Chapter 7: Cutter

Today Rei got up early in the morning excited to try learning a new pitch. He got ready wearing his new clothes.

He wore a red t-shirt and black shorts. Ahem…he never said he would stop wearing black.

He came downstairs with his equipment to eat breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast his mother makes eggs and toast all the time for breakfast. It will be an occasion if she decides to change the menu. It was all right now since he had gotten used to it.

"Good morning", said Rei when he saw his family in the living room.

Everyone greeted him in response.

After finishing his breakfast Rei said, "Dad, you are taking me to the field today again, right?".

Reiji was eating his food happily, but when he heard Rei's question his spoon dropped to the floor.

*Clang* echoed the sound of the spoon dropping.

"Reiji!!!, act like a man, would you? Why are you so sloppy? are you a kid?", said Chiaki while cleaning his mess up.

"Sorry", said Reiji he dropped it because he was stunned at his son's question.

"Why do I keep forgetting about my son? That stupid soccer team is distracting me. Now how should I solve this?", thought Reiji while facepalming himself.

Rei squinted his eyes at his dad's actions.

"Sorry, Rei I won't be able to take you to the field", said Reiji apologetically.

"Again, but why?", questioned Rei frustratingly. Honestly, what does he expect from his dad?

"You see I was going to take the girls' soccer team training today to the field. So, I can't take you", said Reiji trying to explain himself.

Rei's ears widened when he heard that his father was a GIRL soccer team coach. He knew he was a soccer coach but not for GIRLS.

Here we go again. Rei in his previous life was a playboy. This was his messed-up personality trait, he would always flirt with good-looking girls whenever he saw one.

So now that he found a good chance to show off in front of girls with his baseball why wouldn't he?

"You know what, I have an idea why don't I go to the field with you guys", said Rei.

"Really wouldn't it be distracting having a soccer team near you", said Reiji.

"No, it's fine I won't be distracted at all", said Rei.

Reiji nodded and took his car keys getting ready to exit the house.

They both got in the car and arrived in the field minutes later.

"The team's already here. So, we will train on the soccer ground. If you need any help, come meet me", said Reiji getting out of the car.

Reiji didn't hear anything in response from his son. So, he looked around the car and there was no sign of his son.

Reiji figured his son had gone for his training already and walked toward the soccer team.

When he reached the team, he saw his son flirting with one of the girls.

He facepalmed himself thinking about what has gotten into his son.

"May I have the pleasure of knowing who you are?", said Rei holding one of the girl's hands and kissing it.

All the soccer team girl's blushed seeing this.

"REI", yelled Reiji.

"Girls it seems I must go. Important business", said Rei while smiling.

"What are you doing here? Go train, would you?", said Reiji dragging his son away.

Rei nodded and went back to his side of the ground to practice.

"Who's that? Is he your son, coach?", said one of the soccer team girls.

"Can we have his number?", said the girl's blushing.

Reiji shook his head cursing his son internally, 'what mess did you leave me with, Rei'.

At Rei's side of the ground

"Achoo….it seems someone talking behind my back", said Rei. He shrugged it off thinking it was nothing.

Rei's demeanor completely changed when he stood on the mound to practice pitching.

He threw some Four-seam Fastball first to warm up.

After the warm-up, he got to business and decided to try the cutter ball.

In his previous life, the cutter ball was Rei's primary pitch. So, he knew how to pitch the ball.

He just had to make his body learn and properly execute it.

Rei tried to remember information about the Cutter ball which could help him currently.

He wanted to turn the cutter ball into a skill like his Four Seam Fastball because then he can easily level it up.

The Grip of the cutter is like a fastball but while throwing a cutter you change the position of your index finger.

A four-seam fastball is straight and has 100% speed, but a cutter has sideways movement, 95% to 97% speed, and a sharp break when pitched.

Rei changed his grip on the baseball and got ready to pitch.

He was going to pitch a cutter. He winded up his glove, raised his left leg, swung back his arm with force, and released the ball.

The ball went 95 KM hitting the fence.

*Shutter**Shutter*

Rei smirked even though it didn't hit the strike zone it still satisfied him.

"I still got it in me", said Rei smirking while picking up the baseball.

He went back to the mound and pitched a cutter again, but it still hit the fence.

He kept trying for 4-5 hours but kept hitting the fence.

He sighed and shook his head in disappointment he just couldn't get it to hit the strike zone.

As it was getting late Reiji came toward Rei after saying goodbye to his soccer team.

When he approached Rei, he saw the frustrated look on his son's face because he kept hitting the fence.

