Diamond Ace Takanono

Chapter 9 A Straight Ball

"A straight ball, until next spring, Gao Jun, you only need to hone a straight ball." Coach Nigong solemnly pointed out a finger.

"Then can I play as a pitcher?" Gao Zhiye asked cautiously.

"Haha, of course you can play, but you can only throw straight balls. Even for such a ball, you have to consider the adjustment of ball speed, rotation speed, rotation axis, and accuracy. Although half a year sounds long, if you really want to throw a straight ball The vote is good, but there is still not enough time." Coach Nigong took out a piece of paper from Lao Gao's various books and documents piled up on the table, the front seemed to be an English paper, he flipped it to the back nonchalantly, and worked hard I have written a lot.

"Although I am a coach now, I was an orthopedic surgeon before, and I was a lecturer in the Department of Medicine before I became a trainer. I am not the kind of coach who shouts passionate words with unknown meanings all day long. Gao Jun, professional baseball can be played. For those who are 40 years old, it is very worthwhile to spend only half a year laying the foundation for the next few decades." After speaking, he turned the A4 paper to Takano's front with two fingers.

"Gao Jun, this is my task as the enlightenment coach, and it is also your task."

Gao Zhiye looked at the flamboyant handwriting in front of him, and barely recognized that it was a task list sorted according to the time axis.

Fortunately, Coach Ninomiya didn't expect him to understand the handwriting of the medical department, explaining from top to bottom.

"The first is a physical exam. You need to go for an X-ray, check your bone density, and your expected height. This check is done every six months. The pitching coach will probably create a physical file for you in the last few days, and will update you every week. Physical values ​​such as height, grip strength, thrust, etc., this work is to confirm the effect of training, but also to prevent chronic injuries caused by overtraining."

"The second is to pay attention to diet and rest. After half a year, here is the goal." Coach Nigong pointed to the number on the paper.

"76KG?"

"You are only 67kg now. After the first week of training, many children will lose about 1kg to 2kg because their diet has not kept up. They are generally between 1 and 6 meters. Gao Jun, you are already 1 meters If you lose weight, you will have nothing to protect yourself. Therefore, in the past six months, you need to increase your food intake by about 75% every month compared to the previous month. 1% is about the amount of eating an extra chicken drumstick per meal. In food ratio Now, if it’s a weekend or a holiday, it’s okay, we will arrange a lot of meat for you. If you are in school, you should eat more meat, egg and milk. After the X-ray, maybe you need to supplement vitamin D. I think Eri has already Tell your mothers what our club is about."

Gao Zhiye nodded, thinking of yesterday's dinner table, mother and Mr. Sasaki were discussing the big refrigerator.

"The next step is to rest. People of your age are so nice. Even if you don't sleep at noon, as long as you have a ball to play, you can be energetic all day long. Even if you don't have a good rest on a certain day, you can quickly adjust back. It seems Taking a good rest is no different from relying on your body to recover, but that is an illusion. If you have a health account, taking a good rest is saving money, and relying on your body to recover is spending money constantly, so you must have a good rest while eating well."

Then his voice turned to a mutter. "Those numbers in the back are the weight you're trying to achieve each month. That's the job of the pitching coach. Let's move on to the next one."

"The third is the polishing of a straight ball. Gao Jun, you should focus on this. The straight ball is the foundation of all other ball types. Among all the attributes of the straight ball, the speed of the ball is the most fundamental attribute. I mentioned earlier. The two points are to improve the speed of the ball. Of course, you can ask Coach Yoshioka about the specific training plan. The speed is the root of the power of the straight ball. Even among professional players, the straight ball with different speeds gives the hitter different intuitive feelings. .” Coach Ninomiya paused, “That’s one of the reasons for the so-called strong tail.”

"High and low speed...Are you sure you want to tell this to a junior high school student?" Gao Zhiye pointed to himself, with a playful look in his eyes.

"Haha, you'll know it at the next study meeting. Since you are a person who loves this sport, you should also know all about sports."

Coach Ninomiya stopped and took a sip of water, "The so-called speed is the speed at which the ball spins. A ball with a high speed can not only make the ball fall from the mound to the home plate at the same speed. That is, the ball is straighter and flatter. Moreover, when the hitter hits the ball, in addition to the force of the frontal hit, there will also be a force of strong rotation on the ball, which makes it difficult to grasp. If a pitcher can control the speed, the same A straight ball can have a different effect."

He pointed to many tasks behind the third item: "These tasks include fine-tuning postures as the body grows, training of fingertip sensitivity, etc., you can directly ask Coach Yoshioka, this is what we have been studying in the past year One of the things, in Shibazaki, the change is very obvious, he will return to the team soon, you can communicate with him."

Perhaps to prevent Takano from feeling burdened by telling too many tasks, Coach Ninomiya skipped a bunch of ghost symbols and pointed directly to the rotating shaft, "The rotating shaft refers to the angle between the rotation axis in the air and the target direction after the ball is thrown. , For a straight ball, the directionality is very clear, and the best state is that the ball goes straight to the catcher's mitt, and there is no loss of energy due to the rotation axis rotating left or right during the process."

"Judging the offset of the rotation axis requires professional equipment, and we don't have such a thing," Coach Ninomiya pointed at the table, "My son works as an assistant pitching coach in the American Major League Baseball. If they have new things over there, I will Will get it as soon as possible."

