Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 32

32. A High-Class Aristocrat Position

“Oh, is this the new car you bought? Buying a Wonha car, your loyalty to Wonha is extraordinary, haha. You should have asked Min-young to ask me when you bought the car.

I could have used my influence to help you. Or should I do it now? Don’t feel pressured, just think of it as a gift from a rich, middle-aged fan, haha.”

The image of Min-young’s father, whom I had seen as deeply embodying the three elements of strictness, solemnity, and seriousness, quickly faded away within me.

The image, which had been revised to somewhere between silliness and being a fool for his daughter, was rapidly turning towards pure silliness.

They say that when men get older, their female hormones develop more, making them talk more. I wonder if that’s true.

After some time, after I told him that I would be more comfortable if he spoke casually when we went to dinner, Father began to speak non-stop, as if he had burst into tongues.

Min-young, unable to watch any longer, smacked him hard on the back. She shouted at him to stop being silly and left.

“Heo… Does that mean I can dare to be in that kind of relationship with Min-young?”

Of course not. Who am I to even think that?

Thanks to that, I gained some confidence. My mind became a little more comfortable.

After that, the frequency of contact with Min-young increased a little, and the conversations became longer. Well, this matter can wait.

A few days after meeting Min-young and her father, I parked the car in the innermost part of the villa parking lot and boarded a plane to Japan. Not just me, but the entire team.

The Stove League [off-season trading period] was over. There were quite a few significant player movements during the winter, but if we talk about our team’s movements, the first is me.

As soon as the off-season started, our team immediately grabbed me, allaying the biggest concern.

After that, they signed and traded for a decent closer from Dongseong Hornets, and also signed a pretty good bullpen pitcher from Visco Runners.

Suddenly, two useful bullpen pitchers were added.

I was the only FA [free agent] in the team, so there was no team minus in this area, but there was another variable: Senior Lee Hyo-jae. In the end, Senior Lee Hyo-jae retired after last season as planned.

He said he would receive coaching training in Japan and then work as a coach in the minor leagues.

This becomes a problem.

“So, I’d like Han-wool to finish this season.”

Who will be the closer?

In the 2017 season, Senior Lee Hyo-jae’s performance was briefly described as 3 wins, 3 losses, 6 holds, and 26 saves, with an ERA [Earned Run Average] of 2.85. It’s definitely too good to retire him like this.

The club also offered to increase his salary and asked him to play for another year or two, but he retired without regret, saying that I can’t be on the team forever, and the team’s bullpen will grow when I leave.

A great person.

But thanks to that, or because of that, I had to be the closer.

“Uh… me?”

“Yeah. Hyo-jae’s departure is more of a headache than I thought.”

On the day of arrival at the camp, the manager called me separately.

I had roughly anticipated what kind of story would come out before entering the manager’s room, but when I actually faced this story, I didn’t know how to react.

It’s not just a pitcher with mediocre stats, but a decent closer who suddenly left. If he had left as a FA, I would have tried to make up for it with a compensation player, but it’s a retirement.

Personally, he’s a great person, but from a team perspective, it’s a bit of a headache.

The two pitchers signed through sign-and-trade and FA, Shin Kyung-seok and Choi Eun-gu. Both are two years older than me.

Senior Shin Kyung-seok is a sidearm pitcher who induces ground balls, and Senior Choi Eun-gu is a fastball pitcher who easily throws in the 150km range. Each of their previous season’s ERAs was in the low 3s and high 3s.

“First, I’m asking for your opinion. What do you think?”

“Um, can I tell you the picture I had in mind after signing the two seniors?”

“Yeah.”

The starting pitcher throws up to 6 innings. If the starting pitcher sends out a runner in the 7th inning, Senior Shin Kyung-seok is put in to put out the fire, then I come on in the 8th inning to block one inning, and finally, Senior Choi Eun-gu comes out in the 9th inning to finish.

The same key point for each team in a situation with runners is this: Can they get two or more outs with one ball? Can they send a runner one base further with one count?

In that sense, Senior Shin Kyung-seok, who mass-produces infield ground balls with sinkers and curves, is urgently put in to aim for a double play and finish the inning.

After that, I block in the 8th inning, and then the 9th inning. After all, I think it’s the royal road for the closer to be a player with strong control, even if he gives up one or two walks.

No matter how good our team’s defense is, you never know what will happen as long as the ball comes into the ground. In that sense, Senior Choi Eun-gu, who has the best control, is the most ideal to take on the 9th inning.

“I’ve thought about that too.”

But the manager’s thoughts seem a little different.

