The Old Baseball Player System

Months later, Tokyo, Japan.

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The beautiful pink cherry blossoms announced the arrival of spring in Tokyo. In the courtyard of Shoto Junior High School, all the students formed lines as they attended the opening ceremony for the new school year.

Today marked the beginning of Shun's third and final year in middle school, and with it, his last chance to win the Kanto Tournament. After the opening ceremony, Shun went to class, and once classes ended, he headed to the baseball field with Kenta and Ren.

One of the new things this year was that Ren was now in the same class as Shun and Kenta, so the three friends spent even more time together.

"Kenta!" - A female voice called out from behind the three friends, making them stop in their tracks.

"Let's go to the field together!" - The lovely Mio Shimizu said with a smile as she held Kenta's hand. The boy felt a little embarrassed but didn't pull his hand away. The two began walking to the field like a cute teenage couple, leaving two jealous boys behind.

"That lucky bastard..." - Ren gritted his teeth as he cursed his fortunate friend.

"Let's go." - Shun sighed as he started walking. This scene had become quite common in recent months. Mio had joined the baseball club as an assistant after learning they were struggling with a lack of members.

Of course, she couldn't play and solve the problem directly, but thanks to her presence, they managed to convince some people to join the team. It was impressive how motivated the boys became when they found out there was a beautiful assistant in the club.

Additionally, some former club members regretted quitting and decided to return. As a result, the team had enough members to participate in tournaments.

However, due to the players' lack of experience and the disorganization that followed the departure of the previous third-year members, they hadn't performed well in any of the tournaments they had participated in so far.

Today was the day the new first-year students joined the team, and Shun was excited to see if any great talents would join. Well, he knew it was unlikely, but last year someone with incredible talent like Jiro joined the team, so why not this year?

Besides, even if no one particularly talented joined the team, he was confident they could perform well in the Tokyo tournament in July and, possibly, in the Kanto tournament as well. Of course, this confidence was different from the arrogance he once had, he no longer underestimated his opponents. The truth was that he and his teammates had become much stronger.

The four of them arrived at the baseball field, and while Mio went to the bench to prepare things for practice, the three friends headed to the club room. They quickly changed and returned to the field.

Coach Yamada was already on the field. Behind him was a line of about 12 players, all second-year students. In front of him was another line, this time with only five players. Shun looked at their young faces, and although he didn't recognize any of them, he knew who they were.

Shun, Kenta, and Ren wasted no time and quickly joined the line behind the coach. They closely examined the faces of the five first-year students, evaluating the new team members.

"Good morning, everyone! I am the coach of this club, Coach Yamada! If you're here, it's because you want to join the Shoto Junior High School baseball team. So, before anything else, I'll give you a warning! If you don't intend to take practice seriously, this team is not for you! If you don't plan to leave your blood and sweat on the field, this team is not for you!

I'll give you all a chance: if you're not willing to dedicate yourselves, then leave now!" - Coach Yamada spoke with authority, making the newcomers tremble. Even Shun felt a bit afraid of his coach, but luckily, he was no longer the boy who used to skip practices.

The coach stared at the five newcomers, and after realizing none of them were going to quit, he gave a slight smile and said:

"Good. If you're willing to dedicate yourselves, I welcome you! Now I'll let your captain say a few words!"

As soon as Shun heard this, he patted Kenta on the back, making the boy step forward. Kenta had been chosen by both the coach and Shun and Ren to be the new team captain.

"Good morning, everyone! I'm the captain of this team, Kenta Kobayashi! If you need anything, feel free to talk to me! Welcome to the team!" - Kenta said with a smile. Shun noticed that the newcomers seemed more at ease after seeing Kenta being friendly. He couldn't help but approve of his friend's attitude, Kenta was truly the most suitable person to be captain.

After that, Coach Yamada asked the newcomers to introduce themselves one by one. Shun took this opportunity and asked the system to show their stats.

As expected, most of the players were quite average, with nothing particularly special. This made sense, considering that the most talented players competed in the senior league, and even if they joined a school team, they would go to elite schools like Seishin or even a rising school like Hokuto, which had won last year's Kanto tournament.

However, the last boy to introduce himself caught Shun's attention.

"Ryosuke Sugano! Center Fielder!" - The boy said his name and position. He was tall for his age, had brown hair and black eyes, and though his face was still childish, it already showed signs that he would be popular with girls in the future.

[Ryosuke Sugano

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Overall: C+

PITCHING: D+

BATTING: B-

FIELDING: B-

RUNNING: B+

GAME IQ: F+

Overall Potential: SSS-]

"What the hell? Why is someone like this here?" - Shun was confused. He hadn't expected such a talented player to join the team, especially someone who was already so skilled. Shun couldn't help but wonder why someone with such talent wasn't in the senior league, but he quickly shook his head.

It didn't matter why. What was important was that the team had gained another valuable addition. Shun smiled as he looked at the new gem he had found, he was already imagining how good Ryosuke would become after going through his training.

After everyone had introduced themselves, the coach instructed everyone to run a few laps around the field to warm up. Shortly after, he positioned himself at home plate to start hitting balls for the fielding practice.