Gao Zhiye nodded obediently, but felt a little uneasy.

Coach Ninomiya sighed.

"Gao Jun, it's great to meet you in the team at this time, your rotation axis is very positive."

"But I only shot more than 30 pitches yesterday..." Then he remembered that there were cameras on both sides of the bullpen, including the back of the pitcher and the back of the catcher. .”

"Haha, this is what we set up to measure the rotation speed. I didn't expect to see more interesting things. Gao Jun, your accuracy is very good. After our analysis, part of the reason is that your rotation axis is very straight. When When you want to throw it in any direction, there will be basically no displacement due to the deviation of the rotation axis."

"Then if I learn the change ball, will there be any problems?"

Coach Nigong did not answer immediately, but pondered for a while: "Based on my many years of experience, there will be no problem, but this will have to be considered next year. Now we still have a lot of topics to study, such as this A pure straight ball will increase the threat to the hitter by how much."

The last is accuracy.

"Accuracy seems to be your strong point. Tomorrow morning, we need to evaluate the limit of your accuracy before judging the follow-up training tasks."

Having said this, all the plans on paper are over, "As we learn more about your physical condition, these plans may also change."

"Coach Ninomiya doesn't seem to recommend me positions other than fielding pitcher," Takano thought.

"Gao Jun, let's stop here for today's communication. Please call your brother over too. I saw him waiting for you at the indoor training ground."

After Gao Zhiye expressed his gratitude, he closed the office door, walked a few steps away, and then gently exhaled all the air in his lungs. There were so many things instilled in his mind, it seemed that the coaches also wanted to learn from him. Gained some training experience, but Gao Zhiye understood their intentions, and he was really looking forward to seeing himself half a year later.

Compared with the hyperactive Gao Zhiye, Lang Zhi, who stayed on the training ground and hit the ball, was a little psychologically unbalanced. There were already 6 people in the whole team practicing guerrilla positions, and he was not like Gao Zhiye. Outstanding talent in skills, the only thing he can say is good physical coordination, which is not so prominent among a group of very good shortstops.

"I'm a bit regretful about what I said today. Damn it, the brotherly strength comparison that I expected before may come soon." Most importantly, he stopped the bat and instinctively began to count the money, "It's too expensive Ah, in addition to the one-time registration fee, there are also monthly fees, food expenses, etc., damaged clothes, damaged equipment, including extra nutrition at home'.

"Ever since I said I want to play hardball, my parents have really taken it seriously..." Lang Zhi murmured, not noticing that a hand stretched out from behind to cover his head.

"What are you serious about?" Gao Zhiye pressed the short man's head and shook it slightly, "Stop thinking about it, and spend all the energy of thinking about it in hard training, okay?"

"Cut", Lang Zhi jumped aside, "Don't think you know what I'm thinking?"

"Okay, yes, by the way, Coach Ninomiya told you to go to his office." Gao Zhiye pointed upstairs.

"Eh? Why?" Lang Zhi looked confused, pointing at himself, "Is it just me?"

"Go, maybe talk to Coach Ninomiya, you won't think so much." Gao Zhiye took Langzhi's bat and wiped the sweat on it with the corner of his clothes.

"What are you talking about, tell me quickly."

"Didn't you know when you went?" Gao Zhiye didn't pay any attention to him, so Lang Zhi had to leave nervously.

About 1 minute after Langzhi left, Gao Zhiye came outside, under the cover of the night, watched the short man with a nervous face walk in the corridor on the second floor, walked stiffly to the door of the office, and stayed for a full three seconds , before knocking on the door and entering.

"This dwarf", there was a hint of a smile on the corner of Takano's mouth.

"Huh—" turned around.

The stadium behind is sleeping in the dark, it's hard to imagine how lively it is during the day, just like when you look at a sleeping baby and it's hard to imagine how noisy he woke up.

"I chatted with Coach Ninomiya for so long before I knew it."

"Gao-jun, did you just come out?" It was Akira Hayakawa, and Gao Zhiye saw the brightly lit cowshed from the direction he came from.

"Coach Ninomiya told me about the arrangements for the next six months."

"Well, it should be that time, the time for one-on-one communication."

"One-on-one communication?" Gao Zhiye pointed to the second floor, "More than 40 people?"

"Yes, the coaches will discuss the future plans of each player in advance, let the players know through one-on-one communication, and send it to the parents."

Takano's scalp was a little numb, and the workload sounded like a lot.

"Haha, so, my family plans to let my younger brother come here too, but... maybe it won't be until after I leave."

Didn’t Hayakawa say that he and his younger brother are only two years apart? Takano faintly felt Hayakawa’s envy, and comforted him: “Then we can stay for two years. We can still be together in high school, brothers play baseball together.”

Hayakawa seemed to be thinking of something else, and said softly, "Maybe."

　[1] Outline progress: Today I have roughly sketched out the outline of ten chapters, and I have to write the game, I am dying, I still can't understand the match
　　[2] Post-arrangement 1: First write down the concept of the entire team, and then maybe use the accelerator to quickly grow Gao Zhiye. Everyone is watching Drill A fans. I have written 9 chapters and I don’t have anything to do with it. A faint sense of danger

　　[3] Post-arrangement 2: Miyuki must appear in the next chapter or the next chapter, and he must turn Takano to Aomichi

　　
　
(End of this chapter)