Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 149

#148. Relic of the Old Era

[First Place Team vs. Second Place Team, Ace vs. Ace, the Victor is the Seoul Warriors]

[The game remained scoreless through the bottom of the 7th, but Han Su-hyeok’s home run changed everything]

[Warriors scored eight runs with a complete batting order in the 8th, chasing Incheon by a single game]

[Han Su-hyeok, who had a perfect game until the bottom of the 7th, came down from the mound immediately after his team scored 8 runs]

[When asked about the reason for the pitching change, Manager Lee Dae-jun said, “It was Su-hyeok’s decision. He thought resting for the next game was more important than challenging a second record.”]

[Han Su-hyeok pitched 7 innings without allowing a run, threw 83 pitches, struck out 13, and earned his third win of the season with dominant pitching]

[Incheon Rangers collapsed in the 8th, giving up eight runs. Manager Gu Yong-sik said, “It’s all my fault as the manager.”]

[The enraged owner of the Incheon Rangers left the stadium before the game ended]

└R) This is so frustrating…

└R) Im Jun-yeong pitched so damn well. It’s just that Han Su-hyeok is too much of a pain in the ass.

└R) Honestly, Im Jun-yeong held on until the 8th because he’s good.

└R) Those pitchers who came up after him should get hit with a bat. How can they give up 8 runs in one inning? Are they crazy?

└R) Sigh… This puts us only one game ahead of the Warriors, lol. I can’t believe it.

└W) Im Jun-yeong was amazing yesterday. If he’s well-managed this season and handed over to us, that would be great.

└R) Get lost, you bastard. Do you even have the money to match Im Jun-yeong’s salary if he leaves?

└W) That’s our problem. Just manage him well. Don’t let him get hurt.

└R) Ha… Now we have to listen to this kind of crap from those guys.

The perfect pitching duel between the two pitchers lasted until the 7th, but when their ace collapsed in the 8th and the bullpen subsequently exploded, Incheon fans’ opinions began to boil over, resulting in a clean sweep for the Warriors.

The biggest criticism was directed at Manager Gu Yong-sik, not the players.

Compared to other teams’ managers, many of whom were former star players, Gu Yong-sik didn’t have a strong base of loyal fans to support him.

Having retired from being an unknown second-string player at the young age of 24, he was a self-made man who became a manager after working his way up through the operations and scouting departments.

The fans, looking for a scapegoat to blame for the sweep, turned their anger towards the manager, as it was easier than blaming the players they loved.

In fact, up to this point, it wasn’t a major crisis.

Even the top team can get swept during the season, and giving up eight runs in one inning happens.

They were still in first place, and considering the remaining schedule and their overall strength, they were still the top contenders for the championship.

They just needed to consider it a stroke of bad luck, reorganize, and move forward.

No sport reflects a team’s true strength as accurately as professional baseball, with its grueling 144-game season.

What they needed now was unwavering consistency and composure.

Composure to persevere steadfastly, even if they faltered momentarily on the path they had chosen.

However, sometimes one person’s decision can ruin everything.

For example, the rage of a certain conglomerate chairman who wasn’t satisfied unless his team was overwhelmingly in first place, and who had to watch his team get swept before his very eyes.

[Sudden Rumors of Manager Replacement Shakes Incheon Rangers, the Top Team]

[Incheon Still Holding First Place Since Last Season, Manager Replacement Before the Fall Classic [Korean Series, the championship series] ?]

[Incheon Fans in Disarray, Are They Really Replacing the Manager in This Situation?]

[Incheon Coach A: “There Was Conflict Between the Manager and the Front Office From the Beginning of the Season” Shocking Testimony]

└What kind of bullshit is that… We were overwhelmingly in first place at the beginning of the season, so why the conflict?

└Regardless, are they replacing the manager with only 30 games left in the season?

└Ha… What is this? Getting swept by the Warriors sucks, but this shouldn’t be happening, right?

└My cousin works for the Rangers…

└Stop talking crap right now.

└Just listen. Anyway, the owner apparently didn’t like Manager Gu Yong-sik from the start.

└Why? He reorganized a team that was always in the mid-to-lower ranks and even led them to the championship last year?

└That owner apparently has an old-school style and likes things like passion, grit, spirit, and indomitable will.

└Ah… I get it. He’s an old geezer.

