The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 109

Spring Linus (2)

Before I turned back time, I was the greatest baseball player in Korean history.

For the average person, saying something like that would be embarrassing. But I’m okay. Even if you look at it objectively, or even as negatively as possible, there’s no player in Korean history with a more impressive career than me. Honestly, if it weren’t for Shohei Ohtani’s status, I could even say I was the greatest baseball player in Asian history, but that guy’s impact is just too overwhelming, regardless of his career stats.

Anyway, as the greatest baseball player in Korean history, I naturally played for the national team quite a bit. I even played in the WBC [World Baseball Classic] after becoming a major leaguer. This was despite the fact that, due to the globalization of baseball or whatever, top-tier players were generally reluctant to participate in the WBC. That was a big deal.

Basically, most Korean fans think that national team games take precedence over league games. Well, if you take soccer as an example, that’s not wrong. In soccer, the pinnacle of a career is ultimately the national team games. There’s a reason why people keep arguing about whether Messi has surpassed Maradona or not, even though his club career is overwhelming.

But baseball was different.

What is an international tournament in baseball? Well, fans of the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] or NPB [Nippon Professional Baseball] might have slightly different ideas. But at least the MLB [Major League Baseball] fans at the time I was playing thought of international tournaments as ‘a showcase where players who might have a chance to advance to the MLB compete.’

Anyway, even though I participated in such low-level tournaments, I never once wore the ‘captain’s’ armband. Considering that in international tournaments, a player with some experience, the best skills, and the best career usually wears the captain’s armband no matter what, it was strange. Even though I started my league career in the KBO and then went to the MLB, that was the case.

Thanks to that, the media pointed it out several times. There were a lot of rumors about connections and school ties. But the truth is, the reason was simple.

I didn’t have a very good personality.

Would you believe me if I said that this personality is much better now after a long time of social life?

But it’s not like I don’t have an excuse. In high school, I was touted as a promising pitcher throwing 150 km/h [approximately 93 mph], but I almost ruined my life by damaging my arm during a tournament. Fortunately, I had a talent for batting, so I was able to revive my career, but that’s easier said than done. It was the result of giving up on human relationships and just focusing on batting. It means that it’s not something that can be done with just grit and guts.

And just when I was blooming brilliantly in my third year in the KBO and was about to enjoy something, I went to the United States through posting [transfer system] to see what glory I could get? Of course, I played well there too. I played really well. But even so, I couldn’t become a clubhouse leader. What can you expect from a foreigner who can’t even speak the language well? I was just a mercenary who was good at hitting? That’s exactly how it felt.

Well, after I got a little better at speaking, I went to a position like Yoda from Star Wars, not a leader. In other words, not the main character, but a wise man who gives enlightenment to the main character. That’s the position for Asians in America anyway.

Anyway, the conclusion of this long story is that I have a talent for shutting people up with my skills, but I’ve never tried to coordinate people, and I didn’t even think about it.

And now I’m suddenly at the center of team politics?

But fortunately, there’s one guy around me who’s very good at that.

“So, Jo Yu, the situation is like this, what should I do?”

“······.”

Jo Yu-jin, who had just finished his second-team training and returned to the dorm, looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

“Wait a minute… But why are you telling me this? To me, who hasn’t even tasted the water of the first team, let alone the pro leagues themselves.”

“Well, I haven’t tasted the water of the pro leagues either, and you’re the most capable person I know in this area?”

The fact that Jo Yu just tried his best to maintain the status quo while knowing about the relationship between Ahn Byeong-yeong and me could be attributed to the fact that Jo Yu was just that kind of guy.

But last year, the performance he showed while serving as the captain of Joongang High School was truly dazzling. Of course, I’m talking about his performance in coordinating the team, not just catching balls in the game.

Joongang High School had many problems last year.

The sophomores and juniors were enthusiastic, but they lacked talent. Or, to be more precise, they were just at the level of talent of Joongang High School in the past.

The problem was the freshmen who had just entered. Thanks to my performance the year before last, Joongang High School made a name for itself nationwide, and thanks to that, the talent and level of the freshmen who newly entered were considerable.

Now, let’s think from the perspective of the sophomores and juniors. They weren’t particularly lacking in skills compared to the seniors from last year, and even if the freshmen who had just entered had talent, if their current skills were similar to theirs, they should be given importance considering their experience, but they were dissatisfied with some of the freshmen rising to the starting lineup.

Then, wouldn’t the freshmen have been dissatisfied? Of course not. The freshmen, in their own way, were dissatisfied with the fact that the sophomores and juniors, who only seemed to be accumulating achievements for college entrance, were taking the starting positions instead of themselves, who were improving their skills by gaining practical experience.

That’s not all.

The guys who were serious about baseball worried about talent, and the guys who weren’t serious stirred up trouble.

And surprisingly, Jo Yu-jin coaxed and appeased all of them for a year and led the team without any major noise. It’s a bit much to say this, but I could understand how this guy had been sticking around in the pros for over 10 years with such skills. He even went back and forth to the first team to some extent.

Jo Yu shook his head at my words that he was capable. But seeing him smile in the meantime, it seems like he likes the compliment.

“Capable my ass… Anyway, so the team wants to make you the next franchise player. Like the second Lee Gyu-man, right? And you have no intention of doing that.”

