Diamond No Ace: The Strongest Hitter Has Arrived

Chapter 416: Standouts

"Coach, I heard you're going to strip Sawamura of his pitcher qualification. That kid..."

That evening, Takashima Rei sought out Coach Kataoka to plead on Sawamura's behalf.

She had her eye on Sawamura from the beginning, convinced that the boy possessed the qualities of an Ace that the Seido High School Baseball Team was missing. And then there was the impression Sawamura had made when he visited the team. Takashima Rei couldn't stand by and watch a pitcher like that go to waste.

Although Coach Kataoka also felt regret, his position was firm.

"What kind of pitching motion would it take to throw a ball nearly ninety meters? I've already said it. For now, he won't set foot on the pitcher's mound. Let him run until dark."

Takashima Rei did not push further.

For now.

Unlike the unlucky Sawamura Eijun, many of the First-string freshmen showed extraordinary talent during the tryouts. Some had astonishing pitching ability, others exceptional hitting or outstanding speed. They all had their strengths. The most impressive among them were players who had come up through little league programs, particularly those who had served as starters during their middle school days. Their skills had already reached a level of genuine readiness.

At this stage they still couldn't compete for a spot on the First-string, but a few more months of training and that would change.

"The new recruits this year are really something different."

Manager Ota said quietly to those around him, beaming.

This year's intake was not only distinctive but full of potential. Given proper development, the ceiling for these players was very high.

The senior members of the team, the Director, Manager, and coaching staff, weren't the only ones thinking this. Even the ordinary second and third-year players had taken notice of the freshmen. They were willing to admit it: the quality of this year's intake was probably superior to their own.

The team's run at Koshien the previous year had clearly left a mark. The number of strong players recruited by Seido this year was only higher than in previous years, especially compared to the relatively lean class of the current third-years.

Although the year groups didn't train together, they crossed paths at mealtimes. Gradually, the upperclassmen developed a clear sense of which freshmen stood out.

First among them were Zhang Han's two former teammates from Matsukata Little League.

Because of Zhang Han, these two drew immediate attention from the second and third-year players. The expectation wasn't that both would perform at Zhang Han's level. Even one of them reaching that standard would significantly improve the team's prospects for the year.

It sounded ambitious, but it wasn't wishful thinking.

The reason the team held such expectations was the impression Zhang Han himself had left. It should be noted that Zhang Han wasn't even the top-ranked player at Matsukata at the time. Someone had performed better, and several others were on par with him, including Toujou Hideaki.

Last year, Ichidai Third High School's Hoshida and Miyagawa, alongside Seido's own Zhang Han, had made quite a name for themselves as three freshmen from Matsukata Little League. Toujou, who could stand alongside them, and Kanemaru, whose reputation wasn't far behind, surely wouldn't disappoint.

That was what the upperclassmen thought.

What they didn't know was that back at Matsukata, Toujou and Kanemaru had been so highly anticipated mainly because they were a year younger than the main players. Their performances hadn't truly reached the level of Matsukata's core starters.

Of course, the Seido upperclassmen had no way of knowing that yet.

And both had performed exceptionally well in the freshman tryouts, which only increased the attention they received.

Several other freshmen, Takatsu among them, also earned considerable notice. But the three who attracted the most attention were a different group entirely.

The first, of course, was Sawamura, deep in his hellish starting phase.

His method was peculiar, but Sawamura had managed to make every player on the Seido High School Baseball Team remember his name on the very first day. However he had gone about it, no other freshman came close to him in terms of sheer presence.

Then there was another freshman, said to have thrown a ball over one hundred and twenty meters.

His name was Furuya Satoru.

No speed gun had been used, but his pitching speed was also said to be astonishing. He caused quite a stir within the team. If there weren't already someone on the roster with an even faster pitch, Furuya Satoru might have been the most-watched freshman at Seido right now.

The last was named Jinguuji.

He wasn't from Tokyo but from Osaka. He had turned down an invitation from Osaka Kiryuu and chose the Seido High School Baseball Team instead.

Nobody in the team quite understood why.

This was a player who had captained his team to the semifinals of the National Little League Tournament. Why would he travel this far to join Seido?

Seido was excellent, no question, but not so much that it warranted turning down Osaka Kiryuu. Last summer, Seido had only reached the quarterfinals. In the Autumn Tournament, they hadn't made it out of the preliminaries. Osaka Kiryuu, by contrast, was the Koshien champion from that same summer. The strongest team in the country.

In the still-ongoing Spring Koshien, Osaka Kiryuu hadn't made the final, but they had reached the quarterfinals. By any measure, joining Osaka Kiryuu would have made more sense for Jinguuji.

So why had he left home and come all the way to Seido?

Manager Ota had asked. The coaching staff had asked. Even Coach Kataoka had asked, once, out of genuine curiosity. The players certainly had.

At first they hadn't known what to make of him, but after watching Jinguuji's freshman tryout, the comparison came immediately: he was just like Carlos. In some respects he even surpassed him. Stealing bases, hitting, pitching. All of it is excellent.

How had a player like this ended up at Seido?

Whenever anyone asked, Jinguuji, all 183 centimetres of him, got a particular look in his eyes.

"I heard there's a super-fastball pitcher on this team. I wanted to see a legendary pitch exceeding 160kmph for myself."

A pitch exceeding 160kmph.

Whoever Jinguuji asked, the response from anyone at Seido was always the same strange expression.

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