Southpaw

The Beginning

It was a captain's job to never show their tears. Eijun knew this well, better than most junior high schoolers wanted or needed to know. At the end of their seasons that were always cut short, he had never shown a weak face to his team... Until now. Tears streamed down his face, as for the first time, Eijun's emotions were clearly displayed to everyone watching. It wasn't a mask made up of loud words and intense facial expressions, it was real and messy.

Eijun's teammates from Akagi Junior High were all in shock. Their infallible teammate, who to them seemed to always have insurmountable strength, had finally broken down. To them, this showed that he was human, yet it allowed them to feel closer to the boy who had connected them all together through his love of baseball.

"Everyone... I'm sorry, I couldn't take you to Koshien!" Eijun scrubbed at his eyes as he waited for their criticism. Though it came from the wrong people...

"Pft... Hahahahahahaha."  The other team broke into sniggers as they pointed at Eijun's team. "You, a team of people who can't field or even catch proper pop flies? How were you planning to get to Koshien? Like we'd ever lose to a team like you." Eijun clenched his fists together, teeth grinding and eyes flashing in anger. 

"You can say anything you want about me... But don't you dare say anything about my team!" And he lunged, grabbing the opposing captain and slapping him right across the face. With each slap he gave his opponent or even the umpires, he didn't necessarily feel better, rather he felt like he was at least defending his teammates. 

In a way, it was almost kind that their season was over, judging by the way that Eijun was slapping people on the diamond left and right. Surely, even if it wasn't over, it would have been, then by disqualification for violence against opposing teams. His team was struggling to hold him back from continuing his rampaging beat down, and Wakana's words were doing absolutely nothing to calm him. 

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He was a senior in junior high, which meant that his career in junior high baseball was over. Like his teammates, he wanted to go the same high school, but he knew that the most likely was not an option. He wasn't as smart as his friends, and the KO incident (as they had started to call Eijun's beat down) would make it hard to find a high school willing to accept him.

So, knowing what he did, Eijun began to work on the only thing he really did know how to do, baseball. It surprised his parents and grandfather, when Eijun suddenly started reading baseball manuals, and watching games. After all, it was more fun to: "Play instead of watch baseball." 

Eijun laid, spread on his bed flipping through the Baseball guide to pitchers for dummies. While the title was pretty mean, the information was super helpful to him.

Every pitcher has a natural throwing angle, which is the angle between the arm and the hand at the moment just before the ball is thrown. While the actual mechanics of the throw can be changed, the natural pitching angle should be kept like it is found on the pitcher. Changing this angle, can cause injuries, and other problems for the pitcher in the future. 

As Eijun read this, he swung his hand slowly through his pitching motion to visualize where his angle was. 

The form of the pitcher, however, is something else entirely. Based on the physique of the pitcher, this is where height and body size come into play, the windup its self is changed. For example, southpaw pitchers in the past have used their glove arms like a wall if there shoulders  and  joints are flexible enough. This particular form, can only be used by the most flexible of southpaw pitchers. 

Below the excerpt, there was a small diagram showing the pitching form and how to do it. Eijun marked that page as something to come back to, before continuing on to look at more possible pitching forms to work on.

Eventually, Eijun got the section about types of pitches, which included directions and breaking balls as well.

There are many ways to pitch a ball, that much is clear. However, for a pitcher to truly become useful, they must learn how to control their pitches. The first and most common pitch, is a four seam fast ball. The ball is gripped with the index and middle fingers set on or across a line (cross-seam) of the "horseshoe" seam that faces outward, i.e., away from the pitcher's body. The thumb is placed directly underneath the ball; it rests on smooth leather with the base of the thumb overlaying a seam. This is also called the rising fastball because of how it gives the illusion that it is rising at the plate. However, it is sometimes common for pitchers that do not have proper coaching to have something called a moving fastball. This is because of the grip that they may apply to the ball before the throw. Grips such as the eagle, circle, palm, Vulcan, four seam, and two seam can change the way the ball "breaks" as it reached the plate. (Four more information on grips, go to page 86). 

When it comes to breaking balls, it is important to learn ones that fit you as a pitcher. You may think that you want to learn a shuto, but if it doesn't fit you as a pitcher, you can risk breaking your form. So, when you pick a breaking ball(s) choose wisely, and stop immediately if it doesn't feel right with your form.

Here gain, Eijun marked this page, before deciding to go outside and work on what he just read. The book had had spoken about an exercise called shadow pitching, which seemed like something that he should try.

"MOM! I'M TAKING A TOWEL OUT TO THE YARD!" He yelled as he snatched the object and ran out of the door.

"Be careful, Eijun! Be back for dinner okay?!" But by then, he was already gone.

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'Okay, so I need to balance on one foot, and shift all of my weight to my front foot. Use my right arm like a wall, and swing my arm all the way down.' He grunted as the towel smacked his leg.

He repeated this over and over again well into the afternoon, not noticing that the sky was starting to darken. 

'One... Two... Three' again and again the loud smacking of the towel was heard, rhythmically swooshing through the summer air. When Eijun, stood up for a short break, he gasped looking at the sky and falling out of his practice induced trance. "OH CRAP! MOM'S GONNA KILL ME!"

He snatched up the towel and sprinted into the house, making large smacking noise when he slammed the door open. 

"TADAIMA!" He shouted.

"Shut up!" His grandfather shouted, a little quieter, as he punched Eijun across the room. "Some of us enjoy the peace!" the older man glared at Eijun making him tremble a bit.

Eijun held his hands up in surrender as he looked at his mom and dad.

"Eijun, wash up before dinner, make sure you clean everything!" His mom shooed him into the bathroom, as his father made interesting faces behind his back. In order to keep himself from laughing and getting his dad in trouble, he quickly pivoted and sprinted up the stairs.

"Eijun! Don't run in the house!"

"Sorry mom!" He slowed down, his short dark hair swishing as he slowed down.

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Author's Note: Hey you guys! Sorry about this haha. I am actually working on a new chapter for You Leave Butterflies in Your Wake  and Sheltering Fangs right now, but this idea popped into my head, and I wanted to write it down before I forgot. Basically, the premise of this fanfiction is that when Akagi loses their game, instead of trying to go to high school with his team, which he rationalizes is not possible, Eijun instead trains for real, and actually picks up a book, that isn't shoujo manga... Shocking I know.

Anyway, I used 2 sources in this chapter for Pitches. Here are the links:

www.thecompletepitcher.com/pitching_form.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-seam_fastball