Tetsu Nishino has not done any professional testing, and he doesn't know exactly how he is different from others. He just estimates based on his feelings.

Do you have better eyesight than others?

React faster than others?

A little stronger than others?

It seems like that's it. Nishino Tetsu doesn't really care, he just wants to play baseball anyway.

After Tetsu Nishino struck out, the situation became two outs, and then Omi got the third out, ending the bottom half of the seventh inning.

The score remains unchanged.

Omi 1:3 Hakusan.

In the first half of the eighth round, Omi's attack came on.

"Yeah, it's our turn to guard!"

Gochi Iwata and Tetsu Nishino ran on the field together and went to their respective defensive positions. There were two innings left in the game, and with six outs, they won one by one, and Hakusan won.

Among the 9 people, only Tetsu Nishino is a first-year player, but he has completely integrated into the main force of the team.

If there is no special explanation, many people will think that Tetsu Nishino, who is stable and outstanding, is the main player in the third grade. Who would have thought that he is only in the first grade.

During the spring meeting, Tetsu Nishino was considered by Higashi Takuji and others to be the future core of the team.

But now, a few months later, Tetsu Nishino has removed the word "future" due to his extraordinary performance.

core.

The core of the team.

What kind of results does a first-year catcher need to achieve in order to be recognized by everyone? Tetsu Nishino gave Higashi Takuji and the others an answer with a terrifying rate of improvement.

Strike on.

In the more than 20 games played by Hakusan High School after the spring meeting, Tetsu Nishino averaged 3 hits per game.

Higashi Takuji was also very surprised when he got this data. If he hadn't gotten the record sheet from his manager, he wouldn't have believed that this was the data produced by a first-year player.

Even if Tetsu Nishino is often assigned to play one-bat, and he plays a little more games than regular rounds, about four or five times in a game, he still has too many hits.

He averaged 3 hits per game and had a batting average of nearly 70%.

First grade and batting average of 70%.

When these two were put together, Higashi Takuji and the others could only find one word to describe Nishino Tetsu.

Monster genius.

In high school baseball, the players who can play in Koshien are only one in a million, but even so, nearly half of the starters still have a batting average of around 20%.

It's not just people sitting on the bench, but players who are actually swinging at Koshien. Many local conference batting averages are around 20%.

Tetsu Nishino has a batting average of 70%.

Although most of the data was played in practice games.

But no matter how he plays, he has three at-bats in one game. As a bat, with this score, he can become the main player in any high school.

At Hakusan High School, Higashi Takuji found that this tactic greatly improved the team's ability to break deadlocks, so he continued to use it.

And on defense.

Tetsu Nishino gradually showed his amazing golf intelligence.

As long as the team's defense does not make low-level mistakes, he can suppress the team's points loss through excellent guidance and timely defensive arrangements.

A good catcher cannot lead a defense full of holes.

However, if the defense performs well, the value of forced capture will be reflected.

If the full score is 10 points, if a 10-point catcher is paired with a 10-point fielding, the strength is not just a simple superposition, but a 10×10 increase.

Of course, Tetsu Nishino and the others are not yet strong enough to score 10 points. It’s just that when the defense supports the catchers and pitchers well, the strength of the entire team has been greatly improved.

From averaging more than double digits per game a few years ago, we are now losing points in single digits.

Visible improvement.

This was not only accomplished by Tetsu Nishino alone, but the entire team worked together.

"A born catcher."

Higashikata sighed with emotion, some people are just suitable for playing baseball.

On the surface, Tetsu Nishino has the recklessness and immaturity of a first-year catcher, but in fact Tetsu Nishino has extraordinary calmness and insight when handling the ball.

Take Keigo Kitamura, who struck out Omi and knocked out four batters in the first inning as an example.

The situation at that time was that there was someone on second base, 1 ball, and 2 strikes.

Tetsu Nishino's winning goal was a straight ball in the low outside corner. As a result, Sakuya Yamamoto hit the ball accurately and Keigo Kitamura struck out without swinging the bat.

If passers-by didn't understand the role of a catcher, they would think that Tetsu Nishino just moved his glove toward the strike zone.

A straight shot to win.

I can do it too.

In fact, after 1 bad pitch and 2 good pitches, Yamamoto Sakuya threw 3 consecutive pitches.

During these three balls, batter Keigo Kitamura and catcher Tetsu Nishino had several psychological games at home plate.

First, Tetsu Nishino tried to trick Keigo Kitamura into hitting a grounder by using a changeup in the strike zone.

Kitamura Keigo cautiously hit the ball out of bounds.

Next, Kitamura Keigo deliberately hit a change-up ball that was obviously a bad ball out of bounds, trying to give Tetsu Nishino the impression that he was sniping a straight ball.

But is Keigo Kitamura really sniping the ball?

Not really.

The change ball is his real goal.

As a high-profile third-year power hitter, Keigo Kitamura is often studied and targeted when hitting, and there are very few straight shots thrown to him.

On the contrary, the harder you hit, the more variation balls you hit.

After realizing that the batter is sniping at the ball, the catcher will usually play a ball with an outside angle to trick the batter into swinging.

If the batter doesn't swing, the next ball is the real winning ball.

A changeup pitch in the strike zone.

Kitamura Keigo has played this kind of ball too much. High school pitchers may not be able to control every ball well, let alone change the ball.

There are really too many change-up balls that were missed in the middle.

Kitamura Keigo originally thought that Hakusan's throw would give him a change ball, and he was already ready to hit the ball.

Compared with straight balls, the ball speed and ball quality of change-up balls are much weaker. With Kitamura Keigo's hitting ability, hitting the ball is a home run.

but.

When the ball came in, Kitamura Keigo watched helplessly as it was a straight ball.

His body wanted to move, but the "reason" playing ball in his mind stopped him abruptly.

Therefore, in the eyes of others, as Omi's fourth bat, Kitamura Keigo just stepped into the batter's box and watched a straight ball go into the base.

Four bats were struck out.

When Keigo Kitamura came off the field depressed, he took a deep look at Tetsu Nishino, and he vaguely felt that Hakusan's first-year catcher had understood his thoughts.

Moreover, while slowly thinking about the last ball, Kitamura Keigo suddenly discovered to his surprise.

In that duel.

While Tetsu Nishino was relaxing his shoulders to comfort the pitcher, he did not know when he quietly gave an adjustment instruction to the infielders, asking them to block the line between first and second base.

"It's impossible..."

Is the bat swing also included in his calculations?

There are so many tricks in the first grade?

The more Keigo Kitamura thought about it, the more surprised he became. In this game, their entire Omi line was at a disadvantage against Tetsu Nishino.

Because in the first half of the eighth inning, Omi once again failed to score a run with two players on base.

The score is still Omi 1:3 Hakusan.
Chapter completed!