A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 235

60. Under the Protection of the Himalayas (1)

A few days later.

The winner of the semi-Playoffs was decided after a grueling match that went to the 11th inning.

The winner was the SH Knights, who finished third in the regular season, with a series record of 3 wins and 2 losses.

Wow!!!

The SH Knights, the ‘defending champions’ who had won the Korean Series for the past two seasons in a row.

It was said that their ‘autumn DNA’ [referring to their strong performance in the playoffs] was properly manifested in this series.

Praise was also given to foreign ace Chris Walter, who showed great pitching, and national team second baseman Park Young-jo.

However, the player who received the most spotlight throughout these semi-Playoffs was this person.

A 26-year-old backup catcher this year.

It was SH Knights’ Kwon Jung-min.

Kwon! Jung! Min!

In fact, even when he hit a game-winning two-run home run in the first game, the baseball experts were mostly saying ‘he got lucky.’

The general opinion was that the Jinyang Bucks battery [pitcher and catcher combination] were too complacent rather than the batter hitting well.

In fact, the SH Knights manager didn’t use Kwon Jung-min in the second game, and naturally, interest in him seemed to fade away.

-Ah, Choi Young-jae is calling the trainer! Did he feel something strange while swinging just now?

-That’s right. He’s Choi Young-jae, who has played in nearly 130 games this season. There was talk that his back was uncomfortable, but… Ah, is a substitution sign coming out after all?

In the middle of the third game, the recurrence of SH Knights’ starting catcher’s injury became a turning point.

After being brought in as a substitute, he contributed to the team’s second victory with 1 hit and 2 RBIs in 2 at-bats.

In the following fourth game, he started as a catcher and seventh hitter, and while the team was losing, he had 3 hits alone, attracting attention.

Decisively,

The fateful Game 5.

In the bottom of the 11th inning, one hit perfectly lifted a 148km/h four-seam fastball from the opposing pitcher.

-It’s big! It’s very big! With the outfielders already giving up on chasing it, this hit goes over the left fence! Walk-off! Reverse walk-off three-run home run!! It’s Kwon Jung-min!!!

One thrilling home run that lifted the team out of the swamp.

One home run that led the team, which was on the verge of elimination, to the playoffs.

While watching the emergence of a new superstar in ‘Autumn Festival regular customer’ [team that consistently performs well in the playoffs] SH Knights, the person who was quietly smiling was-

“Hehe, this is something…”

It was KH Cannons’ general manager, Seo Chang-ki.

* * *

On this day, General Manager Seo was watching the semi-Playoffs Game 5 in Arthur Freeman’s office.

As soon as this game was over, the power analysis team leader and the operations team leader were supposed to come and have a countermeasure meeting.

Of course, after staring at the TV screen for nearly 5 hours, it would be difficult to start the meeting right away.

General Manager Seo turned to Arthur Freeman and said,

“Director, how about a warm cup of coffee?”

“Ah, that’s good. Shall we see Kim Special Agent’s skills for the first time in a while?”

The two people looked at Ji-seop as if they had made an agreement.

On this day, their gaze was unusually warm, not only because of Ji-seop’s coffee-making skills.

“Director, actually…”

While watching Ji-seop get up from his seat and boil water, General Manager Seo spoke to Freeman.

“This morning, I received a call from Coach Shin Gu-seong. Coach Shin Gu-seong… Do you remember him?”

“Shin? Mr. Shin? Ah, I remember him.”

Freeman lightly tapped his knee.

“Isn’t he a friend who was our Cannons’ first-team base running coach until last year? He was appointed as the ST Dynos’ second-team manager ahead of this season…”

“Yes, that’s right.”

General Manager Seo nodded.

“I haven’t heard from him much since he moved teams… Suddenly, as soon as it hit 9 a.m. today, I got a call.”

It was at this moment that a strange smile appeared on General Manager Seo’s lips.

“He suddenly asked me this question. Knights’ Kwon Jung-min is doing very well these days… Are you preparing for him?”

General Manager Seo shrugged.

“I pretended that I was collecting information, but he was so persistent… I had a hard time shaking him off.”

“Aha, Mr. Shin asked about Knights’ Kwon Jung-min?”

A subtle smile also bloomed on Freeman’s face.

He had a vague idea of what the Dynos’ second-team manager was intending.

“Which side is it?”

Freeman asked.

“Which club did Mr. Shin contact at the request of? Is it Jinyang Bucks? Or UB Guardians?”

“I think it was probably the Guardians.”

General Manager Seo replied.

“Coach Shin Gu-seong is a high school junior [younger alumnus] of Guardians’ General Manager Park Min-wook.”

“Aha, so…”

Two years into being a Korean professional baseball manager.

Arthur Freeman seemed to have a sense of the unique senior-junior culture of the Korean baseball scene.

Even if they are in different teams now, most of them are connected by senior-junior relationships if you cross one or two bridges.

Freeman now knew that a lot of information was exchanged through this network in Korean baseball.

“The Guardians’ general manager made his high school junior try to dig up information from our Cannons? Hmm.”

Freeman stroked his chin.

“Then the Guardians haven’t found a way to attack Kwon Jung-min yet… It would be reasonable to see it roughly like this.”

“Yes, I see it that way too.”

While taking a cup of coffee that Ji-seop had brought, General Manager Seo continued.

