"Chris was retired?"
"What happened?"
"That last pitching was hit high, and after the baseball flew up, it landed in the shortstop's fielding position."
"The shortstop certainly deserves some credit, but the most important credit goes to the pitcher. He was actually able to make Chris hit a fly ball!"
"That's truly amazing!"
"Having hit a home run earlier, and now successfully retiring Chris. This guy's talent is like something out of a two-dimensional world."
Almost instantly, Zhang Han on the pitcher's mound became the focus of everyone's attention.
Not only the old alumni and players watching, but even Ota and Takashima Rei, had expressions of disbelief.
They also felt it was incredibly surprising.
When recruiting Zhang Han, the Coach team of Seido High School Baseball Team conducted a detailed investigation into Zhang Han's characteristics.
According to the results of the investigation, Zhang Han's future talent in hitting was terrifying. He was very likely to become one of the most promising and powerful hitters in the entire island nation.
He was skilled at predicting the pitcher's movements.
This talent was remarkable!
The most crucial thing was that a large part of this talent was innate; subsequent training could improve it to a certain extent, but the scope of improvement was very limited. To reach Zhang Han's level, one could only rely on natural endowment, and it had little direct relation to training.
Being able to predict the general direction of the baseball, he only needed to further refine his strength and his technique...
Then Zhang Han's hitting ability would naturally improve.
"A good prospect for a future cleanup hitter!"
Before inviting Zhang Han, Takashima Rei reported this to Kataoka.
As for Zhang Han's primary role, meaning his ability as a pitcher, Takashima Rei also gave a very objective evaluation: Zhang Han had a certain talent and strength in pitching.
If he trained well, he would have a future.
Such an evaluation was not at all an overstatement.
Someone who had only been studying baseball for three or four years could become one of the main pitchers in a place like Matsukata Senior League.
This spoke volumes.
Supervisor Ono Binzhi of Matsukata Senior League was not a fool; if Zhang Han didn't have that kind of strength, why would he promote Zhang Han?
So, he definitely had talent on the pitcher's mound.
However, this talent was completely different from his hitting talent.
Let's put it this way: Seido High School Baseball Team has been relatively unlucky in recent years; none of the Ace Pitchers they recruited have been ideal. Although they all have decent competitiveness, compared to the top pitchers in the Tokyo area, they all lack something to varying degrees.
Even these pitchers, in their middle school days, must have had very brilliant records.
Their talent in certain aspects was also very astonishing.
For example, Tanba, a second-year student, and Kawakami and Kawashima, first-year students.
Before recruiting them into Seido High School Baseball Team, Takashima Rei and the Coach team of Seido High School's senior team also conducted a detailed study of them. The final conclusion was that these players all had a certain talent, and if cultivated well, they would be able to play in future games.
Zhang Han's pitching evaluation report, when placed alongside those of these players, did not stand out significantly.
Zhang Han's previous feeling was not wrong; the Coach team of Seido High School Baseball Team did not initially treat him as a pitcher, nor did they give him the treatment a pitcher should receive.
This time, he displayed such exquisite pitching, the Coach team couldn't help but notice.
After Chris was retired, the next person to step up was a stout, short-statured Fat Man.
Zhang Han's impression of this stout senior was quite limited; even with effort, he could only recall that this senior had a very good appetite.
The exclusive dining hall of Seido High School Baseball Team had these words written on it: "You must eat at least three bowls of rice!"
Seido High School Baseball Team had a strict rule regarding this: players must eat at least three large bowls of rice during meals. This was so they could withstand the rigorous training that followed.
Almost all freshmen, when faced with this rule, did not feel good about it.
Zhang Han was no exception; after joining the team, he suffered greatly in this regard.
This second-year senior named Masuko left a particularly deep impression at that time.
While others were struggling with three large bowls of rice, he had quietly finished six or seven bowls himself.
If one were to choose the biggest eater in Seido High School Baseball Team, this senior would undoubtedly be the one.
As for whether this senior had any memorable impressions in baseball, Zhang Han really couldn't recall.
However, looking at his physique, he could generally make a judgment about this senior's technical characteristics.
Such seniors usually have plenty of strength, but their hitting technique is rather ordinary.
"Swish!"
Zhang Han threw a pitching directly to the inside corner.
The angle was so tricky, it was as if it had been drawn in advance.
Masuko, standing in the batter's box, couldn't react at all. From his stance, he was almost powerless against such a pitching.
"Strike!"
After the first pitching, Masuko subconsciously stepped back half a pace.
Zhang Han, without stopping, threw an outside pitching again.
"Strike!"
"Ping!"
"Out!!!"
Chris witnessed Masuko's entire out process firsthand.
Upon seeing this, he shook his head slightly.
It was exactly as he remembered: Zhang Han's overall pitching quality was average, but his control was very steady.
He could precisely place the ball in the corners.
And this guy seemed to have a special ability; he could always find the opponent's weakness and strike at it.
The reason Matsukata Senior League has had such smooth sailing in the past two years, repeatedly making it to the national tournament and achieving good rankings, is largely due to Zhang Han's presence.
While this guy's overall pitching wasn't that talented, he was very smart when he pitched.
He knew how to adapt to the situation.
Just like now.
"Ping!"
The bat struck the white ball heavily, and the white ball bounced high into the air.
Kominato Ryosuke, who stepped into the batter's box after Masuko, had a slightly stiff smile on his face.
He had been careless!
He hadn't expected the flying baseball to have a slight upward float.
As a result, he originally wanted to hit a Fastball, so he aimed for the Fastball and swung.
Unexpectedly, he ended up hitting the bottom of the incoming baseball, causing the baseball to fly high and be directly caught by Ono.
"Out…"
"Three outs, sides retired."
All the rookies who witnessed this scene were almost going crazy.
Originally, by this point in the game, they had lost all confidence.
But now it seemed, it was still a bit too early for them to give up.