"How is this going?"
Looking at the report, Kataoka's brows furrowed deeply.
Although for Sawamura, Kataoka's biggest expectation is still in his pitching. But he has to admit that through the performance of Sawamura in the First String during the Kanto Tournament, his batting also made Kataoka impressed.
It's just because his contribution with his pitching for Seidou High School is like a helping hand in the sea. And his Batting can only be regarded as the icing on the cake.
For this reason, within Seidou High School, Sawamura's training in pitching is far greater than his training in batting.
But you have to say that since Sawamura joined Seidou High School, Seidou High School's combat strength has been significantly improved.
Because of his steady hit rate, the effect of the lineup became extremely high.
The kind of batter who can end the fight with one swing and hit a home run is certainly appreciated.
But a Batter like Sawamura who has stable hits and can connect the lineup stably is even more liked by the Coach.
If it weren't for this, Kataoka wouldn't have promoted Sawamura to the fifth batter all at once.
But now, Sawamura, whom he had such high hopes for, has seen a noticeable decline in his batting performance!
This is because Kataoka is not careful.
And the most terrifying point is that the coaching staff has not yet found the key to Sawamura's batting strength and decline.
He was not like Furuya, who was weak in swinging due to exhaustion after the start of the Camp. If there is a significant gap between Sawamura's previous and current hits, then the coaching staff would long attributed the problem to exhaustion.
But the situation is clearly not that simple.
With pitching machines and pitchers as practice targets, Sawamura dropped from an 80% batting average to a 50% batting average.
Hits and rests were evenly distributed, and it wasn't exhaustion.
Confused, Kataoka asked Sawamura how he was feeling.
"Sore and tired!" Sawamura told the truth.
Combining the answers given to him by Sawamura, Kataoka brought Chris and President Ota again. The three of them summed up and finally came up with a general idea.
Even if they can't believe the conclusions they draw, that should be the case.
"Sawamura should have no talent for batting at all!"
In other words, because of his special physical fitness, Sawamura's pitching was possible, but it also suppressed Sawamura's batting too.
Because the joints are too flexible, Sawamura's swing has a natural weakness. Once he puts too much power, he can't aim.
In fact, even if Sawamura aimed, there would naturally be deviations during his full swing.
Previously, Sawamura fixed his batting form, or used feint bunt as a trick, all to reduce his swing range and maximize the power.
To be honest, Sawamura's ability to achieve his current hit rate is shocking enough!
The effort he put into this is unimaginable for ordinary players.
But the same swing also limited Sawamura's growth. Looks like even if he gets to the major leagues, it will be difficult to improve his batting skills.
"Because of physical exhaustion, he can't precisely control his swing!"
"Looks like it's not just the swing! Once his physical strength reaches the limit, the pitching may also be affected."
Honestly, this conclusion made Kataoka extremely uncomfortable.
If it was simply that his batting performance was affected.
After Sawamura is promoted to the Pro leagues, as the team's Ace pitcher, he doesn't have to contribute to the lineup mainly.
For this, you can depend on the Designated hitter and strong Batters in the team to support him.
Although such an approach would not work in high school, the attack strength of the current Seidou High School does not necessarily have to rely on Sawamura's batting!
But once his body is exhausted, Sawamura Eijun's pitching will be affected, that thought is really disturbing for Kataoka!
If he knew this summer, he was planning to use Sawamura as his Ace.
The usual game schedule is okay, but the key games may be played in succession, or it may have an extra innings…
At that time, the moment when the Ace is needed to support the team will inevitably appear.
If Sawamura reaches the limit of his physical strength, there will be a problem.
It's hard to say how far Seidou High School can go.
"I don't know about his pitching. But if it is about his batting, I have an idea."
Chris' proposal was passed on to Sawamura at that time.
Change your current batting form and practice a new one.
Lower the center of gravity, that is, squat. Kind of like a horse stance, but not exactly the same.
"This way you don't have to move your lower body, you just adjust your arms, it's easier to aim, and you won't have to be afraid of shaking when swinging."
When Sawamura received this suggestion, he felt like he woke up from a dream.
Actually, Kataoka and Chris are worrying too much about his pitching.
Once his physical strength reaches the limit, Sawamura is indeed easy to fall into the dilemma of ball control. After all, his arsenal of breaking balls is also prone to unstable ball control!
But it wasn't that Sawamura couldn't fight because of his physical limit.
He got some balls that aren't as demanding on the ball control to use.
Nevertheless, Sawamura really didn't have the same thing to help his batting.
It should be said that he did think of that in his previous life, some training experts had raised it with Sawamura.
It's just that the team's owners, Coaches, Supervisors, and managers all disagreed.
At that time, Sawamura was already very comprehensive in all aspects, a star baseball pitcher.
The most powerful thing is that he is not only a pitcher but also his batting is good, he is also an important linking force in the team.
Not only that, he is not only a main force for the team but also an important 'commodity'.
His worth is not cheap, the owners paid a lot of money to get him into the team.
Taking risks to change Sawamura's original batting form is likely to completely abolish Sawamura's batting power.
From an investor's point of view, it just doesn't make sense.
Moreover, the managers at the time advised Sawamura not to take such risks.
As the saying goes, whoever cooks is in charge of whoever eats.
Sawamura took someone else's salary, so naturally, it was not easy to fight against them.
And at that time, whether he was batting or pitching, he had indeed formed his own system and rash changes might not be a good thing.
Today's hits were not as good as yesterday's, and Sawamura expected that.
It's just that he didn't expect that the coaching staff would make such a suggestion.
Remake a new batting form, does he dare to take such a risk?
Sawamura hesitated for less than a second before making a decisive decision.
He will take it!
As a baseball player, seeing the possibility of continuing to improve, how could Sawamura be able to hold still?
This is also the benefit of being a student, and they have the final say in everything. After entering the professional league, it is not so easy to change your style so freely.
Of course, if you are determined to do it yourself, do it yourself.
No one else has the right to interfere, after all, your body is yours.
But how many of them will really do it? Sawamura felt sorry for many people in the Pro League right now.
But for now, he doesn't have to worry about that.
…
T/N: The First Chapter!