Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 14

#13. A Colossal Home Run

Unlike Major League Baseball, where players gradually build up their condition upon entering spring training, the Korean baseball season preparation is quite hectic.

To put it simply, if Major League Baseball adjusts their physical condition to peak for the opening day of the regular season, Korean baseball feels more like adjusting to the exhibition game schedule.

One week into spring training, the first intra-squad scrimmage took place.

“Alright, everyone be careful not to get hurt, and don’t overdo it trying to show off. Got it?”

“Yes, Coach!”

Today’s scrimmage would be a match between the Blue Team, mainly composed of existing starting players, and the White Team, consisting mainly of rookies and backup players.

In the White Team, filled with new faces, I was assigned to play shortstop and bat third.

Besides me, that guy Ahn Chi-wook, who just gave me an inexplicable smile, was at third base and batting fourth, and my roommate, the gentle Jang Deok-soo, was listed as the catcher and batting eighth.

I had to call Hyung Seong-hoon urgently yesterday because of that idiot Ahn Chi-wook.

‘Hey, Soo-hyuk. What’s up? We talked two days ago. Is something wrong?’

‘There’s this guy named Ahn Chi-wook here, and no matter how I look at it, the coach seems like he’s going to bury him in the minor leagues, you know?’

‘Ahn Chi-wook? The guy we picked in the ninth round? Anyway, so what?’

‘Tell Team Manager Park Jae-cheol to keep him in the first team for now. He’s stubborn and doesn’t listen to the coaches, but it’s a waste to just send him to the minors. I’ll whip him into shape, so just leave him with me.’

‘Hmm… Is that so? I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ll do that for now. Anything else?’

‘Uh, just that for now, Hyung [older brother or respected male figure].’

I also want to throw him into the minors and make him sweat until he comes to his senses, but considering the designated hitter slot is open from the opening game, his talent is too good to waste.

Okay, I’ll stick by his side and make a decent player out of him.

Meanwhile, in the Blue Team, mainly composed of starting players, Song Ki-tae, known for his ‘eat-and-run’ [aggressive base-running] style, was at shortstop and batting second, Hwang Seong-min, another ‘eat-and-run’ player, was at catcher and batting sixth, and foreign hitter Max Walker was at right field and batting fourth.

Come to think of it, today is the first time I’m seeing that new foreign player’s batting, who joined the team a few days late.

I’m looking forward to seeing what this friend, whom I brought in with my precious dollars, will show.

“Han Soo-hyuk, please look this way for a moment. Can I ask you to say hello to the viewers?”

“Ah, yes. Hello? I’ll make the game fun today. Please watch a lot.”

Today’s game is being broadcast live through the club’s own internet broadcast.

In other words, it’s a chance for new faces, including me, to show themselves to the fans for the first time.

Hmm.

It’s a bit funny that I, who rolled around in the major leagues for 15 years, am thinking this, but I want to leave a shocking first impression.

Should I blatantly aim for home runs today?

“Play ball!”

The hitting coach, who is the umpire today, announced the start of the game with a cheerful expression.

Foreign player Ryan Stark, who is starting pitcher for our team, faced the first batter with a nervous expression.

I saw a video of him pitching last year, and he’s an orthodox right-handed pitcher who throws a fastball close to 150km/h [approximately 93 mph], as well as curves and sliders.

Jung Ki-ho, the center fielder, stepped up to the plate as the Blue Team’s first batter against Ryan.

He is one of the few veteran players left on the team and a fast outfielder with the nickname ‘fighting cock.’

He has a batting average in the mid-.200s and an on-base percentage in the low .300s, and he can steal bases every year, although he fails quite often.

He’s a player who could be used as a leadoff hitter in a team like the Warriors, although his stats are a bit ambiguous to play as number one in a top-tier team.

That’s why he got a 4-year, 2 billion won [approximately $1.5 million USD] FA [free agent] contract.

In fact, the real problem with this senior player is not his performance.

I should say that his personality, like a time bomb that could explode at any moment, is more of a problem.

“Out!”

The game ended in an instant.

Jung Ki-ho, who should have shown patience at the plate as the team’s first batter, swung at the first pitch and was retired with an infield fly.

The chat window started to explode.

﹂Why doesn’t he retire?

﹂He’s only thirty. And he signed a FA contract last year, why retire him;;;

﹂If Jung Ki-ho retires, we won’t have a center fielder at all

﹂ㅋㅋㅋ Han Soo-hyuk joined and I was spinning the happiness circuit like crazy, but my head got smashed right away in the first at-bat of the practice game, not even the exhibition game

﹂Honestly, if we dream of fall baseball [playoffs] while using a guy like that as number one, we’re just shameless

﹂Bullshit ㄴㄴ Soo-hyuk said he would make us win the championship

﹂That’s just a rookie’s spirit. No matter how good he is, what championship are we going to win

﹂Forget everything else… I just wish Han Soo-hyuk would win the Rookie of the Year award. When was our last Rookie of the Year?

﹂2010

﹂Crazy… That was when Cyworld [a popular Korean social media platform] was around

﹂What’s that? What did Psy do?

﹂Not that Psy, ha… Okay, I’m an old man

﹂ㅋㅋㅋ, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd batters all out by hitting the first pitch 3 times in a row. Look at the team’s condition

And the face of coach Lee Dae-jun, who is in charge of the Blue Team, also turned red like a burning comet.

Coincidentally, since no balls came to me, I just stood in the shortstop position and came back, and I immediately started preparing to hit.

Since our team is mainly composed of new faces, the faces of the 1st and 2nd batters in the waiting seat look pale.

Well, it’ll be my turn soon.

I swing the bat a few times.