“Something like that?”

“Then there’s nothing to worry about, right? Just take what they give you and live your team life and then go to America. No matter how well the team treats you, you don’t plan to be buried here anyway.”

“Well, that’s right. That’s what I was originally planning to do.”

“If that’s what you were originally planning to do, then do it. What’s the problem?”

Again, what I’m good at is shutting people up with my skills. I’ve been a professional in that field for 16 years since my third year of debut before turning back time.

“That’s… I want to go to the fall baseball, or win if possible.”

“Huh?”

Jo Yu-jin blinked in confusion.

But can you win by shutting people up with your skills?

To confess, I had never won a championship before turning back time.

In my KBO days, at least after I won my first MVP [Most Valuable Player award], our team was always a championship contender. Of course, more than half of that was my power. But funnily enough, I never actually won a championship. That’s because baseball is originally that kind of sport.

In 2004, when Curt Schilling scribbled the legend of the Red Sox, the Boston Red Sox were such a strong team that they only lost three times to the Yankees, the best team of the time, in the Championship Series, and did not allow a single loss in the Division and World Series.

And 10 years later, in 2014, when MadBum [Madison Bumgarner’s nickname] surpassed the word ‘amazing’, the San Francisco Giants had all of their hitters, led by Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, recording over 100 in OPS+ [On-Base Plus Slugging, a sabermetric baseball statistic].

As such, one person’s power cannot lead a team to victory. That’s why I set the condition of two MVPs. But the situation started to turn strangely.

What if the team runs properly?

What if the faction led by Lee Jeong-hoon stops drinking, singing, and indulging in entertainment and concentrates on the game?

What if Lee Gyu-man and Seo Kyung-joon pour their energy into training instead of consolidating their power with unnecessary late-night snack meetings?

What if the third faction, including Noh Hyung-wook, can harmonize with the team and create synergy instead of being on the outside?

And if we can reform the team atmosphere, which is divided into three factions and doesn’t feel ashamed of losing?

“Hey, save your dreams for when you’re sleeping. Humanly, and logically, would that be possible?”

“We did it last year. Honestly, was it a plausible story that we swept the national championships last year?”

“That’s because it was amateur. And is that because I united the team? It’s because you were exuding almost Barry Bonds-level force at his peak. That’s why they all listened to you. Even after doing that, the rest of the guys barely exceeded the average level.”

“So, we can just do that again this time. What I need is the rest.”

“Huh?”

Jo Yu asked back with a blank expression. And I didn’t bother to answer that question.

After a few seconds. Finally, Jo Yu completely understood what I meant. Or maybe he was just pretending not to understand, and he understood from the beginning.

“Is this guy really crazy? So you’re saying you’re going to exude Barry Bonds-level force even in the pros?”

***

[I heard that a certain player in the Major League said this? ‘If people ask me what I do in the winter without baseball, I would answer like this. I look out the window and wait for spring.’ Well!! Finally, the long winter is over and the spring of 2027 has returned. This is Sajik, Sajik Stadium.]

[Today, the Marines are facing the Gwangju Hawks at home, who showed a very good performance in the practice games during the spring camp, right? They are the most popular club in professional baseball.]

[As you said, the Hawks’ performance in spring training was enough to make the fans’ hearts flutter. In particular, rookie pitcher Han Min-joon, who is starting today, showed a very good performance just like he did in the second half of last year.]

[The Marines’ starting pitcher today is Choi Soo-won. The Marines, in the case of the Marines, have been conducting spring camp mainly with their own internal white-red games and have hardly played any practice games with other teams. Surprisingly, he was the player who pitched when they played a practice game with the Major League team, the Oakland Athletics, at the end.]

[Unfortunately, the results of the practice game were not very good, but Choi Soo-won threw a maximum of 154 km/h [approximately 96 mph], befitting the reputation of the best rookie contract in KBO history, and showed his potential against Major League hitters.]

The exhibition games held in March are literally exhibition games. Whether you win the championship undefeated here or not, it has no effect on the regular season record.

In fact, the team that has ranked first the most in exhibition games since the launch of professional baseball was the Marines. That’s a whopping 13 times.

For reference, the Gwangju Hawks, who ranked second most in the exhibition games, are only 7 times.

Anyway, the opening game of such an exhibition game.

Manager Kim Dae-cheol chose me as the starter.

Since the foreign pitchers are already giving a rough estimate, it means that he is curious about what kind of performance I can show against KBO hitters.

“Okay, okay, no need to be nervous. Just throw like you did in the practice game against the Athletics last time.”

“I gave up 3 runs in 0.2 innings in that game.”

“That’s just because they were good hitters. Your ball itself was good enough. I guarantee that if you throw like that today? The 4 innings you’re supposed to throw today. You can block it cleanly without giving up any runs. So trust me and throw. Got it?”

Choi Jin-woong, the team’s starting catcher, confidently declared.

And he confidently held out his mitt beyond home plate.

First ball.

A slightly missed fastball grazed the bat and plunged to the ground.

-Thwack!!!

An ominous sound of impact.

Choi Jin-woong, the Marines’ starting catcher, whose blocking was clumsy, foamed at the mouth and collapsed, clutching his groin.