“The Guardians must be in a hurry right now. They have to fight SH Knights the day after tomorrow, but they haven’t secured information about the key player…”

“Hehe, now that I see it, you also have a mischievous side? I didn’t know you would be so happy about other teams’ misfortune.”

At Freeman’s subtle criticism, General Manager Seo pretended to be startled and waved his hand.

“Hey, what are you talking about? I’m not gloating over other teams’ misfortune, but I’m sincerely happy about our team’s luck.”

Slurp.

General Manager Seo savored a sip of coffee and then turned to Ji-seop, who was sitting next to him, and said.

“Kim Special Agent.”

“Yes?”

“Thank you for joining our Cannons… I’m really grateful.”

It was a word spoken in the most affectionate voice.

“You are like a symbol of good luck for our Cannons.”

Of course, Ji-seop’s answer to this was as follows.

“General Manager.”

“Hmm?”

“Did you… drink?”

“Hey, this friend is breaking the mood again?”

* * *

The reason why General Manager Seo was praising him so much.

Ji-seop was able to know the reason about 30 minutes later.

The power analysis team leader, who came to the director’s office for a countermeasure meeting, started by saying this.

“I reported to the general manager in advance…”

While connecting the tablet PC screen to the projector in the director’s office, the power analysis team leader continued.

“Kim Special Agent’s prior action played a decisive role in this analysis.”

“Decisive role?”

“Yes, Kim Special Agent asked our team’s Go Chang-deok to secure Kwon Jung-min’s training video.”

The power analysis team leader winked at Ji-seop.

“Coincidentally, SH Knights only released their training scenes in the first game. After that, they must have thought something was wrong, so they turned the training into a closed session.”

In the end, KH Cannons was the only one who secured Kwon Jung-min’s training scene.

Ji-seop realized why General Manager Seo said ‘symbol of good luck’ and smiled awkwardly.

“So… what’s the result?”

It was Arthur Freeman’s words.

“Is there a way to attack him? I think it’s best not to touch Kwon Jung-min at all right now.”

“To be honest… yes, that’s right. There are not many loopholes to dig into in terms of hitting.”

The power analysis team leader replied with a short sigh.

“Kwon Jung-min seems to be a typical guess hitter. He’s the type who comes in with a trick. But now, this trick is hitting so accurately that it’s giving me goosebumps… It’s not easy to attack him.”

It meant that he was a similar type of hitter to ‘Ham Jeon-eo’ in his prime.

He is the type who comes in aiming for only one thing in a situation where he has completely mastered the opposing battery’s ball combination in his head.

“Then what should we do?”

General Manager Seo intervened.

“Should we just walk him [intentionally walk the batter] if it’s difficult to compete? Or should we pay attention to the fight with the previous hitter so that it can be a solo home run?”

“Haha, yes, that’s also a way. But we also get paid to work, so how could we only bring that?”

“Please take a look at this.”

The power analysis team leader uploaded a video of the Knights’ training scene.

The video that Go Chang-deok filmed at Ji-seop’s request.

“In this video, there was a scene where the Knights’ battery coach was pointing at Kwon Jung-min’s right knee and saying something.”

“Right knee?”

“Yes, based on this, I’ve been obsessively looking at his right knee throughout this series…”

The power analysis team leader’s eyes lit up.

“Kwon Jung-min seems to have a habit of putting his right knee on the ground when receiving breaking balls that move horizontally.”

“Put your knee on the ground?”

Ji-seop could feel Arthur Freeman’s expression brightening slightly.

“Yes, I think he got a lot of criticism in the second team. It’s improved a lot compared to the old data. But still, when the runner goes to the scoring position, that habit is coming out.”

He said that since he doesn’t have much experience, he seems to be having a hard time catching breaking balls that sharply break horizontally.

He added that although he has made considerable improvements, he still seems to be showing his old habits when he is in a crisis situation.

Whatever the reason, if the catcher puts one knee on the ground, a breakthrough would open for the Cannons.

“The answer is stealing bases.”

Freeman said.

“If you receive the ball with one knee on the ground, the speed of returning it to second or third base will be slower.”

“Yes, that’s exactly it.”

The power analysis team leader continued.

“Of course, the scope of application is not wide. It’s a method that can only be used in the situation of runner on 2nd base or 1st and 3rd base. But if you succeed even once at the beginning of the series…”

“Kwon Jung-min, who thought his weakness was exposed… will his overall balance be broken?”

As Freeman nodded, the atmosphere in the director’s office brightened.

“Team leader Kang! You worked hard, you worked hard! Wow, how did you find this again?”

“No, General Manager.”

The power analysis team leader waved his hand.

“I was able to find the reference point thanks to Kim Special Agent’s training video. If it wasn’t for that, our entire team… would still be racking our brains?”

“Hey, there’s no need to be so humble! Now all we have to do is let the coaches know about this! Then everything will be fine! Huh? Hahaha.”

General Manager Seo Chang-ki laughed and patted the power analysis team leader on the shoulder, and Ji-seop also showed a double thumbs up to the power analysis team leader at that very moment.

“But… wait a minute.”

Arthur Freeman, who seemed to be lost in thought for a while, raised his hand slightly.

“General Manager.”

“Yes, Director. What’s wrong?”

And in the next moment, everyone in the director’s office had no choice but to tilt their heads slightly.

“Can we keep the analysis we just did a secret from the coaches and players until the playoffs are over?”

“Yes?!”

General Manager Seo blinked.

“Keep it a secret… why?”