Three Days After the Draft Meeting
Three days after the draft meeting, Mr. Yoshida, the scout in charge of the Shizuoka Oceans, and Mr. Imamura, the scouting department manager, came to the school to congratulate me on my selection.
Both of them are former professional baseball players, and although I wasn't particularly a fan of the Shizuoka Oceans, I knew them from their playing days. Imamura was an infielder who hit nearly 100 home runs in his professional career. After working as a batting coach for several years, he switched to scouting and is now the manager of the scouting department. Yoshida, after competing with three teams, joined the Shizuoka Oceans as their first draft pick. However, he was plagued by injuries and barely managed to win ten games as a professional. After retiring, he reportedly became a scout.
Seeing these former professional players made me realize that I was finally entering the world of professional baseball.
At first, there was only a nomination greeting in the principal's office, where I was greeted alongside the high school principal and baseball coach. I was so nervous that once again, I could only manage to say "yes, yes."
Next, we decided to dine at a hotel, including my mother and sister. The terms of entry would also be presented at that time. To be honest, I was a low-round pick and still a high school student, so I expected my signing bonus and annual salary to be low. I was prepared to sign the contract under any conditions.
A week later, I was presented with the terms in the hotel cafe. The signing bonus was 10 million yen, and the annual salary was 4.4 million yen. I think both of these conditions are close to the minimum, but they didn't bother me at all. This would help me pay off my debts and also cover the cost of my younger sister's high school education. That was enough for me.
According to newspaper reports, Yamazaki's contract bonus was capped at 100 million yen, while Hirai's was 70 million yen. I thought it was natural that there would be such a big difference between me and those two because my track record and expectations were different, but I was disappointed. Well, I decided to think that the real battle would come after I became a professional. I think it's amazing that I even managed to get selected by a professional team in the first place. In fact, a slugger who hit 11 home runs in the Tokyo Big Six University League and an ace who won the Intercity Championship were rumored to be high draft picks but were not selected.
After signing the provisional contract, the five of us—Scout Department Manager Imamura, Scout Yoshida, my mother, my sister, and I—went to the hotel's French restaurant for dinner. I had never been to a hotel like this before, and the only French food I knew was French bread and escargot. My sister and I were wearing our school uniforms, but our mother seemed to have bought new clothes for this occasion.
My usually noisy little sister was surprisingly quiet, just like a borrowed hamster. However, as usual, she couldn't help but be a bit noisy. Our table clearly stood out from the rest. I was a little embarrassed, but as long as it made my family happy, it was fine.
Chief Imamura ordered the most expensive course, and it was the most delicious meal I had ever eaten. Especially the main steak. The portion wasn't that large, but I was surprised at how delicious steak could be. My sister was so impressed that she even got dessert for Imamura and Yoshida, and ate it happily. It was like she hadn't eaten anything decent in a long time. Well, it's true that the family restaurant we occasionally go to is a treat.
Section Chief Imamura said that when you're a successful professional, you can eat food like this every day. I once again realized what a dream world being a professional is. My sister's eyes lit up as she asked, "Can you go to a family restaurant every day?" So, I told her to stay quiet for a bit.
A Month Later: Joint Press Conference
A month later, a joint press conference for the new players was held. This year, seven players, including myself, joined the Shizuoka Oceans, and the draft was rated in newspapers and baseball magazines as being the most successful of the twelve teams.
The first draft pick was pitcher Shunsuke Sugizawa, the highlight of this year's draft, who won the negotiating rights by lottery after a competition between four teams. He is a left-handed pitcher who had a great career in the Toho University and was said to be the biggest attraction at this year's draft meeting. The second pick in the draft was outfielder Koji Taniguchi. He was a pitcher in high school, but it seems he will be a fielder as a professional. As a high school slugger, he was praised alongside Taniguchi of the East and Hirai of the West. Although he was eliminated in the preliminary round of the Koshien tournament in the summer of his third year of high school, he hit two home runs even in the losing game, and his total home runs in high school exceeded 80.
The third draft pick was outfielder Takeshita Hiroshi, who comes from the corporate baseball league. He was not drafted in high school or college, but he batted first in this year's Intercity Baseball Tournament, putting up incredible numbers with 9 hits in 11 at-bats and 10 stolen bases in three games. Although he is a little old at 26, he is now an immediate asset and his name is emerging as a leading draft candidate. He has a reputation for being a fast and skilled player.
The fourth pick in the draft was pitcher Kiyoshi Mitamura. Like me, he was a high school graduate from an unknown high school in Wakayama, but he was 190cm tall and his weapon was a fastball that he threw down from his height. Although he has no experience playing at Koshien, he was likely selected due to his high regard for his future potential.
