14 Techniques

Su Qing wasn't lying. When he was little, professional players really did come into the community to play ball with the kids. That was also why he planned to do the same after retiring.

"Yeah. It's actually a positive cycle. They received that kind of support when they were young too, so once they went pro, they wanted to help out the communities and hometowns they came from."

As Su Qing spoke, everyone looked at him with envy. Major League professionals! Playing ball together? Teaching them? They didn't even dare imagine it!

"Steal!"

Just as everyone was chatting happily and had completely forgotten about the game, Yamamori's first baseman suddenly shouted.

Drawn by the shout, they quickly saw Carlos, covered in dirt, sprinting toward second base with a mitten-like glove on his right hand.

Ogata had already delivered the pitch and had no time to pick Carlos off at second. He could only throw the ball toward the far left side, making it easier for Kamitari to throw over.

But just as Su Qing had said, Kamitari was too slow both getting up and making the throw. By the time he released the ball, Carlos had already slid safely onto the bag. The entire play looked incredibly cool.

Kamitari Mototsugu, Yamamori Academy's catcher and a firm believer in fun baseball, was not having any fun at all. He gritted his teeth as he stared at Carlos standing on second.

No outs, runner on second. Yamamori Academy called the first timeout of the game.

Seeing that there was nothing entertaining happening on the field, Harada pulled Su Qing aside to keep talking. He wasn't interested in professional players themselves, but he was very interested in the knowledge they passed on!

After hearing Harada's question, Su Qing hesitated. Catchers didn't seem to have that many techniques, did they? Calling pitches depended on talent and intelligence. Everyone had different approaches to pitch selection; you couldn't forcefully claim someone else's was bad and yours was good. It depended on the batter.

Getting along with the pitcher was also the catcher's own business. Su Qing got along quite well with Harada and didn't think Harada had anything that needed correcting. Receiving pitches and handling pop flies around home plate could both be trained, though. Maybe he could make Harada a training regimen.

But if they were talking about the catcher's most, most, most crowd-pleasing skill, aside from throwing out runners, it was probably stealing strikes.

Su Qing loved working with catchers who could steal strikes. Was there anything more satisfying than having a wild pitch of yours pulled back into the zone by the catcher? For a pitcher, only striking out the batter they hated most was more satisfying than that.

Harada clearly didn't know how to steal strikes. Sometimes, Su Qing was even worried that Harada's lack of confidence would make the home plate umpire call strikes balls. Looking down when receiving the ball was a major taboo! The umpire would think you were unsure of yourself, and even a strike could be called a ball. If Su Qing hadn't left the umpire with the impression that he threw nothing but strikes, those pitches would definitely have been called balls.

"Do you know what framing is?"

Su Qing hadn't expected Harada to know the answer, so he continued straight away.

"It's stealing strikes—deceiving the home plate umpire to turn balls into strikes."

Harada listened intently to Su Qing's explanation. Just as he was preparing to hear more, Yoshizawa called for him.

"Captain, get ready to take the field!"

Get ready to take the field? Su Qing hurriedly turned his attention back to the diamond. Only when he saw Carlos still standing on second did he breathe a sigh of relief. He had thought Shirakawa had hit into a double play and Narumiya Mei had been forced out or struck out.

Shirakawa hadn't returned to the rest area. Instead, he jogged to first base after being walked. To prevent Carlos from stealing again or Inashiro from making a pinch-runner move, Kamitari had called for several balls. By the time Carlos successfully stole second, the count was already one strike and three balls. The patient Shirakawa then took the final ball and reached first on four balls.

Narumiya Mei was up to bat now. As the cleanup hitter, Harada really did need to head to the on-deck circle to get ready.

Harada was a little resentful, but he still took his bat and helmet to the on-deck circle. And Su Qing finally got his chance to return the favor to Narumiya.

"No outs, runners on first and second—such a great chance to drive in runs. Ace, you can't let it pass you by!"

Narumiya Mei instantly turned around and glared furiously at the shouting Su Qing!

But he didn't dare turn back and start bickering with Su Qing. The home plate umpire for today's game had been specially hired rather than picked from the school. Narumiya Mei didn't dare provoke a real umpire.

Angry as he was, Narumiya Mei hadn't lost his head. He waited seriously for his turn at bat.

It was an ace-versus-ace showdown. Narumiya Mei might look down on his opponents when pitching, but he was absolutely serious when it came to hitting.

Narumiya Mei swung at the very first pitch. The ball met the bat and soared high into the air. Narumiya Mei tossed aside his bat and ran.

"Damn it! Why aren't you two running?!"

Halfway down the line, Narumiya Mei realized he had nowhere to run. Not only had Shirakawa and Carlos failed to leave their bases, they had retreated back onto the bags.

Hearing Narumiya Mei's furious roar, Shirakawa and Carlos looked at him as if he were an idiot. Only an idiot would run on a fly ball that went high but not deep.

Sure enough, Yamamori's center fielder easily caught Narumiya Mei's fly ball for the out. But at the very instant the center fielder made the catch, Carlos broke for third, sprinting at full speed.

Prompted by his teammates, Yamamori's center fielder quickly took the ball from his glove and threw to third.

As though he could feel the fierce wind kicked up by the baseball behind him, Carlos dove straight at the bag. Yamamori's third baseman did receive the ball before Carlos arrived, but it was already too late to tag him out.

"Safe!"

And Shirakawa had actually taken advantage of the chaos to reach second as well. What a joyous occasion.

A simple fly ball had been forcibly turned into a sacrifice fly by Carlos.

Kamitari stared blankly at Carlos standing on third. Was this the complete version of Inashiro? They were a little too strong.

Yamamori's players weren't the only ones angry on the field. One furious little kitten was also making his way toward his own rest area.

"Ace, you haven't picked up your bat yet."

Su Qing delivered the finishing blow at just the right time.

Narumiya Mei ignored his bat and lunged straight at Su Qing. The two started wrestling in the rest area, while Inashiro's players had long since gotten used to it. No one bothered with the two clowns; they all focused intently on the game.

In the end, poor Fujikawa was the one who picked up Narumiya Mei's bat and brought it back to the rest area.

"Stop fighting, stop fighting. Su Qing, hurry up and get ready to go in."

In the end, the good-natured Hirai Tsubasa pulled the two apart.

Narumiya Mei was still unconvinced when he was dragged away, while Su Qing looked far more smug. He pulled out a bat and a pair of batting gloves from his equipment bag, put on his helmet, and walked to the on-deck circle.

This was the first time Su Qing had had so much time in the on-deck circle. It would have been a shame not to loosen up and take a few practice swings.

Yesterday, I looked up some information and found that the average Major League catcher's Pop Time is two seconds. Of course, that's an average, not the fastest time. I rewatched Ace of Diamond, and Miyuki had a recorded Pop Time of 1.18 seconds once. Although that was handwritten, it was still a bit excessive. To make things more realistic and easier for me to write, Miyuki's fastest Pop Time will be set at around 1.8 seconds from now on.

Molina refers to Yadier Molina, the Cardinals catcher who still hasn't retired this year.