Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 32

#31. Reversal, and Another Reversal

Working as a general manager for a professional baseball team is more exhausting than you might think.

I get chewed out daily by the president, a parachute appointment [a person appointed to a position without the necessary qualifications, often for political reasons] from the parent company. From below, I’m harassed by team leaders who mistakenly believe they know baseball better than anyone else in the world.

It’s the same in any organization, but the positions that require you to be mindful of those above and below are always tiring.

Especially if that position is the general manager of a team that hasn’t won a championship even once in the 21st century.

In the Busan Titans’ general manager’s office, a man is staring at his laptop screen with a listless expression.

Clang!

– Ah! That’s a big one! Han Su-hyeok’s hit is soaring to an incredible height. Will it go, will it go, will it go? It’s gone! A two-run home run by Han Su-hyeok over the left field fence! The top prospect of the year has hit a home run in his debut at-bat! With this, the Seoul Warriors take a two-point lead!

– That was too hasty of a challenge! Thomas has already been hit by Han Su-hyeok during the exhibition game, and now he’s challenging him right down the middle again. Wow… I was doubtful at the moment of impact, but it cleared the fence. Amazing!

⌞Crazy, lol, it went over

⌞Kkol) Hey, that’s cheating! It looked like a mis-hit, but why did it fly that far?

⌞Kkol) Thomas is crying. Another foreign pitcher crying in the opening game ㅠㅠ

⌞Kkol) My blood pressure is rising from the start. Why throw it down the middle there!

⌞★★★ Han Su-hyeok on pace for 144 home runs this season ★★★

⌞Wow… is this the first Rookie of the Year in years?

⌞I’m a Warriors fan too, but are you crazy, lol? It’s just his first at-bat, and you’re already talking about Rookie of the Year

Thomas Spencer, the Titans’ foreign pitcher who gave up a massive home run to Han Su-hyeok in his first exhibition game at-bat, allowed another home run to the same batter.

Whether it’s due to his Irish heritage, Thomas’s face, already pale to the point of transparency, turned bright red. A tear could be seen flowing down his cheek on the broadcast camera.

I think I know without having to ask him separately later.

A wily old fox like Gu Jae-hyun wouldn’t have called for a fastball down the middle, so that clueless foreign pitcher must have insisted on a head-on match.

“Haa…”

Busan Titans general manager Ahn Chun-sik, who was watching the online broadcast, sighed deeply and typed on the keyboard.

– Still, that pitcher’s stuff looks good. Busan is good at bringing in foreign players

﹂Get lost, you moron. Are you a Kkol-troll [a derogatory term for fans of rival teams, often used to provoke or insult]?

﹂He threw the same pitch to the same batter in two consecutive games and got hit with that kind of shitty home run, and you say his stuff is good?

﹂Damn, shouldn’t we do well in the spring, huh?

Ahn Chun-sik flinched at the pointed criticism and took his hands off the keyboard.

But it wasn’t a lie.

Several domestic clubs coveted Thomas Spencer, who was twenty-eight years old this year and had been on the verge of making his Major League debut with the Seattle Mariners last season.

His fastball’s top speed is around 150 km/h [approximately 93 mph], but he’s a player who has been praised for his good spin rate and excellent command.

Warriors general manager Park Jae-cheol, who he is facing now, also coveted him but had to give up due to salary issues. He’s a really good pitcher.

“Haaa…”

The sigh deepens even further.

Seeing the golden pitcher, whom he brought in by filling the foreign player’s first-year salary cap of $1 million, get hit with a home run by Han Su-hyeok and have his eyes rolling, his heart feels like it’s tearing apart.

To make matters worse, voices criticizing the general manager for bringing in Warriors’ closer Han Jin-woo and giving up the rookie Yang Gi-cheol are growing louder.

It’s unfair. That was a trade pushed directly by the president, not him.

He strongly argued that Han Jin-woo wouldn’t work, that he wouldn’t be able to use him even if they brought him in, but the parachute president, who knew nothing about baseball, ignored his words, saying that since the Warriors had spent billions to sign him, there must be something there.

Han Jin-woo, who they brought in like that, diligently threw his forkballs into the ground during the exhibition games, recording an ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance] of 5.8 before being sent down to the minors.

