24 Framing

When they reached the bullpen, everyone was surprised to find Coach Kunimoto there as well. Normally, he should have already returned to his office to organize the materials by this time. What was he doing in the bullpen?

Everyone immediately grew uneasy. After all, the coach was there.

However, after noticing their discomfort, Coach Kunimoto repeatedly waved his hands and said he was just there to watch, telling them to relax. Only then did everyone feel at ease.

With such a large group, no one knew where to stand. Coach Kunimoto took the prime viewing spot, while Narumiya Mei went to the mound. He was the main designated tool for the next part. Harada, meanwhile, was pulled behind Su Qing. This was Su Qing's little bit of mischief—being the home-plate umpire behind him made Harada the most pitiful designated tool. After all, he was the only one in the entire group being fooled.

Once everyone had found a position, Su Qing gave Narumiya Mei a sign.

Harada had thought Su Qing was merely messing around, but he hadn't expected him to make it so formal. After giving the sign, Su Qing dropped his left knee to the ground. Was that to receive the ball more steadily? Well, Su Qing was a beginner, so he might not be able to catch it securely.

Su Qing set his glove low and to the right, clearly within the strike zone. Harada wanted to see how Su Qing planned to frame it.

The instant Narumiya Mei released the baseball, Su Qing's glove, which had been held in front of his chest, suddenly dropped. He did not raise it again until the ball was nearly at the plate.

Where was the ball?

That was Harada's only question. He had not seen how the ball crossed the plate at all. All he saw was Su Qing's glove suddenly appear in front of his chest, inside the strike zone.

In an instant, everyone looked at him. Harada himself hesitated. He knew perfectly well that it had been a ball, but the glove was indeed inside the strike zone. In the end, uncertainly, he called it a strike.

After Harada made the call, everyone looked at him in confusion, their expressions practically saying, That was a strike? Are you kidding me?

Only Su Qing expressionlessly took the ball from his glove and tossed it back to Narumiya Mei. He did the entire motion with remarkable ease, startling even Harada.

After giving another sign, Su Qing half-knelt again as before and repeated the same trick. This time, Harada had learned his lesson. He stared fixedly at the ball and refused to watch Su Qing's movements.

That pitch was so low. Judging by its path, it was absolutely a ball! But when it was about to reach the plate, Harada's view was blocked by Su Qing's glove again! When he could see again, Su Qing's glove was already inside the strike zone. He knew Su Qing might have framed it, but the key was that Su Qing's glove had been low before. To catch the ball, he had to bring the glove up. With his view of the ball blocked at that moment, even he, as the home-plate umpire, would think the ball had originally been in that position and that Su Qing had merely pulled his glove there to catch it.

After watching two pitches, Harada felt like he had figured it out.

After that, Harada stopped standing behind Su Qing. He wasn't about to be an idiot!

Su Qing also found it boring. This was barely even the beginning. He had only been testing the feel of it, pairing a couple of balls at the edge of the strike zone. He was just about to set up a massive ball, but Harada refused to continue. What a shame. Still, someone had to fill the home-plate umpire position.

In the end, the unfortunate Shirakawa was dragged over to serve as the home-plate umpire. Since he could never be a catcher anyway, there was no need for him to learn this sort of thing. Standing off to the side, Harada's view became much clearer.

Then he saw Su Qing set up an absurdly huge ball. That could be framed too? Su Qing smoothly pulled the ball back into the strike zone, leaving Harada dumbfounded. No wonder everyone thought he had been a complete fool. He really had been one!

After Su Qing caught the ball, Harada, like everyone else, turned to look at Shirakawa. Shirakawa stammered, "S-strike. Is something wrong?"

The moment he heard that, Carlos burst out laughing. Shirakawa instantly realized what had happened and refused to stand behind Su Qing no matter what. Whoever stood there was an idiot, wasn't he?

Afterward, Su Qing demonstrated his framing technique for several other locations. Summing it up, Harada felt that high pitches were the hardest to frame. He could only frame balls at the edge of the strike zone; anything higher was impossible. Inside and outside pitches were about equally difficult, while low pitches were the easiest to frame. He felt that once he mastered the technique, he could basically pull them all back.

If Su Qing had known what Harada was thinking, he probably would have coughed hard. How could he dream so big? Su Qing had spent more than a year learning this.

After Su Qing finished demonstrating, it was Harada's turn to try. Narumiya Mei also stepped down from the mound. He had no intention of continuing to be Harada's designated tool, so everyone dragged Maruse and Kuwahara over to fill the role instead.

Afterward, Harada showed everyone exactly what it meant when the brain said, I know how to do it, but the hands said, No, you don't.

Not only did Harada fail to frame a single pitch, he nearly fell over several times because of his awkward movements.

Su Qing had actually noticed Harada's problem from the beginning, but he had not said anything. Smart as he was, he immediately realized Harada must have thought Su Qing, being a beginner, had crouched down to play it safe, while he, as an experienced catcher, naturally did not need to crouch.

After failing to frame another pitch, Harada looked at Su Qing. Why couldn't he even frame the simplest low pitch? His movements were terribly stiff, while Su Qing made it look so smooth.

"Half-kneeling isn't just for stabilizing yourself. It also gives you more room to manipulate the glove."

"If I crouch down, won't it be inconvenient to spring up and throw out a runner? What if there's a runner on first who wants to steal?"

Su Qing could not help rolling his eyes.

"If you already know there's a runner on first who wants to steal, you should obviously be guarding against it. At a time like that, you're still thinking about how to frame a strike?"

Harada realized Su Qing was right. If there really was a runner on first preparing to steal, even if he framed the ball into a strike, he would have to spring up and throw in an instant. If the umpire had not seen it clearly, then even a strike might be called a ball. At that point, dealing with the runner had to come first, not trying to fool the umpire into calling a strike.

Speaking of throwing out runners, Harada remembered the second technique they had discussed today.

"Teach me that throwing-out technique you mentioned too, will you? If I don't try it, how would you know I can't do it?"

Su Qing nearly spat. Why was Harada thinking about so much? He was eating from his bowl while eyeing the pot. Su Qing replied irritably,

"Learn how to frame strikes first. I tested your Pop Time—2.13 seconds. That's barely passing. It's enough to throw out ordinary runners, isn't it? Besides, with Mei and me around, how many batters can even get on base? Just learn framing before the Summer Tournament. Then, once you can steal strikes, won't it all be KKK?"

Harada was somewhat frustrated, but with Coach Kunimoto agreeing, he could not say much. Strikeouts made pitchers look impressive, while throwing out runners was what made catchers shine!