Perfect Agent [EN]: Chapter 126

126. Finding a Way to Make It Work (2)

When I went down to the underground training facility, the players were gathered in one place.

They didn’t seem to be training, so I wondered what they were doing.

I quietly approached them.

Seo Seong-min was sitting on the floor, surrounded by Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju.

Seo Seong-min was hitting his glove with a shaper, bending it this way and that to mold it.

“Infielders need to be able to catch ground balls comfortably, so it’s good to shape it like this.”

As if his work was done, he handed the glove to Park Seong-ju.

“Try gripping it once.”

Park Seong-ju put on the glove Seo Seong-min handed him, moved his fingers, and his eyes widened.

“Oho!”

“You need to make it move the same way as your fingers, so it’s easier to catch the ball. Even if it shakes, the chance of dropping it decreases.”

“It really feels different.”

“I’ll roll you some balls, so go catch them.”

Park Seong-ju took a few steps back, and Seo Seong-min bounced the ball and threw it.

Park Seong-ju caught the rolling ball without difficulty.

“Wow, it feels like the ball comes into my hand and sticks to it. Is the glove completely different?”

“Even if the glove fits well in your hand, errors are greatly reduced.”

“That’s amazing.”

Seo Seong-min smiled contentedly at Park Seong-ju’s exclamation.

“Senior, can you do mine too?”

Oh Seok-hoon brought his glove and handed it to Seo Seong-min.

“Of course, I’ve worked on a lot of outfielder gloves, so I know them well.”

Seo Seong-min skillfully worked on Oh Seok-hoon’s outfielder glove as well.

He didn’t hesitate to shape not only infield gloves but also outfield gloves.

I quietly watched this scene before joining the conversation.

“Senior, your glove-taming skills are extraordinary!”

“I’ve moved around so many positions. I needed so many gloves that I ended up doing the taming myself.”

Seo Seong-min pressed Oh Seok-hoon’s glove here and there and smiled awkwardly.

“Okay, Seok-hoon, try using it.”

Oh Seok-hoon, who received the glove from Seo Seong-min, put on the glove and moved his hand.

“Oh, it really feels different.”

As expected, Oh Seok-hoon’s eyes widened, and he picked up a ball.

Then, he exchanged the ball with Park Seong-ju several times.

“How can the feeling be so different just by fixing one glove?”

Oh Seok-hoon still seemed amazed as he continued to grip the ball in his glove.

“The two of you are already good at defense, so changing one glove won’t make a big difference, but it will still help a little.”

Seo Seong-min, who got up from his seat, already had his back soaked with sweat.

Squatting in the hot weather and taming gloves for a long time didn’t seem like an easy task.

“I wish I knew all this stuff back then; I think I would have been good as an infielder too……”

Oh Seok-hoon said quietly, lost in old thoughts.

Come to think of it, Oh Seok-hoon was also one of the players who moved around the infield and outfield without a fixed position until recently.

“Senior, where did you learn this? I don’t think the coaches taught you this?”

Park Seong-ju looked at Seo Seong-min with curious eyes and asked.

“If I were good at baseball like you guys, I wouldn’t have been interested in this. But I’m not, so I thought I should do something, and I ended up doing this.”

Oh Seok-hoon, as if reminded of his past self, had a deeply sympathetic expression.

“That’s amazing. It was really difficult for me to defend while moving around positions like that.”

“Of course, it’s not like I’m good at defending in every position, so it’s a bit much for me to say this. But I thought this was the only way to get even one more chance at bat, so I somehow managed to do it.”

It was his effort to survive in the pros [professional leagues].

We were sharing various stories about gloves when,

Ding-dong. Ding-dong.

The doorbell rang.

Who could be coming here at this hour?

I hurriedly went up to the first floor.

“Oh? Senior!”

After confirming the person on the screen, I ran out to the gate.

Drrr-

The person pulling the carrier was Go Ji-hoon, who had returned after nearly two months of inpatient treatment.

“How have you been?”

“Is your body okay?”

“I’m really much better now. I just need to receive treatment regularly as an outpatient.”

Go Ji-hoon said with a bright smile.

-The back pain has decreased a lot after receiving treatment and rehabilitation training.

-I feel good about my improving physical condition.

Go Ji-hoon looked around the exterior of the dorm and couldn’t hide his surprise.

“As expected, our agency’s facilities are really good.”

“It’s still lacking, but we will try to provide a better environment in the future.”

“Lacking? It seems better than YJ Agency.”

As I passed through the yard with Go Ji-hoon, Oh Seok-hoon, Park Seong-ju, and Seo Seong-min came out to greet us.

“Senior, you’re here?”

“How have you been?”

“We’ve been waiting so long to see you, Senior.”

Park Seong-ju approached Go Ji-hoon and massaged his shoulders.

“My wife told me to give this to you guys again.”

Go Ji-hoon handed something to Oh Seok-hoon and Park Seong-ju.

“Wow, what is this?”

Park Seong-ju’s eyes widened.

“Seok-hoon said he liked cookies last time, so she made them again.”

