Niihama, Japan – 11 January, 2031

“Sir, if I may?” the young American man, leaning far enough forward in his seat to cause it to rock forward, looked as though he might explode. It was with great patience, or so he imagined, that Andrew Moten sat through the presentation of materials, processes, equipment, and organizational talent that Kiyomitsu Kichikawa, the new Ghosts Hitting Czar, had meticulously organized and presented. Kichikawa, annoyed already, conceded the conversational floor to his young interviewee.

“The way I see it, you got yourself a big lil problem,” Andrew noted as he leaned back and planted the back legs of his chair back into the thin, flame retardant carpeting of his potential superior’s office. “A big ole GAIJIN problem.”

“I am not certain I follow your thoughts, Mr. Moten,” Kichikawa stated flatly.

“Don’t you worry, I’ll take you there,” Moten winked. “But you’ve also got yourself a problem of focus.”

“Focus?” Kichikawa obliged the rhetorical, exhausting what was left of his tolerance for the man’s tone and tact.
“Yessir. Focus and foreigners. You see you’re a Japanese organization. Not so much in culture, it don’t seem, but geographical wise. This organization is in Japan. And Japan has got itself a whole bunch of Japanese folk, you see?” Moten appeared to believe he had presented a complete and congruent thought.

Kichikawa plumbed the depths of his patience and found enough to once again, play the part of a man in need of education, “Again, Mr. Moten, I have yet to catch your meaning.”

“Well based on my experience in Shin Seiki and in Neo Tokyo, Japanese folk are wonderful. They’re kind. They’re polite. They’re proud. Proud of being Japanese. Proud that they aren’t not Japanese.” Koyomitsu closed the lid of his laptop and closed the portfolio in front of him. Sensing that he had exhausted the man’s patience, Moten hastened to his point, “You need a non-Japanese coach. Now it ain’t gotta be me, but Japanese folks – welcoming as they are – have a special way of making everyone not Japanese feel foreign. You’re going to take the best hitters you can find from all over the world, and for years, they will be headed towards being supported by a fanbase that largely views them as foreigners. That’s a tough feeling to overcome.”

Kiyomitsu looked at Andrew Moten with fresh eyes. He had not considered this man’s perspective, and although he would have appreciated a more straightforward discussion of the point, he saw its merits. “Please continue, Mr. Moten.”

Andrew Moten relaxed once more, though not so completely as he had a moment before. “A lot of players are going to need to feel at home if they ever want to reach their peak performance. A lot more are going to need to feel that if they’re ever going to re-sign with the club – especially for a hometown discount type of deal. That feeling starts day one. That’s why I think it’s imperative that the first coaching team they meet be multinational. Making a foreigner know that foreign is the norm and not the exception – like it was back in the LRS days – will go a long way toward building an powerhouse team.” It was as if the man’s accent had completely vaporized as he gained momentum in his speech. Kiyomitsu sat, impressed at the man’s ability to adjust to his audience, and asked, “You also mentioned an issue of ‘focus’?”

“Yessir. Your reputation for teaching contact precedes you. You spoke of Hirano’s focus on patience and Lollar and Ash focusing on power. I gotta say, I don’t know about you, but did you have a real sense of what you were going to be great at when you were 17? I didn’t. The rookie league coach should be a guy, or a gal I suppose, that can teach any hitter any skill. It don’t need to be perfect, that can come with time, but hell you’ve got to be able to make sure the kid that needs to focus on contact and the one that needs to focus on patience doesn’t get stuck while their coach is focused on improving power generation. A rookie league guy – shoot coach – should be a generalist of sorts, don’t you agree, sir?”

Kiyomitsu was ashamed not to have considered this. His plan was flawed and this man recognized it immediately. “I must admit, you are the only coach who has mentioned these flaws in my approach. I would be a terrible educator if I were myself unwilling to learn. You have my appreciation, Mr. Moten. And you have the job in Gohueng if you are willing to join us.”