Sawamura Eijun Yips Progression
July 31 Sawamura hits Shirakawa on the head in the 9th inning of Seido vs Inashiro Summer Tournament Finals Match.
Aug 2 Sawamura watches the match video with Miyuki and berates himself for being too inexperienced and as a result get affected by the pressure.
Aug 3-6 Sawamura is glad that he can still pitch properly in bullpen.
Aug 7-18 Seido vs. Saitama Sakai Practice Game Furuya pitch 7 innings give up 0 runs; Sawamura pitch 8th-9th inning, give up 0 runs Miyuki comment his pitches trajectory are “too easy”, Sawamura tells himself to “Calm down”.
Aug 19 Seido vs Kaiyou Practice Game, Furuya pitch 1-6th inning, Sawamura pitches in 6th-9th inning and gives up 1 run due to 1 Hit and 1 Walk in 7th inning. Miyuki comment “I told you trajectory was too easy.”
Aug. 27 Seido vs. Chiba Shoudai
before Sawamura is subbed in Miyuki says “Your control was never good to begin with, I wont ask the impossible of you. You pitched the opposite of what I requested. Because your form is unique, it works on practice games. As it is right now, it won’t work against that guy (Todoroki Raichi)”
Sawamura mislocates an inside pitch during the match. Later that night, they did a pitching review and Miyuki says: “That was a completely careless pitch.”
Aug 28 Seido vs Yakushi Practice Game
Sanada, Raichi and Mishima riles up Furuya and Sawamura before the match.
1st inning Furuya: “Can I pitch for the whole game today? My problem is that I don’t have the stamina to pitch late into the game. 3 innings is not enough for me.”
Kataoka: “No way! Instead of pitching for 9 innings it is important to get outs for the sake of the team. This game does not belong to you alone. But well I don’t mind letting you pitch longer, depending on you performance”
4th inning, Furuya is doing well. Sawamura is getting more threatened by him, becomes more tense. (Sawamura was supposed to be subbed in this inning btw. Meanwhile Kataoka was busy fulfilling his promise to Furuya)
Sawamura still doing fine in the bullpen, being loud and annoying while waiting for his turn.
At the 5th inning Sawamura, in the same fashion as Furuya asks Kataoka to be subbed in since that was the initial plan.
Sawamura: “Can I start pitching this inning?“
Kataoka: “You’re on standby.”
Sawamura: “Eh? No but..it’s already 5 innings according to the plan… (implying Furuya was supposed to pitch 3 innings and then hand over the mound to sawamura and then to kawakami probably)”
Kataoka: “That’s enough just be on standby. Being ready based on the situation is also A RELIEF PITCHER’S DUTY.”
Note that the pitchers were not briefed on this. Nothing in Miyuki’s pitcher review the night before implied this. Kataoka basically declared here that he already considered Furuya as Ace despite knowing how much the two were desperately vying for the position.
Also everyone (Miyuki, Furuya, the fielders, bench players) heard this except for Kawakami and Kariba who were in the bullpen.
Sawamura released his anger and tired himself in the bullpen. He is still up to his usual antics though. Which is quite positive of him after being cruelly shot down by Kataoka like that.
After the 6th inning Furuya is sent to the outfield and Sawamura is called in to pitch. Kataoka tells Furuya that he’ll rely on him in the Fall too (in front of everyone except for the pitchers in the bullpen.)
As if forgetting everything he said the day before (that he does not expect control from Sawamura and will not ask the impossible from him), Miyuki tells him to be ready to pitch cutters to the cleanups batting next.
Sanada is pitching well at top of the 7th. Sawamura recognizes that as the presence of the Ace. and becomes more tense remembering how Kataoka casually relegated him to “Relief Pitcher” in the 5th inning.