The fifth pick in the draft was catcher Tetsuya Haratani. He is said to be the best catcher with the strongest arm in college baseball and played an active role in the Tokyo Big Six University Baseball League. He also has some punch, so he is expected to become a catcher with great scale.
The sixth pick in the draft was pitcher Takeshi Iijima, who joined the team after graduating from college and playing in the corporate world, the American minor leagues, and the Japanese independent leagues. He was already 28 years old and an underhand pitcher. He was 10 years older than me when he joined the team. Of course, he was nominated with the expectation that he will be an immediate asset.
And number seven is me.
The fact that this year's Shizuoka Oceans draft was a great success was also reflected in the comments made by Manager Tanaka Daijiro after the draft meeting. When a reporter handed him the microphone, he spoke with a big smile:
"Well, it was a great draft. We got Sugisawa in the first pick, and Taniguchi and Takeshita in the second and third picks, which was a pleasant surprise. In fact, I had both of them on my list as the first pick after Sugisawa. Furthermore, Mitamura, who was picked in fourth place, was originally a potential future ace, so the team was considering selecting him in the higher picks. It was also great that we were able to acquire Haratani, the number one catcher in university baseball, with the fifth pick. Our team is short on catchers, so I have high hopes for him in his first year. Another interesting player is Iijima, ranked 6th. Given his age, we can expect him to be an immediate asset. He has a unique throwing style, and if it works out well, he has the potential to achieve great results. Also, although he was ranked 7th, I think Takahashi has top-level talent among high school students. He was a scout who really wanted to recruit him, so we picked him."
When I saw this comment from Coach Tanaka on sports news on TV, I was happy that he mentioned me as well.
The focus of the new recruits' press conference was, as expected, first-place pitcher Sugizawa and second-place player Taniguchi. The reporters asked them many questions and took many photos.
In the group photo, I was positioned on the far right of the back row. There were few individual photos, and I had to wait a long time. However, as soon as I put on the uniform, I suddenly felt like I had become a professional baseball player. I wanted to jump out onto the field right away and run around. My jersey number was 58. There was probably nothing special about this number; it just happened to be the only available one. Still, I really liked it. Both numbers 5 and 8 are associated with star players, so when you consider that they're combined, I think it's a pretty good number.
After the press conference, there were no official events until the rookie team's joint voluntary training camp in the new year. I enjoyed my last year of high school to the fullest. I couldn't help but feel a little lonely thinking that I only had a little time left to act silly with my friends. Of course, practice continued, and there were various events such as the launch ceremony for the supporters' club and a courtesy visit to the mayor, so it was quite hectic.
When the new year came, the first thing I did was move into the dormitory. At the Shizuoka Oceans, all new players are required to live in the dormitory. For working adults, the minimum period is two years for university graduates and five years for high school graduates. I moved into the dorms with only my baseball equipment, a change of clothes, a few CDs of my favorite artists, a small CD radio cassette player, and the teddy bear my girlfriend had given me. The teddy bear was wearing a Shizuoka Oceans uniform; she had made the uniform for a commercially available stuffed animal and dressed it up. "I won't be able to see you for a while, but this is for me," she said, handing it to me. She will be entering nursing school in Osaka this spring. Since Shizuoka and Osaka are far apart, we probably won't be able to see each other for a while.
I also brought along a collection of messages written by my teammates. The book contains content that goes against public order and morals, and is full of typos and misspellings, so I cannot introduce it here as it would raise doubts about my intelligence.
The dormitory was five stories tall, with meeting rooms and the team office on the first floor, a large bath, dining room, and lounge on the second floor, and a training room in the basement. As you'd expect from a professional baseball team, the training room was equipped with the most cutting-edge equipment I'd ever seen, and the bathroom was spacious and even had a jacuzzi and mist sauna. Floors three and above are used as players' rooms, and the rooms apparently get larger the higher you go. In other words, the fifth floor is for first-team players, the fourth floor is for players who are occasionally seen on the first team, and the third floor is reserved for second-team players. Of course, my room was on the third floor, but it was still over 8 tatami mats in size. In high school, we shared a 4.5 tatami mat room. Considering that, it felt very spacious. The room was already equipped with a bed, a shelf, and a chest of drawers. The team's minor league home stadium and indoor training facility were located nearby and could be seen from the window. It was the perfect environment for baseball practice.
In the evening, there was a small welcome party in the dining room. The players in the dormitory are young, but some of them are already active on the first team. The rookie players gave brief greetings in front of them, one by one, in the order in which they were selected.
