The freak two-way player Ken who could both pitch and bat at an extremely high level was complaining about a catcher duo who could do both? The guy needed to look at a mirror before he opens his mouth.
Unaware of his hypocritical thinking, Ken watched Taylor go through the batting practice.
WHACK
WHACK
CLICK
WHACK
Ken nodded, hearing the feedback from the bat hitting the ball. They were good sounds and the guy was rather fluid with his batting motion. He could tell that the guy had quite a bit of experience hitting.
THWACK
In his 5th hit, he sent the ball flying over the fence. It was a great sound, the one you would hear when hitting the sweet spot of the bat.
‘Not bad.’ Ken thought, bringing his hand up to his chin in thought.
The rest of the balls were also struck well, leading Taylor to wear a satisfied expression as he walked back over.
“Nice work, you got some good hits in.”
“Thanks, I’ve been working on my batting for a while. It used to be the worst part of my game.” He admitted with a smile.
“Mmm. Me too.”
Taylor looked at Ken a little weirdly, but decided not to comment on it.
“Ken Takagi, you’re up next.” Coach Bishop called, getting his attention.
“Alright, I’ll be back.” Ken said, approaching the plate.
Unknown to Ken, many in the crowd paid close attention to his figure as he went up to bat. It wasn’t just the crowd, the three figures on the makeshift scoring table also perked up, as if they’d been waiting for this moment.
“This is the guy we got told to keep an eye on.” One of them said in a hushed tone.
“Mmm, I’ve got many messages already asking for updates on his results…”
The third one sighed, “I haven’t seen them this impatient in a long time.”
Ken stepped up and tapped the bat on home plate followed by the toes of his cleats before squaring up. He gripped the bat tightly and waved the bat over his shoulder as he prepared for the first ball.
The first ball came, a little bit slower than he expected, catching him off guard.
WHACK
As he swung, the ball flew right to where the short stop would have been if this were a game.
“Tch.” Ken clicked his tongue in annoyance after messing up his first hit. Of course this wasn’t a competition to see who could hit the most home runs, but he was still annoyed by the mistake.
But he quickly moved passed it, awaiting the next pitch.
THWACKK!
‘Bingo.’
The very next ball was struck in the dead center of his bat, giving off an almighty sound. It honestly felt amazing, something he wished would happen every time he came up to bat.
WHACK
THWACK
WHACK
Ken went through his 10 balls, managing to hit the center every second try almost. If this was before he had trained so thoroughly with a wooden bat, the results might have been quite different.
Thankfully, he finished up feeling quite satisfied.
“Ridiculous… How can he have so much power?” One of the people at the scorers table mumbled, almost not believing his eyes.
“Y—Yeah, it doesn’t feel right.”
“I can see why those guys are so interested…”
After returning to where Taylor was, Ken rolled his shoulders feeling as if he was able to let off some steam. “I feel more relaxed now.” He stated.
Taylor was silent for a while before letting out a small sigh. He knew that it was foolish to try and compare to someone of Ken’s caliber, especially when they played at different positions.
But it was hard on his ego to know that such a great pitcher was also better than him with a bat in his hands.
“Man, you really are special.” Taylor said, shaking his head.
Ken turned his gaze to Taylor, and raised his eyebrow, “What are you saying? All I did was hit some lousy pitches…”
“Yeah yeah…” Taylor felt all of his energy drain after hearing the nonchalant reply from the genius. Some things in life weren’t fair, and this happened to be one of those things.
“My brother is way better at batting than I am anyway.” Ken said dismissively. Inwardly he knew that he had a lot to do if he wanted to catch up with Daichi in that regard.
“Eh? Really? How old is he?” Taylor was surprised that Ken had a brother, since he’d never heard this before. Chances are, Ken’s brother would already be well known if he was anything like Ken.
“My age.”
“Huh? Is he your twin or something?”
Ken shook his head. “We’re not biological brothers, but we’re still family.”
Taylor felt his interest pique, “What’s his name?”
Ken raised his eyebrow, ‘Why is this guy so interested?’ He had said this in passing, yet Taylor seemed eager to find out his brother’s identity.
“Daichi. He’s back home in Japan completing High School since his English isn’t great. But he might be coming here to join a College after next year.” Although Ken said this, he wasn’t sure what his brother wanted to do.
He would be putting forth the question on his trip back to Japan. Since Daichi would graduate in March next year, he would have almost 6 months to get noticed by scouts and secure a scholarship.
“I see…” Taylor said, seeming a little disappointed. He had never heard the name before, so he lost a bit of interest. “What position does he play?”
“Heh… Catcher.”
Taylor’s eyes widened slightly. For Ken’s brother to be a catcher and also better at batting than him, it made Taylor feel a little threatened. Since they were essentially the same age and the guy would be coming to America eventually, they could be possible rivals.
‘Daichi huh? I guess I’ll need to do some research on him.’ Taylor thought, bringing his hand up to his chin.
Kenny stirring the pot. We’ve got the practice game tomorrow and then it’s off to Japan!
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