Hutch is the protagonist and the main character. His desire for success with the Cardinals motivates him, even as he struggles to find peace in his relationship with his dad, Carl. Baseball is incredibly important to Hutch; his idol is the Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter. Hutch’s goal is to be a superstar shortstop, but Darryl, the more talented player on the team, forces Hutch to second. While Hutch wants to be a “team guy” and “root for Darryl and have Darryl root for him” (93), he has flaws. Though he is the captain, Hutch can be slow when it comes to understanding and processing information. He doesn’t seem to grasp his attachment to shortstop, which makes him something of a misleading character.

The narration is from a third-person limited point of view, so even though Hutch isn’t the narrator, the narrator relays what his character thinks and feels. In Chapter 1, the narrator suggests that Hutch is the shortstop. In Chapter 12, Hutch doesn’t hear Darryl call for the ball, but everyone else on his team does. Yet Hutch has no reason to intentionally deceive the reader.