"Don't listen to him Ken, this is just a silly game we play to pass the time during Spring Training." Edward appeared shortly after, sending Jake a glare.
"The man made a bet, there's no backing off now Ed." Jake shrugged, letting out a chuckle. "Of course, he could still go back on his word if he can't afford to lose."
"I don't make losing bets." Ken said simply, "Nor do I go back on my word."
Rohan felt that the atmosphere was going a little pear shaped, but he was not confident enough to calm it down. After all, most of these guys had been in the Majors for some time already.
"Haha, atta' boy." A guy with a shaved head spoke up with a grin. "Looks like our rooks have got some balls. I'm looking forward to seeing the results."
Ken's eyes gazed at the man, trying to remember who he was. He looked a little intimidating, but he seemed kind of nice, it surprised him.
'That must be Terry Skubal, the one they call Scary Terry on the mound.' Ken thought. He could understand where the guy got the nickname.
Jake shrugged, "We'll see how big his balls are when its time to pay up."
From then on, the atmosphere remained a little tense, but thankfully the food was quite delicious. It was quite a bit different to Texas barbecue that Ken had come to love, but it had its own charm.
At the end of the lunch, Ken and the others grabbed their bags from Edward's car and bid him farewell.
"Are you sure you don't want a lift back?" Ed asked.
"It's fine, we'll catch a taxi back to the hotel a bit later." Ken replied, "Thanks for the lunch."
As he drove away, Daichi placed his hand on Ken's shoulder. "You really didn't have to do that for me back there big bro."
"What do you mean? I'm about to make an easy $100k." He said with a grin.
The two laughed in good spirit, leaving Rohan close by feeling a little awkward. "What's the plan now? Are you going back to the hotel?"
"I want to pitch some more before the end of the day. Did you want to join in?" Ken asked.
However, Rohan shook his head. "It's going to be a long couple of weeks, I need to conserve my energy. I'm still working on getting my fitness back to where it used to be. Thanks anyway."
Rohan said his farewells, leaving Ken and Daichi alone.
"You up to catch some of my pitches?" Ken asked with a grin.
"How many?"
"Not a lot, maybe 300?"
Daichi shook his head, "You'll destroy my hand if I do that."
Now that he thought about it, it mustn't feel great to have to catch 100mph balls over and over, even with the thicker catchers glove. Ken felt a little bad for all the catchers who had needed to experience such pain in the past.
"I'll catch some for you, but you should try using a dish towel if you want to work on your form. That way no one will have to catch for you." Daichi explained.
"Dish towel?"
And so around an hour later, Ken was taught the dish towel drill. Surprisingly enough, the training was much better than he had expected. Not only could he work on his form and extension, the strain of throwing the ball was gone completely.
'Maybe I can increase my pitching grade like this?' Ken thought, his mind going over the possibilities.
"Why didn't I know about this sooner?" Ken asked excitedly.
"Well… You've always been a rogue when it comes to training by yourself. I actually feel sorry for your coaches in the past." Daichi quipped.
"Eh?"
Ken was too stunned to reply, but seeing the grin on his brothers face, he couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, maybe I deserved that." He admitted, slapping his brother on the back, ensuring to use a little more force than necessary.
They trained for a while longer before heading back to the hotel for the night. Ken went through his usual Image Training that night and managed to get to bed at a reasonable time.
The next week was filled with long days of tests and physical conditioning. As each day passed, more and more people were sent home, not making the cut for the 26-man team.
However, the 3 rookies Ken, Daichi and Rohan had managed to stick around for now.
Daichi and Ken were able to show off their impressive batting prowess, shocking Jake who had made the earlier bet with Ken. While Daichi was unassuming, his power and pitch intuition were second to none, even on a Major League team.
Like this, they made a name for themselves amongst the team.
After only a single day off on Sunday, they all returned to Publix Park on Monday. Out of the 40 that they started with, there were only 28 left.
"Good morning everyone." Mark said with a smile. "Today we'll be facing the Pittsburgh Raiders in a friendly match, I expect everyone to play their best, regardless of how little playing time you get."
Ken's heart surged, they would be playing a game?
He had expected an intersquad game or something, but not an actual friendly against another Major League team. He couldn't help but get excited.
Even Daichi next to him seemed to be itching to go.
"Remember, we won't just be looking at individual plays, so if I see you doing anything selfish for the detriment of others, I'll take you out of the game. Play as a team, make the right plays." Mark added, his gaze moving over the team.
"If I call your name, you'll be starting."
Ken's grandfather then proceeded to call out the players one by one. Most of the players were the backups, apart from Terry Skubal who would be as starting pitcher.
Ken wasn't too disappointed, there were 9 innings. He would get his chance.