A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 289

72. Someone Else’s Precious Child (1)

The last week of April.

The Future Strategy Planning Department was fully staffed.

In addition to the existing members, Ji-seop and John Rama, there was David Wilson, who came from the [Baseball R&D Team].

And two more employees selected from those who submitted resumes separately to the Future Strategy Planning Department.

“…….”

Thus, a total of five members gathered in ‘Storage D’ on the 2nd basement floor of Tropicana Field, all huddled together.

In fact, Ji-seop had been quite worried about it at first.

Because he had no experience working as a team on company matters like this.

The newly created Future Strategy Planning Department. What should he do to build teamwork?

Should he have John Rama give a plausible speech? Or should he make a reservation at a nearby restaurant and have a company dinner first?

But to put it bluntly, Ji-seop didn’t need to do anything for the new Future Strategy Planning Department.

“Wait a minute, where did you say?!”

When the five of them gathered for their first meeting, one of the new team members raised his hand.

“The New York Yankees? Did you just say the New York Yankees?”

“Yes, it’s the weekend home series against the New York Yankees in two weeks. So the report submission deadline is…….”

While John Rama was reading the memo he had written down with his tablet PC, Ji-seop could almost hear the thoughts of the new team members.

[Oh, the New York Yankees from the start?! This is no joke!]

[The Yankees game is bound to get attention no matter what the outcome! Hehe, I’m glad I came to the Future Strategy Planning Department!]

At this time, Ji-seop began to understand.

No, he had vaguely known it before, but he realized it for sure at this time.

The New York Yankees.

For Major League front office staff, this team holds a very special significance.

For some, it’s the team they want to beat at all costs; for others, it’s the team they dream of joining; and for still others, it represents a lifelong ambition.

The team with the most championships in Major League Baseball. The team famous for its deep pockets. The team that has produced the most superstars.

Now that it was known that such a team was the first opponent of the Future Strategy Planning Department, Ji-seop no longer needed to add anything.

“New York Yankees… that’s great!”

“Then what should we do first?”

From then on, for several days, the Future Strategy Planning Department began to work tirelessly.

The three-game series against the New York Yankees. Who will emerge victorious? How will the games unfold?

To answer these questions, more data than expected was required.

They received measurement data from scouts spread across the United States, verified the authenticity of real-time media reports, and meticulously watched the games of both teams.

It took a full three days to gather enough data to run the simulation program.

To be exact, it wasn’t until 9 p.m. on the third night that the Future Strategy Planning Department could finally take a breather.

“Thank you for your hard work. Now all we have to do is run the simulation,” David Wilson said, looking around the office.

“The new team members went home earlier… You two should head home too, shouldn’t you? You haven’t had dinner either. I’ll go home as soon as the results come out.”

“Oh, dinner! I’m definitely a little hungry…….”

John Rama stretched his neck and looked at David Wilson’s monitor.

“David, how long will it take for the simulation results to come out? Do we have to wait an hour or two?”

“No, not that long.”

David Wilson said, pushing up his glasses.

“Actually, it takes less than 30 seconds to run one game. But to increase accuracy, we need to run it as many times as possible.”

“How many times are you going to run it? 10 times? 20 times?”

“Haha, would that be enough? I’m thinking of running it about 100 times for now, just as a test…….”

“100 times? Then about an hour?”

While John Rama was rolling his eyes, Ji-seop, who was sitting at the desk across from him, got up.

“David, how about we go out for a while together? I think the results will be out by the time we grab a quick dinner.”

“Ah, thank you, but that’s a bit…….”

David Wilson waved his hand.

“This program is a bit unstable. It often seems to be running well, but then it suddenly crashes… I think I’ll have to watch it until the results come out.”

“Ah, is that so?”

As Ji-seop, who didn’t know much about the program, had no choice but to step back.

However, even in this situation, there was someone who stepped forward with a confident expression.

“Hey, Kim! Sometimes when I see you, I get confused about whether you’re really from Korea or not?”

“Yes?”

“What are you worried about? You’re hungry but you can’t go out? Then the best choice in this case is…….”

Doo-doo-doo-doo.

John Rama, who was making drum sounds with his mouth, held up his cell phone.

“Isn’t it obviously delivery?”

* * *

An hour later.

Dinner was spread out in the Future Strategy Planning Department office.

The menu for the day was pizza. Pepperoni pizza with lots of cheese. And a can of beer freshly taken out of the refrigerator.

It wasn’t his usual favorite food, but at this time, Ji-seop had a satisfied smile on his face.

The Future Strategy Planning Department was newly formed, and its first mission was about to be accomplished.

Of course, the resulting values ​​would have to be analyzed separately, but there was a sense of fulfillment that came from overcoming one hurdle.

“Okay, thank you for your hard work today! Let’s all take a sip of beer first! Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

The three people clinked cans of beer following John Rama’s lead.

It was definitely a special taste, even though it was just ordinary beer, perhaps because it was after work.

