A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 299

Chapter 73: How to Feed a Carrot (2)

It’s a well-known story now, both in Korea and the United States, that baseball teams largely consist of two distinct spheres.

The realm of the field staff, led by the manager, and the realm of the practical front office, led by the general manager.

The separation between these two areas is so complete that the saying, “There’s an invisible wall in baseball teams,” is widely accepted.

Given this common understanding, the fact that the Future Strategy Planning Department was attending the coaching staff meeting was quite unusual.

And the two people who made this exceptional decision possible were:

Pitching Coach Thomas Culkin.

And Battery Coach Jose Cruz.

After sweeping the Yankees in the three-game series, thanks to the performance of starting catcher Alex Montero, these two apparently championed the contributions of the Future Strategy Planning Department.

-Manager, I didn’t do much in this Alex Montero situation.

-Think about it. Wasn’t it the Future Strategy Planning Department’s ‘Yellow Book’ [a detailed scouting report] that first identified the problem with the catcher position?

-Moreover, Kim, the assistant director there, accurately pinpointed what Alex was thinking. If that hadn’t happened, we’d still be searching for a new instructor.

Future Strategy Planning Department.

Their help was decisive.

Their insight into the situation is remarkable, and their ability to resolve conflicts smoothly is astonishing.

As a result of praising them non-stop throughout the meeting, they received permission from the manager.

-Alright. If you two recommend them so highly, it wouldn’t hurt to have them attend the next meeting.

Thus, the Future Strategy Planning Department was granted access to the ‘forbidden area’ for front office staff: the coaching staff meeting.

The next morning, upon arriving at the conference room next to the manager’s office, Ji-seop slightly bowed his head to the two coaches.

“Thank you, Coaches.”

Ji-seop said.

“I think I’ve been given a great opportunity thanks to you. I’m already wondering how I should repay you.”

It wasn’t just the symbolic significance of a front office employee stepping into the realm of the field staff.

From Ji-seop’s perspective, as the creator of the game prediction report, the ‘Yellow Book,’ the opinions of the field staff who directly interact on the field were invaluable.

Simply observing their meetings would likely improve the quality of the report even further.

In that respect, it was a considerable benefit both symbolically and practically.

As Ji-seop expressed his gratitude politely, Coach Jose Cruz chuckled and responded.

“You don’t have to be so formal. Considering the help we’ve received from you, this is nothing.”

He added that improving the quality of the report would also greatly help the coaching staff.

“And isn’t the person you really should be thanking the manager? Make sure to greet him properly when he comes later.”

“Ah, the manager?”

Tampa Bay Rays’ manager, Mike Clemblas.

It was probably from this point that Ji-seop started to take an interest in him.

“What kind of person is the manager?”

After finishing his greetings with the coaching staff and sitting down at his desk.

Ji-seop asked Coach Jose Cruz, who was sitting next to him.

“He seems like a very gentle person when he appears on broadcasts… Is he actually like that in person?”

Unlike Korean professional baseball, in Major League Baseball, interviews with the manager are sometimes conducted during the game.

A time for them to appear in front of the TV broadcast camera and offer a comment or two about the current game flow or the players’ condition.

The Mike Clemblas that Ji-seop had seen at that time was a very calm and quiet person.

“Gentle? Yeah, he’s gentle.”

Was Jose Cruz’s response.

“But the expression ‘gentle’ is a bit lacking, more like… you can feel an ‘aura’ about him, I guess?”

“Aura?”

“Yeah, you’ll feel it as soon as you see him. Ah, so that’s the kind of person who becomes a Major League manager! There’s something different about people who become managers!”

“Yeah, he’s not an ordinary person.”

Coach Thomas Culkin, who was sitting across from him, joined the conversation.

“It’s not like anyone can become the youngest manager in Major League Baseball, right? He took the manager position at 35… We have to see him as someone in a different class from us.”

He looked at Ji-seop.

“Maybe Kim, you’ll get along better with the manager than we do. Aren’t you two almost the same age?”

“Right? Kim is 34, and the manager is 39 this year.”

In that light-hearted atmosphere, as they continued to talk about the manager.

A strange scene caught Ji-seop’s eye as he quietly listened to the coaches’ words.

“The manager is coming.”

As someone announced this, the coaches, who had been chatting in a relaxed atmosphere until now, were startled and straightened their postures.

Some straightened their backs, some adjusted their clothes, and some neatly arranged the documents in front of them by tapping them.

Up to this point, it could be seen as a general posture of greeting the head of a team, but what surprised Ji-seop was what happened next.

Squeak-

Almost at the same time as the conference room door opened, the Tampa Bay Rays’ coaching staff all jumped up from their seats.

And this one phrase they shouted at the top of their lungs.

“Good morning, Manager!!!”

It was such a loud voice that the conference room window slightly trembled, but the man’s reaction to this was very calm.

“Yes, good morning.”

This man, who didn’t make eye contact with the coaches and quietly sat down, pushing up his gold-rimmed glasses.

“Everyone, please sit down. Let’s begin today’s regular meeting.”

This was the official first meeting with Mike Clemblas, the manager of the Tampa Bay Rays.

* * *

People often say.

That in America, they don’t pay much attention to age.

They don’t treat you specially just because you’re older, and they don’t greatly ignore you just because you’re younger.

From Ji-seop’s point of view, there was definitely such a culture. It’s rare to see cases where they strictly distinguish between older and younger siblings by just one or two years.

