General Hospital Behind the Scenes: Gary James Fuller takes to the plate

General Hospital character James, played by Gary James Fuller, honed his batting skills recently with a little help from Kai. In a case of life imitating art, Fuller also underwent some batting lessons to perfect his form!

General Hospital, batter up!

"Batting cages on the set of General Hospital ⚾🎬," read a post on the young actor's official Instagram account. "Gary getting some swings in for his scene, and putting the work from his real-life hitting coach @shanetaylorbaseball to good use. 💪."

On-screen, James got some instruction on his form from Jens Austin Astrup (Kai). James' dad, Nathan, is a star athlete...or is he? There seems to be some question as to Nathan's athletic prowess with baseball since doing the Lazarus bit last year.

James killed years ago and he went off to that great soap opera in the sky, following appearing in an open casket. Is there more to be revealed as to how James cheated death -- if he indeed even did?

James had been through quite a bit in his young life. He grew up without a dad, and then, he learned that somehow his father had returned to the land of the living. James' mother, Maxie (Kirsten Storms), fell into a coma last year and then, she came out it last month.

Who's on first in Port Charles?

Kai helped James with his stance as Nathan observed on GH | Image: ABC

Veteran GH fans know that there's a special connection between baseball and General Hospital. Original cast member John Beradino, who played Dr. Steve Hardy from 1993 to 1996, played professional baseball for the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates. In 1948, he was on the Cleveland Indians team, which won the World Series that year. Beradino mostly played a middle infielder (second baseman or shortstop), he also was positioned on both first and third base.

After retiring from baseball following an injury, Beradino refocused his career on acting, which he had already began while still playing ball. In addition to his professional baseball career and World Series win, Beradino is the recipient of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

There's another indirect baseball connection to GH. Actor Brian Patrick Clarke, who played both reformed bad guy Grant Andrews and the not-so nice Grant Putnam on GH in the 1980s, appeared on the primetime family comedy/drama Eight Is Enough as baseball star Merle "the Pearl" Stockwell. Merle joined the Bradford family after marrying Susan Bradford (Susan Richardson).

Catch all-new episodes of General Hospital weekdays on ABC and Hulu.