CLARK — Sure, Michael Riley is still in diapers, but put him in coach, he’s definitely ready to play.
This 2-year-old, pint-sized slugger is obsessed with baseball, rarely misses a pitch and regularly dazzled beachgoers in Lavallette this summer with his hitting, his mother Nicole Riley said.
“He’d draw crowds,” she said. “They would stand around and watch him and cheer, and he would just think that was the best. Or he’d go up to someone and hand them the ball, asking them to pitch. It made me so happy to see complete strangers rooting him on. The first thing they always ask me is how old he is.”
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In the spring, when Michael turned 2, they bought him a T-ball set. But the real magic happened when dad started to pitch to him.
“All my husband really did was show him how to plant his feet and to keep his eye on the ball,” she said. “He naturally had this swing, and you can see the focus in his eyes and how intensely he’s watching ball come toward him.”
After all the fanfare on the beach, Riley’s sister-in-law put together a highlight reel of Michael hitting.
“I wanted us all to have a memento of Michael at this age enjoying baseball,” said Joanna Riley. “I hope that he continues to love to play.”
And yes, the Rileys play ball just about every day.
“Watching him play always makes us smile and we hope his love of baseball continues to grow,” she said. “Every time we get home, he asks if he go can hit. And then he hits the balls over our neighbors’ fence, and we have to keep going over to get them.”
There’s still three years of ball retrieving ahead for mom and dad: Riley can’t wait to get Michael onto a team, but he won’t be able to join until he’s 5. And she’s a little worried about how that will go…
“I know Clark Rec starts with T-ball, and, well, I don’t think Michael is going to want to play that!” she laughs. “I don’t know what we’ll do then.”
For now, the curly haired dynamo is taking on potty training and Halloween, when he’ll dress as a player from his favorite team, the Yankees. He hasn’t been to a game yet, but always watches on TV, often yelling at hitters to “Run, run, run!”
He’s still working on catching, and doesn’t quite have running the bases down, though he does know home plate, mom said.
“He thinks daddy’s gardening gloves are his own batting gloves, and he always likes to do practice swings like the players on TV,” she said.
He even taught himself a like-the-pros pitching stance with a leg kick – “No one showed him how to do that. He got that from TV,” Riley said – and he makes a decent umpire, too.
“He yells safe when he slides, calls himself when he misses and says strike,” she said. “And if he hits a home run, he’ll yell ‘BOMB!'”
Whether the big leagues are in his future, only time will tell, but after one of Michael’s beach fans asked for his baseball card, Riley’s father-in-law had one made.
“The front has his picture and the back has all his ‘stats,'” Riley laughs.
Ht. 3’0, Wt. 27 pounds. Bats: left. Swings for the fences.
Jessica Remo may be reached at jremo@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessicaRemoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
