Player profiles: Baseball poet Darick Hall.

Darick’s from Arizona, before this experience with the Swamp Bats, he hadn’t been east of the Mississippi. Even as he adjusted to the time difference, the first thing Darick noticed about baseball in the east is the field.

Darick Hall

Arizona heat makes for hard playing surfaces. “I like how the turf is moist, you can dig in,” he said. “the footing’s sure.” As for the batted ball, “The only difference that I can see is that the ball just doesn’t fly as far,” he says.

They use wooden bats in the NECBL, not composite or aluminum bats as in other leagues. More than once has contact with a ball resulted in a broken bat. That means “You have to be more selective at the plate,” Darick says. “Even in batting practice, you can’t get away with a lousy swing.”

To that end, Coaches Dan Moylan and Jim Chester stress proper mechanics as a player takes his hacks in the batting cage. “Coaches have worked with us a lot, flattening our swings, just making good contact and not trying to do too much, just hit the ball hard. It’s working out.”
Another adjustment is to the local climate. “I like how at night, even though it’s cold, the humidity makes it feel better.”  

He may be alone in that opinion.

Hall finds the look of Keene pleasing. “It’s really nice, everything up here. The infrastructure, the houses and I like playing ball up here."
Darick has displayed remarkable versatility, playing right and centerfield, first base and pitching.  His grandfather is a friend of Pat Shorrt, an executive with the Major League Scouting Bureau. It was on his recommendation to play in New England.  

Hall warms up to pitch vs. Laconia
Photo by Doc Gordon

A deciding factor was New Hampshire’s outdoor life. Darick’s an avid fisherman.

“When I get a break, I’m at the lake.”