A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 21

Pocket Awl (3)

It was Ji-seop.

The one who had called the hitting coach.

“I used to throw batting practice a lot with my previous team. If you give me a chance, I’d like to try throwing.”

“You?”

The hitting coach knew the backgrounds of all the former player training assistants.

Having been in baseball for so long, it wasn’t hard for him to know where a guy came from and what he’d been doing, as long as he knew the name.

By the hitting coach’s standards, the thirty-two-year-old training assistant standing before him was clearly substandard.

‘A guy who was released even from China can’t even tell when to step in and when not to.’

He wanted to yell, ‘Know your place,’ but if he did, he’d be solely responsible for throwing batting practice that day.

‘Ugh, Pan-soo had to be away on a day like this.’

The hitting coach clicked his tongue, thinking of the minor league manager who was away on a business trip checking on injured players.

In the end, he had no choice but to give this substandard training assistant a chance.

“Alright, go ahead and try.”

He planned to put him on the mound first, and if he didn’t do well, he’d give him a thorough scolding.

But the reaction of this Chinese training assistant was impressive.

“Thank you, Coach.”

The thank you sounded genuine.

“Um, then… could I see the players’ training charts for today?”

“What?”

At this, the hitting coach’s eyes widened.

“What charts?”

“The training charts.”

Ji-seop tilted his head with a look that said, ‘Isn’t that what it’s called?’

“Do you call them enhancement item checklists at the Cannons? Or training checklists? Hehe, it’s called something different with every team.”

“……”

“Anyway, you know, the list that has the players’ training items for the day.”

“Yeah, we call them training charts too, but…”

The hitting coach’s eyebrows rose.

“What are you going to do with that? Are you going to throw batting practice according to the coaching staff’s training plan?”

The answer that came back was surprising.

“Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?”

“What did you say?”

The hitting coach looked dumbfounded.

But Ji-seop was calm.

“If it’s batting practice before a game, it’s enough to just adjust the feel of hitting, but now it’s spring training.”

“……”

“It could be training to overcome weaknesses, or it could be training to further strengthen strengths… I need to know that to throw proper batting practice, right?”

“Proper batting practice?”

The hitting coach chuckled.

‘This guy… he seems to have looked up some theory. I guess this kind of information is on the internet these days?’

But theory and practice are different.

“Hey, buddy, there are only a handful of people in our team who can throw that kind of batting practice. I don’t expect that level from a mere training assistant, so there’s no need to overdo it.”

Still, while other guys would be busy trying to sneak away, this guy even studied hard.

He wasn’t so twisted that he would ignore such effort, so the hitting coach chuckled and slapped Ji-seop on the back.

“Don’t think about anything else. Today, just throw balls that the hitters can hit comfortably.”

“Like batting practice before a game?”

“Yeah, like that.”

Ji-seop, having received the hitting coach’s instructions, nodded, saying, ‘I understand,’ and headed behind the pitcher’s screen.

He was already diligently working as a training assistant, so it didn’t seem like he needed a long warm-up.

Just a few shoulder swings and arm stretches.

After seeing Ji-seop pick up a white ball from the ball cart, the hitting coach approached the dugout refrigerator and took out a bottle of water.

‘Well, he’s been rolling around in places with no roots [meaning he’s had an unstable career], but he seems to have the will to work hard. Maybe it wouldn’t be bad to teach him a little?’

He was taking a sip of water, thinking that, when it happened.

Whoosh- Crack!

A refreshing sound of impact echoed through the main ground of Gangchanghak Stadium.

The hitting coach was startled and turned his head, and he saw a white streak flying from the end of the batter’s bat, soaring over the outfield fence of the baseball field.

The first satisfying home run of the day’s hitting practice.

“Nice batting! Nice batting!”

“Our Jun-ho is in good condition!”

Voices praising the batter erupted from the left and right of the batting cage, but the hitting coach’s gaze was fixed behind the pitcher’s screen.

‘…Kim Ji-seop, was it?’

The hitting coach blinked.

‘That guy, he’s pretty good?’

* * *

In American Major League clubs, they often play upbeat music during players’ hitting practice.

It’s good for improving the mood of players who are doing hard training, and swinging the bat to exciting music is also very helpful in finding a hitting rhythm.

Thump, thump, crack!

Boom, boom, crack!

Doo-roo-doo-roo-doo-roo, crack!

More and more Korean professional baseball teams were introducing this system, but unfortunately, the KH Cannons’ minor league team was completely out of touch with such latest trends.

-What? Play music during training? Did you come here to play? Did you come here to play?!

The minor league manager was such a conservative person that he couldn’t accept the fact that music was played during training hours.

The Cannons’ minor league coaching staff had some dissatisfaction with the manager’s rigid attitude-

But this day,

It was a little different.

“Coach Park, if hitting practice is like today… we wouldn’t need to play exciting music, would we?”

“Hehe, that’s right.”

There was only one reason.

Ji-seop’s batting practice.

The batting practice of this year’s thirty-two-year-old intern was truly amazing.

“Alright, let’s go for another one!”

“Okay, okay!”

First of all, his ball control was excellent.

