A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 521

The New Recruit of the Baseball Team is Too Good 521

Receiving 111 as is (1)

Clockwise Field.

It was the Tampa Bay Rays’ home stadium, newly opened ahead of this season.

For Ji-seop and the Tampa Bay Rays, it was a place of utmost significance.

From CEO Brian Sphan to owner Jeffrey Taylor, and even Benjamin Oznovich or R. J. Higgins.

Because the sweat and tears of countless people who had passed through the Tampa Bay Rays over the past decades were lingering in every corner of this stadium.

“……”

It was five years ago that the new stadium construction project passed the St. Petersburg City Council thanks to Ji-seop’s performance.

Since then, the new stadium, filled with everyone’s wishes, gradually took shape over a full four-year construction period.

Then, last October, [Clockwise Group], a partner company of the Tampa Bay Rays, acquired the naming rights for the new stadium at a cost of $8 million per year.

Thus, in this baseball stadium, which was revealed to the world under the name ‘Clockwise Field’-

Wow!!!

That evening, cheers erupted more fervently than ever before.

Of course, it was also because this was the 12th sell-out of the season, and a large number of spectators had come to the stadium.

However, the tremendous heat that could not be explained simply by the number of spectators.

It originated from a man who returned to the Tampa Bay Rays after six years, a few hours earlier.

Hi-yama!

That’s right. It was Vincent Hiyama.

The score was 5-3 in the bottom of the 7th inning, with runners on all bases and one out.

The 34-year-old veteran designated hitter, who had not recorded a hit until the previous at-bat. The former ace, who was not even able to match the timing, let alone hit a long ball.

As with every baseball team in the world, there were impatient fans in the Tampa Bay Rays.

“Hey, Brett!!! Vincent is not in good condition today! Pinch hitter! Bring in a pinch hitter!!!”

“Damn it, we even used a pinch-hitter strategy three times in a row on the road? But why are we doing this at home?!”

“Baseball of faith doesn’t work! Baseball isn’t just about romance! Replace him! I said replace him?!”

Advice, not advice, poured in from the stands, but manager Brett Evans, who was making his home debut that day, didn’t even twitch an eyebrow.

It wasn’t caught on the broadcast camera, so I can’t know for sure, but there’s also a story that he dug his ear with his finger and said, ‘Huh, pinch hitter my ass!’

It meant that manager Brett Evans believed in the batter. It meant that he trusted Vincent’s experience and senses.

To be honest, even Ji-seop was nervous at this time. Just when the word ‘pinch hi…….’ came to his mind.

Thwaaaack!!!

A truly intense hitting sound coming from the ground.

“Huh?!”

“H-huh?!!”

A pure white trajectory was clearly etched in Ji-seop’s mind.

The trajectory, which soared so high as to directly hit the dome stadium’s roof, stretched far into the outfield.

And at the moment when it soared over the tall right field fence of Clockwise Field and disappeared.

Thus, at the very moment when everyone who came to the stadium that day jumped up from their seats and shouted a man’s name.

-Home run, that’s a home run! Grand slam, grand slam! Vincent Hiyama, who returned after 6 years, is delivering a hot comeback report to Tampa Bay Rays fans!!!

Listening to the enthusiastic comments of the broadcast caster, Ji-seop clenched his fist without realizing it.

‘Hehe, a grand slam here.’

Vincent Hiyama is Vincent Hiyama, after all.

He also thought that class doesn’t change even as time passes.

And almost at the same time, one thought crossed his mind.

‘After all… Vincent is too good a player to just leave him like this.’

Looking back,

It seems that Ji-seop’s mind became firm at this time.

* * *

That day’s game, against the Toronto Blue Jays at Clockwise Field, ended with a victory for the Tampa Bay Rays.

The final score was 10-5. Considering that they were behind until the second half of the game, it was a victory with a surprisingly large score difference.

