The new students who came to Seido finally found an opportunity to show what they could do.
Each of them was incredibly proactive. Even if they didn't fully understand the Seido High School Baseball Team's selection process, they gave everything they had.
In a place like Seido, where strength was respected above all else, the only way to earn others' respect was through ability.
Everything else was just decoration.
So even though many new students didn't yet understand what it meant to be doing hitting drills, fielding drills, and base running practice, it didn't stop them from training hard and pushing for good results.
On the second day of these drills, a middle-aged man with a small beard on his chin followed along and observed.
He recorded data from each new student's practice session.
Even without knowing exactly what this man was doing, the new students understood what it meant for their results to be recorded.
If their results were being recorded, someone would be looking at them.
Who would be looking at the new students' practice results?
Anyone with a bit of sense could figure that out without much thought.
Only one person needed to know all of this.
That person was the actual leader of the Seido High School Baseball Team, Coach Kataoka.
If the new students still couldn't guess they might be in line for promotion at this point, that would be a genuine intelligence problem.
In the subsequent practices, the players' performances became increasingly driven.
A wave of healthy competition swept through the new student ranks.
In that competition, players with real strength naturally stood out.
One such player was Jinguuji, who had been highly regarded even before arriving.
He was first among all new students in both base running and hitting.
Besides him, a few other new students also produced results that turned heads.
Among them were two of Zhang Han's junior teammates from elementary school.
Toujou and Kanemaru.
Both had played as core starters for prestigious schools in the national middle school tournament. Their natural talent, their training background, and their current level of ability all placed them well above the average new student.
Even compared to Jinguuji, the gap was not significant.
The man with the small beard nodded repeatedly as he reviewed their data.
Purely on numbers, these two first-year players already had the qualifications to join the First String.
Many of their stats were on par with their upperclassmen's.
Of course, whether they were truly ready for the First String would still need to be tested in actual games.
Beyond those three, three other players also caught the eye.
Their styles were different, but the ability they displayed was no less striking than that of the more well-known names.
Ochiai had not had high expectations coming in, but this year's new recruits at Seido were genuinely impressive.
Perhaps not quite at the level of the Yakushi High School Baseball Team's first-years, but not too far off either.
With proper development, outstanding players could certainly emerge from this group.
Just as Ochiai was observing the new recruits, a young man ran past him from behind, calling out a loud slogan as he went.
Ochiai glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
To date, Ochiai couldn't name many players on the Seido High School Baseball Team.
Not just second and third team players. Even among the First String, there were several he could only recognize by sight. Asked for their names, he would have come up blank.
But he remembered this young man's name.
On the very first day of joining the team, he had dared to contradict the coach. Such reckless behavior was not unheard of in any school, in any year.
When a coach encountered that kind of player, putting them firmly in their place was the standard response.
After that, there were usually only two outcomes: the player admitted their mistake, or they quit.
Coach Kataoka, to some extent, was on the stricter end of the spectrum.
His method of discipline was harsh.
It had been more than two weeks since enrollment, and he was still making that young man run.
Subjected to that kind of treatment, most people would have quit the baseball team long ago.
But this young man had not.
He neither admitted his mistake to the coach nor chose to leave. He just kept running, exactly as Kataoka had ordered.
A genuinely stubborn character.
Ochiai was experienced and had encountered many stubborn people. What caught his attention here was not the stubbornness itself.
It was this player's stamina and speed.
Practice had been going for a full hour.
And this young man was still maintaining that pace.
His stamina, even compared to the first-year upperclassmen, was probably not much different.
"Perhaps this one also has something special..."
Ochiai thought quietly.
If the young man truly had talent, combined with that kind of stubbornness, he might achieve something significant in the future.
After two days of observation, Ochiai took his report to Kataoka.
Kataoka received it with genuine appreciation.
"You've worked hard."
"It's just work. No hardship at all. Besides, I volunteered to look into the new recruits, so don't worry about it."
In his own way, Ochiai was a very straightforward person.
Doing nothing while receiving a salary from the school made him uneasy.
Within what he could contribute, he didn't mind helping Seido.
"If the premise is joining the First String and being useful to the First String, then this is the list."
Ochiai produced a separate slip of paper with seven names written on it.
Kataoka, at first glance, didn't even have time to read the names. He was stopped short by the number alone.
Seven names.
Ranked first was Jinguuji, whom Kataoka had previously favored most.
This was no surprise. Whether in hitting or base running, Jinguuji could be put to immediate use as a force on the field.
Ranked second was Toujou Hideaki from Matsukata.
Although he had no single standout specialty, his overall ability was remarkably well-rounded.
Assessed on a comprehensive score, his overall rating would even surpass Jinguuji's.
That was both his strength and his biggest limitation.
At present, the Seido High School Baseball Team didn't need well-rounded players. What they needed were players who could surprise opponents and create advantages in unexpected moments.
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