└Well, Gu Yong-sik is a pretty straightforward guy. He doesn’t seem like he can do things like sucking up at all.

└Damn it, are they really replacing the manager at the end of the season?

└That can’t be. It’s just a warning, right? Regardless of the contract extension, if we don’t win this year, he’ll have to take off his uniform – something like that?

Amidst everyone’s doubts, ten days passed.

During that time, we recorded 5 wins and 4 losses, and Incheon also achieved 5 wins, maintaining the one-game difference between the two teams.

I started again in the second game of the home series against Busan, recording 7 innings without allowing a run and earning my fourth win of the season.

Having not allowed a single runner in the previous three starts, I allowed one hit and one walk in this game against Busan.

There wasn’t really any particular reason.

I just pitched with a little less power in preparation for the remaining schedule, and I tested a few pitches that I hadn’t thrown before.

Thwack!

“Argh! Damn it! I got hit again!”

“What the hell are you doing!”

At the plate, I hit 3 home runs, increasing my season total to 51.

Again, there wasn’t really any particular reason.

It was thanks to the Busan pitchers, who had already given up on the season and were half out of their minds, throwing pitches that were just perfect to hit.

In any case, there were now only five home runs left to break the single-season home run record, with 22 games remaining.

The media began to focus on this, and the outfield was filled with fans holding butterfly nets every game, hoping to catch the record-breaking ball.

Min Ye-rin, who always took a seat right next to the cheering squad, was also running around the outfield with a pink butterfly net.

And after ten days, we prepared for another 3-game series against Incheon.

Looking only at the starting rotation, a rematch between me and Senior Im Jun-yeong was likely, but Incheon announced a rookie pitcher from the minors, whose name I had never heard before, as their starter.

From that moment on, something felt strange. I had a feeling that something was going on inside Incheon.

And that premonition was spot on.

On the afternoon of the rest day before the first game against Incheon, shocking news appeared on the main portal site, which would normally have been plastered with news about my home run record chase.

[Incheon Rangers Suddenly Replaces Manager Mid-Season, Gu Yong-sik Dismissed]

[High-Ranking Rangers Official: “We Decided That a More Passionate Leader Was Needed for the Future of the Team”]

[Anonymous Insider: “There Was an Unbridgeable Gap Between Gu Yong-sik, Who Rebuilt the Team Using Sabermetrics [data-driven baseball analysis], and the Owner, Who Emphasized Grit”]

[Gu Yong-sik, Who Rebuilt the Rangers From the Front Office, Unceremoniously Steps Down With 2 Years and 4 Months Remaining on His Contract]

[Breaking News, Hwang Byeong-ho (75), Former Yomiuri Giants Minor League Hitting Coach, Appointed as New Incheon Rangers Manager]

[Incheon Rangers Official Announcement: “He Was an Essential Figure for Winning Back-to-Back Korean Series Championships”]

[Hwang Byeong-ho Takes Over as Manager With a 5-Year Contract and a Signing Bonus of 500 Million + Annual Salary of 500 Million, a Groundbreaking Deal: “I Watched All of Incheon’s Games This Season. There Are Many Areas That Need Improvement”]

[Hwang Byeong-ho, Who Continued His Coaching Career in Japan After Retiring in Korea, What Changes Will Come to Incheon Rangers Baseball?]

[Incheon Players in Confusion, Voices of Dissatisfaction Over Ban on External Interviews]

Gu Yong-sik, who had incorporated data-driven baseball based on sabermetrics into the Incheon Rangers, which had been in a slump since 2020, was abruptly dismissed.

With only about 20 games left in the regular season.

Gu Yong-sik, who had been holding on with his performance despite not aligning well with the baseball philosophy that the owner pursued from the beginning, ended up relinquishing his command after being swept in the 3-game series against us.

Even this was surprising enough, but it was still somewhat understandable.

In the Korean baseball world, where the owner’s will is truth and law, there have been even more absurd personnel changes than this.

What really surprised baseball fans in this situation wasn’t the dismissal of Manager Gu Yong-sik.

The more shocking news was that Hwang Byeong-ho, a veteran of 75 years old, who had continued his coaching career in Japan, starting with domestic clubs such as Seoul, Busan, Daejeon, and Gwangju, took his place instead.

Although there are slight differences between each team, the trend of baseball in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] in 2027 was management baseball and data baseball based on sabermetrics.

