Talent (2)

The moment the ball was hit, Coach Nakanishi reacted, immediately apologized, and sent Sendou off the field.

"Honestly... but this kid's reactions are incredibly fast. If it had been anyone else, even a sixth-grader, they probably would've looked like they couldn't see it at all and had no reaction to that kind of ball."

Coach Nakanishi blamed himself for losing his composure, but Sendou's gaze had never left the ball, making him even more certain of Sendou's terrifying talent in Dynamic Vision and reflexes.

Even Coach Nakanishi, who did not pay attention to other sports, knew that no human reaction time had ever dropped below 0.1 seconds.

And the world's top hitters were only around 0.15 seconds, and that was with specialized training on top of exceptional natural talent.

It could be said that possessing reactions at that level meant already meeting the threshold needed to stand among the world's elite power hitters.

Sendou's reactions had not reached that level, but the period when a person's reaction speed developed fastest was from the third year of middle school through high school, around the age of fifteen.

"He hasn't finished growing yet." Coach Nakanishi looked at Sendou with anticipation in his eyes.

Since they were elementary school students, even professional training only lasted an hour or two, and they dismissed around five o'clock.

Sendou had not bought any baseball equipment yet, so he carried the cleats he had changed out of and went home.

"I'm home!"

"Oh, you're back. Hurry up and wash your hands, dinner's ready!" Sendou's mother had already prepared dinner.

"Okay~!" Sendou dragged out his response as he headed for the bathroom.

"Dad isn't coming back again?" Sendou asked after washing up.

"Mm. He seems to be busy with some project lately."

"I see!"

"How did your first day of training go? Did you get along well with the others?"

"The training was easy, but the guys who went with me were too dumb." He answered without the slightest awareness of his own talent.

"Then do your best! Have you decided what position you want to play?

When your father signed you up, he said that different positions seemed to use different gloves and equipment, right?

It'll make things easier when we buy them for you." Sendou's mother had clearly done some research.

"I haven't decided on a position yet. We'll talk about it later.

For now, I'm borrowing the team's equipment, and it feels pretty good." Sendou replied.

Since there were only the two of them, life was very simple. After dinner, Sendou returned to his room to read manga.

During the first few days of youth baseball, they learned the basic rules of baseball and did simple drills to get used to catching and throwing. They had not even touched a bat yet.

Sendou had heard from his father that the coach, who was also the owner, had once been a famous professional player. After retiring, he had opened this youth baseball team as a hobby and joined the Little League.

Because he was so famous, many children from nearby came here to learn. Combined with the team's professionalism, its results were excellent.

As for exactly how strong they were, Sendou did not know. His father had only heard it from others.

He only knew that the Wildcats were the most famous youth baseball team in Tokyo and even the entire Kanto region. Though youth baseball was a niche sport, and basically no one besides parents watched it.

Besides, Sendou was not particularly interested in baseball right now. He had only wanted to find something to do.

Still, batting last time had felt very comfortable, and his anticipation of being able to bat kept him going.

And so, he muddled through a routine that revolved around three points: home, school, and the baseball field.

On the third day, Coach Nakanishi had the older players do self-practice, then brought the new players to an open area and said,

"Everyone has more or less learned the basic rules by now.

So today, I'm going to test you and decide your positions.

If there's a position you want to play, you can say so in advance. We'll start with pitching tests, then move on to the Physical Examination. Does anyone want to be a pitcher?"

"Um, I was a pitcher at school before. I want to try!" One child spoke first, and then two more with decent arm strength raised their hands.

"Good. The ones who want to pitch are Sai, Oda, Sasaki, and Sendou. Didn't you say you didn't know what position you wanted to play? Then you'll be tested in everything. And you'll go first." Coach Nakanishi summarized.

However, he noticed that only Sendou had not responded.

"Sendou-kun, Sendou-kun!" Prompted by someone beside him, Sendou looked at Coach Nakanishi with a blank expression.

"Just as Sendou-san said, you have a problem with being hyperactive and unable to focus.

But don't zone out when we're gathered together!" Coach Nakanishi said helplessly.

"Okay! So, what did you call me for?"

"Haah, come out and do some pitching practice. Didn't you say you didn't know what suited you?"

"Oh! Got it."

Strictly speaking, Sendou was not hyperactive. He just liked looking around, whether he was in class or doing anything else.

It was true that he had trouble focusing. It was a problem he had even in his previous life.

If he truly immersed himself in something, his focus could still surpass that of ordinary people. It was just extremely difficult for him to do so.

After Sendou stepped out, Coach Nakanishi began teaching him the pitching posture and movements.

Coach Nakanishi's posture was the one that best protected the elbow. As a professional player—and a catcher who had been the center of tactical command—he had also maintained a close relationship with the team's trainers during his playing days.

Therefore, he knew very clearly what sort of pitching posture and mechanics best protected the elbow and body.

After receiving the instruction, Sendou practiced the guided posture a few times to let his body adjust.

Coach Nakanishi took out a catcher's mitt and crouched about the distance from the Pitcher's Mound to home plate away from Sendou.

"Your posture is about right. Try throwing two pitches." At the same time, he tossed the ball to Sendou. While distracted, Sendou casually caught it.

"What excellent dynamic tracking ability." Seeing this, Coach Nakanishi sighed inwardly once again.

"When you pitch, you have to stay in contact with the pitcher's plate and remain set for at least one second, or it's a foul! Just imagine there's a pitcher's plate and try pitching."

"Okay~!"

After answering, he began pitching according to the standard form.

Whoosh!

Thump! The ball entered the glove with a dull sound.

"Don't worry about where I place my glove. Throw at me with all your strength. I can catch it." Coach Nakanishi said with a frown.

"Okay!" Sendou still did not throw with all his strength as Coach Nakanishi had said. After all, throwing a ball at someone with full force when he had just started still gave him some psychological resistance.

Whoosh!

Smack!

"Still not enough. Your arm swing isn't thorough enough. Whip your arm out like a whip. Imagine your body is a whip, and swing your arm all the way through."

"Okay~." The response he received was still listless. Although he answered that way, Sendou had already begun adjusting his mindset.

Just as Coach Nakanishi was about to frown at the child's tone, he saw Sendou already moving.

Whoosh!

Boom! As a professional catcher, he could easily make the ball produce a better sound. This technique could excite a pitcher to a certain extent.

"Amazing! It easily exceeded 100 kilometers per hour. Is this guy really a fourth-year elementary school student like us?"

The children watching from the side were all stunned by that pitch.

Coach Nakanishi was also somewhat shocked. Even professional pitchers with iron arms usually needed to be in the final few months of fourth year or around fifth year to reach Sendou's velocity.

Although children's pitching speeds were increasing these days, they definitely could not reach this level. Even more terrifyingly, although it had not hit the glove's target, it was still close enough that a slight movement would have caught it.

"Nice ball. Keep going. I'll set my glove lower. Try to keep the ball down."

Whoosh! This time, Sendou did not respond. He merely nodded and began pitching.

Boom! The ball was truly kept low.

"I've really encountered an incredible monster!" Coach Nakanishi was overjoyed inside.

It seemed that three chapters of testing talent at the beginning were not quite enough, so I changed the chapter title.