A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 190

Chapter 49: Just Perfect (4)

Several days later.

On the day of the final game of the mid-week three-game series against the Jin Yang Bucks, Ji-seop’s proposed ‘Ryu Jang-ho Zone’ was unveiled.

Visiting the KH Cannons Field as Ryu Jang-ho’s invited guests that day were members of a youth baseball team from Yeongsan City, Gyeonggi Province.

-We sincerely welcome the players of Cheonhwa Little Baseball Club!

-Fans, please give a warm round of applause to the future stars who will lead Korean baseball!!!

The scale of the initially proposed by Ji-seop was about 20 seats.

However, due to the overwhelming response from the local baseball community, it was eventually expanded to 50 seats.

The team thought this might be a slight loss for them, but surprisingly,

the families and relatives of the youth players, as well as local baseball officials, visited the stadium, at least breaking even.

With the addition of Ryu Jang-ho’s personal fan club members and the general fans who heard, ‘If you go to the baseball stadium today, you can see Ryu Jang-ho up close’-

Wow!!!

Wow!!!

When Ji-seop visited the before the game, what came into his view was the sight of the audience filling one block of the outfield reserved seats.

Ryu Jang-ho, who had been following Ji-seop with an indifferent expression, even blurted out without realizing it.

“……That’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Of course, since it was the first event, there were some minor shortcomings in terms of execution.

Perhaps it was a mistake not fully grasping what elementary school third and fourth graders are like.

“When you play baseball, there will definitely be difficult times. So, you guys…….”

While Ryu Jang-ho was giving his own words of encouragement, the kids were busy whispering among themselves, ‘Is that Ryu Jang-ho? Is that the real Ryu Jang-ho?’

And when Ryu Jang-ho handed out autographed balls, there was even a child who burst into tears, saying, ‘Mom, the ball that kid got is bigger!’

It was an impressive enough event, but what remained vividly in Ji-seop’s memory that day was this scene.

When asked if anyone had any final questions for Ryu Jang-ho, one baseball boy raised his hand and said.

“Ryu Jang-ho, senior!”

“Oh, yeah. What’s your question?”

“Yes, I’m wondering where the bathroom is!”

“……Huh?”

“I need to go right now!”

“…….”

Although the event unfolded a little differently than expected from beginning to end, Ryu Jang-ho’s expression looked very bright.

“The kids are so cute.”

It was quite a mature thing to say.

“Hyung [older brother or respected male figure], next time, we should bring a mascot part-timer with us. Wouldn’t the little ones like that friend more?”

“Ah, that’s right. We should do that next time.”

Listening to Ryu Jang-ho’s suggestion, Ji-seop nodded silently to himself.

‘This is…… at least a decent success.’

Thanks to inviting the local youth baseball team, the Cannons received favorable responses from the media.

He also liked that the outfield reserved seats were full, thanks to Ryu Jang-ho visiting the stands in person.

Above all, he was relieved that Ryu Jang-ho himself had positively accepted this event, but-

“Excuse me, but!”

The ‘bonus’ that Ji-seop hadn’t anticipated came right after that.

Just as the two were about to leave the outfield stands, one of the little kids from the youth baseball team raised her hand.

“Huh?”

Ryu Jang-ho stopped walking.

In response to the question of ‘What’s wrong?’, the girl with pigtails said in a clear voice.

“Are you good, or is Jang Tae-jin from the Bucks good?”

The girl mentioned the fourth batter of the Jin Yang Bucks, their opponent that day.

The parents nearby were startled and widened their eyes, but the child continued her question without paying attention.

“My dad said that. He said Jang Tae-jin is really good at baseball.”

“Se, Semin! When did I! When did Dad say that?!!”

The man, who appeared to be the child’s father, was startled and waved his hands frantically.

“Ryu Jang-ho, player! No, absolutely not! I never said that…….”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Looking at the embarrassed man, Ryu Jang-ho smiled gently.

“I guess your father is a Bucks fan? Then that’s understandable.”

