Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 648 - 11: A New Recruit Joins

The time is February 13, 2017, and more than half a month has passed since Lin Guanglai officially signed with the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

During this time, his activities have mainly been concentrated in New York City, focusing on experiencing and adapting to the different environment in the United States.

Overall, these days have been quite pleasant, especially since Lin Guanglai's already decent English skills have made great strides during this period, allowing him to basically integrate into the local life.

However, today, Lin Guanglai did not continue to stay in New York but instead boarded a flight to Tampa, Florida—don't misunderstand, he's not vacationing on the warm southern coast of the United States.

In fact, the New York Yankees' new season spring training camp will be held there:

According to the schedule sent by the coaching staff, pitchers and catchers will report on February 13 to participate in spring training, with the first training session on the next day; the players are required to report on February 18 and will begin team training from February 19.

From February 24 until March 31, during more than a month, the Yankees will play a total of 35 pre-season warm-up games to help them reach the best condition before the regular season officially opens.

For Lin Guanglai, this spring training will also be his first opportunity to meet the many teammates he will work with for years to come.

Unlike the Softbank team's spring training, where they need to rent local stadiums, Tampa has long been the Yankees' spring training base. Former owner George Steinbrenner specifically built a stadium for the Yankees here back in 1993, naming it Legend Field;

And after this legendary owner who established the Yankees dynasty passed away in 2010, the stadium was naturally renamed "George M. Steinbrenner Field," and his bronze statue stands outside the stadium.

This stadium is also the home field of the Yankees' Single-A minor league team and underwent renovations last year: it can only hold about 10,000 spectators, but in terms of field specifications and facility quality, George M. Steinbrenner Field is almost identical to Yankee Stadium, with the player areas achieving Major League Level standards.

At Steinbrenner Field, Lin Guanglai met the New York Yankees' head coach Joe Girardi again.

"You look so energetic, clearly, you've been resting very well recently, which puts my mind at ease." Girardi warmly shook hands and hugged Lin Guanglai, looking like a kind old man—in reality, Girardi, born in 1964, has just passed fifty, but the long-term coaching work has left his hair almost completely gray, which shows how immense the pressure of the position is, especially for the most successful team in baseball history, the New York Yankees.

After chatting with Lin Guanglai for a while, Girardi introduced each member of his coaching group to Lin Guanglai, who are all people he will deal with daily for many years in the future.

"Larry Rothschild, our pitching coach."

An approximately 60-year-old elderly man with white hair stood in front of Lin Guanglai, smiling and extending his hand: "Hello, Lin. I've watched your pitching videos; you are a super pitcher, so in the upcoming training sessions, I'll be demanding Verlander-level standards from you, and I hope you're prepared."

Lin Guanglai shook his hand, "Hello, Coach Rothschild, whether in training or competitions, I believe I won't disappoint you."

"This is our hitting coach, Alan Cockrell—under his guidance in 2007, the Colorado Rockies achieved the leading hitting performance in the league and made it to the World Series."

A coach about the same age as Girardi extended his hand to Lin Guanglai, "Hello, Lin. I heard you want to challenge Dual Swordsmanship in the Major League? I think your hitting mechanism might need some minor adjustments—I've already made a plan for it and will personally supervise you when the team training starts."

After shaking hands with him, another coach came in front of Lin Guanglai. When he saw that very familiar face, Lin Guanglai froze for a moment.

"What's wrong, Guanglai-kun, don't you recognize me?" The man teased humorously, and he spoke this sentence in Japanese.

It was only then that Lin Guanglai snapped out of it and extended his hand to the other, "Of course I recognize you—Matsui Hideki-senpai, after all, I grew up watching you play!"

Yes, the visitor is the legendary Japanese baseball figure, 2009 World Series FMVP winner, nicknamed "Godzilla," Matsui Hideki—although he is not officially part of the Yankees' coaching staff but was rehired after retirement as a special advisor during spring training.

The reason for meeting Lin Guanglai here is primarily because Matsui Hideki has always been interested in Lin Guanglai and wanted to get to know him since, previously, whether in Japan or the United States, there was little chance for them to meet.

Excluding Matsui Hideki, the Yankees coaching staff has nine main members, and Lin Guanglai met and shook hands with each of the coaching staff members, gaining a basic understanding of the team's management team's composition.