Ace of Diamonds Golden Boots Silver Rod

Chapter 8 Practice Competition ()

The next day Sendō was announced to join the First Army, but he would not train with the First Army.

In the next week, Sendō made rapid progress. He mastered all the basic skills of a catcher and got used to his pitching posture, but his hitting posture was not yet perfected.

In the words of the coach, when the big game is about to begin, let him put himself in a comfortable posture first, and then he will consider helping him correct his posture while finding a hitting posture that suits him or referring to the hitting postures of certain hitters.

Coach Nakanishi, who came from the major leagues, knows very well that some perceptions in Japan are wrong.

For example, frequent long-distance running by a pitcher can indeed help the pitcher consolidate the ground, but it is wrong to steadily increase the ball speed.

What directly affects the speed and power of the ball is the explosive power, which allows the whole body's power to explode at one point instantly.

Long-distance running can stabilize the base and control the ball.

The same endurance training from long-distance running is also wrong for increasing a pitcher's physical strength.

Pitchers rely on explosive power, just like sprinters and long-distance runners train differently.

There is a different consumption pattern between draining one's energy in an instant and continuously outputting one's energy. This is why even though he has run so much, the pitcher still can't throw many more balls. This can only be done if the body is used to this kind of instantaneous burst.

(To give a simple example, a person can jog ten kilometers, but if he sprints 100 meters, he will probably fall to his knees after only a few sprints.

That's the difference between sustained physical fitness and this explosive sprint. )

The most popular exercises in Xiandao's exercise menu are exercises for instant explosive power.

This kind of long-distance running practice is not suitable for Little League and Youth Baseball practice. Elementary school and junior high school are the time to learn skills, and high school is the time to accumulate.

Of course, although there is a lot of explosive training, it is more than the body of an elementary school student can bear.

It can be said that Coach Nakanishi has been observing Sendao's body's reaction after receiving training, and he has contacted friends in the United States to help him. He does not want to ruin everything.

He participated in several joint training sessions, and his hitting and pitching were immediately recognized by the whole team. Even after his posture was corrected and he got used to it, he improved by leaps and bounds and became the Wildcats' ace and four-bat hitter. No one had any objections.

This growth rate was not even expected by the Chinese and Western coaches.

"Xendao will have a practice game tomorrow. The opponent is the Mariners Little League. I will arrange for you to be the starting pitcher, so go back early today!"

"I see!"

The next day is Sunday. Famous families like the Wildcats who have their own buses often go out to play practice games. And the summer games are almost here.

The weak catcher of the Wildcats depends on how you look at it. It is enough for the elementary school team. The distribution of the elementary school students still completely follows the flexible changes in the book.

"The Mariners coach is busy today, so the practice game will be postponed to next Sunday!"

Things are impermanent, and this kind of thing does happen.

……

A week later,

"Supervisor Nakanishi, the starting pitcher is actually a fourth-year recruit and a four-bat hitter. This is not your style!

Didn’t the Wildcats rely on absolute teamwork to win the game? "The opponent's coach obviously noticed the strangeness of the lineup.

Just letting a talented player adapt to the game atmosphere will not make him a four-bat hitter.

What's more, this was the first time he heard that the Wildcats had allowed fourth graders to enter the first team.

"Coach Yasuda, this year is a little special."

"I see!"

"Can that coach from China and the West say that the individual's ability is superior to that of the team?

Then I'll wait and see, will it be able to surpass the personal combat power of the Wildcat Little League, which is known as the absolute king? ” I thought in my heart at the same time.

"playball"

The Mariners Little League team started the game.

Due to the pre-arrangement by the coach, Xiandao will restrain his shooting and practice defensive coordination.

No matter what, the Wildcats Little League has always relied on professional-level tactics and superb teamwork and execution to win.

Although there are more independent individuals of Immortal Dao on defense, Immortal Dao's reaction speed is not a burden.

So even if the opponent can easily hit the ball, the Wildcats' infield defense is no joke. The first and second bats are easily blocked, the third bats rely on infield hits to get on base, and the fourth bats turn comes, and the opponent's fourth bat is a very strong kid. .

The catcher first matched an outside corner and tried to keep the pitch as low as possible. This is also a very common pitch when facing unfamiliar hitters.

After all, there are too many unknowns in youth and youth baseball, and no one knows whether a talented player will suddenly appear, so testing is necessary.   And the Mariners' four-bat catcher is quite famous.

But this has nothing to do with Xiandao. He doesn't even know any of his teammates. He usually uses his position to make announcements during training.

This is also the rule of the wild cats to prevent new members from joining the army from making mistakes in coordination because of the name issue.

"call out!"

"Snapped!"

"Bad ball!" The opponent cautiously did not swing the bat.

Sendō's ball control is not good enough to allow him to throw bad pitches in the strike zone, although according to the rules, any part of the ball within the strike zone is considered a strike.

"Second ball, inside corner, strike zone!"

Seeing the code, while silently reciting the first set of codes, it seemed that the code was correct. Sendao nodded and glanced at the first base runner.

"Steal a base!"

Just as Sendō turned his head and started pitching, the runner on first base suddenly stole the base, but the action had already begun and could not be stopped.

"call out!"

"Snapped!"

"nice shot!"

"Snapped!"

"safe!"

Although he threw a diversionary ball quickly, he still succeeded in stealing the base.

"Scared me!

I originally thought that no matter how talented a player is, he is still a beginner, so it is impossible to master various pitching postures. The original open pitching posture will give the runner a chance to get on base.

But this fourth grader's arm swing speed is too fast, and this instantaneous explosive power is too scary.

Fortunately, that catcher is not the type with strong shoulders. If it were Yaya in our team, he would probably be killed.

This kind of explosive power doesn't require a fixed posture at all even if there is someone on base. "At this time, Coach Yasuda couldn't see that Sendao was releasing water before, and his arm swing speed was completely different from before.

"I'm very aware of the problems of beginner pitchers, but this guy's physical talent is not easy to grasp even if there are various problems for beginners."

How could the Chinese and Western coaches not guess the opponent's purpose? Stolen base bunts are the most annoying and most easily defeated points for beginner pitchers. But after two weeks of intensive training combined with Xian Dao's inhuman explosive power, these weaknesses would not be caught at all.

"The next ball needs to be inside the corner. If there is a bad ball, it should not be too obvious."

"Steal a base!"

"call out!"

"Snapped!"

"Bad ball!"

"Stealing base streak?"

"Snapped!"

"safe!"

"Is this how it starts? Two out runners, three bases, four batters, two balls and one strike!" Sendao thought to himself.

"Although I can't target this pitcher, the catcher's shoulder problem has been exposed, so I'm not polite, Coach Nakanishi."

"It's still too obvious. Let's take the next corner kick! Strike the ball and decide the winner with him!"

At this time, Xiandao shook his head. He saw that the opponent's overall movements were obviously waiting for the outside corner. After the inside corner, the catcher would match the ball.

Just when the last ball was thrown, he saw the opponent showing signs of stretching out his feet, but in the end he did not stretch them out, but all this was seen by Xiandao.

　Everyone’s old acquaintances will appear in this practice match. I think many of them have guessed who it is! Also, if I can finish the practice game in three chapters, I will change the chapter names to upper, middle and lower.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)