Baseball: A Two-Way Player

"Huff—huff—huff—"

With both hands on his knees, Lin Guanglai stood in the right outfield, gasping for breath, his eyes somewhat dazed as he looked at the scoreboard beside the field—the score accurately showed that Waseda Jitsugyo was trailing significantly behind today's opponent.

And this was merely a warm-up match.

Yes, this was just a warm-up match; once the official games begin, everything will be alright—Lin Guanglai so desperately wanted to deceive himself with this notion, but he knew that such a thought was merely wishful thinking on his part.

This year's Senbatsu High School Baseball Tournament would start on March 21st, and as the defending champions, Waseda Jitsugyo would soon set out for Hyogo to compete; and the time left for them to find their footing in official matches was barely a full ten days.

Since the lifting of restrictions on exchange matches, Waseda Jitsugyo had been maintaining the grueling pace of about two matches every three days, with the opponents being strong schools from Tokyo and the Kantou Region, which cannot be said to be lacking in effort;

But the results... if evaluated without any subjective emotion, can only be described as "disappointing".

Including today's match, already decided as a loss, over the past half month, this newly formed Waseda Jitsugyo has managed 1 win and 7 losses in 8 exchange matches—winning by a narrow margin, while losing matches often results in landslide defeats. This team, which only half a year ago swept all teams across Japan, claiming the championship with an invincible stance, suddenly seemed incapable of playing baseball.

Certainly, if forced to find an excuse, the players could say that in the matches lost, the team's strongest player, Lin Guanglai, was often substituted after two or three innings—without the ace pitcher's presence, losing could naturally be seen as normal;

But compared to the defense, which still has room for argument, the issue of offensive silence, which has persisted since last autumn, leaves most of the team speechless.

Why was the 2011 Waseda Industries team able to defeat all opponents in Japan and achieve the historic seventh consecutive spring and summer championship feat? Besides the extraordinary performances of the key player Lin Guanglai, a large extent was due to the sheer strength of their lineup.

The "Shigetsugu-Manabe-Yasuda" trio batting lineup possessed remarkable hitting abilities and high tactical acumen—their tacit cooperation often positioned batters in scoring zones right before Lin Guanglai would step up as the fourth batter;

And those following Lin Guanglai, such as Hagiyama Mitsuo and Yagaki Kentaro, though also unstable at times, could often provide inspiring performances to keep the offensive momentum going.

Through this entire process, very few high school baseball teams across Japan could withstand it, often allowing Waseda Jitsugyo to secure enough scoring advantages early in the game; the rest of the game could be handed over to Lin Guanglai and the fielders to slowly finish off, like boiling a frog in warm water.

This was the winning formula of the Waseda Jitsugyo, praised as the "strongest in history" by the baseball community—Tokai University Sagami High School lost this way, Nihon University lost this way, Koushing Academy lost this way... Ultimately, baseball is still a game about hitting the ball.

But unfortunately, the current Waseda Jitsugyo cannot perform like their predecessors.

The result is that all the pressure of the game has been transferred onto Lin Guanglai, who has become the target of everyone:

As the fourth batter, when his predecessors fail to hit, he often comes up with two outs; in addition, now many teams facing Lin Guanglai have smartened up, rarely giving him the chance to score easily.

Since last summer, Lin Guanglai has been intentionally walked more and more frequently by opponents, and his chances for good hits have diminished—helplessly, he began using a wooden bat in official matches during the latter part of the fall season.

While most players in Takayama use metal bats, Takano Ren has no rule prohibiting players from using wooden bats as long as the bat's specifications meet the standards.

Compared to metal bats, wooden bats are not only heavier, but also more challenging to use, requiring much higher hitting skills and precision from the player; a slight mishap can easily lead to a bat-breaking accident.

Many high school graduates entering professional baseball spend considerable time just adapting to the feel of wooden bats; those balls which Lin Guanglai could previously rely on sheer strength to hit out are now less effective with the switch to wooden bats—the change of bats has indeed led to a decline in various aspects of Lin Guanglai's hitting stats.

Offensive struggles affect defense, especially for dual-athlete players like him:

Whether it's the changing bat material or opponents' deliberate tactical target, these mean Lin Guanglai needs to invest more energy and patience in offense—if he could break the deadlock, it wouldn't matter, but when the offense fails to progress, excessive investment and consumption in offense lead to a corresponding decline in pitching quality.

A person's energy is limited, and previously Lin Guanglai could unreservedly serve as a dual-swordsmanship player because his teammates provided ample firepower as a foundation, sparing him from extensive energy consumption in any aspect; but now this new Waseda Jitsugyo requires him to play the role of both mother and father, handling both offense and defense.

Aside from these on-field problems, pressure continues to flow in ceaselessly from unseen places off the field.

Since bursting onto the scene in the summer of 2010, through three consecutive Koshien tournaments with outstanding performances, Lin Guanglai has long been recognized by numerous media outlets and Takayama fans as today's "High School Baseball Demon King," his talent even rivaling those of famous predecessors.

While most professional media remain objective and rational, viewing the current pains of Waseda Jitsugyo and the decline in Lin Guanglai's stats as common issues faced by champion schools; but as the saying goes, "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," inevitably some opportunistic media keep a fixed gaze on him, relentlessly probing the reasons for his decline, citing "arrogance," "benefiting from teammates' successes," "secretly dating"—any reason they can think of, regardless of evidence, gets written down, as if the team's poor performance and individual decline are worth heralding.

After the overnight collapse of that dynasty team, everyone wants to take a share from her "legacy"—after the glory, what remains of Waseda Jitsugyo now is merely ruins and debris.

Lin Guanglai knows this cannot continue;

The current team urgently needs a revolution.