24 Framing

Arriving at the bullpen, everyone was surprised to find Coach Kunimoto was also there. Usually at this time, Coach Kunimoto should have returned to his office to sort out materials. Why was he in the bullpen?

Everyone immediately became uneasy, after all, the manager was present.

However, after Coach Kunimoto noticed everyone's abnormality, he quickly waved his hand and said that he was just here to take a look, and told everyone to relax. Only then did everyone feel relieved.

With a large group of people, everyone didn't know where to stand. Coach Kunimoto stood in the prime spot, while Narumiya Mei went to the pitching mound, as he was the primary tool person for what was to come. Harada was pulled behind Su Qing, this was Su Qing's mischievous side, as the most pitiful tool person was the one standing behind him as the Umpire. Because he was the only one being deceived in the entire field.

After everyone found their positions, Su Qing gave Narumiya Mei the signal.

Harada originally thought that Su Qing was just playing around, but he didn't expect him to be so formal. After Su Qing gave the signal, he knelt down on his left leg. Was this to make it easier to catch the ball more steadily? Well, Su Qing was a novice, so it was very likely that he wouldn't be able to catch it steadily.

Su Qing placed his glove in the lower right corner, which was indeed inside the strike zone. He wanted to see how Su Qing would frame it.

The moment the baseball was thrown by Narumiya Mei, Su Qing's glove, which was originally in front of his chest, suddenly lowered, and only lifted up when the ball was about to enter the strike zone.

Where's the ball?

This was Harada's only doubt. He didn't see how the ball entered the strike zone at all, he only saw Su Qing's glove suddenly appearing in front of his chest, inside the strike zone.

In an instant, everyone looked at him, and Harada himself was hesitating. He knew that the ball was a bad ball, but the position of the glove was indeed inside the strike zone, so he uncertainly called it a strike.

After Harada made the call, everyone looked at him with doubtful eyes, repeatedly saying, this is a strike? Are you kidding me?

Only Su Qing expressionlessly took the ball out of his glove and threw it back to Narumiya Mei. The whole action was done very skillfully, which made Harada a little surprised.

After giving the signal again, Su Qing knelt on the ground again as before, and then repeated the same trick. This time, Harada also learned to be smart, he just stared at the ball, and absolutely didn't look at Su Qing's movements.

This ball is so low, judging from the trajectory, it's definitely a bad ball! But when the ball was about to enter the strike zone, Harada's vision was once again blocked by Su Qing's glove! When he looked again, Su Qing's glove was already inside the strike zone. He knew that Su Qing was suspected of framing, but the key was that Su Qing's glove was originally at the bottom, so he had to raise the glove to catch the ball, and at this time, the ball's vision was blocked again. If he was the Umpire, he would also think that the ball was originally in this position, and Su Qing moved the glove to this position in order to catch the ball.

After watching two balls, Harada felt that he understood.

After that, Harada stopped standing behind Su Qing, he didn't want to be a fool!

Su Qing also felt bored, this was just the beginning, he was just testing his feel, and paired two bad balls on the edge of the strike zone. He was just about to pair a super big bad ball, but Harada quit, what a pity, but someone had to be in the Umpire position.

In the end, the poor Shirakawa was pulled to be the Umpire. Anyway, he couldn't be a catcher, so there was no need to learn this relationship. Standing aside, Harada's vision was much clearer.

Then he saw Su Qing paired a super invincible big bad ball. He can even frame this? He saw Su Qing skillfully pull the ball back into the strike zone, which stunned Harada. No wonder others thought he was a big fool, he really was a big fool!

After Su Qing caught the ball, Harada, like everyone else, focused his attention on Shirakawa. He saw Shirakawa stuttering and saying: "G, good ball, what's wrong?"

After hearing this, Carlos laughed directly. Shirakawa immediately knew what had happened, and he was unwilling to stand behind Su Qing no matter what. Wouldn't anyone who stood there be a fool!

After that, Su Qing demonstrated other framing techniques from other directions. To summarize, Harada felt that high balls were the most difficult to frame, and he could only frame the edge of the strike zone. He couldn't frame it if it was any higher. The difficulty coefficient of inside and outside corners was basically the same, and low balls were the easiest to frame. He felt that as long as he mastered the skills, he could basically pull them back.

If Su Qing knew what Harada was thinking now, he would probably cough straight away. How could he think so beautifully? He had studied for more than a year back then.

After Su Qing finished demonstrating, he switched to Harada himself to try, and Narumiya Mei also stepped down from the pitching mound. He was unwilling to continue being Harada's tool person, so everyone pulled Maruse and Kuwahara over to be tool people.

After that, Harada explained to everyone what it means to be, brain: I got it, hand: no, you don't.

Not only did Harada not succeed once, but he almost fell several times because of his movements.

In fact, Su Qing had noticed Harada's problem from the beginning, but he didn't say it. As smart as he was, he immediately realized that Harada must have thought that he was a novice and wanted to be stable, so he squatted down, while he was an expert and naturally didn't need to squat.

After failing to frame the ball again, Harada turned his attention to Su Qing. Why couldn't he even frame the simplest low ball well, and his movements were so stiff, while Su Qing's movements were so smooth?

"Half-kneeling is not only to stabilize yourself, but also to leave more manipulation space for yourself."

"If I squat down, it'll definitely be inconvenient to stand up and throw to kill the runner, what if there's a runner on first base trying to steal?"

Su Qing couldn't help but roll his eyes.

"You already know there's a runner on first base trying to steal, you definitely have to be on guard, why are you still thinking about how to frame strikes at this time?"

Harada heard Su Qing's words and thought they were very correct. If there really was a runner on first base trying to steal, even if he framed a strike, he would stand up in an instant to throw to kill the runner, and if the Umpire didn't see it clearly, even if it was a strike, it would be called a ball. At this time, the priority should definitely be on dealing with the runner, not on thinking about how to trick the Umpire into calling a strike.

Speaking of throwing to kill the runner, Harada remembered the second technique they talked about today.

"Why don't you teach me the technique you mentioned for throwing to kill the runner? How do you know I can't do it if you don't let me try?"

Su Qing suddenly spat out his drink. Why was he thinking so much? Eating what's in his bowl while still eyeing what's in the pot. So Su Qing said annoyedly:

"You should learn how to frame strikes first, I've measured your Pop Time, 2.13s, barely passing, isn't it enough to be able to kill ordinary runners? Besides, with me and Narumiya, how many batters can get on base? You just need to learn Framing before the Summer Tournament, and then rely on tricking the Umpire into calling strikes, wouldn't that be all strikeouts?"

Harada was a little depressed, but with Coach Kunimoto's agreement, he couldn't say anything. The pitchers are the ones who get the glory from strikeouts, but the catchers are the ones who get the glory from throwing to kill the runner!