The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 111

111. This Year is Different (1)

─MarinesMustDie: This year is different!! This, this is happening again.

─SajikNightAddict: Why? Still, it’s not ‘Will this year be different?’ but ‘It is different!!’ right? Doesn’t that mean there’s a possibility?

─MigratoryBirdShootingStarWooYoungWooMustDie: Nope, not happening. Spring-Marines always win, even against the Yankees.

─KBO9TeamsWish: Why only the Yankees? They’d probably win even if they played soccer against Manchester United.

─MarinesMustDie: But in the summer, they’d lose even against the GoGo Bulldogs.

─SajikNightAddict: GoGo Bulldogs?

─MarinesMustDie: The GoGo Bulldogs are a junior club near my house that my son goes to.

Despite their first exhibition game win, public opinion remained cold.

It’s understandable, considering they’ve topped the exhibition game standings 13 times since the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] league started, without a single regular-season championship. At this point, you’d have to question the sanity of anyone who ‘expects’ anything from their spring exhibition game performance.

Oh Gyu-hwan, who habitually heads to the bathroom for a bowel movement as soon as he arrives at work, declared,

“This time, it really feels different.”

“Hey, you crazy bastard. Did you sign up for some Busan Bank scam savings account again?”

“Hey, scam savings account? It’s the ‘Marines Fall Baseball Regular Savings and Time Deposit’.”

“That’s why it’s a scam savings account. You’ve only gotten the interest properly once in the 10 years you’ve been putting money in. The first time you signed up was in 2017.”

“No, I got it in 2022 too.”

“Huh? The Marines made it to the postseason in 2022 too?”

“No, back then, the product was a 40th-anniversary special, and signing up through the non-face-to-face channel gave additional interest equivalent to reaching the fall baseball season and winning the championship… Anyway, this time it feels different. Did you watch the last game?”

“You know you’ve been saying that for 10 years already, right? The Marines getting hyped up in the spring isn’t anything new. That’s why they’re called Spring-Marines.”

“Hey, honestly, it’s not that bad. The regular season results are usually good in years when they’re first in exhibition games. They even won the championship in ’92, and they made the postseason in half of the 13 times.”

“They’ve been first in exhibition games 13 times, and they’ve only been in the top 5 half of the time—that’s enough to call them Spring-Marines.”

“······.”

***

“He’s definitely a natural.”

“No, still, there’s no need to specifically nurture a guy from Seoul…”

“Senior. The first-round pick designation isn’t coming back.”

“They said that in 2010 too. But it eventually came back in 2014. Baseball is inherently tied to the local area. There’s no way around it.”

“That was then. It’s already been 5 years since the first-round pick designation disappeared in ’22. 65% of teenagers in Korea live in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon. That percentage is only increasing. The number of teenagers in Busan is less than 25% of Seoul’s, and less than 20% of Gyeonggi’s. It’s even less than Incheon’s. Local ties are completely over.”

Coach Choi Jeong-sik clicked his tongue, displeased with Seo Gyeong-jun’s words.

“Tsk, still, that kid is too cocky. He has no manners.”

“That’s how all the kids are these days.”

“To call them ‘these days’ is a bit much, Gyeong-jun; you’re Gen Z yourself.”

“That’s right, Coach is Gen X [born roughly between 1965 and 1980]. But you get a lot of flak for dividing generations like that these days. And I’m already thirty-four. Honestly, age-wise, Coach is closer to me than Choi Su-won.”

“Gyeong-jun, you’re already thirty-four?”

“I guess so. I’m already thirty-four.”

“Time really flies… It feels like just yesterday we were debating whether to push Gyu-man or not.”

Seo Gyeong-jun nodded.

“I’ve heard the stories. Back then, they were really strict and only valued the first-round pick, so there was a lot of talk because Gyu-man was a second-round first pick.”

“Don’t even mention it. It was crazy. If that first-round pick designation hadn’t disappeared briefly in ’09, there’s no way he would have made it.”

“You can think of it similarly this time. It’s like how they used to only value the first-round pick, but now they value anyone who stands out from Busan or Gyeongnam. Local ties can be a plus, but it’s impossible to be exclusive in this day and age. If we keep doing this, Gyu-man senior and I might not have anyone to support us, and we might not even be able to become coaches or managers. You still have one step left, Senior.”