After making a ‘Kheu’ [Korean onomatopoeia for a satisfied sigh] sound and smacking his lips, he picked up a piece of freshly baked warm pizza.

“Ah, wait a minute.”

David Wilson got up.

Ji-seop looked at his watch and saw that it had been almost an hour since he started running the simulation.

‘Then the results will be out now. I wonder what the results are,’ he thought.

While watching David Wilson’s movements with anticipation, for some reason he tilted his head slightly and returned to his original seat.

“I’ll run it a little more.”

David Wilson smiled awkwardly.

“I think there was something I misunderstood. I’ve fixed it now, so the results will be out soon.”

Up until this point, Ji-seop was nodding calmly, thinking, ‘You’ve worked hard.’

Isn’t that how programs are supposed to be?

There are countless cases where they don’t work properly, and sometimes there are cases where they work but you don’t know why they work.

In that sense, this much delay was perhaps natural – but no.

Right then, David Wilson’s behavior started to become a little strange.

He kept going back to his seat instead of eating.

“Wait a minute! I’ll just check this and come back.”

“Haha, I’m sorry! Please eat first! I’ll be there soon.”

“Yes, it’s okay.”

“It’s okay!”

“It’s okay…….”

At first, he just clicked the mouse a few times, then he typed on the keyboard.

Then he made a ‘Sss’ sound and scrolled the mouse wheel, and eventually he sighed deeply.

As the situation became like this, Ji-seop could no longer pay attention to a slice of pepperoni pizza.

“David, what’s wrong?”

Ji-seop asked, pulling out a tissue and wiping the oil from his hands.

“Didn’t the simulation results come out? Or did the program crash as you said earlier?”

“No. The results are out. Actually, they came out a while ago, but…….”

David Wilson scratched his head with the back of his pen.

“The simulation results were a bit strange.”

“Strange? How so?”

“Ah, that’s…….”

David Wilson hesitated a little.

He continued in a hesitant voice.

“The results show that our Tampa Bay Rays will allow the Yankees to steal a lot of bases.”

“Stealing bases?”

Ji-seop raised his eyes to the ceiling and then lowered them again.

“Is that a strange thing? There are a lot of stolen bases in Major League Baseball these days. Up to three or four in a game is nothing…….”

“It’s not three or four.”

Seven.

That’s at least seven.

David Wilson continued.

“The three-game series against the Yankees… The results show that we may allow at least 7 stolen bases in the first game alone.”

* * *

Compared to Korean professional baseball, it was true that there were many stolen bases in Major League Baseball recently.

This was due to changes in game rules that had been in place at the league office level for several years.

Limiting the number of times a pitcher can check a runner [pickoff attempts], and increasing the size of the base compared to previous years.

Thanks to this, there were often players who recorded more than 70 stolen bases in a season, but Ji-seop couldn’t easily nod his head at the story of at least 7 in one game.

“At least 7 in one game… Are there that many fast runners on the New York Yankees?”

Ji-seop pulled up a chair and sat next to David Wilson.

“And our Tampa Bay Rays’ starting catcher… Alex Montero also has a very good arm, doesn’t he? I heard he’s in the top five in Major League Baseball?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

David Wilson pressed his eyes, as if his vision was getting blurry.

“I think there was a slight mistake in the data selection stage.”

“Data selection stage?”

“Yes, the amount of data on the catcher’s arm strength isn’t abundant. In the first place, the number of times a catcher throws the ball to second base isn’t that high.”

He narrowed his brow.

“So I had no choice but to include the data measured by the game recorders with a stopwatch… I think that was the problem.”

Personal mistake.

David Wilson seemed to be judging it that way.

Someone, a foolish guy, didn’t enter the data properly.

Or he didn’t concentrate on the game and nodded off, missing the timing to measure.

“Ah, there’s nothing to worry about,” David Wilson said.

“I can fix it by adjusting the weights a little. If I discard the data that was measured too fast or too slow and modify it to take only the average value, there will be no problem.”

David Wilson started typing diligently.

But right then, Ji-seop’s cold voice was heard in his ear.

“Adopting only the average value… David, do you still have the habits from the [Baseball R&D Team]?”

“Yes?”

David was startled and looked at Ji-seop.

“Is it just my imagination? How should I say it… It seems like you’re trying to create a report that won’t be controversial in the eyes of the coaches?”

There was no doubt that if the coaches knew that the Tampa Bay starting catcher was likely to allow at least 7 stolen bases in a game, there would be considerable backlash.

If you run the simulation by adopting the average value of the data, you will get a much smoother result.

“Isn’t our job to create a smooth report? It’s to create a more accurate report.”

“Th, that’s true, but…….”

“If there seems to be an error in the data, I think we should check it instead of just throwing it away. Whether it’s really an error, whether it’s really a personal mistake.”

“Th, then what’s Kim’s opinion…….”

When David Wilson asked with cautious eyes, Ji-seop said firmly.

“I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but please check the database. Who measured that data, where it was measured. If you just check that…….”

Ji-seop continued.

“I will meet the recorder in person tomorrow.”