CHAPTER 358: CHAPTER 9: A FEW MATTERS IN THE DORM

Kyushu Region, Fukuoka, Nishi-Hotsaki District – the area is scenic, surrounded on three sides by the sea, complete with various convenient facilities, and is one of the renowned resort sanctuaries in Fukuoka City.

The dormitories for the rookie players of the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks are also located here: players typically call it the West Hotsaki Dormitory, but officially SoftBank has named it the "Wakatoshi Dormitory," which in Japanese means "young eagle."

This name expresses the team’s good wishes for the young players: selected young talents come here from all over the country to receive professional-level training and gradually grow, until they truly become eagles soaring in the blue sky, officially joining the first team, and then spreading their wings in the Yahoo Dome.

Lin Guanglai has been living here for a while now—the team provides young players with standard single rooms, which, although not particularly large, have standalone bathrooms and balconies, making them clean and bright enough.

Most importantly, right next to the Wakatoshi Dormitory is a professional baseball training ground, which greatly reduces the time players need to spend on travel during training and makes it much easier to have spontaneous extra practice.

It must be said that the SoftBank Group is indeed one of the most famous big companies in all of Japan, as even the facilities and equipment provided for the young players are among the best; besides, because Lin Guanglai has already been confirmed to join the first team in the new season, as an official member of the first team, even equipment wear and tear can be reimbursed by the team.

Some fans who are not so familiar with the inner workings of professional baseball might think, ah, aren’t things like baseball equipment supposed to be reimbursed by the team—if it were in Major League Baseball in the United States, such a statement indeed wouldn’t be much of an issue.

Unlike the MLB, which spends millions of dollars every year just on player equipment, in Nippon Professional Baseball, aside from the specified supply of items, the remaining wear and tear due to training and games often have to be paid out of pocket by the players.

For players with salaries in the tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of yen, these equipment expenses are naturally not an issue; however, for young players who have just entered the league and have little to no income guarantee, every instance of equipment wear and tear is undoubtedly another stab into their already thin earnings.

Take, for instance, the bat that almost every baseball player must use. Wooden bats are very prone to breaking if the hitting position is incorrect, especially for high school graduates who just switched from metal to wooden bats;

A new wooden bat meeting professional game specifications, even at the most economical and cheapest price, costs between 15,000 to 30,000 yen; if you consider whether it fits well and requires customization, you might have to spend over 50,000 yen.

Generally speaking, the annual salary of an ordinary young player is about 5 million yen, and after deducting taxes, living expenses for the dormitory, possible social engagements, money sent home, etc., the financial condition is already very tight; if you add the cost of equipment wear and tear on top of that, very few young people can bear it.

In professional baseball teams, often the first thing rookie players do upon joining is to visit senior players from the same high school or college and ask for their guidance, partly due to this reason—at the very least, the discarded equipment from financially strong seniors is a valuable asset for the newcomers.

Although Lin Guanglai was the top draft pick and will attract a lot of sponsors once he performs, he was still awestruck by the team’s generosity:

A season involves 143 official games, professional games are inherently intense, and equipment wear and tear are unavoidable—considering the number of people involved, it isn’t a small figure; now that the team has covered this potential expense, it relieves a lot of people’s worries.

In Nippon Professional Baseball, prior to this, the only team Lin Guanglai knew of with such benefits was the Yomiuri Giants. It has to be said that the SoftBank Hawks, as an emerging force rising in recent years, truly surpass other teams in their ability to spend money freely.

"Knock, knock."

Hearing a knock on the door, Lin Guanglai walked to the entrance and opened the door to see a familiar face.

"Ah, Yuusuke, it’s you—what’s up?"

The visitor, named Murasawa Yuusuke, is a fellow player who joined the SoftBank Team at the same time as Lin Guanglai.

Aside from the player development draft, in the 2012 draft meeting, SoftBank Team acquired a total of 6 players, 4 of whom were either university or company team players with immediate playing capability, and only the top pick Lin Guanglai and fourth pick Murasawa Yuusuke were high school graduates.

Apart from joining at the same time, both Murasawa Yuusuke’s and Lin Guanglai’s parents are from China—this shared experience and identity quickly made them friends.

"Guanglai, do you want to go practice some hitting at the training ground?" Murasawa Yuusuke invited, looking at Lin Guanglai, who was slightly taller than himself.

Lin Guanglai gladly accepted.

The two young men, one a super talent aiming for the rookie of the year and Japan’s Number One in interviews, and the other expressing his future goal as becoming the triple crown champion of Nippon Professional Baseball—both filled with hope and ambition for the future, which was indeed an important reason they got along well.

However, just as the two reached the dorm entrance, Lin Guanglai was stopped from moving forward. After inquiry, he learned that the person was a journalist for the SoftBank Team, here specifically to interview the newcomers, and Lin Guanglai, being both the top pick and naturally the most famous, was the first to be interviewed.

Offering an apologetic look to Murasawa Yuusuke and promising to find another opportunity to treat him to a meal in compensation later, Lin Guanglai followed the team reporter to the public area of the dormitory, found a place to sit, and started the interview.

The main purpose of today’s interview was for commercial development: since the signing ceremony, the personal support materials for this year’s new players have already been available in the team’s official store—Lin Guanglai, worthy of being a national high school baseball star, saw his related products in high demand immediately after release, with sales continuously rising and restocked several times.

Good-looking and skilled, the SoftBank Team’s publicity staff were even considering promoting Lin Guanglai as one of the team’s faces once the new season starts and he puts in the expected performances.

Interviews, practice, occasionally going out with peers—the days passed unnoticed like this.

When February arrived, spring training began.