Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 595 - 146: A New Magic Pitch?! (Super - )

The news about Lin Guanglai's bid is still fermenting, yet as the person concerned, he has already escaped the media congestion and gone to the training camp in Okinawa Island, which he had arranged before, to start his self-training plan with a few agreed partners, preparing in advance for the upcoming new season.

Okinawa Region has long become the top choice for professional athletes to hold training camps in winter, thanks to its unique geographic advantages and local government's development: warm climate all year round, convenient international flight connections, various competition venues, and accommodation facilities catering to all needs.

The specifications of Lin Guanglai's self-training camp are very high, with comprehensive facilities including professional stadiums, bullpens, gymnasiums, and the best accommodations and diets. As an agent, Nomura Katsuhiko even utilized his connections to bring in a professional trainer team to formulate recovery and enhancement plans for the participating players.

For young players who have just joined or ordinary players who barely make it to the team, it is unrealistic to bear the relevant expenses alone, but the few people attending Guanglai's training camp do not have similar worries—

Lin Guanglai, the top star of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, had a 2016 season annual salary of 350 million yen, even after voluntarily reducing his salary for the bid;

Yanagida Yuuki, the core of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks lineup, had a 2016 season annual salary of 270 million yen;

Yamada Tetsuro, the main second baseman and lineup core of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, had a 2016 season annual salary of 220 million yen;

Ohtani Shohei, the main pitcher/designated hitter of the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters, had a 2016 season annual salary of 200 million yen. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Even the lowest-paid among them, Ohtani Shohei, is considered a high-income group in the world of professional baseball. Besides, they have no habits of spending lavishly outside of baseball, so bearing these baseball-related expenses isn't a problem.

This self-training will last about two weeks, mainly focusing on reserving stamina and refining various skills for the new season, while also searching for the feeling of formal matches—after the training ends, Ohtani Shohei will stay and directly join the Ham Team's Okinawa spring training camp, while the remaining three will head to Miyazaki Prefecture to start spring training.

After announcing that he would officially bid for the Major League Baseball after this season ends, Lin Guanglai has become increasingly urgent:

After all, he promised in front of all Japan that only after leading SoftBank to complete a three-peat this season would he choose to bid; even if the team canceled this condition later, he himself does not intend to take it lightly—a true man must keep his word, even from Lin Guanglai's personal perspective, using the three-peat to bid farewell to the Japanese baseball world is the best ending he can think of.

It's just that the two partners who accompanied him to this training camp expressed their different opinions—

When the four people participating in this self-training met at the camp, aside from his teammate Yanagida Yuuki showing full support for Lin Guanglai, the other two uniformly expressed their determination to persuade Lin Guanglai to stay for another year.

For Yamada Tetsuro, the completed 2015 season was an extremely sweet but also bitter year:

Under his personal data explosion, the long-bottomed Yakult Swallows won the Central League Championship again after 14 years and advanced to the Japan Series. He personally swept away all Central League awards; unfortunately, in the final showdown of the Japan Series, the Central League-dominating lineup of the Yakult Swallows was completely blocked by Lin Guanglai and SoftBank's pitcher lineup, eventually only winning one game, and watched their opponents lift the trophy in their home stadium, Meiji Jingu Stadium.

Thanks to last year's brilliant performance, Yamada Tetsuro not only achieved a leap in annual salary during the off-season from 80 million to 220 million yen but also took over the legendary "1" jersey of the Yakult Swallows, becoming the 5th "Mr. Swallows" in team history.

In the new season, this new core of the Yakult Swallows vows to recreate last year's glory, and in the Japan Series, he plans to personally complete revenge against the SoftBank Team and help the team win Japan's Number One title since 2001.

"Guanglai, although I know the Major League is important to you, you'd better be prepared to stay for another year—this year I will definitely complete revenge against you and the SoftBank Team!"

As soon as Yamada Tetsuro finished speaking, Lin Guanglai and Yanagida Yuuki, both SoftBank players, had no time to refute, when Ohtani Shohei beside them answered first:

"Yamada senpai, is there any possibility that even if your Yakult Team can break into the Japan Series, the opponent might not be the SoftBank Team—this year the team breaking into the Japan Series and winning Japan's Number One will definitely be us, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters!"

Although last season, the Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters were upset by the third-place Chiba Lotte in the first round of the climax battle, Ohtani Shohei personally delivered an undeniable performance on the pitching side: 22 starts in regular games, 15 wins and 5 losses, with 196 strikeouts and an ERA of 2.24...each of these stats can be said to be results that only top pitchers deliver—of course, on the premise of ignoring Lin Guanglai, this non-human monster.

In the new season, the young and potentially full of promise Dual Swordsmanship player, along with his equally young and promising Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters Team, is ready to challenge SoftBank's hegemony in the Pacific League and all Japan—Lin Guanglai, who has dealt with them often, knows their strength too well; at least in the new season's preparation plan, the Ham Team has indeed been listed by the team's data analysis team as the most dangerous and likely to threaten them.