A Rookie In The Baseball Team Is Too Good [EN]: Chapter 83

23. Proof of Vaccination (3)

Jimmy Morris was scheduled to skip a start after throwing over 120 pitches in his last game.

However, to maintain his game readiness, the coaching staff had him doing ‘live pitching’ drills.

A drill where he faces batters in a game-like situation with fielders in position.

Whoosh- Bang!

Jimmy Morris, who had set a great record of ‘no-hit, no-run’ and even received a locker from the team’s oldest player, Cheon Jin-woo, was throwing balls at over 150 km/h against the Cannons hitters, feeling like he was flying.

It was at this moment that Ji-seop approached Lee Soo-bin, who had been called up to the first team that day.

“Lee Soo-bin.”

“Ah, yes! Senior!”

Perhaps because he wasn’t used to the first team yet, or perhaps because Jimmy Morris’s pitches were so powerful, Lee Soo-bin, wearing a large batting helmet, looked tense as he stood in the on-deck circle.

“W-What is it?”

“Ah, it’s nothing much.”

Ji-seop placed his hand on the high school rookie’s shoulder and continued.

“I was just wondering how your condition is. I heard you were hitting home runs left and right in the minors [minor league].”

“C-Condition, you say?”

Lee Soo-bin gave an awkward smile.

“I thought I was in top condition when I was in the minors… But now that I’m in the first team, I’m not so sure anymore.”

“The first practice is very important.”

Ji-seop said in a calm voice.

“You need to impress the manager and coaches in today’s practice. That way, even if you don’t perform well in the actual game, you’ll get a chance for a while.”

“I, I suppose so.”

At this moment, Lee Soo-bin’s expression was quite strange.

He seemed a little embarrassed, and also a little resentful.

[Damn it, who doesn’t know the first practice is important? I’m already nervous as hell, why is this old man suddenly appearing and talking nonsense?]

Ji-seop read Lee Soo-bin’s mind by looking ‘intently’ into his eyes.

He spoke again.

“If Lee Soo-bin wants, I can give you a little help.”

“H-Help?”

“Yes, so you can definitely impress them in today’s practice.”

The Cannons need a rookie’s performance right now.

Ji-seop gave a subtle smile.

“Even to inject some tension into the slightly relaxed team atmosphere.”

* * *

About five minutes later.

Lee Soo-bin was entering the batter’s box with a stiff face.

“P-Please take care of me.”

After bowing politely to the catcher, the KH rookie infielder began to smooth the dirt in the batter’s box with his spikes.

At this moment, the instructions given by the manager’s interpreter a little while ago came to his mind.

-It’s very simple.

The interpreter was giving instructions with a confident expression.

-Just before Jimmy Morris goes into his pitching motion, I will send a signal to Lee Soo-bin.

-The ball will almost 100% come in according to the signal I send. Lee Soo-bin just has to hit it.

-But you have to hit it hard. Very hard! At least enough to get it over the fence once. That’s how you’ll impress the manager, right?

The instructions themselves were not difficult, but from Lee Soo-bin’s point of view, they were hard to accept.

‘He says the ball will come in according to his signal? Is that… possible?’

Jimmy Morris on the mound didn’t seem to be receiving any signals from the catcher right now.

He was just throwing as he wanted, as he felt like it.

In this situation, predicting the pitcher’s pitch type and course in advance is not easy.

‘Are signals being exchanged in a way I don’t know? Or does he completely understand the pitcher’s tells [subtle, often unconscious movements that tip off what pitch is coming]?’

As he kept tilting his head and smoothing the dirt in the batter’s box, he heard Jimmy Morris’s shout in his ear.

“Hey, rookie! Come on, come on!”

The pitcher was urging him to finish preparing quickly.

The rookie infielder’s brow furrowed slightly.

‘That guy… He’s acting like he can finish me off with three pitches.’

Just because he’s a rookie doesn’t mean he has no feelings.

Lee Soo-bin was secretly annoyed.

He was annoyed by the attitude that seemed to ignore him, and he was reminded of the fact that he had to move his locker because of that guy.

And just then, the interpreter standing outside the batting cage sent him a signal.

‘A fastball on the inside, deep in the zone…?!’

Almost at the same time as he received the signal, the pitcher went into his pitching motion.

It was at this moment that Lee Soo-bin, who had been half-doubtful, made up his mind, ‘Damn it, let’s do it.’

‘Yeah, if the ball comes in according to the signal… I can give that unlucky bastard a good hit!’

He bit his lower lip.

Tightly gripping the bat handle.