Jin Yang Bucks.

A good team.

Senior Jang Tae-jin is also…… good.

Ryu Jang-ho was giving greetings to the child and her father with such a kind expression, but Ji-seop could tell without even looking into his eyes.

Right now, in that guy’s head-

Click,

The switch had been flipped.

* * *

“Ugh, Ryu Jang-ho, that jerk! Isn’t his batting balance going to collapse again?”

That was the reaction of Go Chang-deok from the power analysis team when Ji-seop told him the story of Ryu Jang-ho.

“It’s not the first time Jang-ho has lost his sense of hitting because he’s greedy for long hits, is it? No, I shouldn’t be doing this here…….”

Go Chang-deok was about to go find Ryu Jang-ho and give him an earful.

However, Ji-seop quietly raised his hand to calm Go Chang-deok down.

“Hyung, you don’t have to worry.”

It was quite a confident voice.

“Jang-ho isn’t that thoughtless. Scouts from Major League Baseball will be coming over in droves soon, so there’s no way he’d just swing his bat recklessly at this important time, right?”

“Well, well, it’s almost that time of year…….”

Perhaps it was because of his colorful track record since they first met.

Looking at Go Chang-deok, who couldn’t shake his anxiety about Ryu Jang-ho, Ji-seop continued.

“Besides, ‘being good at baseball’ doesn’t necessarily mean home runs, does it?”

“Doesn’t just mean home runs?”

“Yes.”

Ji-seop nodded.

“Now Jang-ho has that much common sense, hyung.”

Ji-seop’s bold statement about Ryu Jang-ho.

This soon became a reality.

Wow!!!

Wow!!!

Ryu Jang-ho, who entered the plate in the first at-bat of the game with one out and a runner on second base, lightly pushed the opposing pitcher’s ball and hit a double that completely split the left-center field.

Taak!

A soft and concise hit.

A swing as if water was flowing.

As Ryu Jang-ho easily brought in the runner, exclamations of ‘Yeah’ erupted in the data analysis room.

“Ji-seop, you were right.”

Go Chang-deok was looking down at the ground with eyes that seemed to be dripping with honey.

“He would have really put his strength into swinging the bat like before……. As you said, Jang-ho, you’re not the old Ryu Jang-ho anymore.”

Go Chang-deok nodded.

“It’s not easy for a player to suppress the competitive spirit that rises from moment to moment……. Wow, Jang-ho can do that?”

Other power analysis team employees next to him also praised him, but Ji-seop just smiled silently inside.

‘Hehe, suppress the competitive spirit……. I don’t think Ryu Jang-ho even has that concept in his dictionary?’

In Ji-seop’s view, Ryu Jang-ho wasn’t suppressing his competitive spirit.

He had just slightly changed the direction.

Aiming for a home run risked disrupting his batting balance. He had already experienced that many times.

Therefore, the ‘direction of competition’ chosen by Ryu Jang-ho, the starting center fielder of the Cannons, was.

‘It must be defense.’

Ji-seop’s prediction,

Was not wrong this time either.

Taak!

Taak!

Taak!

Jang Tae-jin, the player from the Jin Yang Bucks.

A powerful hitter who had hit 9 home runs in June alone and was ranked first in the league in home runs.

Even in July, his momentum had not diminished at all, and he was hitting strong balls into the outfield that day as well, but.

‘……Here it comes!’

His batted balls were repeatedly blocked in front of center fielder Ryu Jang-ho.

Tadadadak- Whoosh!

The first batted ball, which seemed to almost split the left-center field, was caught with a sliding catch after running nearly 30m.

Tadadadak- Euyeotcha!!

The batted ball, which seemed to almost go over the fence, was barely caught by grabbing the outfield fence and jumping up.

Taak!

The third batted ball directly hit the right-center fence.

The ball that hit the fence bounced up in a strange place, so Jang Tae-jin seemed to be cheering inwardly.

‘That’s it! Second base…… no, this is a batted ball that can even go to third base!’

