By SHEL SEGAL
If you want to talk baseball with Arcadia High catcher Michael Luna, it’s fun to do. Just don’t talk about him individually.
It’s all about the team.
Luna, though, is having a great season, hitting a solid .295 through last Friday. When asked about his year, he turned the answer around.
“It’s going really well,” Luna said. “Our team this year has grown a lot since fall ball, since the beginning of the year. We always have a lot to learn. We make a couple errors here and there. But we’re a solid team.”
He added the team’s pitching staff is getting it done and making it easy for him behind the plate.
“I wasn’t doing too well at the beginning of the season, but I’m doing better now,” Luna said. “I’ve had my ups and downs. Catching has been going really well. Our ace Joey (Harmon) has been throwing really well. He’s making me look good. We have a really good pitching staff and we have a lot of young talent.
Luna also said his batting average comes with a lot of practice.
“I’ve been hitting after practice, concentrating during practice,” he said. “Just hitting, hitting, hitting. Everything has always been about hitting. Hitting off the tee. Hitting after practice. When I’m successful it’s when I’m seeing the ball really well. When I do see the ball really well that’s when I’m successful.”
And why play catcher? While Luna is 5-foot-9 and 140 pounds, he said it’s just his natural position.
“Ever since I was little I always caught,” he said. “My family always had me catch. I knew to get on varsity the quickest was would be catching. I know I could play outfield. But the reason I catch is I’ve always grown up a catcher.”
His coach, Nick Lemas, said Luna is a great player to have on the team.
“He’s doing a good job behind the plate,” Lemas said of Luna. “He’s a leader on our team. He’s a really good kid, really hard worker. He’s having a little bit of success, but he’s getting better. He’s a team guy. He really cares about the team and making the team better. He’s the type of kid who asks questions and wants to learn. He’s always looking to improve. He can be one of the better catchers in the area.”
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com. Follow him via Twitter @segallanded.)