The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 14

14. Opportunities Don’t Come Often (2)

“Sunbae, j-just a moment.”

“Quit exaggerating. There, there, keep holding it without holding your breath.”

You should never stretch to the point of feeling pain. And remarkably, Gyuhyuk sunbae maintained that fine line with incredible precision.

Then came the massage.

Gyuhyuk sunbae’s thick fingers pressed firmly on various parts of my body.

“Your body is quite tense. Here, and here.”

“Ah…”

A soft groan escaped me without realizing it.

It felt so good.

It felt too good. This was comparable to the professional masseuses who used to loosen up my body when I was playing in the league.

“I can’t let this go on. From now on, you’re stretching with me before and after training, and doing weights next to me during your usual workouts.”

“Pardon?”

“What do you mean, ‘Pardon?’ Your sunbae is offering to train with you.”

“But…”

What was this? Gyuhyuk sunbae was definitely a senior with a large build and an imposing presence, but he was someone I had barely any contact with until graduation.

“Hey, man, who’s going to eat you? I’m saying this because the way you’re stretching and your body looks like you’re just asking for an injury.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, I didn’t say much about your pitching because I don’t know much about it. But after watching you bat on Saturday, I get it. Your body is like an African refugee, but you move like an NFL linebacker? If a flimsy guy like you moves his body like that, you’re just asking to injure your ligaments and tendons. Overall, you’re lacking in everything, but at least your back is decent, but your arms and front are too weak.”

To be honest, I am a bit scrawny, but it’s not that bad, but looking at Gyuhyuk sunbae’s massive body, I was somehow convinced.

“What’s your height and weight right now?”

“189.7cm and 82.4kg.”

“See, a refugee. Plus, unlike me, you have long arms and legs, so you need more than average muscle mass to fill out. Anyway, you’re sticking with me during weight training this afternoon.”

“But I threw on Saturday, so today is my rest day for strength training.”

“Oh, right. That’s true. Then stick with me during stretching after Pole and Pole. Oh, and if you have time…”

A moment of hesitation.

Then Gyuhyuk sunbae slowly approached me.

“Ha… it’s really hard to say this to a hoobae [junior]. But I’m saying this in advance, you can refuse if you don’t want to. I’m not trying to pressure you at all.”

His face reddened. His breathing became rough.

Was it because of the sweat from stretching? Or was it the musty smell unique to the men’s dorm? A nasty stench wafted in.

I instinctively felt a sense of rejection at a primal level.

Besides, what? Time? Pressure? Refusal?

“Well, um… can you watch me practice batting?”

“Pardon? Batting practice?”

“Yeah. The others are saying that yesterday was just a fluke, but does that even make sense? Hitting three home runs with that body? Especially from Baek Hamin? After touching you today, I understand even more. How amazing your hitting is.”

Wait a minute.

Of course, my hitting is amazing. But are you seriously asking me to watch you practice batting here? Even though he may be incompetent, it’s not like we don’t have a hitting coach on the team right now?

“No, sunbae. Well, I am amazing, but not to the extent that I can teach others…”

“Hey, Choi Suwon. I’m not blind. You completely changed your batting form. It’s obvious that you didn’t just study and practice for a day or two. To be honest, it’s not like I don’t study either. But when I try to study properly, it’s all paid content. And even if I download it with expensive money, it’s in English, so I can’t even understand the translation properly. But if I just try it, it’s my body that I’m using, so I’m worried… I don’t know what to do. It may not be much in return, but I’ll help you build your body.”

Gyuhyuk sunbae…

He looks like a bear, but his observation skills are extraordinary.

My gaze scanned Gyuhyuk sunbae’s body. Big and sturdy. But this is too excessively large to be a baseball player.

“As you can see from my body, my hyung [older brother] majored in sports rehabilitation in college, so I can ask him anything I’m curious about. I’m confident in building my body, if nothing else.”

But even this much is amazing for a high school student.

Besides, it’s much better to have someone’s help with strength training than doing it alone.

Most of all, Gyuhyuk sunbae is an influential senior as the team’s cleanup hitter, even if he’s not as bad as that sea squirt bastard. I’ll take care of my workout routine, but at least he’ll help me clean up the plates.

“Well, it’s not difficult to practice together, but I really didn’t study anything special. It just happened while I was practicing…”

“That’s enough. You don’t have to feel too pressured. Our bodies are different anyway, so it’s not like I’m going to take your batting form completely. You’re also a pitcher, so I just want you to look at my form and give me advice if you have any.”

“Yes, I understand. Well, that’s not difficult.”

And exactly a few days later.

I was greatly regretting it.

“There, there, one, just one more!! Squeeze it out.”

“S-Sunbae!!”

“Shh!! Don’t talk!! Just breathe!! Just breathe as it is!! Good. Your muscles are growing rapidly now.”

As far as I know, Gyuhyuk sunbae’s gym, which will open at some point in the future, will be quite successful.

Successful people don’t succeed for no reason.

I should have realized it from the very first time we stretched.

Gyuhyuk sunbae is a man who knows how to target the razor-thin boundary between human limits, overtraining, and efficient training like a ghost.