After Vincent Hiyama’s comeback grand slam in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Tampa Bay batting line, which had been sluggish throughout the game, suddenly began to show vitality.

The 10-5 victory was a pleasant one. John Llama Taylor, the acting owner, commented on this as follows.

“Wow, you’re really our general manager! Kim, you’ve done it again!”

Not Brett Evans, not Vincent Hiyama.

Ji-seop could only smile wryly at the words that praised him.

“Why are you praising me all of a sudden? Why is my name coming out of there?”

“Why else? Who brought in Vincent Hiyama? If a transfer [newly acquired] player performs well, it’s natural for the front office that recruited him to be praised!”

That’s right, that’s right.

The acting owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, nodding his head as he spoke.

Of course, there seemed to be a certain intention behind this endless praise.

“So… Kim? Can you change your mind a little bit?”

“Mind? What mind?”

“Hey, I’m talking about a company dinner! Tonight’s team dinner! To celebrate manager Brett Evans and Vincent Hiyama’s successful comeback!”

John Llama narrowed his brow slightly.

“No, how can Kim be missing from such an important event? To be honest, would the manager or Vincent be waiting for me? Of course, they’d want to have a drink with Kim….”

“Haha, you don’t have to worry about that. Vincent doesn’t drink a drop of alcohol during the season.”

“Kim, are you really going to do this?”

As the acting owner poked him in the side, Ji-seop barely managed to speak while blocking his touch.

“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do it today. I have a lot of guests in my office right now.”

“Guests? At this hour? No, what kind of guests are they….”

When John Llama blinked and looked at Ji-seop, someone poked their head out at the end of the hallway.

“Oh, Kim!!!”

The man who ran to Ji-seop as soon as he saw him was Richard Stellmjzek.

A man once called the ‘Flamingo’ of the Tampa Bay Rays. A veteran outfielder who made a great contribution to forming a rivalry with the New York Yankees.

He retired from active duty after winning the World Series last year and has been serving as a special advisor to the president of the Tampa Bay Rays since this season.

“Oh, you’re here! I’ve been looking for you for a while. I couldn’t reach you by phone, either.”

His face was covered in thick beads of sweat, as if he had been wandering around for quite some time.

It is a big discourtesy for the front desk to not answer the phone on time. Ji-seop checked his cell phone, which was full of missed calls, and made an embarrassed expression.

“Oh, I’m sorry. It was so noisy inside the stadium that I couldn’t hear my cell phone ringing.”

Ji-seop scratched his head and asked again.

“But… what’s going on? Did you get any urgent calls?”

“No, that’s not it.”

“About those guests.”

Richard Stellmjzek had a troubled expression on his face.

“I let them into the office as you instructed… Well, these shameless guys are cooking food in there!”

“Food?”

It was John Llama who reacted.

“In the office?”

“Yes, it’s steaming and smells spicy… It smells like they’re cooking ramen or something.”

John Llama’s eyes widened at Richard Stellmjzek’s report.

“Cooking in the general manager’s office… No, Richard! Were you just watching? You should have stopped them right away!”

“I did. Of course, I went in and stopped them! But those guys said they had Kim’s permission….”

“Kim’s permission?!”

As John Llama turned his head as if to say, ‘Is that really true?’, Ji-seop opened his mouth with a troubled expression.

“That’s right. I allowed it.”

Ji-seop nodded.

“They’re friends who came all the way from Kentucky. I originally booked a restaurant nearby, but they said they still had some work left to do….”

That’s why he decided to provide even the cup ramen hidden in the general manager’s office.

Ji-seop thought he had given a fairly detailed explanation, but John Llama still had a puzzled expression on his face.

“Kim, who are they?”

The acting owner asked.

“You didn’t even give me the cup ramen you hid in your office, did you? Saying that it was brought directly from Korea and that it was on a different level than the imported stuff, or something like that.”

“Hey, why are you being so specific?”