However, Hwang Byeong-ho, the new commander of Incheon, was a leader with a baseball philosophy of the 90s Japanese style, completely reversing such modern baseball trends.

To put it simply, he was an individual on the exact opposite end of the spectrum from Lee Dae-jun, the current manager of the Warriors.

The more you use a pitcher’s shoulder, the stronger it gets.

To win for the team, the pitcher must always be ready to pitch.

Each player is just one component to create a team. Don’t think. Your job is to accurately carry out what the manager tells you to do.

There are fans who like Hwang Byeong-ho, and conversely, there are fans who hate him.

The players who grew up under him were the same.

Some remembered Hwang Byeong-ho as a master, while others requested trades because they didn’t want to play for him.

In any case, Hwang Byeong-ho, the new commander of Incheon, was meeting with his old friend before his first day at work.

“Yun-seok, my friend. Why is it so hard to see your face? Are you acting expensive because you won the WBC [World Baseball Classic]?”

“Stop talking nonsense. Why is the guy who became the manager of the top team complaining? More than that, it’s a bit unexpected, isn’t it? It’s a bit difficult for both you and me to be back in the field at our age.”

“I’m fine. Instead of stepping down like an old man in the back room, you should ask them to make you the full-time manager of the national team.”

“Full-time manager? Oh, just thinking about it makes my head throb.”

“Why, because of Han Su-hyeok?”

“Hmm? How did you know that?”

“It’s obvious without even looking. I could see on TV how much you were struggling with how to handle a player who pitches and hits.”

“Heh…….”

“You somehow managed to win, but to be honest, you were too soft. There were a few dangerous moments, like in the Cuba game. I would never have used that guy like that.”

“Really? What would you have done?”

“From the preliminary round to the semi-finals, he would have been the shortstop and the main closer. If you adjust the number of pitches, he could have pitched every other day. And then put him in as the starting pitcher in the finals. That was the optimal scenario.”

Time has passed, but he’s still a friend with a very different baseball philosophy than mine.

There’s no point in telling him that you shouldn’t treat a player like Han Su-hyeok that way, because he won’t listen anyway.

Jeong Yun-seok is now too old to argue with a friend he’s been with for over 40 years.

“Yeah, maybe. Anyway, congratulations on returning to the field.”

“Thank you. Just watch. I’ll show you that I’m not dead yet.”

* * *

“Hyung [older brother/male friend], you look a little tired today. Is something wrong?”

“Did I throw too many pitches in the bullpen today? I’m fine, it’s nothing.”

“You’re starting tomorrow, but you pitched in the bullpen until you were exhausted?”

“The manager… um, never mind. This isn’t something I should be telling you. Anyway, I’m going. I think I should go back before the manager comes out of the dugout. I’ll see you later, Hyung.”

“Okay, Jun-yeong. Warm up your shoulder well.”

Senior Im Jun-yeong, who seemed disappointed that our second starting match was canceled, looked at the mound with lingering eyes and returned to his team’s dugout.

The moment I heard that a second-string pitcher would be making his first start instead of Im Jun-yeong today, I realized Hwang Byeong-ho’s style.

A team operation that moves according to the manager’s judgment and the team’s interests, rather than the player’s feelings or thoughts.

Hwang Byeong-ho chose to match 5th starter Lee Young-ju with me tomorrow instead of having ace Im Jun-yeong face me again. And today, he put a rookie, a throwaway card, on the mound.

Just give up on games you’re going to lose anyway. Instead, make sure to win the games you can win.

It might not sound bad at first glance. If you only look at the team’s performance.

But professional baseball is clearly a sport that exists for the fans.

How many Incheon fans would want a match between aces, especially Im Jun-yeong, who lost to me in the last game?

But for a leader like Hwang Byeong-ho, that’s not a consideration at all.

Baseball for the sake of victory alone, not for the joy of the fans, or more precisely, for the manager’s victory and career.

That’s probably the biggest drawback that prevents Hwang Byeong-ho from staying in one place for long.

Anyway, it’s someone else’s team’s business. It’s not my concern.

“Su-hyeok, are you ready?”

“Yes, Hyung [older brother/male friend] Deok-su.”

“Good. Please do well today too.”

There is only one thing I have to do now: win today’s game and pull Incheon down from first place.