“There, there, the real last one. The real last one!!”

“…”

“Yes, just keep breathing like that. Let’s just keep breathing.”

Let me say in advance that I didn’t make a sound just now, but I couldn’t make a sound.

To put it in poetic terms, it was a silent scream?

That’s how my week passed in a truly fulfilling way.

***

The daily life of a professional baseball scout is arduous.

Professional teams don’t just watch games and analyze the footage to pick players in the draft. They film players who show promise in middle school almost like stalkers throughout their high school years. And they use that to confirm their growth during their school days.

Choi Suwon was also one of those players.

Basically, pitchers who throw 150 km/h [approximately 93 mph] are rare. Even more so if they’ve been throwing that fast since their freshman year. Although his control is a bit erratic, the fact remains that there are only four pitchers among the ’08 liners [players born in 2008] who can throw up to 150 km/h right now.

But paradoxically, that’s why there was no data at all.

There’s plenty of pitching footage, but no footage of his hitting. At best, there are fleeting game scenes, but it’s impossible to figure anything out with that.

“He definitely seems to have talent for hitting…”

Three consecutive home runs.

It’s a major record that hasn’t been seen since 2004, since high school baseball started using wooden bats.

If he had gone to a prestigious high school, there might have been footage taken by chance. But Jungang High School can hardly be called prestigious, to put it mildly.

Moreover, although the activities of the clubs have expanded nationwide since the abolition of the first draft, the scouts still go to the places they used to go to more often. In other words, their local farms where they have a close relationship with the manager.

As a result, scouts from ten clubs visited Jungang High School at least once this week, or more. Meeting one-on-one to talk would be tampering, but just going to exchange a few words of goodwill and having a cup of coffee with the manager while talking about the players’ future is networking.

“So, Director Park. You’re saying that Suwon was born and raised in Seoul and has never left Seoul. So it would be a bit difficult for him to go down to the provinces. Is that what you mean?”

“No, who says he’s never been down to the provinces? We even went to Jeju Island for our training camp.”

“Oh, come on, that’s not what I mean.”

“More than that, this coffee is so bitter. We used to drink a lot of sweet coffee back in our day. What was it called? Frappuccino?”

“Oh my, our Director Park liked Frappuccinos. I’ll definitely remember to buy you a Frappuccino next time.”

Thanks to this, Director Park’s mouth was constantly hanging from ear to ear. When else in his life would he be able to do this to professional club scouts in the halls of learning?

In fact, having professional club scouts come often is an extremely good thing for high school teams. It’s not just because the kids work harder to catch the scouts’ eyes, as if there are scouts’ cameras at the games.

Money.

Some people may say that it’s vulgar to discuss money issues in a school that is a hall of learning. Well, that’s possible. Director Park also had such thoughts in the past.

It was a little better when professional clubs implemented the local first draft.

In any case, the first draft was structured in such a way that the more high-quality players were selected from their own farms, the more advantageous they were, and therefore professional clubs made ‘investments’ at their own expense.

Of course, after the full draft, the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] collects money from professional clubs and makes appropriate investments in each high school team. However, that support is only a drop in the bucket compared to what professional clubs used to do directly.

Basically, the cost of baseballs alone exceeds 30 million won [approximately $23,000 USD] every year. Bus rental fees to and from the stadium. Also, the cost of bats given to the kids is by no means cheap, even though they buy half at their own expense and only half is subsidized.

Those prestigious high schools that have produced famous professional players in a row are a little better off. They donate various equipment, or in some cases, they generously donate buses. However, Jungang High School has not produced a single professional player who has received a contract fee of more than 100 million won [approximately $76,000 USD] in the last twenty years, let alone a professional player who has succeeded in FA [Free Agency].

“Director, instead, I brought a few boxes of practice balls today.”

“Oh my, you didn’t have to bring all this.”

Of course, they are not A-grade new balls. They are B-grade balls that have been used once in a game.

However, even C-grade balls that have been used several times for practice in the pros are a blessing for high school baseball practice, and B-grade balls that have only been used in games are almost new balls.

In a poor household, such gifts are simply welcome.

“By the way, what about Suwon’s batting practice?”

“Ah, that. Other teams are looking for it a lot…”

“Other teams? Which ones?”

“Oh, there are many. It’s a mess here and there. More than that, I’m sure I’ve kept the practice video somewhere. Anyway, I’ll contact you as soon as I find it.”

“Then please take good care of me in the future. Director.”

“Oh my, I’m the one who should be asking you to take good care of me in the future. Scout.”

Director Park shook hands firmly with the scout.

“Ah, come to think of it…”

“Yes?”

“No, no. It’s nothing. It’s just that Suwon is scheduled to go to the plate again during this weekend’s game. I was wondering if you might be interested.”

“Is that so?”

You have to seize the opportunity when it comes.

Director Park was a man who was already fully prepared to actively utilize this unexpected opportunity.

And so, the following Saturday.

Seoul, Incheon, Suwon, Daegu, Daejeon, Gwangju, Changwon, Busan.

Scouts from ten professional baseball clubs gathered in Mokdong.

Along with a female reporter from a daily newspaper holding a large camera.