Ken was bored out of his mind for the next 30 minutes or so. To see the exact same drill over and over just with different people felt like watching paint dry, definitely not something that he'd like to be doing.
He only marginally paid attention to Steve and Taylor's sessions, but even then they weren't announcing the times on the spot. In fact, no one was speaking regardless on how the players performed.
Ken noticed that there was a table not far away underneath a gazebo with 3 random people sitting at it. Judging by the fact they all had laptops in front of them, it was likely that they were the one's recording all of the scores and results of the drills.
"How do you think I went?" Steve asked, massaging his shoulder.
"How the hell should I know?" Ken replied simply, even if he had been watching intently, he didn't know what the standard for catchers were.
"You were supposed to say good…"
"Oh. Then you did good."
Steve sighed, "I've been a bit nervous since so many people are watching, hopefully my performance was okay." The guy was rarely sincere like this, which took Ken off guard.
It was then that he realized, while he didn't much care for this sort of thing, others took it quite seriously. Just a quick glance around at the expressions of the players around him were enough to understand as much.
Ken felt he might have been a bit conceited earlier, especially since he was complaining to himself the whole time.
"Don't worry man, I think you're doing well… Probably." He replied, patting his friend on the shoulder.
"Gee thanks." Steve quipped, but inwardly he felt a lot better.
After the catcher's drill, it was finally time for the batting practice. The staff moved efficiently, placing the L shaped screen just in front of the mound as well as a couple of expensive looking cameras near home plate.
"Finally… We get to hit some balls." Steve muttered, rubbing his hands together.
"I'm not sure I like your choice of words there."
"Don't sweat the small stuff."
While this was going on, Coach Bishop who seemed to be the one in charge addressed the players once again. Despite being obviously middle-aged, he seemed to have a lot of stamina.
"Listen up, you'll each get 10 hits to show what you can do. If you're a switch-hitter, we'll give you 6 on each side of the box. What we're looking for is exit velocity and hitting mechanics." He said, his eyes scanning over the players.
"But all of this is useless if you don't hit the damn ball, so please make sure you're accurate." He implored, shaking his head slightly.
Judging by his attitude, there were probably people who would just try to smash the living crap out of the balls without swinging accurately.
"Alright, team 1 will be hitting first. Team 2, head out to the outfield to collect any balls that are sent out there." Coach Bishop said, clapping his hands.
'Nice, I get to go first.' Ken thought, clenching his fist.
"Let's go warm up." Taylor said, pointing to a free spot on the field.
"Sounds good to me." Ken replied, picking up one of the nearby bats and weighing it in his hand before following. Steve was left by himself, looking a little awkward after.
When they were far enough apart from everyone, Ken began his warm up swings with the wooden bat. He'd made a concerted effort ever since the WWBA tournament to practice with the wooden bat, even purchasing one for his own personal use.
Thankfully his father had sported the bill, since they were so damn expensive. While Ken had a fair bit of money from his Grandfather, he was a rather frugal individual when it came to such things.
"I heard a rumor that you never used a wooden bat before the WWBA Tournament." Taylor said casually, his eyes locking onto Ken.
"Oh? Who told you that?" Ken asked, a little surprised. While it wasn't exactly personal information, he wondered where Taylor would even hear of such a thing.
"Heh… Your coach was interviewed and spilled the beans. He even said that you had forgotten to tell your catcher that you could throw a fork and slider." Taylor replied with a grin.
"Eh?" Ken was bewildered. A vision of the mustachioed coach flapping his gums and revealing all of his secrets appeared in his mind, causing him to shake his head in exasperation.
"Well, he wasn't lying. But I've been practicing a lot lately, so it shouldn't be an issue." He said, sending another swing out.
"Mmm. As long as your mechanics are good, the coach's won't be worried about your exit velo as much." Taylor replied.
"Alright, everything's set up. Jason Carrol, you're up first." Coach Bishop called out, getting everyone's attention.
One of the players nearby raised his hand before jogging over to the batters box. Judging by his body language, it was rather clear that he was nervous.
The guy got quite a few good hits from his 10 attempts, but that was to be expected. With the pitcher essentially throwing slow balls to him, Ken would have been more surprised if he didn't hit anything good.
Thankfully, things were rather quick in his group. Soon enough Taylor was up to bat, so Ken decided to watch carefully. While he didn't know anything about catching, he was quite familiar with batting.
'I wonder if this guy is any good with the bat?' Ken thought.
It wasn't often that a catcher was great at hitting. Of course Ken knew of two players who were the big fat exception to the rule, but they couldn't be looked at conventionally.
Both his brother Daichi and Leo Cameron were freaks. Not only were they the top of their class in catching, but they also both batted clean-up.
However, if anyone were to hear Ken complaining about this, they might look at him weirdly.