"Boston aren't the team they were last season. It's still a mystery to me how they won the world series anyway."
"We still can't count them out as we'll be facing them in the post season. A win tonight would put us in a great position though."
Two men chatted back and forth as they walked around the edge of Yankee stadium. The man who just spoke was in his late 40's and kitted head to toe in Yanks gear.
As they arrived at the Yanks bullpen, he froze. He saw a figure on the mound dressed in a light blue tracksuit, which was obviously not the NY Yanks gear. Just as he was about to say something, the guy threw a ball into the open glove of the catcher.
PAH
The sound echoed in the quiet stadium, eliciting silence from the onlookers.
The man opened the door to the bullpen and saw all the pitchers and staff staring at the figure on the mound with their jaws dropped.
"What the hell is going on here? Who is this guy?" The man asked, feeling immense confusion.
"Ah, Coach Boone… T—This is Ken, he's a fan of mine so I brought him over to give him some pointers." Alex said, sounding like a child being caught doing something wrong.
"Huh?" The coach looked from Alex to Ken on the mound and was speechless for a moment. "Why have you got a fan pitching in the bullpen right before an important game? This isn't the time to be messing around…"
He seemed displeased and was about to blow his lid. However, his eyes moved to the numbers one the screen behind Garrett, causing him to freeze on the spot.
"100mph?" he muttered in disbelief.
Coach Boone was silent as he tried to come to terms with the evidence in front of him. His eyes moved to Ken who looked out of place after being caught, it was as if he didn't know whether to hide or stand his ground.
"Ken is it? Did you just pitch before?" the coach asked, his tone even.
"Yes sir."
The coach moved his gaze to the unassuming pitching coach sitting on the sideline as if to confirm this. The latter nodded, indicating that it was indeed Ken who had thrown just before.
"Alright, throw the exact same ball as last time." He stated, not waiting for an answer.
'What the hell is going on?' Ken thought, his heart racing. He hadn't expected the coach Adam Boone to arrive while he was in the middle of pitching. This had turned into something that he wasn't ready for.
Garrett Sanchez threw the ball back to Ken who once again took up his position on the mound. With the added pressure of Coach Boone watching, he took a few extra moments to calm himself down.
Once again the cool sensation of his Dauntless trait rescued him, allowing Ken to focus his energy on pitching. Sometimes it felt like a cheat code to have this trait, but he had long gotten over the guilt of having his system.
Letting out a deep breath, Ken once again entered his pitching form. He performed the action in an almost identical fashion, sending out another blitzing fastball towards the outside.
PAH
Now knowing what to expect, the other players and staff in the bullpen were less shocked, but that didn't mean they weren't impressed. The only one who was wearing a knowing expression was Masaru Tanaka, who had heard of Ken's exploits from friends and family in Japan.
Everyone looked towards the speedometer behind the catcher and sucked in a cold breath of air.
"101mph!? That's even faster than before…"
Adam Boone's expression morphed into a smile as he saw the scene. The graceful movements of Ken's pitching action were wonderful to watch, not to mention the sheer velocity and sharpness of his pitches.
"Let's see some breaking balls." Coach Boone announced.
Ken threw a wicked slider next, one that would have been difficult to catch if it were any other catcher. The movement of the ball was great, exactly what one would want in a breaking ball.
"Throw a few more."
Like this, Ken threw every ball that he knew how. Changeup, slider, curve, fork one after the other. He was pitching consistently, despite the pressure exuded by the onlookers.
After each ball, Alex paled. At first he had thought that Ken might be a regular run of the mill College pitcher, but he was wrong. Not only was there speed in his pitches, the control was enviable.
Unlike a lot of youngsters who lacked control, Ken had yet to miss where Garrett was calling for the balls. It was suddenly obvious as to why Columbia were willing to make Ken a starting pitcher despite only being a freshman.
It wasn't until Ken had thrown around 10 balls that the coach Adam Boone stood up and began to clap slowly.
"Well done. Are you declaring for the draft next year? We'd love to invite you for a closed tryout if that's the case." He said, walking over to Ken.
Ken was thrilled in that moment. Hearing that the Yanks of all clubs would be interested in him trying out made him almost jump for joy. However, he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Coach, he's still a freshman." Alex spoke up before Ken could.
Coach Boone's face morphed into one of shock. "You're a freshman!? At College!?" While he had done well to keep a straight face for the duration of Ken's pitching, he couldn't do so now after hearing this information.
"I just started classes this past Monday." Ken said sheepishly.
The coach stammered before he let out a curse. "Damn it, what do they feed kids these days?" He muttered.
A look of disappointment fell onto his face as he shook his head, "What a pity. We could have picked up a steal." He said, his voice tinged with regret.