Jang Tae-jin had already lost two hits due to Ryu Jang-ho’s ‘crazy’ good defense.

As if to repay the favor, he began to run fiercely towards third base.

Jang Tae-jin, who had as much running power as he had power to hit the ball far, seemed to have the third base coming into his eyes before he knew it, but.

‘Uh, uh?!’

Just before attempting a headfirst slide towards third base, he heard a ‘whoosh’ sound in his ear.

“?!!”

And the next moment, what came into his eyes was the black glove of the third baseman, firmly clutching the white ball.

If the situation is like this, the third base umpire cannot make a different call.

“Out, ooooout!”

As the third base umpire raised his fist high and declared the out, the KH Cannons Field shook greatly once.

Wow!!!

Wow!!!

The Cannons fans started to get up from their seats and pour out warm applause and cheers.

The moment Jang Tae-jin realized that the tremendous cheers were directed at center fielder Ryu Jang-ho, he had no choice but to shake his head and take off his helmet.

“Why is that jerk…… doing this to me?!”

In the end, the player Jang just let out a hollow laugh.

His resentful expression was filling the broadcast screen.

* * *

That day’s game held at KH Cannons Field.

The game ended with a final score of 5-1, a victory for the KH Cannons.

The person selected as the game MVP [Most Valuable Player] was Paul Owens, the Cannons’ foreign pitcher who achieved a one-run complete game victory.

Of course, his performance was also great, but Ji-seop secretly wanted to give a vote to Ryu Jang-ho.

‘If Jang-ho hadn’t tied up Jang Tae-jin so tightly……. The direction of today’s game would have been unknown.’

While waiting for the operations team’s game report, Ji-seop probably went to the internet fan bulletin board for that reason.

He thought that if the fans had watched the game from beginning to end, they would recognize Ryu Jang-ho’s performance that day.

But surprisingly, it was not easy to find stories about Ryu Jang-ho on the Cannons fan bulletin board that day.

“…….”

Several articles about Ryu Jang-ho were in the ‘Best’ section.

Between a post that was making a fuss calling Sakhalin Park ‘father’ and a post that organized a list of lamb tripe restaurants that Lee Soo-bin frequents.

-Today’s Ryu Jang-ho’s good defense compilation.gif

Praise was pouring in, saying ‘high-level baseball’ and ‘Ryu Jang-ho is an ecosystem disruptor’.

However, there were not many comments.

The post that Cannons fans were leaving the most comments on that day was this.

[What did Jang Tae-jin say at this time?]

It was about uploading a video of when Jang Tae-jin was out at third base and guessing the contents of his mutterings.

-Isn’t he saying, “Why is that bastard doing this to me…….”?

-No, “The tteokbokki [spicy rice cakes] soup is delicious” is correct, right?

-Ma Kang-sik is coming to our team? I see it as this.

-Wow, look at the Cannons guys, they’re making fun of our Tae-jin hyung [older brother or respected male figure] by putting him on display?

-Hey, you guys can’t do this!

-What do you mean you can’t? Jang Tae-jin was stupid to run when Ryu Jang-ho caught the ball, lol

-Okay, you guys came here too, so leave a comment. What is he saying?

-……Lee Soo-bin has seaweed powder on her?

-Oh oh?!

At first, Ji-seop thought, ‘What are these friends talking about?’

However, as he slowly read through the comments that followed, Ji-seop was able to get a sense of it.

‘Jang-ho…… seems to be getting a lot of trust from the fans.’

A belief that he will do well.

A belief that he will lead the team to victory.

The Cannons fans, who have come to receive such trust, no longer show a special reaction to most fine plays.

Ji-seop couldn’t help but smile.

‘A nonchalant player and nonchalant fans…… they have quite a few similarities?’

When did he grow up like this?

When did he get so strong?

Just as Ji-seop was newly surprised by Ryu Jang-ho’s growth,

Brrr- Brrr- Brrr-

A phone call came to Ji-seop.

The caller was,

Tony Damon of the Boston Red Sox.