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I went up there hoping for balls. Amazing how some kids could bend that thing over the plate like that. I had no chance.
Later, when I was coaching we had a young boy named Brad. Brad was a real little guy and the youngest kid on the team, and he wasn't going to hit anything. But who cared? OBP is your friend when the other kids are learning to throw strikes and they're looking at a tiny strike zone. Most coaches yell at their kids to swing the bat. I never yelled at Brad to swing at anything. The kid was working with his natural god given abilities here. Why set the kid up for failure by demanding he swing the bat? So, I fully expected Brad to stand at the plate (I put him at leadoff, naturally) and take the eventual walk. He could swing if he wanted to, but that was his choice - either way, the kid was going to get encouragement from me.
But then, after the walk, the fun really began for Brad because he could then steal second and third, and come home with our first run when an older kid hit the ball: "Hey Brad! You scored our first run! You're a hero!"
Now, that's fun for a kid who can't hit.
Funny how the game really doesn't change when you get older. If you ain't hitting, draw the walk, and run the bases. That's what Rickey Henderson did for us in 2000.