Outfield Guidance and Training (Part 1)

That night, after buying drinks,

"Akila, what are you doing?" Fumino came to Sendou's room and asked, seeing him operating something on the computer.

"This is the video footage those guys have been shooting these past few days. I'm editing out the interesting parts to give to them when they graduate from Middle School."

"What made you suddenly want to do it today?"

"I've been doing it every day! It's just that you came a little early today!"

"Isn't this the part where you were pinching Sawamura-kun this afternoon?"

"How is it? Interesting, right? This guy!"

"He's just a bit of a blockhead!"

"This guy may be a bit of a blockhead, but he's a reliable guy!"

"I see! You always talk about how fierce they are, so what do you really think of their performance?"

"To be honest, they scared me! Especially after the joint defense practice!"

"Eh?" Fumino was surprised; Sendou wasn't usually like this.

"These guys are all working hard, even Wakaba. I don't know if they like Baseball or if they just like playing Baseball with Sawamura, but they never complain, enduring the hot Tokyo summer, training until late every day, and even doing extra practice." As he spoke, Sendou revealed a relieved smile.

"Everyone's improvement is very obvious, and I was really taken aback after the joint practice. I can only say, 'As expected of guys who grew up together!' Except for Ei-chan, that idiot, everyone else has excellent teamwork. Before, it was just a problem with the training methods; their individual defense was poor, but now that their individual defense has improved, these guys are practically of one mind when they coordinate.

As long as their bodies instinctively know what to do in various situations, this team's defensive ability will be very strong for Middle School students. At least in terms of teamwork, they shouldn't be able to find any opponents. After all, not everyone has the opportunity for everyone on a team to grow up together and train and compete together. Usually, they'll be separated, or even on the same team, it's rare for more than two to become regulars at the same time.

Only our Akagi Middle School Baseball Club has these guys, so they can always practice and fight together."

"So you think so highly of them?"

"No, the Middle School era will be the limit for this team, so I hope to take them as far as possible during Middle School. Sports rely more on talent than studying, but student Baseball like this doesn't matter. I don't know why, but I kind of hope everyone can stay like this forever!"

"Then it's settled! Everyone work hard together. Middle School is for the Nationals, and High School is for Koshien!" Fumino said.

"Unfortunately, that's impossible!" Sendou thought to himself, but he couldn't tell anyone the reason.

"..."

"What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing, let's go! Study, study!"

"Are you done yet?"

"Ah!"

The next day, Sendou called away the three Outfielders and Sawamura separately, giving the others to A Shin to be the batting Coach.

"The simple defensive coverage has been practiced pretty well, and then there's the Outfield's direct throw. The Outfield in Middle School is at most 80 meters, but in actual combat, the return throw to Home Base is usually only about 50 meters. Actually, you don't need such a strong shoulder to do a direct throw, just some simple little tricks!"

"Let's do it here! This practice field is about 50 meters, which is about right." Sendou took them to the side of the practice field, which was one side of a 50-meter-long field.

"First, focus on quick throws, especially when throwing back to Home Base. Pay attention to your stance when receiving the ball!"

"Receiving stance?"

"Right, the receiving stance for catching Fly Balls and those you need to throw back is different, especially for direct throws straight to Home Base!"

"Wakaba!" He said, taking out a ball and throwing it over.

"Can you throw me a Fly Ball in a moment? Everyone, watch my movements!"

"Fly Balls usually give us enough time to prepare, as long as we can lock onto the landing point! First, retreat two or three steps behind the ball's landing point, or prepare two or three steps behind where it will land, whichever you prefer. Because you'll then move forward to catch the ball, retreating makes it easier to catch. If you anticipate and stand behind the landing point, it's easy to make a mistake, but if your spatial awareness is good, the latter is easier. Wakaba! You can throw it now!"

"Here!" Wakaba said, throwing a very high ball!

"Sprint!" Sendou used the latter method, standing behind the landing point in advance, then quickly taking two small steps forward while speaking!

"Pop!"

"Catch the ball by running and leaning your body to the right front!" Because Sendou wanted to make it easier for his teammates, he used a right-handed throw to demonstrate, leaning forward to the left to catch the ball, and explaining in slow motion.

"Then, as your left foot lands, throw the ball directly using your body weight! This solves the problem of insufficient shoulder strength. Even if you have enough shoulder strength, it can make the ball reach the Infield or Home Base faster to complete the out. I'm left-handed, so it's actually the opposite, but except for me and Eijun, everyone is right-handed! So just follow what I say!"

"Then there's the throw. There's also a trick to throwing. In a real game, you don't need to throw a looping ball like you do in catch practice; that's just for warming up. The basis of throwing is to throw a low and powerful ball like this!" Saying that, Sendou once again took his stance, using a complete and coherent posture to throw the ball directly.

The ball slammed into the wall quickly and sharply, landing only a few centimeters from the ground.

"You don't have to worry about it not bouncing. As expected, this kind of ball can be passed to teammates faster than a parabola. If it's too far, even this method won't reach the position, then hand it over to the Infield teammates to relay!"

"Don't have to worry about it not bouncing?"

"That's right, and this kind of low and fast throwing training can strengthen your shoulders, although it won't happen in a few days!"

"That's why Ei-chan is here!"

"That's right!"

What was I going to say? Right, let me reveal that yesterday, when Sawamura's mouth was covered and he was speaking Japanese, I was pinching my own mouth and saying the same words, which were then typed out using similar-sounding pinyin. Unexpected, right! (laughs) I don't know if the rest is enough to write a chapter, I checked some follow-up information and accidentally went over the point.