On the other hand, Yang Gi-cheol, whom they gave up to the Warriors in exchange, pitched well in the exhibition games, giving up only 2 runs in 6 innings.

Of course, exhibition games are just exhibition games. No one can guarantee that the trend will continue in the regular season.

However, as Ahn Chun-sik, who knows Han Jin-woo well, had no expectations that he would revive in the first place.

Clang!

While he was thinking about other things, Warriors’ third batter, veteran Jo Seong-oh, hit an infield single and roared as he reached first base.

Why is that guy acting like that again?

Why is that old-timer, who doesn’t laugh easily at ordinary things and extremely restrains his emotions, suddenly acting like a rookie?

I don’t know. One thing is certain: the Warriors are very different from last year.

* * *

The chance that Senior Jo Seong-oh created with his infield hit was wasted by Max Walker’s double play.

An Chi-wook, who appeared with two outs and no runners, forcibly scooped up a slider that dropped sharply and was out on a left fielder’s fly ball.

“······”

Max and An Chi-wook, the two big guys, glanced at me as they prepared for the defensive inning.

The result was a bit like that, but the process itself wasn’t bad.

It was just bad luck that Max’s hit went straight to the shortstop, and in a two-out, no-runner situation, it’s standard for the fifth batter to aim for a big hit rather than a single.

But what’s needed now is a whip, not a carrot [meaning they need criticism, not praise].

“At least play defense properly.”

“……”

During my time in the Big Leagues, I was a maverick who couldn’t just let a teammate’s mistake pass.

Why do they miss such easy balls, why do they defend like that there.

The players gradually distanced themselves from me, who tackled every play, and eventually, no one wanted to approach me.

At that time, I was just angry.

To achieve even better results, to get the title of World Series champion, I thought of and treated my fellow players like consumables.

I didn’t even treat players who didn’t meet my standards as players at all. I regarded juniors who asked for guidance as thieves trying to steal my know-how.

Nevertheless, I grew as a player step by step, won the Cy Young Award [an award given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball] and MVP [Most Valuable Player award], and finally succeeded in lifting the World Series championship trophy.

But the result was too futile. Even though I wanted it so much, there was no one to celebrate with when I actually reached that position.

“Bend your waist more, don’t take your eyes off the batter, don’t look around, predict our battery’s [pitcher and catcher] next move in advance, hey, I told you not to take your eyes off!”

“Oh, oh···”

That’s why I enjoy this moment.

I am extremely enjoying the process of passing on my know-how one by one to this rookie, who is stiff with the tension of being the opening game starter, and in the meantime, keeps getting distracted when his name comes out from the cheering squad, and doesn’t even have the余裕 [leeway, composure] to see what our battery is doing now.

Does the fact that I’m having these thoughts mean that.

Is it proof that I’m becoming even a little bit better person than before?

* * *

– Aah! Gu Se-jun makes a daring slide into home and finally scores! The score is 6 to 5! In the top of the 9th, the Titans’ 逆轉 [reversal, comeback] sweeping two-run double has exploded!

– Ah… that’s too bad. That was Jang Deok-su’s mistake just now. Han Su-hyeok threw the ball accurately to home after receiving the left fielder’s throw. But Jang Deok-su failed to tag because he pulled his body back. That’s too bad. We could have stopped it with a tie.

– Maybe… he was trying to avoid a collision, right?

– Yes, of course, you should never block a runner’s normal advance if the catcher doesn’t have the ball. However, right now, regardless of the runner’s baserunning, it was a situation where it would have been an automatic out if he had just caught the throw well. Jang Deok-su was too cautious.

– Exclamations are erupting from all over the Warriors cheering section. Ah! Singer Min Ye-rin, who has been passionately cheering with the cheerleaders since the first inning today, is holding onto the safety net and sobbing!

– Yes? Ah… that’s true. How can she cry so beautifully… Anyway, that’s too bad. The Warriors, who were leading 5 to 3 with Han Su-hyeok’s opening home run and one-RBI timely hit today, ultimately failed to protect their two-point lead and allowed a reversal.

﹂Damn, I really get angry whenever I see the Warriors’ catchers

﹂One of them is an 8-year pro and can’t even catch a forkball properly, and the other one just puts his glove out and it’s an out, but he pulls his butt out because he’s afraid of colliding and gives up the home plate

﹂Ah, this is so frustrating! I thought we were going to win the opening game for the first time in years, but damn, we can’t stop this

﹂ㅋㅋㅋ From the beginning, it was crazy to put Choi Jeong-su, that control trash, as the closer

﹂Then what can we do? There’s no other pitcher to put up besides him?

