A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 20

Chapter 7: Awl in a Pocket (2)

Oh Youngjin was conscious of Ji-seop.

In fact, he wasn’t being particularly unusual.

“…….”

Whether it was until high school or university.

New training assistants with baseball experience, in whatever form, were always in an atmosphere of checking each other out and being conscious of each other.

“It’s not just the players. Even us non-players are in a tense atmosphere.”

Those were the words of Go Changdeok, who became Ji-seop’s roommate in Jeju Island, following the KH players’ dorm.

“Until now, it’s been only two or three people at most every year, right?”

“What is?”

“The number of training assistants who receive a formal offer of employment after the spring camp.”

It was added that most of them are offered a one-year contract, and only a handful are hired as permanent employees.

“They say that if you don’t stand out within at least a month, you can’t even dream of joining the baseball team…….”

Go Changdeok took out his earphones, seemingly losing the desire to watch his favorite animation.

“Ji-seop, aren’t you frustrated?”

“Frustrated?”

“No, what we do is……. It’s not something we can ‘do well’ in a clear-cut way.”

Go Changdeok emphasized ‘do well’.

“At best, we’re just carrying baseballs, delivering lunch boxes, and collecting players’ uniforms……. Is it possible to excel at these things?”

He seemed taken aback by the excessively simple tasks of the training assistant.

Ji-seop chuckled.

“Hyung [older brother or male friend], how many days has it been since the spring camp started?”

“…….”

“If you give it some time, new tasks will come down on their own.”

“……Is that so?”

That was right.

* * *

In the early stages of spring camp, the training assistants’ tasks were roughly as follows:

-Setting up training equipment

-Filling the refrigerator with bottled water

-Distributing players’ lunch boxes

-Collecting uniforms that need to be washed and delivering washed uniforms to the players’ rooms

-Waking up players who sleep in every morning and coaxing players who don’t sleep at night to go to bed, etc.

As Go Changdeok said, it was a series of simple tasks that couldn’t be done exceptionally well.

Go Changdeok, being the nice guy he was, only seemed a little anxious, but among those who dreamed of working in the front office like in movies or dramas, there seemed to be some who couldn’t stand it.

“Damn it, did you think I went through all that trouble to join the baseball team just to pick up players’ smelly uniforms?”

“Ah, tell me about it! If that’s the case, why did they ask if I knew how to do sabermetrics [advanced baseball statistics] during the interview?”

It must have been two days after the two training assistants, who were complaining particularly loudly, packed their bags and went home.

Ironically, it was exactly from that point that the baseball team began to assign new tasks to the new training assistants.

“Which of the training assistants has experience in video editing?”

The start was when a training assistant who could use the video editing program ‘Final Cut’ was seconded to the public relations team.

Following that, an employee from the power analysis team came looking for a training assistant who could use the data analysis equipment called ‘TrackMan’.

“Me! New training assistant Go Changdeok! I can install and run TrackMan, and even analyze data!!”

Three days after Go Changdeok was put into the power analysis team’s work, a new task was assigned to the training assistant players.

“You know how to throw batting practice, right?”

To be exact, it seems like it was a task assigned to that friend, Oh Youngjin.

The KH Cannons’ minor league coaching staff were particularly fond of Oh Youngjin, who had professional experience.

“You don’t have to feel pressured. Just throw it so the hitters can hit it. You’ve done live pitching often when you were at Geosan, right?”

“Yes, coach.”

Oh Youngjin nodded.

The coach patted Oh Youngjin’s shoulder as if he were trustworthy.

“Okay, let’s see the skills of the former Namyoung High School ace pitcher today!”

“Thank you for the opportunity.”

While bowing to the coach, Oh Youngjin didn’t forget to send a glance to Ji-seop.

[I’m one step ahead, huh?]

Oh Youngjin slightly raised the corner of his mouth.

Ji-seop thought to himself, ‘Oh, look at this guy,’ but he wasn’t given a chance to say a word to him.

The coach, who had assigned Oh Youngjin to be the batting practice pitcher, yelled at Ji-seop.

“Hey, what are you doing there! You have to bring the ball cart, the ball cart!”

Ji-seop clicked his tongue.

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

Damn it,

You guys are going too far.

* * *

“Alright, let’s start with the first batter!”

Oh Youngjin stood behind the pitcher’s protective screen.

A proud feeling arose on his face as he picked up a white ball from the ball cart.

‘Indeed…… professional experience is everything in a baseball team.’

He definitely felt one step ahead.

Oh Youngjin liked this so much.

Once he perfectly fulfills his role as a batting practice pitcher, what kind of expression will that Kim Ji-seop guy make?

‘I don’t like that bastard.’

Oh Youngjin glanced at the thirty-two-year-old training assistant who was drying the catcher’s gear in the sun.

