Baseball: A Two-Way Player-Chapter 658 - 15: Youth Without Limits

Returning to the first base dugout from the batter's box, to the surprise of many journalists and media both on-site and in front of the TV, Manny Machado did not show the frustrated breakdown they expected after being easily struck out by Lin Guanglai;

Instead, the young star from Baltimore was simply removing his gear piece by piece while carefully recalling the details of that last at-bat.

Even though Machado, with his quick wit, maintained a dismissive attitude towards Lin Guanglai during interviews with the media, in truth, only he and his team knew the extent of research the Baltimore Orioles had conducted on the Yankees, especially Lin Guanglai, recently.

Although many of the videos were from Lin Guanglai's time in Nippon Professional Baseball, they revealed his abilities far surpassed those of other Japanese players—because of this, Machado already had certain expectations of Lin Guanglai's capabilities in his mind;

As for sticking to his previous assertions during interviews, on the one hand, he truly had enough confidence in his abilities to believe he could defeat Lin Guanglai; on the other hand, it was the pride of youth unwilling to concede easily to anyone.

However, only when he faced Lin Guanglai as a batter in a real game did Manny Machado clearly realize that seeing something is one thing, but actually doing it is entirely different.

At least from his perspective, dealing with Lin Guanglai now was no easier than trying to walk away unscathed against future Hall of Fame pitchers like Kershaw and Verlander;

Not to mention, Lin Guanglai had the advantage of timing and harmony and had not pitched a single ball in the United States, rendering him a blank slate to data analysis teams of many teams, with no sufficient samples to formulate strategies.

The only good news might be that today's starter Kevin Gausman seemed to be in great shape, and in the following top of the second inning, he once again, with the help of the infield defense, got the slow-start Yankees lineup out three up, three down—in this inning, Machado, who was just struck out, also regained some confidence and feel for the game through defense.

But the confidence he had just reestablished was soon shattered again in the next half-inning by Lin Guanglai—

"Strikeout, strikeout, and another strikeout! Lin from Asia has completely dominated the mound in his MLB debut! The Orioles' hitters have no answer for him! What a brilliant pitching display, that sinking trajectory was sheer art, a perfect curve only Michelangelo could carve!"

The American broadcaster's footage was replaying the moment:

The baseball thrown by Lin Guanglai suddenly sank over 30 inches in front of home plate, catching the Baltimore Orioles' batters off guard, and eliciting shocked expressions from the home crowd behind home plate.

Consider this: Lin Guanglai was not facing some faceless Major League player this inning; the Orioles' cleanup hitter Chris Davis is a top-tier slugger who, at his peak, could hit 53 home runs in a single season and consistently deliver over 35 home runs if healthy over the past five seasons—

Yet even such a formidable slugger couldn't last long against Lin Guanglai, going down with a clean and straightforward strikeout.

It wasn't until then that many Major League players and audiences realized that the off-season's hype and public opinion, aside from the media's sensationalist headlines, were indeed accurate in their reports on Lin Guanglai's abilities!

"Look at the expressions on American fans in the broadcast footage, clearly shocked by the pride of our Nippon Professional Baseball..." The Japanese commentators felt a sense of satisfaction and pride. "And this is not all his skills—dear viewers, in the next top half of the inning, Lin Guanglai, taking part as a dual player and batting seventh, will have his first at-bat of his Major League career!"

As if something occurred to him, the commentator's voice rose several pitches: "Before this, in his debut at any level, Lin Guanglai managed at least one home run—in the United States this year, at Baltimore's Oriole Park, can he continue this miraculous record?"

Amid the not-yet-dispersed noise of Oriole Park, Lin Guanglai donned his batting gear and slowly walked to the left batter's box on the right side of home plate, positioning himself in a batting stance—having the data-gathering materials on hand and having watched six full at-bats from the dugout, Lin Guanglai had developed some thoughts.

First, a battle of endurance was necessary—after all, Gausman was a key starter in a Major League team's rotation and was off to a great start today; breaking through against him all at once was clearly impossible, especially with those regular fastballs exceeding 100 mph, something Lin Guanglai rarely encountered in Japan.

But no matter how good his condition was, the ceiling of his raw strength was evident here:

Kevin Gausman might hold a mainstay role in a mid-tier team like the Orioles, but he wasn't a pitcher at the pinnacle of Major League hierarchy;