“But the truth is, Eun-gu lacks stability. He’s definitely the type who doesn’t get hits, but he has 6 walks per 9 innings. As a manager, I can’t use him because I’m anxious. And Kyung-seok too. He aims for ground balls, but in other words, he gets too many hits.”

Isn’t he being too sensitive?

I thought about it for a moment, but soon that thought was put aside.

Because he’s the manager.

That one word summed it up. From the ‘manager’s’ point of view, there’s no way around it. That feeling of anxiety.

“The combination of those two’s strengths is exactly you.”

A strikeout rate close to Senior Choi Eun-gu between the two, and a ground ball rate close to Senior Shin Kyung-seok between the two. But the ERA is exactly half the average of the two.

Putting everything else aside, from the manager’s point of view, he wants to put the person who has produced results in the most important position.

No matter how fast the ball is or how many ground balls are produced, even if they talk about FIP [Fielding Independent Pitching] or BABIP [Batting Average on Balls in Play] due to the rise of saber stats [sabermetrics], the most representative indicator that a pitcher proves is, in the end, the ERA.

But that’s the manager’s position.

“But I like being in the middle. I’m sorry.”

I am me.

“I wasn’t forcing you. I just really wanted to hear your opinion… I won’t say anything more about finishing here. From here on, it’s just a personal curiosity.”

“Yes, manager.”

“Why?”

“Yes?”

“Isn’t being a closer better?”

“Uh… is it better?”

Not 100%, but with a very high probability, you only go up in the 9th inning without runners and only have to block 1 inning.

You don’t have to tremble with anxiety about when you’ll go up. You’re the number one in the bullpen pecking order, so you get that kind of treatment.

“Isn’t that right?”

The manager talked about those points. That’s right. Middle relievers are tough. It’s not that closers are easy. Where is there an easy pitcher? They’re all difficult.

“I think it’s my constitution.”

“Middle reliever constitution?”

“Yes. I just… isn’t that fun? Not knowing when you’ll go up and trembling. Oh, I’m in big trouble, I have to go up and move quickly.”

Am I crazy?

The manager’s eyes were saying that.

“How’s your physical condition?”

“You know I’m in good shape.”

“Yeah… you haven’t been injured once since you had surgery a few times in the past. You don’t have any pain now?”

“Um…….”

If we divide it into a dichotomy of whether it hurts or not, it hurts. Even in situations that have nothing to do with baseball, my elbows and wrists are tingling. My shoulders often sting for no reason. My knees hurt where my legs are bent.

If I were a normal person, I would be told to go to a general hospital. But if I’m judging based on a baseball player,

“Yes. I’m fine.”

If I take that as the average, then yeah, I don’t hurt. I’m walking around with all my limbs intact.

“If there’s any controversy about overwork… you take care of it. I’ll try not to have you start as much as possible. Last year, there was really no answer.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Yeah, it seems best to run the bullpen as we talked about earlier.”

“Coach Shin Young-joon is really good at training pitchers. Senior Shin Kyung-seok is a ground ball pitcher, so I guess that’s okay, and Coach Shin Young-joon will take good care of Senior Choi Eun-gu’s control.”

“I hope so.”

The manager got up from his seat, and I also got up from my seat.

“Unlike last year, you’re definitely a regular. You don’t have to show anything here. It’s okay until the season starts, so think about making it 100% by the end of March? Early April?”

“Yes, sir.”

I could definitely feel that he had confidence in me.

“What did you talk about?”

“Will you finish?”

“So?”

“I said I wouldn’t.”

“Why?”

“Such a high-class aristocrat position doesn’t suit me.”

“Is it your constitution?”

“I think so.”

After coming out of the manager’s room, I talked to Hyu-jin. After chatting for a while, the entire team gathered.

As soon as everyone arrived at the camp in Miyazaki, Japan, they all put their luggage in their rooms, and everyone changed their clothes into uniform pants and windbreakers.

Whispering figures.

There are so many familiar faces that I haven’t seen in a long time. There are quite a few faces I’ve never seen before. Players with a lot of experience are closing their eyes or chatting with the person next to them.

The rookie-level players are looking straight ahead with a clear look of tension. Just relax a little.

Just then, the door of the auditorium opened. The team coaches appeared, led by the manager.

HoOOOOOOOOOO!!

Clap clap clap clap!!

Hello, friends? I’m in charge of being the crazy guy in this area.

As the crazy guy in the team, I got up from my seat, applauded, and cheered, and the guys below me and the rookie players followed suit, not knowing what to do. In the inevitable atmosphere, my older brothers above me smiled and joined in.

Yeah, this is what Wonha should be like.

The manager pointed at me, the culprit of this mess, and smiled. The other coaches did the same.