The moment the ball left the pitcher’s fingertips and quickly rotated towards home plate, Lee Soo-bin’s bat rotated sharply.

And,

In the very next moment.

Clang!

A tremendous sound of impact echoed throughout the KH Cannons field.

Because the stadium was empty, with spectators not yet admitted, the sound of Lee Soo-bin’s hit echoed back.

And before the echo could subside, people’s voices were heard.

“H-Home run!”

“It went over, it went over!”

It was a home run.

A line drive home run that directly hit the outfield stands of the KH Cannons field.

“Wow, what’s going on?!”

“Our rookie is no joke!”

The players who were watching the rookie’s practice hitting cheered in surprise,

“His swing is simple and good.”

“Heh heh, I guess his minor league record wasn’t just luck.”

The hitting coach and the head coach nodded, looking at the data charts.

“……Huh.”

Lee Soo-bin, who hadn’t expected to hit it over the fence, was blinking with a dazed expression,

“…….”

But at this moment, the person who was most surprised by this sudden home run was, of course-

‘I… got hit with a home run? By a rookie who just came up to the first team today?!’

The pitcher on the mound,

Jimmy Morris.

* * *

Jimmy Morris seemed to take this home run allowed to the rookie as a simple ‘mistake.’

“Hahaha, p-pretty good, rookie?!”

It was a natural reaction.

After all, he was the one who had pitched a no-hitter for 9 innings even when he was hungover.

He probably didn’t think he would allow a home run to a rookie when he was on the mound in perfect condition.

“Y-You better be nervous from now on? I’m just starting to warm up!”

As if to repay the home run, Jimmy Morris gritted his teeth and went into his pitching motion.

But the next moment, what awaited him was a series of intense hitting sounds that made him feel like his heart would drop.

Clang! even when he threw a fastball!

Clang! even when he threw a breaking ball!

Clang! even when he threw his best pitch, thinking, ‘There’s no way he can hit this!’

Each time a hitting sound was heard, the batted ball flew deep into the outfield.

Frankly, even Ji-seop thought, ‘Oops,’ when almost half of them went over the fence.

‘Wait a minute… He’s hitting way too well?’

It was true that Ji-seop was helping.

After looking ‘intently’ into Jimmy Morris’s eyes, he was telling him the pitch type and course that the guy would throw.

But it’s not easy to hit every ball that comes in like that and send it near the fence.

Later, he even deliberately gave slightly wrong information, but Lee Soo-bin still managed to hit it accurately.

‘The minor league manager praised him so much, saying he was a future cleanup hitter [a team’s best and most consistent hitter]… Was that true?’

Anyway, after nearly twenty batted balls flew all over the KH Cannons field, Arthur Freeman, who had been silently watching the situation, stepped forward.

“Okay, that’s it for today.”

Jimmy Morris came down from the mound after receiving the manager’s instructions.

At this time, there was no need to describe his face.

“T-This can’t be……”

The pride of achieving a no-hitter had disappeared somewhere.

The satisfaction of using two lockers had also vanished at some point.

Jimmy Morris walked to the dugout with dead fish eyes.

Wow!!!

During the game that day, Jimmy Morris didn’t say a single word in the dugout.

He just sat in the corner of the dugout with his arms crossed, watching the ball go back and forth with his eyes rolling.

In fact, the content of the game that day may have been a bigger shock to him than being hit with a home run by Lee Soo-bin.

Strike!

Strike, batter out!!!

Lee Soo-bin, who had properly received the coaching staff’s ‘seal of approval’ in the match against Jimmy Morris.

He started as the 7th hitter and third baseman in the game that day, but ridiculously struck out four times in a row.

‘Seriously, you never know with baseball……’

He may have been very nervous because it was his first game in the first team, or it may have been because no one was telling him the pitch type and course from the side.

Whatever the reason, the fact that a hitter who was hitting home runs against Jimmy Morris struck out four times in a row.

What kind of strong message did this fact give to ‘no-hitter pitcher’ Jimmy Morris?

“Hey, Ji-seop!”

It was when Ji-seop was walking to the media room to interpret the manager’s interview after the game that day.

Jimmy Morris, who had left the dugout a step later than him, called out to Ji-seop.

“Oh, Jimmy? What’s up?”

In fact, Ji-seop was a little nervous at this time.

Because the unexpected performance of the rookie infielder Lee Soo-bin had given Jimmy Morris a bigger shock than he had initially thought.

‘One or two home runs would have been enough, but he got hit with almost ten……’

How will this work?

Will it be a ‘vaccination’ that calms the excited mind after setting a great record?

Or will it act as a ‘poison’ that makes him lose confidence in the ball?