On his first day joining the Cannons, Oh Youngjin was overwhelmed by that guy’s aura and made the mistake of calling him ‘sunbaenim’ [a term for senior or elder in Korean culture].

‘When you think about it, there’s no reason to call someone who didn’t even get drafted professionally ‘sunbaenim’.’

Damn it, why couldn’t I say that back then.

I have to say it clearly today.

That’s what the twenty-six-year-old former Namyoung High School ace resolved.

‘Of course, first…….’

He fixed his gaze on the catcher’s mitt visible beyond the pitcher’s protective screen and slowly began his windup.

‘I have to impress the coaches first!’

Whoosh- Pow!

The sound of the ball hitting the mitt was pleasant to hear.

The strike went in so cleanly that it reminded him of his heyday.

Oh Youngjin clenched his fist without realizing it, but-

“Youngjin! Hey, Oh Youngjin!”

The minor league coaching staff watching from the side were wearing bitter smiles.

“Yes, coach!”

Oh Youngjin turned his head in a ready posture at the coaches’ call.

“Hey, you’re throwing batting practice.”

The one who stepped up to represent them was the minor league hitting coach.

He opened his mouth with a smiling face.

“How can a pitcher throwing batting practice throw with such full force? I told you to throw lightly? Don’t wind up.”

“Ah, yes!”

Oh Youngjin realized his mistake.

He bit his lower lip slightly.

‘Th, that’s right. Lightly, lightly…….’

Oh Youngjin picked up another ball.

He started throwing the ball while repeating ‘lightly, lightly’ in his head.

Whee- Thwack!

This time, the batter reacted.

The first two were ground balls, but the last one drew a fairly large arc and extended to the outfield.

Oh Youngjin thought to himself, ‘This should be enough,’ but the coaching staff’s reaction was still sour.

“No, Youngjin! How can you throw an Arirang ball [a slow, looping pitch] like that? You’re throwing batting practice right now, you know?”

“Ba, batting balls……?”

It was at this moment that Oh Youngjin’s face began to turn red.

“Yes, batting balls, you!”

The hitting coach’s smile had disappeared from his face before he knew it.

“Think about it! It’s a ball you throw for the batter to hit! It’s a ball you throw so the batter can hit and practice! Then how should you throw it?”

“Li…… lightly?”

Oh Youngjin just blurted out whatever came to his mind, but the hitting coach nodded as if he had said something incredibly profound.

“That’s right! You have to throw lightly! Do you get a sense of it now? Then throw it again.”

“Ah, yes…….”

The hitting coach even cheered him on with ‘Fighting! Fighting!’, but Oh Youngjin already felt as if his head had gone blank.

‘A ball you throw for the batter to hit?’

First of all, he couldn’t quite grasp what that meant.

Oh Youngjin had lived his life only thinking about ‘balls that the batter can’t hit’.

What should he throw to make it a ‘ball that the batter can hit’?

‘And that’s confusing enough…… what? You’re telling me to throw a ball that the batter can hit and practice with?’

How should he throw that?

Does that mean he should throw it in the middle so the batter can swing the bat powerfully?

Or does it mean he should stick it close to the body so they can overcome their weaknesses?

‘What the hell am I supposed to do…….’

He went back to stand behind the pitcher’s protective screen, but the batting practice pitcher couldn’t throw the ball easily.

Seeing Oh Youngjin’s face flushed red and sweating profusely, the minor league manager finally stepped in.

“Coach Park.”

“Yes, manager.”

“Take him down, it won’t work.”

The minor league manager took off his sunglasses and continued.

“I’m already pressed for time to develop players, how can I spend time developing a batting practice pitcher?”

A rebuke for putting up a batting practice pitcher who wasn’t ready.

The hitting coach, well aware of this, hung his head.

“I’m sorry, manager. I assigned Youngjin because he has professional experience…….”

“You need to fix your habit of looking at experience for everything. Why are you looking for professional experience to throw batting practice? You just need to throw the ball well.”

The minor league manager gestured with his chin.

“Go check if there’s another training assistant with batting practice experience. If not, you go up instead.”

“M, me?”

The hitting coach’s eyes widened.

“No, manager. The minor league manager and I have been throwing batting practice for the past week. I’m old, and my shoulder is still heavy, so it’s killing me…….”

“Ah, then should I do it?”

The minor league manager’s fierce gaze.

“Then should I do it?”

“Ah, no. I, I’ll do it.”

The hitting coach retreated while constantly bowing.

With a displeased expression, he gathered the training assistant players.

“Let’s see…… you! I heard you were an ace at Sungjin University. Would you like to throw it once?”

No matter what method he used, the hitting coach seemed to already know all the training assistants’ career details.

Judging by the fact that he was recommending batting practice pitchers starting with the guy he thought was the most useful.

“Ah, m, me?”

However, it was right after seeing professional Oh Youngjin being humiliated in front of the manager.

The training assistant who was an ace in college didn’t seem to want to step up and lose points.