“Okay, everyone, nice to meet you. As you all know, I’m the manager. You know my name, right? And there are no particular changes to the coaching staff. It’s the same as last year.”

After the coaches sat down in the empty front seats, the manager picked up a whiteboard marker in front of the auditorium and began to write something on the whiteboard.

“Okay, 67864. You all know what these numbers are. It’s our Wonha ranking recently. We were always hovering at the bottom, but last year we dramatically rose to 4th place. There are some people who worked especially hard. I won’t point out anyone in particular.”

He says that, but he scans a few key people in the team with his eyes.

“This is roughly the plan for this year.”

A baseball field drawing occupying the left half of the whiteboard. He started writing names one by one in the places where each position would be.

Left fielder Yoo Hoon, center fielder Park Jin-hyung, right fielder Kang Sung-hyun, third baseman Lee Sung-hoon, shortstop Lee Myung-jin, second baseman Jeon Sung-moon, first baseman Nam Ki-sung, catcher Moon Gyu-hak, designated hitter Yoon Seung-joo.

1st starter Hwang Hyuk-joon, 2nd starter Han Gyu-jin, 3rd starter Bae Joon-hyuk, 4th starter Seo Tae-woong. Secondary setup Shin Kyung-seok, primary setup Kim Han-wool, closer Choi Eun-gu.

In the end, this framework was not very different from last year. In particular, the fielders were exactly the same as last year, and in the pitching staff, Senior Choi Eun-gu and Senior Shin Kyung-seok were added to the bullpen.

To put it nicely, the starting members are strong, and to put it a little badly, the backups haven’t grown enough to be starters yet.

“Does anyone have any complaints about this?”

What crazy guy would dare to step up?

“You can be honest. No, you have to be honest? That way, you’ll agree to this lineup. Especially you rookies, listen carefully.”

He points his finger at the area where the rookie players are stationed and continues to speak.

“It doesn’t matter if I think I’m better at defense than him, better at hitting, faster at throwing, or better at control. Your promotions are done by you. Your strengths that you think you have? Only you know. We don’t know. We only see the weaknesses you have.”

It may sound like irresponsible words, but I understood. Because it’s not wrong.

Self-promotion is important. The expression may have been a little off, but no matter how good I think my defense is, I have to express it for the top brass to know.

There are various ways to express that. No matter how much you keep it to yourself, it really means nothing.

“Then there are no complaints?”

Yes!!

The auditorium shook as about 70 men shouted at the same time.

“I’m a realistic person. We were a bottom-ranked team for the 4 years before last year, and last year we finished 4th. Compared to last year, Kyung-seok and Eun-gu have been added. They are really big forces.”

I could see the two seniors’ shoulders stiffening as if they felt a slight burden from those words.

“But just because these two came, I don’t think we’re a team that can aim for the championship right away. That’s arrogance and recklessness, guys. Let’s know our place.”

Know your place.

I’m not as fast as Hyuk-joon. I don’t have as good control as Gyu-jin. However, my control is better than anyone else. I tie up runners well. My pitching defense is good. I just use that.

“Han-wool, where are you?”

“Yes.”

Suddenly me?

“Yeah, Han-wool said it over there. We were 4th last year. What did you say we would be this year last year?”

“Um… I don’t think I talked about this year or next year specifically.”

“Then what did you say back then?”

“…….”

Do I have to say this with my own mouth?

“…I said we would win the championship within 3 years.”

“Yeah, 3 years. I don’t think we can win the championship right away this year. Ah, of course, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t win the championship, guys, don’t misunderstand?”

Hehehe.

Hahaha.

“Let’s take it one step at a time. Han-wool said it in that sense. We were 4th last year, so 3rd this year, 2nd next year, and 1st the year after next. Han-wool, right?”

“Yes, that’s right!”

“To continue what I was saying earlier, we are not a team that can aim for 1st place right away just because Kyung-seok and Eun-gu have been added. Let’s be realistic.”

The manager’s expression, which had been smiling brightly, suddenly became serious.

“However, if you gain experience and more power is added later, I think you will be qualified to challenge for the championship enough. What Han-wool said is not completely nonsense.”

Yes!!

“What I want to say to you is this. Whenever, in any situation. Do your best in what you can do in that situation. That’s it. If you do that, you’ll win a lot and lose a little. Then your ranking will go up on its own, and your salary will go up on its own. Got it?”

Yeah!!

“Then next, our pitching coach Shin Young-joon will say a few words.”

Ah. Don’t tell me all the coaches are going to say a word like this…….

“Okay, applause. Next, hitting coach Yang Taek-gyun.”

Ah, ah…….