No matter how experienced the coaches were, they were bound to make mistakes once or twice out of every ten throws.

But Ji-seop’s batting practice pitches flew to the designated spot ten out of ten times.

As a result, the batters’ concentration didn’t waver, and the training proceeded rhythmically, like a flowing stream.

Whoosh- Crack!

Whoosh- Crack!

Whoosh- Craaaack!

He also demonstrated that he accurately anticipated the pitches the batters preferred.

Inside pitches for batters who liked to pull the ball [hit to the left field for a right-handed batter], and outside pitches for batters who liked to push it to the opposite field [hit to the right field for a right-handed batter].

Then came the natural reaction from the batters.

‘Wow, my hitting feels really good today! Is my training finally paying off?’

‘I’m hitting every pitch! Maybe I can actually make the first team’s opening day roster this year!’

He heightened the batters’ concentration with rhythmic pitches, and at the same time, he boosted their confidence with precise pitch location.

In fact, just doing this much would be a near-perfect performance for a minor league batting practice pitcher.

However, from the coaching staff’s point of view, the most impressive aspect of Ji-seop’s pitches that day was something else entirely.

“Um… Training assistant, can you throw me a few more?”

“Hey, training assistant! Just throw me ten more! Your pitches are amazing!”

The minor league batters, energized by the ‘good pitches’ they hadn’t experienced in a long time, were eager for more.

If it were a normal training assistant, they would have happily nodded, pleased by the batters’ praise.

Ji-seop, however, was surprisingly firm.

“Your bodies are starting to tense up. If you hit more now, it’ll lead to overtraining, and overtraining leads to injuries. Let’s stop here.”

“B-But just a little more… I’m really in the zone right now!”

The batters even clasped their hands together, begging, ‘Throw me a few more.’

But Ji-seop was unyielding.

“See you tomorrow.”

Waving his hand as if shooing away a bug.

And then, one more word followed.

“Next batter!!!”

* * *

That day, the KH Cannons’ batting practice session lasted about 30 minutes.

A duration that could be considered long or short, depending on perspective.

During that time, Ji-seop completely changed the way people perceived him.

“Hey… Ji-seop hyung [older brother or respected male figure]! Can I call you hyung? Are you pitching tomorrow too? I was wondering if you could throw me just five more than today.”

“Hey! Don’t you know that batting practice pitchers also need to take care of their shoulders? Ji-seop-ssi [Mr. Ji-seop], ignore these guys… Throw me just ten more! Huh? I’ll buy you a plate of sashimi!”

“Ah, sunbaenim [senior colleague or upperclassman] said that machine hitting was better for you, right? But are you really saying that now?”

“Hey, that’s because the pitches that Pan-soo hyung throws are too hard to hit…”

A player asking Ji-seop’s name.

A player asking to have a meal together.

A player picking up a stray ball for no apparent reason, trying to make a good impression.

The other training assistants’ inner thoughts as they watched the scene were, needless to say, filled with envy.

[What? Batting practice pitchers are treated this well by the batters?]

[Damn it, if I had known this, I would have tried pitching, no matter what!]

[By the way, that Kim Ji-seop guy… his pitching is seriously impressive, isn’t it?]

A reaction he was receiving for the first time in his life.

Ji-seop didn’t dislike it.

‘Independent club, semi-pro league… I didn’t realize that working in those low-level leagues would pay off like this.’

In the United States, in Japan, and of course in China as well, the baseball teams Ji-seop had worked for couldn’t afford to hire professional ‘batting practice pitchers.’

He had spent over 10 years working in those environments, so Ji-seop’s pitching skills were naturally refined.

‘Knowing the pitches the batters want… it’s something you can discern by observing their tendencies.’

Ji-seop chuckled inwardly as he watched the excited players.

It was right after that that he heard a ‘ahem’ cough from behind him.

“You’ve worked hard.”

It was the hitting coach.

The same person who had been shouting, ‘You guys just pick up the balls!’ just 30 minutes ago.

But now that he had witnessed Ji-seop’s abilities, he wore an awkward expression.

“I’m sorry.”

The hitting coach scratched the back of his head.

“Geez, I’m such a fool. Not recognizing talent like this…”

In fact, Ji-seop’s reaction was simply, ‘I figured.’

Because he had been reading the hitting coach’s thoughts from the beginning.

However, the moment he heard the words that followed, Ji-seop felt a surge of pride without even realizing it.

“The manager really liked your pitching. He said it was a proper training session for the first time in a while.”

“Is that so?”

“So, about that…”

Swoosh.

The hitting coach pulled a crumpled piece of paper from his back pocket.

“Keep this in mind.”

“This is…”

“It’s the training chart.”

A document that meticulously recorded the players’ training schedules.

It was decided at the coaching staff meeting every morning.

“This is for today, so just use it as a reference, and starting tomorrow, come to the coach’s office and get the chart from me.”

“The coach’s office…?”

Ji-seop tilted his head.

“I heard that training assistants are prohibited from entering the coach’s office. Because of security and stuff…”

“That’s true, but you’re an exception.”

The hitting coach continued.

“It’s the manager’s order, who would dare to say no?”