Southpaw

What's in a Pitcher?

Eijun nervously bit his lip as he watched one of the two catchers (Who's names he did not know) sit into a squat. The boss apparently wanted everyone to pitch separately so that he could get a taste of what each pitcher could bring to the table. Currently Eijun was only sure about his four seam, two seam and his palmball. But he had been slowly developing a change up through watching videos and talking to Mei-Senpai all summer. He watched as the two bored looking pitchers finished their turns showing fast balls, high and low pitches. Eijun bounced on his heels feeling even more nervous, yet excited as he waited. Furuya and Tojou both were ahead of him, so he would be pitching last. As Furuya stepped up to pitch, Eijun noticed  that his sleepy energy diminished and the tall boy seemed to wake up with a startling intensity.

'Either he loved to pitch, or he finds all of this to be boring... He's not wrong but I'd like to think that these tests Boss is giving us are important. Honestly, I'm kind of mad that he's not paying attention...' Thought Eijun slightly annoyed.

Furuya went through the motion, muscles coiling and it was like a gun had gone off in the bullpen. His pitch had knocked over the catcher with the force he had put behind it. Although it would seem that his control was very lacking as his pitch had risen during its course and had soared above the catcher's head. So it was fast, but honestly? That was all that was great about it. Smack went one pitch after another, yet none of them ended up well in the zone. So Furuya had practically thrown all balls, and in a game that would have been a treacherous inning most likely leading to many walked home runs. Hopefully with the season, and practice, he would improve.

Tojou went next, show casing consistent, smooth fast balls that had a low course, and an ability to throw curveballs and sliders. With his skill set it seemed likely that he would pitch to contact and force batters to his ground balls. Over all, the boss seemed most pleased with Tojou out of all of the first years so far. Which made Eijun feel even more nervous because he only started to pitch consistently recently and his wild pitching was still an imminent threat.

"Sawamura. You're up, Let's see what you've got." The boss looked at him and gestured towards the mound. "Alright, What pitches can you throw?" He asked, looking at his clipboard and notes.

"Ah, I can throw a four seam, two seam, palmball, and a changeup." Eijun took a deep breath before looking towards the catcher.

"Okay, like I said before, since there are no assigned signs yet, the catcher will verbally call pitches and areas. Ready?" Boss looked at him.

"Yes Boss - I mean coach." Eijun flushed embarrassed that he had used the nickname that he had been calling Kataoka in his head. The boss just shook his head and gestured towards the catcher.

"Alright. Begin." Eijun nodded and took a deep breath settling onto the mound.

"Four Seam high and to the inside!" Called the catcher. Eijun settled into his throwing motion, zeroing onto his targeted location in the strike zone, he waited as the ball reached the perfect release point and threw it towards the mitt. The catcher caught it dazed. 

'What was that? It was like the ball disappeared... What was it so late?'  Thought the cater slightly flustered. He shook his head before settling. Alright next ball.

"Two seam low and to the outside!" He called. Eijun settled into his throwing motion yet again. focusing on his release point, making a wall and his target. The ball smacked into the mitt, but this time it was a little off. Eijun shook hi head preparing for the next call.

'So it's not a fluke? The ball is coming really late...' The catcher thought confused. He pinched his thigh before getting ready for the next pitch.

"Change up low and to the inside" He called smacking his mitt with his fist. The pitch yet again hit the mitt, off by a hair from the center. However, by then, the boss had already noticed Eijun's strange pitching form and watched with a hawk's gaze interested in what might happen. 

"Palmball High and to the inside!" The catcher called.

'I have to form a wall with my right hand, and transfer my weight smoothly across my lower body. Weight until the absolute last second and... Release from my finger tips!'  Eijun took a deep breath as the pitcher made an insane cut from a meatball to a high inside pitch. The catcher flinched, but still managed to catch the ball.

By now, Furuya had started to seethe in rage, an intense aura of anger forming around him as he muttered to himself. Tojou watched in interest as Eijun's strange pitching style was put on display, and the two bored looking pitchers who looked like they didn't want to be there yawned. Kataoka whistled in appreciation of the course of the pitch.

"Sawamura, can you change the pitch course?" He asked curiously. Eijun turned to face him.

"I can change the break of the ball based on hand grip, but currently I can't control the other grips well. I've been practicing with the circle change up, and the ones I can do right now are palm, four seam, and two seam. But I have been working on the vulcan grip and other grips. The main issue I have is the unpredictability of the course... And the fact that this development is recent." Eijun rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

"How recent?" Boss asked, stone faced.

"Ahaha, about that..." Eijun cringed slightly, "I mastered the four seam and two seam 4 weeks ago? and the circle change up... Well I know I have it down now. But I've been using the palmball since junior high." The boss sighed already knowing that this specific pitcher would be both a success and a problem child.

"Alright, well it seems like you can pitch to the inside and outside consistently, although you can still improve upon your aim. As for the grips, We'll figure out a way to develop them later. For now you boys are done. Go run laps around the grounds until the end of practice. Pitchers need to have great stamina, all defensive plays begin and end with you. Remember that."

"Hozuki, Mitabe! Stay back. I need to talk to the both of you. Sawamura, Tojou and Furuya! Dismissed." And so, with that the three boys went off to run their laps each thinking about the test and how they and the others did. 

'Boss isn't wrong though. A pitcher is someone who needs to lead the team's moral. If we run out of steam too quickly, well we'll become a hindrance that is completely unnecessary to the team. I need to get stronger, and stronger, and even stronger still! After all... I'm here to become the ace!"

***

Hi Guys! Cinnamon Roll Here. I hope everyone is doing well. Here is the next chapter of Southpaw, I hope you enjoyed it! Just in case you didn't notice, Hozuki and Mitabe are both OC's, specifically the two bored pitchers who didn't want to be there. They're not super important, but I thought I'd give them names since they were present in a full chapter already hahahaha. Eijun night seem a little out of character right now, but my thought process is that, since this specific Eijun uses his brain more, maybe he'd be a little more cognizant about how other people view him. So he's a little more self conscious, but over all the same. Anyway I hope you all are staying safe! Love you all!

~Cinnamon Roll