CHAPTER 362: CHAPTER 14: WHO INTIMIDATED WHOM?

Receiving the ball passed by his infield teammates, Lin Guanglai recalled that pitch just now:

At least from his past game experience, the pitch he just threw clearly suppressed Honda Yuichi; the opponent purely grazed the ball with the bat. Facing that bouncer that flew up again, he handled it swiftly, almost relaying to first base the next second he caught the ball — he must have dealt with this kind of defense at least eight hundred to a thousand times over the past three years, and no matter how many times he sees it, it should have been a perfect out at first base.

Yet in this game, Honda Yuichi used his speedy legs to forcefully create an opportunity where there was none.

Regarding this, Lin Guanglai could only silently sigh in his heart: "Indeed, this is the world of professionals!"

In professional baseball, there is absolutely no room for holding back:

In high school baseball, if you don’t do well in an at-bat or don’t give your all, at most you’d be scolded harshly by the coach and benched for a while; but in the professional world, perhaps this small at-bat determines the distance between heaven and hell.

Especially for those in the second or even third team, failing in one at-bat could mean being demoted or even released the next day; this is the cruelty of professional baseball.

Shaking his head to clear his mind of the chaotic thoughts, Lin Guanglai refocused his attention on the game:

Currently standing in the batting zone is one of the strongest hitters in the SoftBank first team, wearing the legendary number 1 jersey, Nakagawa Seiichi: last season, he had a batting average over .300, and a slugging percentage of over .400, a bona fide mid-to-long distance power hitter — generally, Nakagawa Seiichi plays as a third or fourth clean-up hitter, but sent as the second today shows the seniors’ emphasis on Lin Guanglai.

Clearly, their arrangement aims to let Lin Guanglai taste the prowess of professional batters in this way.

And to his left, Honda Yuichi at first base was also eager to move — Lin Guanglai had reason to believe that as soon as he started his pitching motion, this two-time stolen base champion would dash to second base immediately.

After communicating with his catcher, Lin Guanglai and Yamashita Shousuke decided to first attempt to eliminate the threat on base, otherwise, leaving Honda Yuichi there would exert considerable pressure whether in pitching or defense.

Yamashita Shousuke requested a pitch that would facilitate a pick-off, and Lin Guanglai followed his requirement to throw the ball; the moment he lifted his foot, Honda Yuichi, who was prowling back and forth at first base, started like lightning, taking a step and rushing out.

At the same time, receiving the baseball, Yamashita Shousuke quickly extracted it from his hand, and in a smooth motion of rising with an arm swing, stepped forward and sent the ball toward second base.

On the second base, the current main shortstop of the first team, SoftBank’s 2009 top draft pick, who inherited the legendary player Shiroyama Kenshi’s number 2 jersey, Imamiya Kenta was also ready.

In the moment he received the ball from the catcher, Imamiya Kenta extended his glove underneath his body, tagging Honda Yuichi’s sliding leg before it could reach the base.

"Out!"

"Senior Yamashita, Senior Imamiya, great defense!!!" Seeing this cooperation finally pay off, Lin Guanglai cheered joyfully for his two teammates.

You know, as the player with the best footwork in the first team, Honda Yuichi has a career stolen base success rate of over 70%, especially stealing second base is as simple as eating or drinking for him — this wave of brilliant defensive coordination was truly the result of the team’s collective effort.

On the sidelines, Akiyama Koji, who had been watching the match, nodded slightly: besides the splendid defensive coordination just now, what gratified Akiyama Koji even more were the three players involved.

Kenta Imamiya, 2009 top draft pick, debuted in the first team as a high school graduate in his first season, the first in 21 years, and seized the opportunity in the following year to secure the SoftBank’s main shortstop position;

top draft pick Yamashita Shousuke, capable of a 115-meter long throw, sends the ball to second base in just 1.74 seconds, a purely strong-armed catcher — in Akiyama Koji’s view, as long as he fixes his tendency to lose focus, he could serve as SoftBank’s first-team primary catcher for at least 15-20 years;

top draft pick Lin Guanglai, a once-in-a-century baseball prodigy, recognized as the greatest in high school baseball history, merely being able to throw a 160 km/h fastball and hit 101 home runs shows he’s destined not to fade into obscurity.

If the veteran players of the Red Team represent the past and present of the SoftBank Hawks, then these newcomers in the White Team are its future, and some of them can even help the team win in the present.

As a team supervisor, such a lively scene with old, middle-aged, and young talents thriving and competing heartily gratifies Akiyama Koji.

Honda Yuichi, who was tagged out, seized a moment when his teammates weren’t noticing, sheepishly slipped back into his team’s player area, having rarely faltered against so many formidable opponents in professional baseball, but today he stumbled significantly against his own team’s rookies — the thought of how he would be teased by his senior teammates after the game made his face feel a bit hot.

Having dealt with the biggest threat on base, Lin Guanglai could finally focus all his attention on the batter: even though Nakagawa Seiichi, before him, was a top-tier mid-to-long range hitter, he harbored no fear or hesitation.

km/h, 160 km/h, 157 km/h — a series of fastballs thrown with both speed and quality, even for as strong a hitter as Nakagawa Seiichi, first facing such pitches leaves little room for maneuver.

"Batter, strikeout!"

Then against the third batter Matsuda Naohiro, Lin Guanglai used an old trick and made him miss a swing on a cutter that broke to the outside of a right-handed batter, getting the needed third out along with a second strikeout this inning.

"As for the pitcher’s level, you should have the most authority to speak; how do you think his current standard is?" Akiyama Koji, who was constantly paying attention to Lin Guanglai’s performance, discussed with the person beside him.

"Well, his velocity, control, and pitch quality, frankly, are already quite completed; but there are still deficiencies in some details — if he can address these issues, winning the Eiji Sawamura Award in the future wouldn’t be impossible."

To the veteran players in the Red Team, their intention of having such a lineup today was originally to give this talented rookie of theirs an initial setback, maintaining their so-called seniority dignity — but they never expected the first inning of this match to turn out this way.

So, in the end, who gave whom the initial setback here?