Beyer pitcher Hall is Baseball Player of the Year

Here’s the thing about Beyer High School pitcher Micah Hall: He’s completely believable.

When the Patriots ace talks about the loss that ended his high school career, not to mention his undefeated season, he delivers an answer you might expect from most any athlete. But with Hall, a lanky and laconic right-hander, you get the sense that it truly reflects the way he feels.

“It was tough to deal with it the first couple of days,” Hall said. “But I’ve put it behind me.”

Sure, he would have liked to have finished the season with an unblemished record and a Sac-Joaquin Section title, but he will have to settle for being named the Stanislaus District’s 2015 Player of the Year in baseball.

The 6-foot-4, 160-pound Hall was 12-0 and attempting to tie for the state lead in victories (Arman Sabouri of San Jose’s Branham High would go on to finish with 15 wins) – “I was not aware of that until I read one of your articles,” he said – when he ran into a hot-hitting Pitman team.

Hall left in the fourth trailing by three runs – the first time all season he didn’t finish a game – and the Pride went on to record a 7-2 victory. Hall sat by helplessly the following day, hoping his teammates could knock off Tracy and get him another crack at Pitman in the double-elimination tournament, but the Bulldogs put an end to the Patriots’ season with a 10-3 victory.

“He took it extremely well,” said Beyer coach Dom Duran. “When it was happening, he didn’t say a word. He still kept his head high. Even when I took him out, his body language showed that he wasn’t defeated.”

But enough about his lone loss of the season.

Hall is the Player of the Year because of his 12 victories, more than half of Beyer’s 21 team wins. He dominated the Modesto Metro Conference and won the one-game playoff against co-champ Gregori to determine the league’s No. 1 playoff seed.

Hall throws a fastball, mainly a two-seamer, in the mid-80s, a changeup and a curveball. In 74 innings, he struck out 67 – nearly one per inning – and gave up 58 hits and 14 walks – less than a baserunner per inning – while posting a 12-1 record and a 1.44 ERA. In his three-year varsity career, he was 26-7.

“It’s his other tools that aren’t necessarily physical that make him the smartest player I’ve ever coached,” Duran said. “I didn’t call a pitch for him all year. We’d have conversations in the dugout … and 99 percent of the time we were on the same page.

“It was his intelligence that puts him above others. He knows you don’t necessarily have to have that 90 mph fastball to be successful.”

Though Hall isn’t overpowering, he has freakish command of his pitches and, perhaps more importantly, he makes them wiggle.

“I was warming up to close the (Modesto Sunrise Rotary) all-star game last week and Jorge Alvarez (Central Valley) was warming me up in the bullpen,” said Hall. “He came over to me and said, ‘With that changeup and two-seam movement it’s almost impossible to hit you.’”

Alvarez learned in 15 minutes what the MMC has known for just two years: Don’t underestimate the unassuming redhead who carries a pink, Dora the Explorer backpack.

That’s right. Dora the Explorer. And, of course, there’s the ratty, buttonless ballcap that he’s worn since his sophomore season and refuses to pitch without. Those are just a couple examples of how Hall helps keep his teammates relaxed.

“Yes, he’s that guy who can keep everybody loose in the dugout,” Duran said. “But he always chooses the right time to, for lack of a better term, goof off.

“I’ll miss him, absolutely, but as a person most of all,” Duran said. “He was part of my first seasons as a coach at Beyer.

“He’ll always hold a special place.”

This story was originally published June 19, 2015 at 6:59 PM with the headline "Beyer pitcher Hall is Baseball Player of the Year."