A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 291

72. Another Family’s Precious Child (3)

A few days later.

A coaching staff meeting was being held in the home team’s dugout at Tropicana Field.

This was a meeting where all the field staff, including the manager, gathered to discuss key issues related to the team’s operation.

“Hmm, I see. Then let’s discuss Christopher Ben’s joining time again after the All-Star break.”

The meetings were held every day, but it was rare for them to lack issues to discuss.

They checked the recovery pace of injured players, coordinated the call-up time of minor league prospects, assessed the condition of starting members, and adjusted the training menu.

On this day, major issues were brought up, but the report from the Future Strategy Planning Department received the most attention.

“Hmm, the Yellow Book, huh….”

The coaching staff frowned as soon as they received the report with the yellow cover.

It seemed like an unwelcome intrusion—the front office meddling in the details of the game.

Of course, unlike when the [Baseball Research and Development Team] was in charge, there was one person who was a little more favorable this time.

“Come on, come on! Don’t be like that! Just take a quick look!”

It was Thomas Culkin, the pitching coach of the Tampa Bay Rays.

“You all remember Kim, right? The guy who fixed Victor Johnson Jr.’s attitude!”

“Ah, that Asian employee?”

“Yes, I heard that he is the center of this report. So, shouldn’t we take a look? He’s quite a talented guy.”

It was Coach Thomas Culkin who received a ‘support fire’ request from Ji-seop.

He had gained something from it, and he had high expectations for Ji-seop.

At Coach Thomas Culkin’s subtle suggestion, the Tampa Bay coaching staff slowly began to turn the pages.

“…….”

The only sound in the heavy silence was the rustling of pages.

While the silence continued, Coach Thomas Culkin heard surprisingly good reviews.

“Hmm, it’s not bad.”

It was the bench coach’s opinion.

“Even if I don’t know about the rest, the composition is quite good. The way other teams view our Tampa Bay… approaching it with this kind of analysis is well done. It’s interesting.”

The bench coach, who was the most senior among the coaching staff, gave a favorable impression, and the other coaches began to follow suit.

“Hmm, that’s right. There is a possibility that the bullpen pitchers’ fatigue has accumulated… I was also concerned about this part.”

“The prediction that hitters may have more strikeouts also makes sense. It’s true that our players’ swing-and-miss rate is increasing these days.”

Overall, it was a favorable evaluation.

It wasn’t as bad as they thought.

At that moment, as Thomas Culkin inwardly sighed in relief…

“Um, but….”

One of the coaches sitting in the corner of the conference room raised his hand.

“Isn’t this a bit of a stretch?”

“A stretch?”

“Yes, the part recorded on the last page of the report.”

He pointed to the report and said.

“Alex Montero can give up 7 stolen bases in the first game?”

And then he added,

“Alex Montero is one of the best in the major league when it comes to throwing… Does this make sense? Don’t you think so?”

* * *

Around the time when the newly released ‘Yellow Book’ was being debated in the manager’s office, the people in the Future Strategy Planning Department who wrote the report were waiting for a call from Coach Thomas Culkin in their office.

They wondered what kind of evaluation their first report received from the coaching staff—whether it was positive, negative, or if it was even a subject of discussion.

The team members were staring at their cell phones, foregoing lunch to hear the results.

“The meeting is getting longer?”

It was John Lama’s observation.

“I heard that it usually ends in an hour at most, but I didn’t know the meeting would be this long….”

The main director of the Future Strategy Planning Department was pacing around the office with anxious eyes, but David Wilson offered a voice of calm.

“Let’s wait for now.”

“The fact that the meeting time is getting longer may be a good sign for us. At least it means that the coaches didn’t ignore our report.”

He continued.

“And although it is a somewhat radical prediction, we have thoroughly written down the reasons. The coaches won’t see it as a completely absurd story.”

David Wilson, who was calming John Lama with such a calm voice, carefully shifted his gaze to Ji-seop, who was sitting at the desk across from him.

“And… Kim.”

“Yes?”

“I was wondering when I should tell you, but I think now is the right time.”

“Tell me what?”

When Ji-seop blinked his eyes over the monitor, David Wilson lowered his head slightly.

“Um… I’m sorry.”

It was quite a serious voice.

“I’m sorry for creating a cold atmosphere while going to Atlanta, and for nagging about inefficient behavior… I’m sorry for everything.”

“Ah, are you talking about that?”

Ji-seop was about to say that there was no need to worry about such things, but it seemed that a serious former minor league catcher couldn’t do that.

“If I hadn’t gone to Atlanta in person, I wouldn’t have been able to meet the game recorder with 27 years of experience. I wouldn’t have known what kind of evaluation our Tampa Bay’s starting catcher was getting from the outside.”

“…….”