“Oh, I’ll enjoy them.”

Oh Seok-hoon received the cookies with an impressed expression.

“Your sister-in-law is also a fan of Seok-hoon, right?”

Park Seong-ju asked with a sulky expression.

“She likes you a lot too, Seong-ju.”

Go Ji-hoon patted Park Seong-ju’s shoulder as if consoling a child.

Then, Go Ji-hoon saw Seo Seong-min, who was a senior on the same team, and greeted him happily.

“Seong-min hyung [older brother/senior].”

“Ji-hoon, it’s good to see you here.”

“I heard you joined the agency. Let’s work hard together.”

“Please take care of me.”

Go Ji-hoon and Seo Seong-min shook hands.

“Let’s go inside.”

We divided Go Ji-hoon’s luggage and went into the dorm.

As Go Ji-hoon rejoined, the agency dorm began to bustle again.

* * *

I called Seo Seong-min to the office for a moment and sat facing him.

“Seong-min Senior, please sit comfortably here.”

“Yes.”

Sensing that we were going to have a serious conversation, a sense of tension was felt in Seo Seong-min’s expression.

“How is your training going these days?”

“It’s really good. The facilities are good, and the players I’m with are friendly.”

“Is your wife doing okay?”

“She has a bit of morning sickness, but other than that, she’s doing well.”

“Did you tell her about the current situation?”

“Yes… It wasn’t easy.”

“That’s right…”

Delivering the news that you were suddenly released to your beloved family couldn’t be easy.

Especially after learning that your wife was pregnant.

“But when I told her that I was training at Dream Agency, she was relieved. She said that if I work hard according to your advice, there will be good results.”

“I’m grateful that she sees it that way.”

“I will work hard at everything in the future.”

Fortunately, Seo Seong-min’s expression brightened a little.

Now it was time to bring up a somewhat heavy story.

“How is the training going?”

“I’m working hard, but…”

Seo Seong-min trailed off.

I could guess what he was going to say without him having to answer.

“What is the most difficult part?”

“Well, my weakness is clear. I’m trying to compensate for it, but… the ability to cope with breaking balls doesn’t seem to improve just by trying.”

Seo Seong-min said with a bitter expression.

“Have you done a lot of breaking ball training before?”

“Of course. I’ve really done every training that could be helpful.”

I felt sorry for him when I thought about how he must feel now that he couldn’t compensate for his weakness even though he worked so hard.

“I have a new method to suggest.”

“What is it?”

Seo Seong-min’s eyes widened with interest.

“Before that, the training you have to do will probably be twice as hard as it has been so far… would you be okay with that?”

“If I can go back to a professional team, I’m confident I can do it not just twice, but ten times as hard.”

I could even feel a determined resolution in Seo Seong-min’s eyes.

Then I think I can talk about it.

“Then, how about trying to become a switch hitter this time?”

“Switch… hitter? Not converting to a right-handed hitter?”

Seo Seong-min stuttered, as if he hadn’t expected it at all.

“You’re originally right-handed, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Seo Seong-min was a right-handed pitcher and left-handed batter who threw the ball with his right hand but batted with his left hand.

Most of those types were right-handed, but often only batted with their left hand.

In baseball, there were advantages to batting with the left hand rather than the right hand, so there were quite a few cases of switching to the left hand.

“Then have you ever batted with your right hand?”

“I did when I first started playing baseball. Then I heard that left-handed batters were advantageous, so I switched to the left hand.”

Still, the fact that he had experienced it even for a short time was positive news.

“Then I think you can definitely bat with your right hand if you practice?”

“It’s been so long since I batted with my right hand that it feels awkward, but I think I can do it if I train…”

Seo Seong-min trailed off for a moment, then carefully asked me a question.

“But is there a reason why you suggested I become a switch hitter? Actually, I’ve never heard this kind of advice in my career.”

“I’ve been thinking about how to compensate for your current weakness. For the past few days, we’ve been training to improve your eye for the ball, but I thought you would have done that enough.”

Seo Seong-min nodded and listened to me intently.

“While talking with my mentor, I thought that Senior might be right-handed, and the answer came to me. The only way to solve the weakness of breaking balls that flow out while maintaining the strengths you already have is this.”

“You’re saying I should stand in the right-handed batter’s box against left-handed pitchers?”

“Yes, that way, you won’t have to face breaking balls that curve greatly.”

That was the advantage of standing in the opposite batter’s box of the opposing pitcher.

“But there’s one thing that bothers me.”

“What is it?”

“Since you have to do both batting training, the amount of training will be twice as much as ordinary players. It doesn’t seem easy.”

Unlike me, who was worried that it might be an unreasonable request, there was no big change in Seo Seong-min’s expression.

“As you already know, I usually train for more than one or two defensive positions. Doubling the batting training is no problem for me at all.”

“Then can you try to challenge it?”

“Of course, I have to. It’s a part that the CEO directly advised me on.”

Seo Seong-min answered firmly and confidently.

“Then shall we go down and start right away?”

“Yes.”

As soon as Seo Seong-min and I finished talking, we headed straight to the training ground.