Weeks brothers share baseball, work ethic
Wearing blue jeans and an orange 'Canes shirt, Richard mingles with parents, discusses baseball strategy and joins in the "Let's Go Canes!" chants that echo throughout the park.
However, four or five times per game, when No. 2 steps in the batter's box, Richard is quiet. He smiles softly and watches his son -- the Hurricanes' freshman leadoff hitter and second baseman, Jemile Weeks -- fulfill a lifelong goal and hit in the College World Series.
"This is like 'wow,' really exciting," Richard said. "It was his dream."
In one late-inning at-bat during Tuesday night's 7-1 loss to Oregon State, Richard watched Jemile ground out sharply to the first baseman. As Jemile ran across the diamond to the dugout, Richard tried to read his son's thoughts.
"Right now he's thinking about what he needs to change," Richard said. "That's the great thing about Jemile. He knows what he has to do to get better. That is the way he has always been. Each at-bat gets a little bit better. He is constantly correcting and adjusting."
At the same time, 505 miles away in Milwaukee, Jemile's older brother Rickie is leaving the ballpark after the Milwaukee Brewers' disappointing 10-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers.
Rickie -- also a leadoff man and second baseman -- has just finished an 0-for-3 night, dropping his average to .287. Like his brother, Rickie will also focus on refining his swing.
Later that night, the two brothers probably talked on the phone about baseball, rehashing the night's events at Omaha and in the Major Leagues.
"They talk almost everyday," Richard said.
Baseball has always been the common link between the brothers. Rickie, 23, is a few years older than Jemile, but that never stopped them from playing baseball in their Altamonte Springs, Fla. backyard while growing up.
The Weeks' swimming pool held many baseball games, including a contest where one brother would push a taped-up sock ball across the water and the other would try and hit it.
"They were big games and everyone got involved," Richard said. "We would have one person in one corner and another person in another corner. It was real family fun built around baseball."
The games helped hone the brothers' skills at the diamond. Growing up, Rickie set the example for Jemile to follow.
"Rickie is a good role model for Jemile," Richard said. "He was never in trouble and always a nice kid in school. All of the teachers in school would say he was a great guy. Jemile, seeing that and growing up under a brother like that, it helped to groom his attitude and his perspective on life, too."
Rickie wasn't highly recruited out of Lake Brantley High School, but he did catch the eye of a Division I coach, Southern University's Roger Cador. After an auspicious beginning, Weeks led the NCAA with an astronomical .500 batting average while hitting 16 homers with 67 RBIs.
His efforts earned him the Golden Spikes Award and NCAA Player of the Year honors.
Rickie vaulted to the top of every draft board. Milwaukee chose him as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2003 draft. Since then, Rickie, like Jemile, hasn't stopped working. He was one of the first players from his draft class to reach the Major Leagues, getting 12 at-bats in Sept. 2003.
At the same time, Jemile was building his own impressive resume in Florida. A natural middle infielder (Rickie played the outfield before he converted to second base), he displayed some nice glovework and hit .370 for Lake Brantley High School in 2003.
He didn't try to emulate his brother's power numbers at Southern, but instead wanted to construct his own identity. Rickie bats strictly from the right side, but Jemile thought his game would improve if he could switch-hit.
"If there is something that I think is nice, then I try to repeat it," Jemile said after Miami's 3-2 loss to Rice at Rosenblatt on Monday. "Other than that, the things he does I try to put into my own style. I try to do my own thing."
Jemile's style also relies on lightning-quick hands to hit line drives to all fields, play defense and lay down a bunt.
"They are different players," said Cador, who remains close to the Weeks family. "Rickie has more power and a strong arm. Jemile is a switch-hitter, sprays the ball more, bunts and is more advanced defensively. Their strengths are in different areas."
Jemile also wanted to forge his own path at a national powerhouse. Both Rickie and their sister Kaisha enjoyed success at Southern (Kaisha runs track for the Jaguars and was an NCAA regional finalist in the hurdles), but Jemile headed in a different direction.
After hitting five homers as a high school senior, the Brewers drafted Jemile in the eighth round of the 2005 draft. He didn't sign, instead choosing Miami (about three hours from the Weeks' home) over the University of Texas and other elite programs.
"He wanted to go to college and get an education," Richard said.
"I have always followed Miami on TV," Jemile said. "It's always something that I kind of wanted to do. And to play for a team that makes it to the College World Series, I couldn't pass that up."
And from day one, Jemile has helped the Hurricanes stay among the nation's top programs, batting over .350.
The freshman has constantly made adjustments against the nation's best. Earlier this season, Jemile struck out in his first at-bat against First-Team All-American Andrew Miller of North Carolina.
In Miami's next time up, Jemile grabbed a teammate and went down to the cage for soft toss.
"Throw me inside," Jemile said.
After a round of hard inside tosses, Jemile faced Miller again. The left-hander threw an inside fastball and Jemile hit it off the top of the left-field wall, missing a home run by several inches.
The same approach occurred Monday night against Rice. After popping out in his first at-bat, Jemile stayed back and went the other way in his next four, delivering a quartet of base hits to center and left field.
Rickie has the same approach. Richard visits his oldest son about 10 days every month and they spend a lot of that time studying film.
"We break down pitchers," Richard said. "We ask, 'What is the pitcher trying to do? If he's going to throw inside one pitch, then he could come back outside with the next pitch.'"
The studying has helped the second-year Major Leaguer maintain a .300 average and solidify himself as a key cog in the Brewers' lineup.
"I am really proud of what they've done," Richard said.
Conor Nicholl is an associate reporter for MLB.com.