Bottom of 7th inning First on the box is 3rd batter Akiba
pitch1: fastball to the knees, sawamura throws to the dirt
pitch2: high inside which turned into a ball
pitch3: fastball to the knees, sawamura mislocates to middle, akiba lands a hit
pitch1: Fastball Outside corner, Ball (Miyuki: Your pitch didn’t deviate much from the position I indicated.) -> Sawamura could still pitch a proper outside fastball here
pitch2: inside cutter towards the chest (front door cutter), Sawamura mislocates to middle, Raichi hits 2 RBI homerun
Miyuki runs up to Sawamura on the mound and says this:
^^^ remember this was the guy who had been nagging about control for the past 3 weeks
pitch1 Inside Fastball, ball thrown to outside, ball
pitch2 inside crossfireto batter chest, mislocates down middle, sanada sends it to centerfield
Miyuki visits the mound for the 2nd time: “Don’t mind the trajectory much, your pitches have power. It’s alright, everyone is here.”
^^^ ONCE MORE dont forget this was the guy who’d been NAGGING ABOUT CONTROL AND SAWAMURA BEING CARELESS FOR THE PAST 3 WEEKS
Miyuki set up for an inside pitch AGAIN, Sawamura throws it high up to the fence. This results in a passed ball and Sawamura freezes up and is unable to cover the plate, letting all 3 runners come home
Miyuki asks Kataoka to pull him out. And Furuya fkiing Satoru says this
and this boy. despite all the sht people have said to him. from Miyuki to Kataoka to Furuya, still managed to apologize for his performance.
Kataoka’s horrible coaching + Miyuki’s blindness and shtty aggressiveness +The rival being insensitive af.
= HOW ONE KILLS A PITCHER’S SOUL
What could have been done right?
Kataoka should have talked to Sawamura personally after the deadball that it was not his fault and it’s normal.
The timing of telling Sawamura he has been relegated to Relief Pitcher WAS HORRIBLE. If you look at it Furuya asked to be put in the match for the whole 9 innings which was not practical given his neglect of improving his stamina for the past month. Sawamura just realistically asked to be subbed in the inning that they planned. Kataoka did not have to respond like that as if he just wanted Sawamura to stfu and wait.
Miyuki should have talked to Sawamura what was wrong in the first 3 practice matches. Did he not study which pitches had the weak trajectories? Did he not see a pattern? Sawamura pitched a total of 8 innings in the practice matches before facing the Yakushi batters. If it was not obvious yet then,
Miyuki for fukcs sake should have stopped asking for CONSECUTIVE INSIDE PITCHES after Raichi’s AB in the Yakushi practice because he already knew Sawamura kept mislocating them. Pitching to the inside takes a LOT of accuracy and courage and Miyuki kept demanding that from Sawamura again and again to every batter that came up in the 7th inning.
FURUYA SHOULD HAVE SHUT UP.
“sawamura needed to be broken in yakushi practice match to see what really was wrong!”
I disagree. He was pitching decently in the practice matches before the yakushi practice match. Only the insides were mislocated. It could have been more manageable when his trauma was only hitting Shirakawa to the head. Now his memories regarding inside pitches have Raichi’s homer and the rest of yakushi batters hits + getting pulled off the mound in the inning he was sent in.
Listen. Sawamura CAN pitch outside low fasballs DECENTLY as early as Act 1 Seido vs Yakushi Summer Tournament. But this tragic practice match vs Yakushi sealed that ability too. It would take the whole of September for him to even get back the feel of pitching proper outside pitches and then the rest of October to get the rest of his pitching back.
“Miyuki was just trying his best because he was the new captain and he’s so young and prone to make mistakes.”
I also disagree with putting off the blame from Miyuki like this. What he did to Sawamura in the Yakushi practice match was a repetition of 9th inning Seido vs Inashiro. He has not learned anything yet. At this point Miyuki does not deserve to be called “best catcher of his generation.” He broke his own pitcher and that’s that.
(granted miyuki helped put sawamura back together but that essay has been done countless times already)
