On the next day’s match, Lin Guanglai didn’t play; he watched the entire ga from the bench—Japan’s team abandoned the small-ball tactics that helped them win yesterday and instead faced off directly with Team USA’s pitcher.
The disparity in physical talent was indeed a factor, which decided the outco of the ga—United States City Youth Academy Team defeated Japan High School Team 2-1, successfully pulling one back; both teams would break for a day and hold the final match of the Japan-USA Friendship Exchange Gas the day after.
Though they lost, the Japanese players weren’t too disappointed. Instead, they cheerfully gathered with the Arican players to talk about baseball—the two days of interaction had forged a deep friendship between the players from Japan and the United States.
"Kelly, your pitching is incredibly impressive; batters find it difficult to hit." Walking alongside Lin Guanglai and Kelly, Yamada Tetsuro used his Japanese-accented English and accompanying gestures, giving a thumbs-up to Kelly beside him: "Kelly, you are a genius pitcher."
In today’s ga, Kelly, who started the previous day, served as the closing pitcher to seal the win for his team: in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a runner on third, Kelly won his head-to-head duel with Yamada Tetsuro using three straight pitches—his performance left Yamada both frustrated and deeply impressed.
Upon hearing praise from his international friend, Kelly first expressed gratitude, but then he shook his head:
"Yamada, I don’t deserve the label of genius, you’re flattering ."
"On this land of the United States, there’s never a shortage of baseball geniuses."
After saying this, seeing the confused Asian faces around him, Kelly smiled, then shared a story with Lin Guanglai and Yamada Tetsuro:
"My hotown is in Nevada, and this is a story from when I just started high school—back then I had just joined the school team and was appointed by the coach as the team’s number three pitcher."
"You know how it is—you Japanese call it ’Chuunibyou’—at that ti I also thought I was a genius, thinking that if I kept working hard, maybe I wouldn’t even need to go to college and could be directly scouted by Major League teams."
"Until that day, the coach took us to Sunrise Manor in Las Vegas, where we played a friendly against Las Vegas High School, and I was entrusted with the role of starting pitcher for that ga."
Kelly squinted his eyes as if recalling sothing he didn’t want to face:
"Also on that day, I rember it particularly well; my initial state wasn’t good, two walks and a hit, the bases quickly beca loaded."
"Then, that sophomore catcher from Las Vegas High School ca on—this guy stood about six foot two (around 191 cm), very strong, and looked particularly arrogant."
"And then he ca up and smashed a grand slam off —our team ended up losing by more than ten points in that ga, and that catcher alone had at least 6 to 7 RBIs."
"Later I found out that he was the real genius—from the start of his freshman year, many scouts from Major League teams would write reports on him at the sidelines during every official ga, and several dia outlets dedicated news sections just for him."
At this point, Kelly smiled self-deprecatingly: "Do you know what nickna the dia gave that guy?"
"’Baseball’s LeBron Jas,’ the chosen one!"
With the story told up to this point, Kelly didn’t continue—but Lin Guanglai and Yamada Tetsuro were evidently interested in the subsequent developnts, so they hastily inquired:
"And then? What happened to that catcher afterward?"
Seeing them so eager, Kelly shrugged and leisurely replied:
"After the sophomore year ended, this guy found high school gas uninteresting, so he simply took academic tests early and went to play in college leagues."
"Whilst other players were still in their junior year, that person was already competing in college gas against players typically four or five years older—and he succeeded again."
"Guess what? Before turning 18, he directly won the College League Most Valuable Player and the Golden Spikes Award—the latter being the highest honor in amateur baseball in the United States."
"Earlier this year, he went directly to the Major League draft and was naturally selected by the Washington Nationals with the number one pick."
At this point, Kelly sowhat helplessly spread his hands, saying: "So, Yamada, don’t call a genius—in front of a true genius, I’m nothing."
After hearing the story, Yamada Tetsuro was deeply shocked—even with the most expansive imagination, he couldn’t conceive such a level of genius; at this mont, his only thought was, "Even in a comic, such a character would be criticized by viewers as unrealistic, right?"
anwhile, Lin Guanglai felt sowhat eager—just thinking about a talented player like this, who was around his age, on the other side of the ocean ignited a fla within his heart;
Lin Guanglai was not intimidated, because he always believed he was a genius too—a battle of geniuses can only be truly understood when they face off.
"Indeed, to compete against players of this level, coming to the United States seems necessary?" Lin Guanglai thought.
As the coach announced the end of the training session, Kelly waved at Lin Guanglai and Yamada Tetsuro and then ran toward his team.
Before leaving, he turned around and looked at Lin Guanglai with a complex gaze: "Lin, I heard you’re a pitcher too. Trust , you definitely wouldn’t want to face that guy—as an opponent standing in the batter’s box, every minute is tornt for a pitcher."
"Oh, by the way, rember that person’s na; maybe one day you’ll et him on the international stage."
"That guy’s na is—"
"Bryce Harper."
Kelly left, but the story he told was like a deepwater bomb thrown towards the Japan High School Team.
Back at the hotel, amid the team’s gathering, Yamada Tetsuro vividly retold the story, causing a wave of astonishnt among everyone.
Sure enough, there’s always soone stronger, and there’s always sothing beyond—everyone present was a top player in the sa age group within Japan, excelling in pitching and hitting; yet it was today they learned that there was such a rare genius in this baseball nation across the ocean.
While others fervently debated Harper, Lin Guanglai’s thoughts had long drifted toward the match the day after—"Let’s use the match the day after tomorrow to test my own strength."
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