“Kim said that we should check everything on the spot… Yes, I will do that from now on, so that we don’t ignore and skip really important data like this time….”

Then David Wilson bowed his head to Ji-seop again.

Ji-seop reached out his big hand and patted his shoulder.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Strictly speaking, it’s almost like I got lucky, so you don’t have to apologize so seriously.”

“B, but….”

“Neither David nor I have a long history in the front office, right? Of course, there will be mistakes and things we miss… So, let’s not feel too sorry for each other about these things.”

Thump, thump.

Ji-seop patted David Wilson on the shoulder and said.

“Anyway, we have to go that way. I’ll fill in the parts that David missed, and David will fill in the parts that I missed… I think we should see this incident in that context.”

“…Kim.”

One spoonful of apology and one spoonful of gratitude.

When David Wilson was making exactly that expression, Ji-seop smiled and changed the subject.

“More than that, I’m curious about what measures the coaches will take.”

“Measures?”

“Yes, no matter how much I think about it, I don’t understand why Alex Montero did that.”

After digging into it, the inconsistent pop times were rather a minor problem.

The Tampa Bay Rays’ starting catcher couldn’t concentrate on the game and was hesitant, like someone who was playing in the game for the first time.

“He’s not inexperienced, and he doesn’t have any personal problems… Why did he look so flustered during the game?”

“That’s what I’m saying. I hope the coaches can find the answer to that part….”

David Wilson, who was a catcher during his active career, didn’t seem to have any ideas that came to mind easily.

Just as they were each immersed in thinking about the problem at hand with serious expressions…

쿵쿵쿵쿵쿵쿵 [onomatopoeia for heavy footsteps].

The sound of someone hurrying down the stairs.

And the next moment, the door of ‘Storage D’ burst open, and someone’s urgent voice was heard.

“Future Strategy Planning… Keuk!”

He must have been very urgent.

A middle-aged man covered his mouth and suffered for a moment, as if he had bitten his tongue while trying to speak.

“Ugh….”

After barely sorting out the situation, he fluttered the ‘Yellow Book’ in question and opened his mouth again.

“Future Strategy Planning Department! This… is this the report you guys made?”

At first, I thought he was someone who came to fight.

The way he opened the door roughly looked exactly like that.

However, at the moment when Ji-seop stepped forward, saying, ‘What’s going on?’, the middle-aged man continued to speak in a desperate voice, as if he would kneel down.

“I have a favor to ask!”

Tok, tok [onomatopoeia for tapping].

The man pointed to the last page of the report.

“This… can’t you just modify the numbers here a little bit?”

“Numbers?”

“Yes, this part that says he can allow 7 stolen bases in one game!”

He continued urgently.

“He might allow 1-2 stolen bases in one game… like this!”

* * *

The man who suddenly rushed in and demanded to modify the contents of the report.

It was David Wilson who sorted out this embarrassing situation.

“…Coach?”

David Wilson stepped forward.

“What brings you here, Coach?”

“Oh, David!!!”

The man called ‘Coach’ ran towards him as soon as he saw David.

“Were you also in the Future Strategy Planning Department? Oh, Holy Mary! You have not abandoned me and my family!”

The man was making a fuss, raising both hands to the sky.

David looked back at Ji-seop and John Lama and introduced him.

“This is Coach Jose Cruz. He is our team’s battery coach from this year.”

“Ah, the battery coach?”

Ji-seop was about to greet Tampa Bay’s battery coach, but the attempt was thwarted.

Before he could even ask for a handshake, Coach Jose Cruz grabbed David’s arms.

“David, please help me! There’s no time! There’s less than two hours left!”

“Less than two hours left… for what?”

“What else could it be! It’s the time when the report you guys wrote is uploaded to [Uncle Charlie – a baseball statistics database]!”

Coach Cruz continued.

“Once that report is uploaded to the database, then it’s really irreversible! It’s going to be a mess! So please… please modify your report and upload it!”

“No, Coach! Why are you doing this? We need to know the situation to modify the report or not.”

“Do we have to go through all that between you and me? Just help me! It’s okay because it was properly delivered to the coaches, right?”

Coach Jose Cruz said earnestly, but David Wilson was also a strict person in this regard.

“No, Coach. Please tell us the reason. The decision to modify the report can be made by the two directors here after hearing the situation.”

“D, Directors?”

Only then did Coach Jose Cruz turn his gaze to Ji-seop and John Lama.

“Haa….”

He sighed deeply, but he couldn’t open his mouth easily, but his inner thoughts were being heard very vividly in Ji-seop’s ear.

[This is… can I reveal this to these people?]

[No one in our team knows except for the manager….]

Coach Jose Cruz, paying attention to Ji-seop and John Lama, fell into deeper 고민 [Korean word for ‘worry’].

[No, will these guys even believe me in the first place?]