Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 330 - 183: Fiery Atmosphere

In the conference room officially organized by the Japan Baseball Association, every seat is occupied at this moment. Present are not only the players selected for this U18 representative team, set to represent Japan in August in Korea, the supervising coaches responsible for leading the team, but also a large batch of official media at the back of the room fiddling with video and recording equipment - this tournament, these media will follow from start to finish and record the entirety of this tournament.

This arrangement was unprecedented before and gives a glimpse into the mindset of the industry personnel: after missing several tournaments for various reasons, both the Japan Baseball Association and Takano Ren have high expectations for this "strongest U18 in history" - the sole goal they set for this team in this tournament is none other than to win the championship!

Since the expectations are set so high, the corresponding resources obviously have to be sufficient: aside from extensive media exposure, this year’s coaching team configuration is also quite luxurious:

The person leading the team is Ogura Quanyou from Nihon University. As a tenured professional in the baseball circle of Gengyun High School, he has led Nihon University from an average-level school to a top baseball powerhouse nationwide, winning runner-up in the Senbatsu Tournament and the championship in the Summer League.

Ogura Quanyou’s most outstanding ability is his skill in managing the lineup: the team of Nihon University that won the victory in 2002 had an overall batting average of .427, a record that remains unbroken to this day; more recently, Lin Guanglai faced many times and caused considerable trouble with the "three pillars of the lineup."

The two coaches are Yoshida Kousuke from Nagasaki Prefectural Seihou High School and Ohno Yasuyoshi from Ehime Prefectural Imabari West High School. The former coached the team to runner-up in the Senbatsu Tournament, while the latter was the champion coach of the 2007 National Sports Festival, both are extremely experienced senior coaches.

"Before we start this training camp, I hope everyone can understand one thing, international games and high school baseball are completely different matters, the gap is beyond your imagination..."

On the podium, Ogura Quanyou is explaining the differences between international tournaments and Japanese high school baseball to the players. This difference does not mean any changes in the basic rules of baseball, but more about various aspects like the mindset of competition, judgment standards, etc.

"Firstly, the international competitions implement the DH rule. This is just a reminder, as the coaching staff will discuss and decide on personnel arrangements." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"The key is in hitting; the World Baseball Association mandates that international competitions must use wooden bats, which is significantly different from Takano. It is quite a challenge for many of you—during the following training, our coaching staff will help you become more familiar with wooden bats and provide guidance on your batting methods and strategies."

"There is also another point that needs emphasis..." Ogura Quanyou paused, ensuring that every player in attendance was focused before continuing:

"The intensity of international competitions and Koshien is completely different—I am not only talking about the strength of the opponents, but also physical confrontations; I hope everyone will be mentally prepared when the time comes."

"Now, seize the time and start practicing at the training ground!"

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The bullpen for pitcher training is quite lively at the moment: the venue arranged by the Japan Baseball Association is well equipped, the huge bullpen is sufficient to accommodate all seven selected pitchers practicing simultaneously; the spacious area also provides the filming crew and spectators with ample space.

Three catchers stood lined up at the baseline, seven pitchers grouped in pairs and took turns warming up for pitching; Lin Guanglai and Fujinami Jintaro were paired together, their catcher partner also from Osaka Tsubaki, Mori Yuuya.

"Bang—Bang—Bang—"

The venue echoed with the loud catching sound of Fujinami Jintaro, which also prompted gasps from the spectators nearby; Lin Guanglai responsible for speed measurement stood behind him, nodding and clicking his tongue:

From the numbers given by the speed gun, apart from the few balls at the beginning to find the feel during the warm-up, most balls Fujinami Jintaro pitched thereafter exceeded 150 km/h, with some even reaching 155 km/h or higher; and judging by the sound when the catcher received the balls, these balls also had considerable tail speed, not the kind of empty high-speed balls that only looked good but were not effective.

Even now in Nippon Professional Baseball, pitchers who can consistently throw such ultra-fastballs are very rare, purely from the speed of the balls, this level is already professional standard—no wonder after winning the Senbatsu Tournament, as the victorious pitcher Fujinami Jintaro was considered one of this year’s draft top prospects by the media.

After pitching roughly twenty or thirty balls, it was Lin Guanglai’s turn to practice.

The moment he stepped onto the field, the players at the sidelines focused their attention—among them are opponents he had faced several times in official matches, such as players from Mitsuhoshi, Kiyonokura, and Wisdom; and some who, like Tadaro Hamada from Suzuki Ichiro’s alma mater, the famous Den Technical College, were seeing Lin Guanglai for the first time, thus eagerly anticipating his performance.

Of course, included among them was Mori Yuuya stationed at the baseline for catching: as a catcher, he certainly wanted to witness what kind of balls this media-recognized top pitcher of Takano could throw.

To be honest, Mori Yuuya was somewhat disappointed with the first ten balls: although the speed of Lin Guanglai’s pitches was not bad, roughly between 147-150 km/h, judging by Mori Yuuya’s own catching experience, at least in terms of ball power, Lin Guanglai’s exhibited strength was far inferior to his teammate.

These few balls even made Mori Yuuya doubt himself a bit, if Lin Guanglai truly only has this level, does it imply that the Osaka Tsubaki, which persisted without breaking for 8 innings against him, is even less competent?

But soon, the tactile feeling from the catcher’s glove began to change: after completing the warm-up, Lin Guanglai gradually started pitching with full force, and the speed of his pitches grew faster—

150, 151, 153, 152, 154... The numbers on the speed gun kept jumping, making Fujinami Jintaro standing behind Lin Guanglai raise his eyebrows constantly; the powerful baseball slammed into the catcher’s glove and also made Mori Yuuya feel a bit of tingling pain; the players watching from the sidelines widened their eyes one after another, clearly impacted.

They knew Lin Guanglai’s pitching speed was fast, even holding the record for the fastest pitch speed in the nearly century-long history of Japan High School Baseball, but this spectacle of throwing fireballs with such force still made them swallow involuntarily; at this moment, what these players thought most might be if they were batters, facing such straight balls of this caliber, would they have the confidence to hit the ball?

Lin Guanglai’s performance also motivated other pitchers in the training session:

Some players initially intended to slack off and pitch without much effort; but after witnessing Lin Guanglai’s performance, they abandoned such thoughts—given that the top person in Takano trains so diligently, how can they, with much less talent, afford to slack off?

And next to him, seeing this scene, Ohtani Shohai felt a sense of rivalry, gradually increasing the intensity in his pitching as well—this caused some trouble for the Mitsuhoshi catcher Tamura Ryuhiro in charge of catching for him, after all, although ultra-fastballs have allure, catching them really hurts.

Outside the bullpen, Ogura Quanyou watched the heated scene inside the venue with a smile, nodding in satisfaction.