Greetings show your personality. First-round draft pick pitcher Sugisawa gave a safe greeting, saying, "I'm Sugisawa, and I'll be working with you from today. I'll do my best to be of help to the team even for one day, so please take care of me." Second-round draft pick Taniguchi said, "I'm confident in my ability to hit the ball far, but I'm not confident in anything else, so please teach me everything, both in my personal and professional life." Pitcher Iijima, who was drafted sixth, was as expected, calm. "I think I'm probably the oldest here. Given my age, if I've been in this dorm for a long time, the time to leave will probably be when I get fired. For young athletes, every year is a challenge, but for me, every day is a challenge." The last part, "Yoroshiku," was not a mistranslation. From the tone of his voice, it really sounded like he said it like that. Takeshita, who was drafted third overall, said, "I consider all the players here to be my rivals. I joined the team in order to play on the first team right away, so I plan to spend very little time in the dorm and make sure I can leave quickly," he said, frowning. He doesn't seem to be satisfied with being drafted third. By the way, I have never seen Takeshita smile.
The next day, my life as a professional baseball player finally began. In the morning, the dormitory students go for a walk around the stadium starting at 7:00. I had heard the rumors, but it was hard to walk right after waking up. Everyone participated with sleepy eyes, having just woken up.
Two days after moving into the dormitory, joint training for new recruits began.
Suddenly, I lost my confidence.
Each of the players who joined the team at the same time as me had certain abilities that were second to none. I realized I didn't have anything that stood out among them. For example, the fastball thrown by No. 1 pitcher Sugizawa had a slight movement despite being thrown straight, and his curveball landed in the corner of the strike zone as if it was being aimed perfectly, His slider curved sharply as it fell, and the changeup, thrown with the exact same form as the fastball, was about 30 km/h slower. He even threw a two-seam fastball. Watching the pitching practice, I really didn't think I would be able to hit it. As expected, there was a lot of competition for him as the first draft pick.
Taniguchi, who came in second, was also a high school student, but his power was far beyond that of a high school student. I was used to watching Hirai's batting practice at the same high school, so I had seen a fair amount of power hitter batting, but the nature of the ball hit by Taniguchi and Hirai was different. Hirai's hit ball angled up the moment it was hit and followed a beautiful parabola, but Taniguchi's hit was like a rocket, blasting out sharply and flying into the outfield stands as a liner. There's no way I could hit a ball like that. Our heights aren't that different, so what's the difference?
I was most confident in my legs when it came to running, attacking, and defending, but when I ran with Takeshita, who was drafted third, that confidence was shattered. When we ran 50 meters together, although we started out side by side, he gradually left me behind, and by the end he was easily two meters ahead.
Mitamura, who came in fourth, showed incredible power in the fastball he threw down from his tall height. In terms of speed alone, he even surpassed the number one pitcher, Sugizawa. When he stepped up to bat, the ball was thrown down from above and seemed to rise up at the end. It's a fireball straight. Once, he stepped up to bat in a practice session, but just when he thought he had hit the ball right on the mark, his bat broke.
The biggest selling point of fifth-place catcher Haratani was his shoulder. I play shortstop myself, so I thought I had a strong arm, but when I saw the ball, which he threw seemingly lightly from home base, fly low and accurately over second base, and land in the second baseman's mitt almost 100% of the time, I felt that I was no match for him. If I were a runner, I would probably be tagged out even if I tried to steal.
The ball thrown by pitcher Iijima, who was drafted sixth, was underhand. It wasn't particularly fast, but the ball, thrown close to the ground, floated up near home base and then dropped from there. It was the first time I'd ever seen a ball with such a trajectory. Even if it hit the bat, it would probably be a grounder to the infield.
Practicing with them made me realize just how much of a frog I was in a little well. I was reminded once again that I had ended up in a very difficult world. I was reasonably well put together, but compared to them, there was nothing that stood out. Can I make a living as a professional? I felt uneasy from the start.
Spring camp began in February. Taniguchi, Mitamura, catcher Haratani, and I were at the second team camp, while the remaining three were at the first team camp. The camp, in a word, was hard to keep up with. Just the basic training in the morning would leave me exhausted, and when the day's practice was over, I would be exhausted, both mentally and physically, sleep like a log, and then be exhausted again the next day. This was a repeated cycle.
Leaving aside Mitamura, a pitcher who was on a different training program, how was Taniguchi, a fellow high school fielder, able to keep up with the training so calmly? I also practiced a lot during my high school days, as I was part of the team that won the national championship. However, the professional training exceeded my high school training in both quality and quantity. Towards the end of the camp, I had gotten used to the practice and was able to have enough time to call her.