“That’s true…”

A moment of contemplation.

Choi Jeong-sik nodded.

“Alright, fine. Then bring him to the gathering this weekend. Regardless of the trends, let’s have a meal and decide.”

“Yes!! I understand.”

***

“Shit!!”

Dilton Doiley’s face flushed red on the mound.

“Whoa, whoa, Dilton, calm down.”

“Calm down? You’re telling me to calm down while watching that bastard catch the ball like that? That’s why I told you clearly since spring camp: I can’t work with that guy.”

“There’s no choice. Jin-woong needs 6 weeks to recover from his injury, so just bear with it.”

“No!! Bear with it my ass. It’s already driving me crazy because the defense is all messed up, but at least the catcher should be able to catch the ball, right? It’s not like I’m throwing 110 mph; it’s only 96 mph. How can he catch it so 불안하게 [unreliably]?”

“Dilton, that’s because your pitches have so much movement.”

“Movement my ass. If Gallego heard that, he’d laugh his ass off, saying it’s the best joke of the year.”

“Gallego? David Gallego? Dilton, David Gallego is a current major league catcher. You can’t set the standard to the big leagues.”

“Anyway, I can’t work with that moron, so tell the manager. I’d rather put pads on Swan and have him sit there than keep using that moron.”

“Okay, okay, calm down. I’ll talk to the manager.”

The interpreter who rushed up talked to Dilton for a long time. Watching that scene, I remembered the second reason why Dilton failed.

Dilton’s mentality is made of glass.

There’s a reason why a pitcher who had a 2.x ERA in AAA [Triple-A Minor League Baseball], where the league ERA is 4.x, had a 6.x ERA in the big leagues. It’s not a matter of skill, but the results are better when he throws the ball when he’s in his element, and he digs himself into a hole when things go wrong.

Maybe if he had gone to the Suwon Dolphins or the Incheon Dragons instead of the Marines in the KBO, he might have had a 2.x ERA and played like a super ace.

Anyway, it’s no wonder he exploded when that kind of mentality met that shitty catcher.

“Manager.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“He said he can’t throw to Han Gyo-cheol no matter what…”

There are a total of three catchers on the Marines.

Well, of course, there are more if you include the catchers who haven’t even set foot in the first team, but the manager thinks there are a total of three catchers who can be classified as available resources.

The first is Choi Jin-woong.

Still, he’s a player who showed fairly decent hitting for a catcher last year with .222/.267/.368 [batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage]. He’s a little weak in stealing prevention and blocking, but at least he catches the ball like a human being. He’s naturally the first option, but he’s currently diagnosed with a 6-week injury due to a torn adductor muscle in his thigh and swelling of his testicles.

And the second is Han Gyo-cheol.

Like the first option, Choi Jin-woong, he has a talent for hitting. He still shows a batting average in the low .200s, and if he plays a full season, he has the potential to hit more than 10 home runs. Of course, his defense is worse than Choi Jin-woong’s.

And the last option is Jang Jae-kyung.

He’s much better at defense than the previous two options. But his career batting average in the first team is .112. It’s not easy. Surprisingly, he’s been even more sluggish recently, as if there was even more room to fall from there, so if he’s actually used in the first team, he might have a career batting average in the .000s.

Manager Kim Dae-cheol 벌떡 일어났다 [boltteok ireonatta – 벌떡 means to spring up; 일어났다 means to stand up].

Honestly, if it was the regular season, he would have likely chosen the option of stubbornly enduring with Jang Jae-kyung. But now it’s the exhibition game.

“Coach Choi.”

“Yes.”

“How’s Jo Yu-jin’s condition today?”

“It doesn’t seem bad. He’s catching balls for the kids over there right now. Should I call him?”

“Yeah, tell him to go over there and catch Dilton’s balls.”

“Dilton’s balls?”

“He’s good at catching fastballs, right?”

“Yes, he’s been catching Choi Su-won’s 157 km/h balls for almost 3 years in high school… But that guy’s batting form is really serious, so I don’t think we should use him before we fix it.”