But America is also a place where people live. At least in terms of ‘experience,’ age greatly influences things.

People with a lot of experience are treated very politely, and people with almost no experience are ignored to an almost excessive degree.

In light of such experiences, the scene Ji-seop witnessed at the coaching staff meeting that day was very strange.

‘……What is this atmosphere?’

The scene of everyone jumping up from their seats to greet the manager was surprising even when he thought about it again.

Even in the Korean baseball scene, where the hierarchy is clear, they don’t greet their superiors with such formality.

But what was even more unfamiliar was the atmosphere of the coaching staff meeting that followed.

The young manager, who was only thirty-nine years old this year, not even forty yet, was completely dominating the coaches, who were on average about ten years older than him.

“Coach Harrison, have you talked to player Mark Kohun?”

“Yes?”

The hitting coach raised his head sharply.

“Player Mark Kohun, wasn’t he almost ejected yesterday? For protesting the umpire’s ball call.”

“Ah, yes! About that…….”

The hitting coach cautiously replied.

“He seems to be under a lot of stress about the umpire’s strike zone, so I advised him to shake it off quickly. It’s not a problem that can be solved by dwelling on it for a long time…….”

“Ah, shake it off?”

Manager Clemblas’s sharp gaze turned to the hitting coach.

“What’s the basis for that?”

“Yes?”

“The advice to shake it off can only come from the assumption that the umpire’s call was wrong. So I’m asking what the basis is for your judgment that there was a problem with yesterday’s umpire’s call.”

“I don’t even know about that…… After all, the players’ opinions are important in these matters…….”

The hitting coach offered his own excuses, but it didn’t seem to work at all for the manager.

“Coach, it would be a bit difficult to use the phrase ‘from the players’ perspective’ in this situation, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes?”

“If the umpire’s call was correct, then Mark Kohun would have been shifting his blame to others and ruining the team atmosphere. Then an even stricter penalty should be imposed.”

At the word ‘penalty,’ the hitting coach swallowed hard.

“And even if the umpire’s call was wrong, isn’t it not a good idea to appeal in such a big way? All the players will become dissatisfied with the umpire’s calls, and I think it will negatively affect the team’s victory. Especially considering Mark Kohun’s years of experience.”

“Th, that’s true, but…….”

The hitting coach, who had been completely crushed after saying one wrong word.

As he shrunk his neck like a turtle, Manager Clemblas said in a calm tone.

“All the data is in Uncle Charlie [a baseball data analysis system]. Please check it, have a meeting with Mark Kohun, and then report back to me. Please do so by 16:00 today.”

“Ah, I understand, Manager.”

As the hitting coach nodded repeatedly, a tense atmosphere began to circulate in the conference room.

It felt like Ji-seop was watching a scary teacher’s class when he was young.

‘Please don’t ask me a question, I hope the teacher doesn’t see me.’

The coaching staff was shrinking with the same expressions their friends had at that time.

“Hmm?”

And the next moment, a story that might have been very welcome to the coaches popped out.

“Over there, those people.”

One, two, three.

Manager Mike Clemblas pointed to the first-team members of the Future Strategy Planning Department, including Ji-seop.

“I don’t recognize those faces… Who are you?”

* * *

Coach Thomas Culkin answered the manager’s question.

“I’m sorry, Manager!”

He stood up from his seat.

“I was so focused on the meeting that I forgot to introduce them.”

The reality was that he was crouching down so as not to attract the manager’s attention, but Ji-seop didn’t bother to point this out.

“They’re employees of the Future Strategy Planning Department. You told us to bring them to the meeting yesterday…….”

“Ah, the Future Strategy Planning Department?”

The manager’s eyes lit up with interest.

“So you’re the ones who made a great contribution to solving the Alex Montero case.”

“Yes, that’s right! I think you know John LaMar Taylor on the far left, and next to him…….”

As Coach Thomas Culkin introduced Ji-seop and his group, Manager Mike Clemblas slowly nodded.

“Nice to meet you.”

He even smiled slightly.

“The two coaches have praised you so much… I wanted to meet you. Now that you’ve come, I hope you’ll give us a lot of good opinions today.”

With that, Manager Clemblas flipped through the documents he was holding.

“Since we have special guests, let’s review the ‘Yellow Book’ right away today.”

“The game prediction report?”

Coach Thomas Culkin tilted his head.

“Oh, weren’t we just supposed to say hello today? You said that formally attending the meeting would start with the series against the Baltimore Orioles…….”

“That’s true. But they’ve waited this long, so it wouldn’t be right to just say hello and send them away, would it?”

The manager continued.

“Didn’t you also write a report on the game against the Detroit Tigers that’s scheduled to be held today? There are some things I want to ask about that part…… Is that okay?”

“It’s okay! It’s more than okay!”

It was David Wilson.

It seemed that he thought a great opportunity had come to him, as becoming a Major League coach was his lifelong dream.

“It’s a report I’ve worked hard on. If you ask me anything, I’ll answer you right away.”

David Wilson was burning with enthusiasm, but Ji-seop was looking at this situation with a slightly different feeling.

‘Well, the manager doesn’t seem very interested in our skills…….’

There was no other reason.

When he looked into the manager’s eyes, he could hear his inner thoughts in his ear.

[Ah, so these are the people.]

[The Future Strategy Planning Department…… Our Tampa Bay Rays’ capybaras [a South American rodent known for its docile nature].]

Capybaras.

What is a capybara……?