Ken saw the 10 or so people in the dugout turn in his direction in that moment, causing his annoyance to rise. But he couldn't exactly refute the guys words, in fear of making a bad impression.
"Thanks Chuck." Alex said, walking over to Ken and shaking his hand enthusiastically. "I'm glad you were able to make it." He added.
"Oh, how could I pass up the opportunity to meet my idol." Ken stated, emphasizing the final word.
"Hehe~ don't sweat the small stuff. It makes it easier to get you in the stadium" Alex chimed shamelessly.
"Here, let me introduce you to everyone." Alex said, bringing the two into the bullpen. Ken could already see a familiar figure amongst the pitchers, one of the famous players from his home country.
Ken's eyes widened in surprise, feeling his nerves instantly come to the surface.
'That's Masaru Tanaka… No way.' Ken's inner fan girl reared its head as he saw the familiar figure turn towards him. What Japanese baseball fan wouldn't recognize Ma-kun, the famous Japanese pitcher.
"Here is Masaru, Jason Paxton, DJ Happ, Arnold Chapman and Gerald Green. These guys are on our pitching rotation, you've probably heard of them before." He said casually.
"Guys this is…" Alex paused, realizing that he didn't remember their names.
"Ken Takagi and this is Ai Koyama." Ken said, bowing towards them in greeting to show his respect. Ai followed, even though they were in America and bowing wasn't customary.
Masaru was the first to come forward, "Nihonjin desu ka?" he asked Ken.
"Mmm, we're both from Yokohama."
Hearing the two speak in Japanese, Alex felt slightly awkward. The way Ken was looking at Masaru made it seem as if he was that guy's number 1 fan and not his own. Feeling his pride a little wounded, he could only let out a chuckle.
"Anyway, I brought this guy over because I heard that he is already a starter as a freshman at Columbia."
"Oho? Is he that good then?" Jason replied, a small grin forming on his face.
A few of the guys let out some chuckles, clearly not taking the claim too seriously. It was clear that they were just humoring him, but Ken couldn't expect these Major League players to take him at his word.
However, Masaru's face changed in the next moment after hearing he was a pitcher. "Did you play at Koshien a few years ago?" He asked, this time in English.
Ken nodded. "We won in my first year of High School with Yokohama High."
"Ah! You're that wonderkid." Masaru said, pointing at Ken with shock.
"Hmm? What are you talking about Masa?" Alex asked, feeling a little odd that this guy would recognize Ken, someone he randomly bumped into in Central Park.
However, Masaru didn't reply, a small smile gracing his lips. "What is your shoe size? I've got some spare cleats."
The other players were confused, but they quickly shrugged it off. They would find out how good the kid was in a few minutes and be able to make their own decision.
It turned out that Masaru had quite a large foot despite being shorter than Ken by a few inches, so they fit him perfectly. Now equipped with cleats, Ken looked a little odd wearing his Columbia track suit and holding a glove.
"Ah, does anyone have a cap?" Ken asked. It felt too odd to be pitching without a cap on.
One of the pitching coach's who had been observing silently walked over and handed him a cap. He was rather unassuming, but he looked to be rather interested in what was going on so he hadn't objected despite the interruption.
"Oi Sanchez, can you catch for the kid?" Alex asked Garrett Sanchez, the starting catcher for the team, much to Ken's surprise. He had expected one of the staff to catch for him, but it turned out to be such a guy.
"No problem." He replied stoically, heading over. "What pitches do you know?"
Feeling the pressure begin to mount, Ken took a deep breath before responding, "Changeup, slider, curve, fork, two-seam, four-seam."
Garrett nodded, quickly going through the leads with him before walking over to the plate and squatting. "Warm your arm up and let me know when you're ready."
Ken gave a thumbs up and tried to center himself. He was pitching in front of the New York Yanks pitching team, as well as a few of their coach's. Everything had happened so quick that none of it felt real.
This was certainly not in his itinerary when he woke up this morning.
Upon focusing, Ken felt a cool sensation spread within his body, calming him down significantly. His Dauntless trait had activated, allowing him to ignore the pressure bearing down on him.
He then began to throw a few balls with the intention of warming up his arm. As usual, it only took around 10 throws for him to get warm, meaning he was now ready to perform in front of these people.
Ai watched from the side, gripping her bag tightly. She watched on, silently praying that Ken would be able to show the results of his hard work in front of these famous players. At the very least, she wished he would be satisfied with his own performance.
"Ganbatte" She whispered, watching him intently.
Ken gave another thumbs up, indicating that he was ready. Garrett placed his face mask on and squatted, giving the signal for a fastball on the outside of the strike zone. He nodded and got into position.
Taking a deep breath, Ken lifted his front leg, bringing his knee close to his chest. His back leg bent slightly before pushing off the pitchers strip and taking a large stride forwards.
His pitching form was fluid and beautiful with no wasted movements, showing just how technical and well practiced his fundamentals were. As his lead leg planted, his arm came through like a whip as his body rotated with force.
Ken's fingertips raked down on the ball, giving it an intense amount of spin which made the ball snake through the air like a dragon soaring through the clouds.
PAH!