2007 County Champions!!!

2008 Whitfield County Early Bird Champions

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2008 Game Schedule Now Available

Cubs Batting Leaders:Logan Hilton .532, Jackson Bell .500, Drew Guffey .486, TRey Hasty .412

Cubs Pitching Leaders: Logan Hilton 34 Innings -71 K's, Jackson Bell -29 innings 44 K's, Drew Guffey 21 Innings -37 K's,

Jackson Bell

		Player #	8
		Position	First Base/Pitcher/ Third base
Bats	Left	Throws	Right
DOB		Draft	1st round/2003
Height		Weight
Home	Rocky Face, GA

Jackson Bell is one of our best all-around players and probably has the strongest arm on the team. He is our best pitcher and would be a great third basemen. This year we moved Jackson to first base to rest his arm between pitching starts, and because we needed dependability (someone who could catch) at first base.

When Jackson is pitching, we really do not need fielders, because he is a very dominant, overpowering pitcher. He has a very accurate arm and all his pitches are always around the plate. Jackson has allowed only one hit all year, and when he is "on", he is almost unhittable.

Jackson is one of those players that could play any position on the field. We considered moving Jackson to shortstop this year, because he is such a good fielder and has a strong arm, but we settled on first base to rest his pitching arm between starts.

At the plate, Jackson is a lefty, and he has always been one of our best hitters. He started slowly this year from the plate, but we are confident he will find his zone. While he carries the one of the highest batting averages on the team, he will probably move to the third spot in our batting order, once he finds his stroke. As a left-handed batter, he has more walks than any player on the team. This may be one reason he has started the year slowly from the plate. Young pitchers have trouble pitching to left-handed batters and Jackson sees fewer hittable pitches than other players on our team.

As he learns to hit "bad balls' or pitches just outside the strike zone and opposing pitchers become better in throwing pitches in the strike zone, he will begin to crush the ball like he does in batting practice. Last year in coach pitch ball, I was always fearful that Jackson would line one back up the middle. He did this to me several times last year and an "old" coach has a lot more trouble moving quickly to get out of the way of a hard hit ball. I still carry the scars from one of those line drives from last year.

As a pitcher, Jackson already has a win and two saves this year. We love bringing Jackson in behind both Logan and Drew. Logan, a lefty throws hard, like Jackson. After one time through the batting order facing a lefty, and then trying to switch to a hard-throwing right-hander, an opposing team has difficulty with the adjustment.

When Drew starts the game it is a totally different situation. Drew has a very accurate arm, but he does not possess the pitch speed that Jackson and Logan possess. The transition from Drew to Jackson, who also has a very accurate arm but more pitch speed, is too much for the opposing batters to match. After seeing lob pitches during their first at bat, opposing players are completely off-balance when a hard-throwing, accurate right-hander comes in to pitch. Jackson usually comes in and mows opposing players down in order. Jackson only has surrendered one run, when he has entered the game in relief. That's in the league with John Smoltz, back when he was a dominating relief pitcher.