﹂Su-hyeok, I’m sorry for making you get dragged into this shitty team

Well, to tell the truth, it’s not that I was dragged into this team, but I’m the owner of this shitty team, but…

Anyway, the game that was leading 5 to 3 was turned upside down in the top of the 9th inning.

The weaknesses of our team that I was worried about before the game were realized one by one, and a disaster occurred.

As soon as closer Senior Choi Jeong-su came to the mound, he slammed a 150 km/h fastball right into the opposing team’s eighth batter’s back.

Knowing full well that the closer wouldn’t throw a beanball [a pitch deliberately aimed at the batter] when the team was winning, the opposing batter didn’t even get angry and walked to first base.

And immediately stole a base.

Senior Lee Chang-mo covered second base well, but the opposing runner was faster. No, the problem was that Senior Choi Jeong-su neglected to check in the first place.

As he became a runner on second base with no outs, Senior Choi Jeong-su, who is said to have no advantages other than his fast ball, began to shake wildly.

It would have been better to give up the runner on second base and think of it as giving up one point, but suddenly he was worried about the runner on second base and kept checking.

If Senior Jang Deok-su, the catcher, had been a little more experienced, he could have calmed down such a pitcher, but unfortunately, it was too much to expect that kind of 余裕 [composure,余裕] from him, who was more familiar with being a backup than a starter.

Seeing that, the pitching coach came out of the bench and calmed Senior Choi Jeong-su, but it was already too late.

The pitcher, whose mentality had been shattered, threw a fastball down the middle, and the batter caught it properly.

A bullet-like hit flew past An Chi-wook.

An Chi-wook, who was startled, put his glove out, but the ball, which he didn’t catch completely, rolled towards the opposing team’s dugout.

If I hadn’t quickly covered, it would have given up a point as it was.

No outs, runners on second and third.

In the face of continuing crisis, the pitcher, catcher, and even the third baseman froze.

And a major disaster occurred.

Clang!

The opposing foreign batter’s hit split the left fielder’s side, and the third and second base runners easily scored, the first base runner ran madly towards home, and I, who was broadcasting, threw an accurate throw towards home, but.

“Safe!”

The throw came into a course where he could have just put his glove out and made an out, but Senior Jang Deok-su, pushed back by the opponent’s momentum, pulled his butt back, and the runner made a picture-perfect headfirst slide, ultimately allowing the reversal.

···I feel like I’m going to burst.

I fully expected An Chi-wook’s mistake.

It would be really shameless to expect him not to make any mistakes while putting a rookie picked in the 9th round in the center of the lineup and even making him the starting third baseman because of the team’s circumstances.

The appearance of our team’s new closer, Senior Choi Jeong-su, was also within the range of expectations.

As he is a pitcher with a weak mentality and poor control compared to his ball speed and stuff, the result was already expected the moment the bases were loaded.

But I can’t understand Senior Jang Deok-su at all.

He could have just stood there and caught the throw and ended it in a tie, but why did he pull his body back there?

Because he didn’t want to collide with the opponent? How can you be a professional baseball catcher with that kind of personality?

For a moment, I had that thought.

The thought that I should settle things with that person after today’s game.

Huh… yeah, let’s just focus on bringing this game back for now.

* * *

“Han Su-hyeok! Please!”

“Just one hit, please just one hit!”

Voices of sincere pleas flowed out from all over the stands.

I know because I’ve sat in that seat as a fan.

It’s a nightmare for fans when the team they’re cheering for leads throughout the game and then allows a reversal in the 9th inning.

The game that was leading 5 to 3 was suddenly turned upside down to 5 to 6.

And in the bottom of the 9th, the Warriors’ last attack in the regular inning.

The Warriors fans let out a deep sigh the moment two batters were struck out in a row.

Even the Warriors dugout, which had been noisily encouraging each other throughout the game, fell silent.

But then, Yu In-cheol, the ninth batter, who no one expected, got hit by a pitch and got on base.

Everyone expected them to use a pinch hitter, but manager Lee Dae-jun’s victory was to push the first-year rookie as he was.

