Sawamura's help on pitching had a significant impact.
Later, when the batters faced Furuya's pitches, their performance notably improved. Even Toujou, Kuramochi, Shiratsu, and Miyuki managed hits. For those who didn't, many successfully connected with the ball, which Seidou's defense didn't count as hits. Against an average opponent, it would be hard to secure hits with such pitches.
"Are these guys for real?" Minister Ota was equally unsettled by these results.
In Seidou High School, whose straight ball brought the most reassurance? Undoubtedly, it was Furuya. Yet to see his straight ball so effectively targeted was surprising.
"Furuya hasn't just limited himself to his Straight ball; he's also focused on the outside corner. That makes him easier to target, so it's not unexpected."
On the contrary, Coach Ochiai remained optimistic. He held high hopes for Furuya's talent. If Seidou High School didn't have the ace Sawamura, Furuya would surely be Seidou's hope for rising in the coming tournaments
"Once he hones his inside and outside corner pitches, he should be able to stand on his own. By then, even Sawamura will need to be cautious. If he's not careful with his Ace position, it might be taken away."
Ochiai's optimism about Furuya exceeded expectations.
Meanwhile, Ota and Takashima were less persuaded.
From what they had seen, Sawamura was unbeatable. They didn't fully trust Furuya, who hadn't mastered ball control yet, let alone him surpassing the level of Komadai's current Ace.
Neither thought Furuya could snatch the Ace position from Sawamura that easily.
"Speaking of which, how's recruitment this year?" Ota turned to ask Takashima Rei.
Recruiting outside the region had always been Takashima Rei's responsibility. Ota only handled inviting renowned players from Tokyo. Talented players from other regions needed to be personally invited, a task handled by the deputy president.
Due to Takashima Rei's connections, sometimes even players from Tokyo were invited by her personally, just like Miyuki had initially.
"Because we recently won the National Championship, a lot of invitations went smoothly. Most players expressed willingness to join our school. Of course, the final number depends on their last-minute decisions."
"Are there any promising talents among those willing to join?"
"Several. As per our policy, we can't invite more than two in the same position. However, this year, there are too many exceptional Catchers. Though I've already made two invitations, I fear some may choose differently at the last moment, so I've taken the liberty to invite one more. All are promising, but the biggest challenge was finding pitchers this year."
It wasn't surprising that pitchers were hard to find.
High-quality pitchers were always scarce. Each region guarded their pitchers jealously, like protecting a rare treasure. As soon as they reached the right moment in their middle school career, scouts swarmed them like flies.
Some truly outstanding pitchers could be found locally in Tokyo. However, Tokyo had more contenders than offered, including the top four giants.
Inashiro, Teito, Sankou, and Seidou High School.
Each school had its own affiliated schools where they got talent. Unfortunately, Seidou hadn't got many talented this year, unlike Inashiro, which boasted two enviable talents.
Despite being National Champions, Seidou faced challenges due to Sawamura being a first-year student and the formidable Furuya.
With newcomers pitchers arriving, not to mention vying for the Ace's throne, they couldn't even secure a regular substitute pitcher. If this situation persisted for another year and a half, they would endure it. However, this trend would likely continue until Sawamura and Furuya retired.
A quality pitcher wouldn't come to Seidou and sit on the bench unless they were out of their minds.
"There's nothing we can do about it, the Giants are already short of quality pitchers. Things should improve next year," Ota reassured.
Takashima Rei remained undaunted. "There's also good news. One of the pitchers we sent an invitation to out of obligation showed a great interest."
"Really? Out of obligation, doesn't that mean he is one of the super upcoming talents?" Ota frowned.
Takashima Rei smiled enigmatically. "Yes, I was very surprised with his enthusiasm when he replied. As pitchers like him will not want to be in Sawamura-kun's shadow."
"So is he actually promising?" Ota was a bit skeptical about this.
"He is Japan's runner-up Ace in the Little League World Series!"
"EH?! For real? He wants to come to Seidou!"
"It seems he saw Sawamura-kun on TV and wanted to be in the same team."
Ota frowned involuntarily and then glanced timidly at Kataoka. "Hmm, was he aware of our team dynamics? This may be detrimental to his career."
"It seems so, he seemed quite confident about this, saying everything depends on skill..." Takashima Rei shrugged.
From a faraway glance, this seemed very good to the team and bad for the player involved. So it gave her a conflicted feeling
"As National Champions, Coach Kataoka won't let him play unless he meets our standards, or there is an actual need for him to play."
"That said, if he was that confident, then we can only say yes. Still, it depends on his last-minute answer."
Many outstanding baseball young talents were emerging from a young age, but few of them had made it to the professional leagues...
According to Takashima Rei's experience, the reason can be things like making the wrong choices, getting injured, not making enough achievements in their youth, or even being fed up with baseball altogether.
And for this, many players will think carefully before making a big decision in their paths like which school to go to in high school.
Going to a school where your talent won't flourish is as good as cribbling yourself and ending your future, no matter how talented you are.
So, like Takashima, Ota didn't think the player in question would actually agree in the end.
There should be a lot of people paying attention to him, not to mention someone who is guiding him step by step.
They should be very aware of what it means to be a pitcher in Seidou with Sawamura and Furuya, and if he accepted and chose Seidou after all of that, then who are they to complain?
They are the ones who are getting an amazing talent to add to their pitching squad, with this, the defense is even more secured even after Sawamura and Furuya retire.
But that is something they have to worry about later, right now they have a new team to form.
…
T/N: As always, Thank you all for reading!! And I hope you all have a nice day!
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