When the exhibition games began, Taniguchi joined the first team and played in the games. As usual, my training was focused on basic training at the minor league stadium. Of course, I felt anxious, but watching the other athletes made me realize how low my own level was. I realized that unless I practiced steadily and improved my overall level, it would be difficult to survive in this world. Day after day, I ran at full speed between right and left field, did weight training, and ate a lot of food. Compared to the people around me, I was obviously thin, so my first priority was to get a professional physique. Taniguchi started in about half of the exhibition games and hit three home runs. Even though we both graduated from high school, why are Taniguchi and I so different? I had already completely lost confidence.
When the season began, of the new players, pitcher Sugizawa, outfielder Takeshita, and pitcher Iijima were selected for the opening day first team, while myself, Taniguchi, Mitamura, and catcher Haratani ended up starting on the second team. Taniguchi was in good form at the beginning of the exhibition games, but as the pitchers of each team began to improve their form in preparation for the opening game, he gradually found it difficult to hit, and he was demoted to the second team towards the end of the camp. However, Taniguchi started as the fifth batter in the opening game of the second-division games and hit a home run in his third at-bat. I was sitting on the bench the whole time. I wasn't on the show that day.
Around that time, the first team's season began, and pitcher Sugizawa was put in charge of the third game of the season. Furthermore, Takeshita was included in the starting lineup for the opening game as the left fielder. For the Shizuoka Oceans, who had the most trouble with hitters last year, the speedy and skilled Takeshita seemed a suitable leader to lead the charge. Takeshita came up to bat five times that day, getting off to a good start with three hits in four at-bats, one walk, and two stolen bases. Then, in the third game of the season, Sugizawa made his first professional start and, worthy of his big rookie name, allowed only three hits and one run in the seventh inning, becoming the winning pitcher. Pitcher Iijima made his first appearance on the mound in the fourth game of the season, although it was a losing effort, and he allowed only one hit and no runs in two innings.
I was a reserve second baseman for the second team. Although I would occasionally come in as a substitute, I rarely got to bat, and by the end of April I had gone hitless in seven at-bats. On the other hand, Taniguchi was amazing. He played most of the time as a starter and had hit five home runs as of the end of April. Although this was a minor league team, it was still number one in the league. And he played outfield defense well. Not only was I failing to produce results batting-wise, but I had already made three errors defensively. Despite being the same age, I felt anxious because I felt the gap between me and Taniguchi was greater than just our draft rankings.
This actually happened to me in high school too. The high school I went to was a prestigious one, so there were nearly 100 new members in the club alone. What's more, each of them was a tough guy who made a name for himself during their junior high school days. There were eight people who wanted to be second basemen alone. Although I was fairly well-known in my local area during my junior high school days, I never went to a national tournament, so in that sense I was unknown.
Among them, Yamazaki and Hirai were in a class of their own. On his first day with the team, Yamazaki immediately entered the bullpen and showed off his skills. Even though the team still had some members from the previous year's trip to Koshien, Yamazaki's pitches were received with amazement. Then Hirai suddenly started practicing batting, hitting the ball over the outfield net one after another.
"These are the kind of guys who would go pro," a teammate I'd known since middle school, who was picking up balls next to me, sighed and said. He won the regional tournament during his junior high school days and had experience competing in the national tournament. Even he started out by picking up balls on this team. This just goes to show how outstanding Yamazaki and Hirata were.
I had entered the school as a baseball scholarship student with tuition and dormitory fees waived, and considering my family's financial difficulties, I had no choice but to continue making a name for myself through baseball. That's why I was able to keep up with the tough training. The nearly 100 new members had dwindled to around 30 by summer, and after a year that number had dropped to about half. I finally became a regular shortstop after the third-year students retired in the summer of my second year. At the time, I never imagined I would turn professional but as I won tournaments and gained experience as leadoff hitter, I began to feel that my level was improving rapidly.
He began to feel the gaze of professional baseball scouts who had come to see Yamazaki and Hirai even when it was his turn to bat.
I think in terms of growth over the last year, he was probably on par with Yamazaki and Hirai.
I have more room to grow than anyone else.
I knew I was a low-ranked draft pick and couldn't afford to take it easy.
One day at the team's practice field, a man pointed at my teammate and me, saying, "If you don't get it done in three years, you're fired."
It was frustrating, but undeniably accurate.
All I could do was bite my lip and think, "Just you wait."
A/N : Don't worry, I promise I won't drop this! I'm aiming to post one chapter a day in this app and three chapters in advance on Patreon. 😊
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