“Carefully! Don’t rush!”

Even if nothing else, Yu In-cheol, whose running ability is among the top in the team, advanced to first base.

Yu In-cheol, who was not only starting in the regular season opening game but also got on base as the tying runner in the last attack in the bottom of the 9th, began to scratch the opposing pitcher’s nerves with all his might.

Eventually, the Titans’ closer, who was caught up in the runner’s momentum, gave up a walk to Senior Lee Chang-mo.

6 to 5, a one-point difference, two outs, runners on first and second.

The smell of a comeback began to waft in the air.

As I slowly moved from the on-deck circle, the stands in the stadium began to stir.

The Titans’ pitching coach came to the mound and talked for a long time before going down.

The result was an automatic intentional walk.

“Woo~”

“Damn, how can you be a closer if you’re too scared to compete with a rookie?”

“You cowardly bastards!”

It was somewhat expected from the moment Senior Lee Chang-mo walked out.

There’s no reason to compete with me with two outs and runners on first and second, and Senior Jo Seong-oh, the batter after me, has faced that Titans pitcher 12 times last season and has never gotten on first base even once.

It’s a relationship that can only be described as a nemesis.

Even with the bases loaded, the pitcher’s face was full of 余裕 [composure], and rather, Senior Jo Seong-oh’s face turned white.

“Senior!”

“···?”

Seeing that, I shouted loudly from first base.

Senior Jo Seong-oh’s face, which had been pale with tension and pressure, turned towards me.

I pretended to swing a big swing with my bare hands and shouted loudly once again.

“Don’t forget!”

I couldn’t guarantee that it was properly conveyed amidst the cheers of the crowd. But it was clearly visible from afar that the blood was returning to Senior Jo Seong-oh’s face.

“Hey, that rookie is too cocky.”

“Shut up. If you have a problem, come find me separately after the game.”

“Stop, both of you will be ejected if you go any further.”

The Titans’ foreign first baseman made a ridiculous threat, so I retorted, and the umpire gave both of us a warning side by side.

I don’t care.

Nod

Senior Jo Seong-oh nods, looking at me.

He understood what I wanted to say.

At the age of thirty-five, two hours of additional training continued every day after the exhibition game.

No one knows better than I do how much effort Jo Seong-oh, a veteran baseball player, has put in to change himself.

Nemesis? Yeah, that might exist.

But Senior Jo Seong-oh is already a completely different person from last year.

There’s no need to be afraid.

The small commotion on first base was settled, and the Titans’ closer began to prepare to pitch again.

Silence fell over Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which was packed with a sold-out crowd.

Whoosh

The powerful fastball that had made Senior Jo Seong-oh helpless until last season digs into the full inside course.

And the next moment, his bat swung powerfully.

Clang!

A cracking sound like the ball was splitting was heard.

The hit, which was hit right in the center of the bat, flies straight like a clothesline without any time to react.

Far, very far.

Thud!

And then it directly hits the middle of the stands.

“Waaah!”

“Captain!”

“Jo Seong-oh! Jo Seong-oh! Jo Seong-oh!”

A deafening shout erupted from the Warriors’ stands, and a deep sigh flowed out from the Titans’ stands.

The old-timer, who was staring at his hit with a dazed expression, wiped his reddened eyes and slowly began to run towards first base.

A game-winning grand slam in the opening game.

It may be a moment in history that will be brilliantly recorded in the life of a baseball player named Jo Seong-oh.

All the cameras in the stadium were focused on the old-timer’s face, which was not only filled with tears but also snot.

But who can laugh or say that this looks funny right now?

“Su-hyeok! Thank you! I, I!”

After giving him a smile as he ran towards first base, shouting, I also slowly moved towards second base.

Watching the veteran who is having the best moment of his life, I am unknowingly immersed in emotion.

I always thought I was the center of the team.

No, I couldn’t accept not being the center of the team.

I always had to shine alone and had to be in the best position to be satisfied.

Today seems to be the first time I’ve ever thought that another player’s play was cool.

Damn it.

I’ve been doing this for over 15 years, but I still seem to not know a lot about baseball.

“Waaaaah!”

But it’s okay.

The existence of time, which had always blocked and interfered with my path in my past life, is now on my side.

I’m just a twenty-year-old rookie now.

* * *