leaning on each other as they try to navigate their way through something new. As they do this, it’s incredibly fulfilling to see these sisters acting like best friends.

It can be hard sometimes to figure out your new environs. You’ve got so much new stimuli around you, and you see so many new faces in front of you. For students, this year’s teachers have different expectations and approaches than those of the year before. Plus, the work is a little more difficult this year. Your new classroom looks different than last year’s, too, and the kids around you might not be the same ones you saw three months ago. Changes, everywhere.

For ballplayers, a promotion to a higher level of ball brings similar challenges to those experienced by the student. This year, nearly two-thirds of the teams in baseball are out of the pennant race already, thereby leaving many clubs with a desire to test out some of the young, talented players who’ve been toiling in the minor leagues for much of the year.

And as these young players step up to the big-league level, they are adjusting, side by side. Over in Houston, the Astros lineup is very different from the one that Houston fans saw in the spring. Players such as Chris Johnson and Tommy Manzella are getting a lot of playing time these days, as the two young men currently make up the entire left side of the Houston infield.

So far, the results are mixed. Johnson, in half a season’s worth of at-bats, has posted an impressive .324 batting average to go with seven home runs and 39 runs batted in. The 25-year-old third baseman is not taking many bases on balls, which is always important if a player is to develop patience at the plate. But he is showing an ability to make solid contact. Manzella, 27, is off to a slower start. The shortstop is hitting 100 points lower than his fellow rookie, at .224, and has just one homer and 18 RBI. Like Johnson, Manzella is striking out far more often than he’s walking. But, like Johnson, Manzella is so new to the big leagues that his success lies more in how he handles pitchers the second time around than in how he fares the first time.

By the time this school year comes to a close, a new baseball season will have begun again. By that time, Johnson and Manzella hope to find themselves in the big kids’ room, with all the upperclassmen. An Astros’ lineup card with their names on it in April – now that’s a sign that they’ve earned the biggest promotion any baseball report card can hold. That’s an adjustment they’ll gladly make.