“No, who said he’s a confirmed starter? It’s an exhibition game anyway, so we’re trying things out.”

“Yes, I understand.”

In fact, if it wasn’t for Choi Jin-woong’s injury yesterday, Dilton wouldn’t have been pitching today. Anyway, the exhibition game was a place to try things out, and Dilton was an ace who didn’t need to be tested urgently.

But Choi Jin-woong was diagnosed with a 6-week injury, and they had to test his chemistry with other catchers. Even during spring camp, Diego Rodriguez exchanged balls smoothly with Han Gyo-cheol, but Dilton didn’t.

“You called for me, Manager.”

“Yeah, Yu-jin. I heard you’re good at catching fastballs. Go over there and catch Dilton’s balls.”

“Yes!!”

Jo Yu-jin’s eyes sparkled.

He’s quick to catch on. How could he not know that this is an opportunity?

-Thwack!!

“Good ball!! Good ball!!”

A fastball around 154 km/h.

Maybe if more time passes and his body is fully warmed up, it will go up to 158 km/h at its highest, but not yet. And that speed was almost the same as the speed I usually threw moderately.

Of course, there were also difficult parts in catching Dilton’s balls.

“Okay, two-seamer. One more.”

A two-seam fastball formed around 149 km/h.

It’s a ball optimized for inducing ground balls, and it’s presumed to be the number one contributor to why he recorded a 7.x ERA and had to leave the KBO. Perhaps his glass-like mentality made it difficult for him to endure the situation where ground balls repeatedly became infield hits.

-Thwack!!

But clearly, its power was excellent.

In the KBO, 150 km/h is fast enough, but the fact that the two-seamer comes in at almost that speed means that it’s almost impossible to hit a clean hit.

“Much better. No, it’s almost embarrassing to compare.”

Dilton Doiley nodded 만족스럽게 [manjokseureopge – 만족스럽게 means satisfied] while looking at the acne-covered young catcher catching his ball.

Thus, the second exhibition game was held in Sajik.

Dilton recorded 1 run in 3 innings and finished the game safely.

“Uh… Um…”

And manager Kim Dae-cheol, who was watching Jo Yu-jin’s at-bat, lost his words.

“What did I tell you? Jo Yu-jin’s batting form is really serious.”

2 at-bats, 2 strikeouts, no hits.

Jo Yu-jin’s batting form was revealed to KBO fans.

“Why is it even worse?”

In a significantly 퇴화한 [toehoehahn – 퇴화한 means deteriorated] form.

***

“No, that’s…”

Basically, Jo Yu-jin has a talent for hitting.

Of course, you might ask how a talented guy in the world can hit with that kind of form. But in other words, the fact that he hits that much with that kind of batting form proves his talent.

Even if this guy swings the bat in a somewhat normal form in practice, he hits the ball really well.

And that was the reason why this guy’s batting deteriorated in a few months.

“Ugh, you stupid bastard. How did you fix your batting form? You messed it up so much by falling for a few words from the coach?”

“No, it’s not that I messed it up; it’s just that I was nervous. It was actually better when I was playing practice games.”

“Yeah, of course it would have been better.”

Again, Jo Yu-jin has a talent for hitting.

So what’s the problem with this guy? It’s similar to Dilton. This guy also has a mental problem. He has a mental tic that he can’t bear unless he looks at first base even though the at-bat isn’t over. This is just a mental quirk, like the Steve Blass disease [a condition where baseball players suddenly lose the ability to throw accurately], where he suddenly can’t throw the ball into the strike zone even though there’s nothing wrong with his body.

Well, he could have somehow been conscious of it in practice games and endured it, thereby slightly alleviating the 장애인-like [jangaein-like – 장애인 means disabled] form of extremely bending his upper body, thereby increasing his long-hit power. But there’s no way he could be conscious of that in a real game, especially in a first-team game broadcast on public television.

“Hey, still, it’s a bit harsh to call it a disease.”

“Ah, whatever. Do you have plans this weekend? No. Cancel even if you have plans.”

“No, I don’t have any plans. Why suddenly this weekend?”

“Well, the seniors are buying me dinner. A really expensive one.”