CHAPTER 359: CHAPTER 11: FIRST-TEAM CONVERGENCE

As the time came to February 2013, the long offseason officially ended, and players from Nippon Professional Baseball teams gathered again to embark on their respective spring training as arranged by their teams.

For baseball games with long seasons and intensive schedules, spring training is an indispensable part before the start of each new season: players can reactivate their bodies and find their game states during this one-month period, while also building up physical strength and honing related skills for the new season.

Spring training is also a good opportunity for the coaching staff to assess and adjust the main roster, promoting fresh blood—many potential players from the second and even third teams will be promoted to train with the first team during this period and gain some valuable opportunities to play in exhibition games; if any young player performs well in spring training and impresses the coaching team, they might directly become a formal member of the team’s first squad once the new season starts.

In the West Hotsaki Dormitory, Lin Guanglai was packing his luggage in his room.

As a player directly logged into the first team for the new season, he was going to go with the first team to Miyazaki City for spring training. The Softbank Team’s first team almost trains there every year.

There are mainly two reasons for this choice. One is because the climate in Miyazaki Prefecture is warm and pleasant, with various facilities well-equipped, making it very suitable for players to conduct recovery training in early spring; the other reason is that the team has cooperated with the local government to attract tourists and rejuvenate the Kyushu Region’s economy—after all, in Japan, what could be more attractive than professional baseball?

After packing all the supplies provided by the team and his equipment into his bag, ensuring nothing was left out, Lin Guanglai carried his bag and left his dormitory room.

Outside the door, Murasawa Yuusuke was waiting. Although he didn’t say anything, the complex emotions in his eyes revealed his true feelings.

Seeing Lin Guanglai standing in front of him all geared up, Murasawa Yuusuke sighed and said, "I really envy you, Guanglai... Joining the first team right after entering the team, that’s really great..."

As a high school graduate player ranked fourth in this year, Murasawa Yuusuke was not summoned by the first team during spring training; he would stay in Fukuoka to train with the second team, and the new season’s games would likely start from the third team. He could only gain recognition from the coaching team based on his performance, climbing up step by step.

Although both of them are high school graduate players, the treatment they received was like night and day: compared to Lin Guanglai, who received a contract bonus of 100 million, a floating bonus of 50 million, and a newcomer’s highest salary of 15 million, Murasawa Yuusuke not only didn’t have those floating bonuses, his signing bonus and annual salary were only a meager 40 million and 5 million—which was just slightly better than that of a recent graduate from a prestigious university.

However, professional baseball is a career for the young, unlike being a company employee where you could work for a lifetime; even in the most ideal situation, you need to earn enough for the second half of your life in a little over ten years—if you fail to perform within the stipulated years, you might even receive a notice of being released from the team.

When this harsh adult world suddenly appeared before Murasawa Yuusuke, such pressure was anything but small for a high school student.

Lin Guanglai didn’t know what to say at that moment, so he could only remain silent—considering the treatment given to him by the team, anything he said could be seen as flaunting superiority.

Carrying his luggage down to the gathering point, Lin Guanglai found that several people had already arrived, many of whom were players already logged into the first team but still living in dormitories for various reasons—besides a few of his contemporaries with immediate combat capabilities, Lin Guanglai recognized two others.

One was Takeda Shouta, the first-ranked pick in the 2011 draft, who had a rookie season last year with 9 wins and 1 loss, earning second place for Rookie of the Year, and he is expected to secure his spot in the first team this new season;

The other was one of the main relief pitchers in the current first team, Chika Huangda, who was the fourth-ranked pick in the 2010 developmental meeting—being able to emerge from the low-yield developmental players and secure a main relief position in the first team was something that left Lin Guanglai in deep admiration.

After everyone had gathered, they directly set off for the designated gathering point—according to the team’s planned itinerary, once all first-team players returned and the team was ready, they would depart from Fukuoka in northern Kyushu, crossing over 300 kilometers to fly to Miyazaki, the southernmost point.

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"By the looks of everyone, it’s clear that you’ve all rested well during this time—very good, this is exactly what I wanted to see!"

Scanning his gaze over the neatly lined-up first-team players standing before him, Akiyama Koji showed a satisfied expression on his face.

"Veteran players should know, I am not a person who likes to say too much nonsense; since you are all standing here now, I’ll assume you are ready to commence preparations for the new season."

"Last season, our official games earned us third place in the Pacific League, although we defeated the second-placed Seibu Lions in the climax series, the subsequent sweeping defeat by the Ham Team is something I believe those of you who experienced it won’t forget, and such results cannot satisfy the team, the fans, or yourselves."

"The season hasn’t started yet, talking about winning or becoming Japan’s Number One is still too far-fetched; at least during the upcoming spring training in Miyazaki, I wish to see the fighting spirit in each of you—I’ll say the harsh words first, this team has no stars, any player who fails to put forth wholehearted effort, no matter how well you have performed before, I will unhesitatingly demote to the second team!"

"Do not think I am being alarmist—the team has secured many potential young players this year, and some names among them should not be unfamiliar to you."

At this point, Akiyama Koji deliberately paused, his gaze inadvertently passing over Lin Guanglai’s face—standing in the team, already prominent due to his height, Lin Guanglai could clearly feel that this slight glance from the supervisor caused more eyes to converge on him.

"Including those with seniority among you, I dare say, as long as you dare to slack off even a little, you will be directly replaced by those young ones waiting for their breakout moment—this is absolutely not alarmism!"

"I’ve spoken my piece."

"Now, change into the formal suits provided by the team, and then—set off!!!"