During a high school showcase event last summer, Garrett Whitley saw something whizzing toward him he can't remember having seen before. It was a fastball, but it was different from the others he'd encountered playing baseball in upstate New York. It was really hard.
"I'm pretty sure I hadn't ever stepped in the box against 90 (mph) before," he said.
But Whitley said it took him only a couple of games, a handful of at-bats, to adjust, and his ability to do so provided a valuable lesson on where he stood in the baseball universe.
"When I went out to those showcases," he said, "I looked at the other guys and I looked at myself, and I definitely think I belonged there.