Despite losing the match against Kaido, Seishū High school was the only team that actually put up a fight against the Koshien champion. As a result, Gorō attracted the eyes of many scouts, including the Yokohama Blue Ocean and the Tokyo Warriors. However, upon learning that Joe Gibson is still pitching in MLB, and dedicated his 300-win achievement to his "young friend in Japan", Gorō lost any interest in Japanese professional baseball, and went to America to try out for the Major League. Meanwhile, Sato is recruited by the Tokyo Warriors, while Mayumura is recruited by the Yokohama Blue Ocean.
Gorō's 95 mph (153 km/h) fastball (99 mph in anime), while ineffective against Major League sluggers, allowed Gorō to start in Triple Ainstead of the rookie league. At first he joined the Cougars, but was soon released after a fight with Joe Gibson Jr. from the Oklahoma Falcons. Eventually, Gorō joined the Memphis Bats, an aggressive but defensively weak baseball team. It was during this time that Gorō begin seriously training to fully control his fastball.
In Triple A Gorō found a new rival—Joe Gibson Jr, son of Joe Gibson and an outstanding slugger. Junior blamed the death of Gorō's birth father as the cause of the tragedy that befell on his own family, and he challenged Gorō to a bet: If Junior hit a home run off Gorō, Gorō is to return to Japan and never set foot on American soil again; On the other hand, if Gorō can strike out Junior, then Junior will visit Gorō's father's grave and apologize for his insults. Gorō managed to strike out Junior with his fast ball, now at 100 mile/h (102 mph in the anime). In the last game, Gibson Jr was determined to hit a home run of Gorō. When the Bats were leading in the final inning, The Falcons had 2 outs but they had runners on 2nd and 3rd base with Gibson Jr batting. On Gorō's last pitch, Gibson Jr hit it in the centre of the bat but Gorō's pitch had so much power that he destroyed Gibson Jr's bat and the ball just flew up high. The catcher of the Bat's caught it and the Bats won the Triple A playoff.