"Hey, want to play catch," said Reiji to his son. He wanted to help his son relax.

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Rei looked toward his father and nodded.

He threw a glove toward his dad.

Reiji wore the gloves and threw the ball toward Rei.

"What's up, why did you suddenly want to play catch", said Rei catching the ball.

"I don't know you just seemed frustrated", said Reiji.

Rei was silent in response.

"You know these days you seemed different. You became more confident and active", said Reiji.

"Do you like the current me or the old me?", said Rei.

"I liked the previous one and the current one. You are my son after all. But I do like that you play sports now", said Reiji while smiling.

Both of them laughed and continued playing for a few minutes.

"I'll wait for you in the car when you are done come back", said Reiji walking towards his car.

Rei nodded and went back to his pitching practice.

He exhaled and inhaled on the mound trying to get the stress out of his mind.

He took his pitching position on the mound. He swung his arm back with force and released the ball aiming toward the strike zone.

The ball went 95 KM hitting the strike zone.

*Clang**Clang*

[Skill gained 'Cutter Ball']

"YAAAAAYYY!!!....", exclaimed Rei in happiness. He had finally gotten it to hit the strike zone and he was happy that he had gotten the skill.

"I guess the talk with dad helped", thought Rei as he continued to train.

In the Car with Reiji.

Reiji smiled looking out the window when he heard his son's scream of joy.

Rei continued to pitch the cutter ball, but he couldn't hit the strike zone continuously.

"Maybe the previous ball was a stroke of luck", thought Rei.

For 2 more hours, he pitched cutter and fastball mixing it up. Sometimes he would hit the strike zone with the cutter ball sometimes he wouldn't. it was a 30% chance he would hit the strike zone. It wasn't bad considering it was his first time.

[Congratulations Host has gained 0.2 Stat in Grip]

Rei stopped pitching and looked at the notification happily. Unknowingly he had thrown 100 pitches today.

He thought of his gains today and felt like it was a great day.

Rei thought of going back home because it had gotten quite late.

He took his equipment and went back to the car.

Reiji drove them back home.

Rei went upstairs to his room and did his daily quest before hitting the bed.

[Congratulations Host has gained '0.5 All Stats']

He sat on his bed exhausted and said, "Status".

[Status

Name: Rei Fujikawa

Position: Pitcher

Current Level: 1

Speed: 5+ (Can only be increased through practice)

Strength: 7.5+

Balance: 7.5+

Flexibility: 7.5+

Grip: 1.7+ (Can only be increased through practice)

(Skills)

Four-seam Fastball (level 4/10): when pitching this ball your chances of striking out the opponent increase by 14%.

Hitting (Level 1): Increases 5% your chance of touching the ball with a bat.

Cold- Heart (Level 4/10): Increases your focus and lets you make good decisions in matches by 20%.

Cutter Ball (Level 1/10): When pitching this ball, you have a 5% chance of breaking your opponent's bats.

Comment: Even though stats are still shit but you have become a trainee]

Rei was impressed looking at his stats. He looked at his new skill happily. He was even more glad when he looked at the skill's descriptions.

The saying 'breaking your opponent's bat' meant that the pitcher will throw more strikeouts. Which Rei gladly accepted, which pitcher wouldn't want to throw more strikeouts?

His fastball didn't level up because he didn't focus on it today.

Rei wanted to max out his fastball skill before the test and at least level up his cutter to level 5.

You may be wondering why Rei so badly wanted to learn Cutter now even though he hadn't maxed his other pitch yet.

Yes, one of the reasons was so that he can entice the Seido baseball team to make him join but another reason was for his future matches.

Cutters are not thrown by a large portion of Major League pitchers, but for some of the pitchers who possess a cutter, it is one of their primary pitches just like Rei in his previous life.

A pitcher with an effective cutter can break many bats. When thrown from a right-handed pitcher to a left-handed hitter, or from a lefty pitcher to a righty hitter, a cutter will quickly move in toward a hitter's hands. If the hitter swings, he often hits the ball on the smaller part -- or handle -- of the bat, causing it to break.

The key to a cutter is deception. Batters are accustomed to facing either straight four-seam fastballs or two-seam fastballs that break toward the pitcher's arm side. The cutter breaks in the opposite direction of a two-seamer and does so very late in its journey to home plate. This movement is designed to make sure the hitter can't hit the pitch squarely.

This makes the cutter ball a perfect weapon for confusing the batters.

Rei loved the look on the batter's faces once they were struck out by him.

He lay on his bed thinking about his future growth as he fell asleep.

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