Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 649 - 11: Newcomer Joins the Team (Part 2)

The composition of the Yankees coaching team aligns well with Lin Guanglai's understanding. Except for the head coach, Girardi, who has over ten years of Major League player experience, many others had player careers that were far from successful. This is completely understandable, as the star players who dominate the Major League often find it hard to understand the difficulties of typical players.

After meeting the coaching team, the head coach's office door was pushed open, and someone walked in—it was none other than the team's current number one starting pitcher, Tanaka Masahiro.

Girardi waved at Lin Guanglai, "Lin, Tanaka will take you to meet with the other players on the pitcher team. I hope you all get along well."

Lin Guanglai nodded and followed Tanaka Masahiro out.

After they closed the door and left, Rothschild began speaking to Girardi, "Lin is a very polite player, completely different from the image of those top geniuses I have in mind. He seems very easy to get along with."

Matsui Hideki thought about which domestic Japanese media reports and replied with a laugh, "That's only off the field—once spring training or even official games begin, when he stands on the pitcher's mound or batter's box, that's when you'll see the real him."

"It doesn't matter what kind of person Lin is," Girardi cut off his partners' discussion, "As long as he can integrate into the team and bring victories, humility or arrogance doesn't matter—in the Yankees, only victory is crucial. It's been almost 10 years since we last won a championship. With Lin joining this season, I think we may have a chance."

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"So, how's the life in the United States treating you? Isn't New York quite different from Tokyo and Fukuoka?"

On the way from the head coach's office to the locker room, Tanaka Masahiro and Lin Guanglai, once rivals and now teammates, engaged in a conversation about living in Japan and the U.S.

"It's rather okay, life and diet are fine. However, the weather still needs some getting used to—New York's winter is indeed colder compared to Fukuoka." Lin Guanglai shrugged and replied.

Tanaka Masahiro laughed heartily, "Indeed, when I first came to New York, it took me quite a while to adapt. But my wife didn't mind; her hometown is Hokkaido, and she can handle the cold better than me, a Hyogo person—by the way, Guanglai, do you want to come over for dinner tonight? My wife has been saying she'd love to meet you."

Facing Tanaka Masahiro's invitation, Lin Guanglai gladly accepted—when away from home, it's always best to stick together more, as fellow Asians, there's a lot more common ground.

"Everyone in the Yankees is easy to get along with, especially our pitcher team. Players like Sabathia and Chapman have great personalities. If I'm not around, you can reach out to any of them…" As they got closer to the locker room, Tanaka Masahiro introduced his teammates to Lin Guanglai.

"However, you should keep an eye on Luis Severino, the young pitcher who's a year older than you. He seems to harbor some hostility towards you—as you know, he's just a year older, seeing you possibly being the greatest competition for his spot in the starting rotation… Not everyone knows your capabilities like I do, aware that you are most likely to replace my current number one starter position."

"If something's bothering you, just speak up; the U.S. doesn't abide by our Japanese ways. As long as you show enough skill to make them shut up, they will stop talking." At this point, Tanaka Masahiro paused, became serious, and reminded Lin Guanglai, "But no matter what, it's an internal locker room matter and must not be leaked to outsiders, understood, Guanglai?"

Tanaka Masahiro has his reasons for expressing this. As one of the Major League's biggest teams in terms of attention, the Yankees attract a lot of media focus even during spring training, and Lin Guanglai's arrival will undoubtedly escalate this situation;

To prevent Lin Guanglai from making mistakes due to unfamiliarity and being taken advantage of by unscrupulous journalists, he, as a senior, felt obliged to remind him of relevant matters.

Lin Guanglai also became serious, nodded, and made a promise, "Don't worry, Senior Tanaka, I'm not one for dramas—and I'm confident in my abilities, so I don't think Severino can cause any trouble for me."

Tanaka Masahiro shook his head with a smile—indeed, such a response was just as he knew Lin Guanglai to be, "In that case, let's go meet the pitcher team and our teammates."

Standing in front of the locker room door, Tanaka Masahiro stepped forward and pushed it open, "Guys, we have a new member!"

Black, white, Asian; American, Latin, Asian… For the first time in his career, Lin Guanglai witnessed such a diverse team composition in a locker room. Previously in Japan, although there were foreign players in the Softbank team, they only accounted for a small part.

Only now did Lin Guanglai realize that he seemed to have never had the experience of actively integrating into an entirely unfamiliar team:

At Waseda Industries, he was recruited directly by coach Izumi Minoru as a special talent, earning everyone's approval from the start;