Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 654 - 13: Jaw-Dropping Debut (Part 2)

"Lin, what do you think about today's game against the Red Sox?"

In Burkhardt's expectations, someone like Lin Guanglai, a young genius adorned with honors, was bound to be quite emotional and might even explode in front of the camera; but to his surprise, this boy who had just celebrated his 22nd birthday not long ago simply scratched his head and asked back:

"It's just a preseason game, Kevin—should I have any opinion?" Lin Guanglai looked a bit puzzled, shrugged at him, "Mookie Betts won't be playing, David Price isn't here either, I think you should ask me this question when we go to Fenway Park in the new season."

After saying that, Lin Guanglai turned and left, leaving behind Derek, who was laughing heartily, Ortiz looking displeased, and Burkhardt with a face full of surprise.

It wasn't until Lin Guanglai's back completely disappeared from the lens that Derek Jeter spoke again: "Kevin, have I ever mentioned that Lin is a natural Yankee—he's right, it's just a preseason game, maybe during the new season I really should consider going to Fenway Park to watch a game between the Yankees and the Sox..."

"Then I suggest you tuck your tail between your legs going in and coming out, or the Red Sox fans will surely 'welcome' you well." David Ortiz replied with a cold laugh.

Recovering from his surprise, Kevin Burkhardt quickly adjusted his posture and regained control of the hosting rhythm; however, he also had to admit that he was indeed becoming more and more interested in this newcomer, Lin Guanglai...

As the starting players of both teams got ready, at 10:00 am local time in Tampa, the 2017 preseason game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox officially began—the visiting Red Sox were first to bat, while the Yankees, playing at home, would bat second.

Amid the deafening chants of "Boston Sucks" at George Steinbrenner Field, Lin Guanglai made his first mound appearance in his Major League career; while in the batter's box 18.44 meters away, Andrew Benintendi also stepped in.

Since Red Sox manager John Farrell had repeatedly emphasized Lin Guanglai's strong capabilities within the team, although Benintendi was slightly unconvinced, he had indeed put in a lot of effort to prepare against Lin Guanglai—his batting strategy for this plate appearance was to avoid direct confrontation with Lin's fastball and focus solely on his breaking balls.

Meanwhile, on the pitcher's mound, Lin Guanglai was recalling the scouting report on Benintendi provided by his team:

As an outstanding product of the Boston Red Sox farm system, Benintendi possesses agility and speed that are above the Major League average, making him a certain threat when on the bases;

While in the batter's box, his good dynamic vision, superb pull hitting, and bat control skills were the keys to him reaching the Major League within just a year.

However, as a hitter who primarily relies on finesse hitting, Benintendi, who is set to turn 23 this season, lacks power and hitting accuracy, which has also become the key obstacle to his further progression.

For such technically skilled yet power-lacking hitters, Lin Guanglai already had ample experience dealing with them in Nippon Professional Baseball; even if compared to a Major League level, Lin's pitching is also at a Major League level.

Exchanging a glance with Gary Sanchez at home plate, Lin Guanglai gave a slight nod of agreement, and in the next second, the baseball in his hand was sent flying towards home plate.

Benintendi felt a gust of wind pass by him, and the baseball that had just left Lin Guanglai's fingertips vanished in an instant, only to land in the catcher's mitt with a resounding "pop" moments later.

Andrew Benintendi, he didn't even have time to react to that pitch, let alone swing!

"Fast, really fast!" This was Benintendi's initial impression of Lin Guanglai's fastball, not only was the velocity fast on paper, but the perceptual speed to the batter felt even faster.

Compared to the 99 mph fastball indicated on the scoreboard, the perceived speed was even quicker; more importantly, it was accurately placed in the inside corner—that was the most terrifying part!

"An amazing pitch!" Meanwhile, in the commentary booth, Derek Jeter also erupted in enthusiastic cheers, "According to Statcast data, not only did this fastball reach 99 mph, but it also had a fearsome spin rate of 2470 rpm—such intense rotation gives the baseball an upward visual effect as it crosses the plate, exponentially increasing the difficulty for the batter!"

As the saying goes, "Amateurs watch the fun, experts watch the clues," as a top batter with a career average over .300 and 3,465 career hits, Jeter may not have paid much attention to Lin Guanglai's performances before, but just from watching that one pitch, he reached a conclusion—

"The Yankees have struck gold!"

David Ortiz then looked seriously onto the field, barely shaking his head; but as a representative of the Red Sox, he tried to defend Benintendi a bit:

"The quality of this fastball is indeed high, but Andrew shouldn't be too discouraged—there aren't more than a handful of people in the entire league who can throw a 99 mph fastball with a spin rate over 2400 rpm, and in terms of quality, only Jacob deGrom of the Mets can compare..."