21 Walks

He really was a very clever catcher. In just seven innings, he had figured out every Inashiro batter's preferences. This wasn't professional baseball, where a team simply handed over all the data. In this era, and with them being high school students, there probably wasn't even anyone dedicated to gathering information. Catchers had to collect every batter's data themselves.

So in Su Qing's eyes, Yamamori's catcher was quite good. His arm strength was a little lacking, though. If his arm were stronger and his bat a little better, he might even have been able to go pro. Su Qing meant the Major League; he didn't know much about the situation in the NPB.

Before Shirakawa could question Su Qing further, Su Qing stood up. Fujikawa's first pitch became a grounder toward second base, intercepted by the pitcher and fired straight to first for a quick out.

As the fifth batter, Su Qing naturally stepped up to the plate.

"I'll tell you later."

They truly were brothers. There was barely any hesitation, and their efficiency was incredible. Once Harada settled in, the first pitch came right away, catching him off guard as he swung and missed.

But the pace of the second pitch unexpectedly slowed. Catcher Mototsuka seemed to be considering something, taking quite a while before calling for the second pitch.

His younger brother Shuji quickly nodded and threw the ball.

After hesitating for so long, what was he going to throw? Su Qing was curious.

Then Su Qing saw the pitch head for the exact same location as the previous one. Harada was also surprised, but he quickly swung.

"Strike!"

Another swing and miss. What had happened?

Perhaps only Harada himself knew for sure, but Su Qing quickly guessed the reason as well...

It was the difference in velocity!

Harada's first two plate appearances had both been against Ogata. Ogata's slowest fastball was still 140, while Shuji's fastest was only 135. The velocity gap was extremely obvious. Harada clearly had not adjusted yet, but catcher Mototsuka had already noticed.

He really was excellent~ Su Qing marveled again...

The pace picked up again. Taking advantage of Harada's discomfort and his hitting preferences once more, the third pitch made Harada swing and miss again. A three-pitch strikeout.

Kamizu jumped up excitedly and threw the ball to first base.

But when he saw Su Qing walking toward the batter's box, Kamizu's mood instantly soured.

Kamizu dejectedly crouched back behind the plate. Of everyone on Inashiro, Su Qing was the batter he least wanted to face. It wasn't that Su Qing had no preferences or weaknesses. Kamizu had noticed that Su Qing disliked high pitches, especially high inside pitches.

But disliking them didn't mean he couldn't hit them. Kamizu had used high pitches against Su Qing in his previous at-bat, but without exception, Su Qing had fouled every one off. After a full ten pitches, Kamizu obediently gave up on continuing with high pitches. In frustration, he even called for a low pitch to test him. The result was that a baseball so bad in his eyes that it seemed ready to dig up potatoes soared into the sky.

This time, however, Su Qing failed to control his power and didn't hit it out. Still, it was a long hit, and Su Qing went straight to third.

How was he supposed to deal with a batter like that?! How could a batter like this even exist?! And he was only a first-year! A dominant pitcher, too! Wasn't someone like this supposed to be a manga character?!

Ogata's pitches had been blasted away, and Mototsuka didn't think his younger brother's weaker pitching could deal with Su Qing. He truly didn't want Shuji to get shelled, so after hesitating for a long time, he gave the signal.

When Shuji saw his brother's signal, he was a little confused. To anyone else, it might have looked like an ordinary signal, but Shuji could read his brother's true intent from it. His brother actually wanted to walk this batter?!

Shuji hoped he had misunderstood his brother. He threw a pitch far outside. But the second pitch called for was still a ball. Shuji bit his lip tightly.

He had seen Su Qing blast Ogata's best Slider and then take two consecutive extra-base hits off him, but Shuji had never tried facing Su Qing himself. He always felt that perhaps he could get Su Qing out.

Especially now that the brothers were working together.

Mototsuka noticed something was off with his younger brother and began struggling with himself as well. It was only an exhibition game. No one would be willing to issue a walk like this.

Mototsuka secretly glanced at Su Qing and found him waiting intently to bat, his mouth constantly moving as he chewed gum.

Su Qing had actually seen through Mototsuka's intention to walk him, but he had no desire to reach base on a walk. An exhibition game was supposed to be fun, so the more mischievous he could be, the better. If Mototsuka still called for a ball on the final pitch, he would swing without hesitation.

It would be a good chance to practice hitting bad pitches. After all, he had put down the bat for over a decade. Even though he had returned to his youngest and most energetic body, his batting wouldn't come back all at once.

The reason his hitting was so good right now was entirely because he had not yet faced a truly great pitcher. The pitchers he had encountered so far were generally underdeveloped: their Fastballs lacked something, and their breaking balls were even less capable of fooling anyone. If he faced a pitcher with higher Trajectory Synchronization, he would probably be in trouble.

Every night these past few days, he had practiced batting with Tadano Itsuki. He wouldn't call it a day without taking more than two hundred swings off the tee. Unfortunately, he had no suitable Pitching Machine. Tada's pitching was completely useless, and Su Qing gave up after trying it a few times. Otherwise, he wouldn't have kept hitting off a tee.

The current environment might not require him to swing at bad pitches, but it was always good to prepare for the future. Some genius catcher might appear one day, someone who could frame pitches. If he couldn't hit bad pitches then, wouldn't he be finished? He didn't like arguing with the home-plate umpire, because he was always the one who lost out.

He would be the one ejected, and he would be the one fined. Other than the brief satisfaction, there was nothing to gain. Why bother?

Mukai Taiyo, Teito's ace in Ace of Diamond, was very skilled at using the strike zone. The two schools weren't in the same district, but who knew when they might run into each other?

Su Qing's thoughts had nearly drifted into outer space, while the Kamizu brothers finished communicating with their eyes. Shuji threw a Slider.

"Strike!"

Mototsuka looked at Su Qing in confusion. Su Qing seemed frozen, not moving at all.

Only after the ball entered the glove did Su Qing react. His mind had been wandering, and he only snapped back after seeing the ball thrown. But human reaction had limits. He had regained his senses, but swinging was asking a little too much, so he could only watch the ball enter Mototsuka's glove.

He found it strange as well. Wasn't he trying to walk me? Why did he suddenly throw a strike? Did he change his strategy?

What a pity. Such a good tool was gone. But a pitch was a pitch—if they threw strikes, he would hit strikes.

Still, Shuji's Slider looked slightly better to Su Qing than Ogata's. Not in terms of break, but in Trajectory Synchronization. Shuji's Slider was already somewhat close to his Fastball in Trajectory Synchronization.

The previous entry has been corrected. Thank you for pointing it out.