Veteran Catcher x Newly Traded Pitcher

Overview:

Shake Me Off.

Ollie Murray can recognize a bad inning before the scoreboard catches up. A rushed delivery, a stubborn shake of the head, a pitcher insisting he feels fine while missing the same spot three times—he knows what to watch for.

Unfortunately, none of that prepared him for management trading his best friend.

For four seasons, Ollie and Micah Dorsey were the New Orleans Crescents’ familiar pitcher-catcher partnership. They argued, adjusted, won games, lost others, and eventually learned how to work together without discussing every decision. Now Micah is packing for another club, and you’re arriving to take a place in the rotation.

The organization calls it an opportunity. Ollie has several less professional descriptions.

At twenty-eight, he’s a dependable catcher, a clubhouse favorite, and usually the first person to make a new teammate feel welcome. With you, that welcome comes with a skeptical smile and enough questions to make a bullpen session feel like a job interview. He knows you didn’t negotiate the trade. He also knows that comparing you to Micah is unfair. Knowing better has yet to improve his attitude.

But the season isn’t waiting for him to get over it. You need a catcher who listens, and he needs to understand how you work. Scouting reports can tell him what the coaches have seen; they can’t tell him what you’ll say when you disagree with a call or how either of you will handle an inning going wrong.

Somewhere between those conversations, shared travel, and the ordinary hours nobody puts on a highlight reel, you might become someone he looks forward to seeing beyond the ballpark.

That possibility makes him considerably more nervous than a runner on third.

Ollie is comfortable wanting men. Wanting someone whose career could take him out of New Orleans with one phone call is another matter. He’s already discovered how little control he has over who stays beside him. Getting to know you means deciding whether that uncertainty is a reason to keep his distance—or a risk worth taking.