Whoosh

My physical condition is close to the best. My movements are so light that I’m worried about overdoing it.

“Out!”

“Out!”

It was as expected.

Our team’s ace Lee Man-sik skillfully got the 1st and 2nd batters out, and in an instant, it was two outs, and finally my turn came.

﹂It’s Han Soo-hyuk!

﹂Oh oh… Our hope

﹂Look at his physique. The batter box is full

﹂I believe, I believe, I believe he will hit a home run. I believe he will smash the pitcher

﹂Hey, the pitcher right now is our 3rd starter… Smashing is too much

﹂Doesn’t Man-sik still retire? He’s persistent;;;

﹂Don’t say too much. How much has he done for us so far

﹂How much? I don’t know about the past, but he gave us exactly 8 wins last year. At his salary, that’s 62.5 million won [approximately $47,000 USD] per win

﹂Efficiency is amazing

﹂Shh, stop talking nonsense. I think there’s an announcement that just came up?

﹂It said that excessive derogatory remarks will be banned

﹂Isn’t saying 62.5 million won per win a derogatory remark

Compared to getting cursed by the fans, Lee Man-sik is not that bad of a pitcher.

Even so, the fact that he has been a key starting pitcher for a team for 10 years means that he has some skill.

His pitching form, which was overhand in his prime, has now come down to almost sidearm, and he has become a pitcher who relies on various breaking balls and movement rather than the speed of the ball.

In fact, when I was playing in the major leagues, I was relatively weak against this type of pitcher.

I, who unconditionally aimed for home runs at the plate and immediately aimed for steals when I got on base, was quite a delicious prey for these veteran pitchers.

Of course, after my experience as a hitter gradually accumulated, and after winning the American League MVP and regaining my composure, that weakness disappeared.

“Ball.”

﹂Hey! Pitcher, don’t throw a beanball! Our Soo-hyuk almost got hurt. I’m going to find you and kill you

﹂Crazy bastard… That just slipped out of his hand. And right now, the pitcher is our team’s ace?

﹂Ace or whatever, if Soo-hyuk gets hurt, he’ll die in my hands…

﹂Ha, he hasn’t even made his official debut yet, and there are already simps everywhere…

The first pitch Lee Man-sik threw flew behind my butt.

In fact, it seems like it slightly brushed my uniform, but I signaled to the referee that it didn’t hit me.

I want to see a little more.

What kind of ball does this team’s ace throw, and how far can I go with my young body?

“Ball.”

“Man-sik! Relax, relax!”

The Korean defense coach, one of the few veterans left on the team, cheered for Lee Man-sik in a loud voice.

Well, this ball was not so much nervous as it was just a ball to disrupt my hitting point.

“Strike!”

This time, a slider came in from the body to the outside.

It was a bit difficult for me, a right-handed hitter, to hit—no, in fact, there was nothing I couldn’t hit if I wanted to, but it was a pitch that was difficult to turn into a big hit, so I just let it go.

And the next ball.

I know.

How difficult and lonely it is to play as an ace in professional baseball. And what kind of mindset do the pitchers who have gone through that process have?

The veteran pitcher, who has been a pro for over 10 years, will never throw a ball here and make it three balls [three balls and no strikes, putting the batter in a favorable position].

Because if he throws such a ball to a rookie who is facing his first at-bat, his own confidence may collapse.

I, who played as an ace for a team in the United States where communication was not easy, could infer such a mindset from Lee Man-sik’s eyes.

Clench

Then I aim.

I tightened the grip I had been holding loosely and waited for the next ball with my center of gravity behind me.

At that moment, a two-seam fastball flew in low on the body.

Giving a slight reaction to the grip that had been adjusted low in advance, from the bottom up, as if pulling it up.

My swing, filled with all my strength, flies towards the ball, which is slightly over 130km/h [approximately 81 mph].

Crack!

The Oakland Athletics, famous for Moneyball and Sabermetrics [data-driven baseball analysis], focused on stats such as on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which are relatively undervalued compared to batting average or home runs.

Thanks to this, players who hit .200 but had a high on-base percentage and hit a lot of extra-base hits started to get more and more attention than players who hit .300.

In that respect, I was not the type of player that Sabermetricians preferred.

Because I unconditionally swung at the ball I could see.

I had to do that to hit even one more home run.

I’ve even hit a curveball that bounced in the dirt and turned it into a home run.

That’s why I wasn’t a player with a high on-base percentage compared to my batting average.

Of course, my basic batting average was over .300, so my on-base percentage wasn’t low either.

And after hitting more than 40 home runs, I became a player for whom it was meaningless to even consider such things.

Anyway, that was it.

An extreme bat-ball hitter, that was my early hitter days.

Remembering those days, I lifted Lee Man-sik’s low two-seam fastball as it was.

Anyway, the ball hit by my huge uppercut disappears into the sky as a small black dot.

Far, far away, drawing a very elegant curve as if flying over the Arizona sky.

The batted ball, which continued to fly without lowering its altitude, landed at the very top of the stands.

I, who was admiring the batted ball at the plate, unknowingly tossed the bat back.

“Wow!”

“Is that even possible? Is such a batted ball possible?”

“Han Soo-hyuk, you crazy bastard!”

There was a commotion everywhere.

The players and coaches, who were very excited by the tremendous trajectory of the batted ball, shouted as if they had forgotten that it was a game.

Hmm.

Yeah, the feel is good and everything is good, but…

Seeing Lee Man-sik’s eyes turn into those of a dead pollack in an instant, I regret it a little.

He was a good person who told me to call him Man-sik Hyung instead of Senior as soon as we met.

Should I strike out at the next at-bat?

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