Ji-seop, who was embarrassed for no reason, coughed ‘ahem’.

“Anyway, you just gave away such precious cup ramen? Then they’re not ordinary people? Who are they?”

“Well, I don’t know if you’ll remember.”

Dr. Samuel Goldberg.

Ji-seop mentioned the name of one of the ‘guests’.

“They are people from the research team that I have been personally hiring since 5 years ago.”

And one word that follows.

“I think it’s time to use their skills….”

* * *

Dr. Goldberg and his research team, [Braveball Institute].

They were the last gift of Brian Sphan, the former general manager of the Tampa Bay Rays.

Around the time when the new stadium construction project was successful and Ji-seop’s appointment as general manager was slowly becoming a reality.

CEO Brian Sphan had handed Ji-seop a shabby building.

The man who had been stubbornly holding out in that building for months without paying rent was Dr. Goldberg.

The one word that Dr. Goldberg shouted with his eyes shining the day he first met him was still vivid in Ji-seop’s memory.

-Kim, I’m conducting research that will change the paradigm of baseball! I’m looking for a way to overcome the trauma of injury and return to my former self! That’s Braveball!

-I’m living like this now… But just watch! Soon, everyone in the baseball world will be talking about my name!

Strictly speaking, it was half doubt and half belief.

Whether Dr. Goldberg’s idea could be realized. Whether it was really an idea that would turn the baseball world upside down.

But Ji-seop trusted Brian Sphan’s judgment and began to give him full support.

And now, 5 years later, Ji-seop was seeing a considerable level of results with his own eyes.

“Kim, it’s as you can see.”

Gulp, gulp, kwaaa.

Dr. Goldberg, who had emptied every last drop of the cup ramen broth, was shining his eyes like that day 5 years ago.

“Jack Trembley, who belongs to the Tampa Bay Rays’ High Single-A [minor league level], has now fully recovered.”

“Hmm.”

Ji-seop was flipping through the report he had received from him, one by one.

“Actually, it was a very rare case. The injury he sustained in middle school became a trauma, hindering his normal movements.”

Dr. Goldberg continued.

“But after a month of counseling and recovery training, we were able to achieve good results. His average speed has increased by 3 miles, and his erratic control has also stabilized. Ah, that’s right!”

“Look, look!”

Dr. Goldberg took out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and waved it around.

“The players themselves, as well as the coaches, were so happy… They even wrote me a letter of appreciation like this when we parted ways.”

“Oh, really?”

Ji-seop was even checking the contents of the letter that Dr. Goldberg had handed him.

It contained a message that he was deeply impressed by the treatment and training of the [Braveball Institute].

In the postscript, several names of players belonging to Double-A and Triple-A were written, and the High Single-A manager was asking if they could also help them.

It meant that Dr. Goldberg and his group’s skills had improved to some extent, and Ji-seop nodded and said.

“Doctor, you’ve worked hard. It wouldn’t have been easy to work in an unfamiliar place.”

“Haha, no! It’s definitely different than before. Perhaps because I’ve been working step by step from the amateur stage, there are now quite a few players who are approaching me favorably.”

“It’s all thanks to Kim’s leadership.”

Dr. Goldberg bowed his head in the Korean style.

It seems that he had seen and learned from Ji-seop while spending time with him.

“5 years is not a short time, but you’ve been feeding me and putting me to sleep for that long… I’m really grateful!”

He raised his head.

“If you have any other projects, please feel free to entrust them to me! We are full of desire to meet more players!”

“Yes, I have something to entrust to the doctor anyway. That’s why I asked you to come here.”

Dr. Goldberg’s expression brightened at Ji-seop’s words.

“Good! That’s great! Which player is it this time? I was in High Single-A last time, so are we going to Double-A this time? Or Triple-A?”

“No. You’ve been giving us great results for several years now, haven’t you? Then I think it’s time for you to do something really big.”

“B, big deal….”

Half expectation and half anxiety.