The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 160

160. Waste of Life (2)

“Wow, Kang-ho is finally within striking distance of the home run title.”

“Only two more left, right?”

“Yeah, but you seem a bit lukewarm about it?”

“No, I’m happy too. But honestly, I’m not sure if the home run title is that big of a deal right now…”

“Not a big deal? Of course, it’s a big deal. If this isn’t a big deal, what is?”

“No, I mean, Choi Soo-won has been stuck at 12 for over ten days, so we’re catching up because the other teams are just walking him, thinking it’s better to give him a free pass than let him hit.”

“Well, yeah, but that’s just his luck. Honestly, if Choi Soo-won were on our team, he wouldn’t get nearly as many walks. They’re only doing it because he’s on the Marines. If Kang-ho had someone like Park Joo-won batting behind him…”

“Noh Hyung-wook…”

“Nah. Hyung-wook and Joo-won are on different levels, though.”

“Noh Hyung-wook has six home runs right now… Joo-won has seven. And Noh Hyung-wook is better in almost every stat except slugging percentage.”

“…”

“You haven’t actually looked at Choi Soo-won’s stats, have you?”

“Why? He has 12 home runs.”

“No, not just that. His detailed stats. Once you see them, you won’t even care about the home run title anymore.”

“What is it?”

He pulled out his smartphone.

…

Is this even humanly possible?

Of course, in baseball, there are players who put up ridiculous numbers for a month or so. But even considering that…

“Hey, hold on… So, in exactly 100 plate appearances over the last few games, he has 30 hits in 57 at-bats, with 12 home runs. And he has six doubles and one triple?”

“Yeah, plus 38 walks, 2 stolen bases, 4 sacrifice flies, and 1 hit by pitch.”

“His OPS [On-Base Plus Slugging] is 1.298??”

“No, his slugging percentage is 1.298.”

Right, at first glance, you might mistake it for a simple MVP-caliber, league-destroying OPS of 1.298, but surprisingly, that 1.298 was his slugging percentage.

0.526/0.690/1.298

Thus, his OPS is a whopping 1.988.

“Hey, what’s with him? Didn’t they say he’s been slumping lately?”

“Yeah, he has been slumping. He had two games in a row where he got on base twice via walks and hit two flyouts to the outfield. Or was one of them a sac fly?”

“Two walks and two outfield flyouts still mean a .500 on-base percentage…”

“Yeah, but when he does that, not only do his batting average and slugging percentage drop, but his on-base percentage drops too.”

Getting on base twice lowers his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage? Was it so absurd that he couldn’t believe it himself? He chuckled without realizing it. The other person who heard the story was equally dumbfounded and just laughed.

“He’s a rookie, so he has six years left?”

“Nah, no way. How can they leave a crazy guy like that alone for six years? Now that the posting system has been revised, MLB will take him. International prospects are under 23, so we only have to watch him for four more years…”

He trailed off.

So, we have to watch a hitter with an OPS approaching 2.0, who swings his bat however he wants and gets out on fly balls because the opposing team won’t pitch to him, for four more years, not counting this year? And he’s even a two-way player, a pitcher good enough to be called a domestic ace?

“Hey, honestly, shouldn’t we send a guy like that to the US from a national perspective? We need our own Ohtani. Right, that’s it. Ohtani!! Ohtani was also under 23 when he went to the US as an international prospect.”

“I don’t know… Would a team that hasn’t won a championship in 35 years send a player like that for the greater good?”

“Then the Marines will win the 통합 [integrated] championship this year… no, that’s impossible, so at least win the Korean Series… Ah… Damn it.”

In fact, they weren’t the only ones having this kind of conversation.

Any fan of professional baseball couldn’t help but pay attention to the absurd stats that Choi Soo-won was producing.

It was like the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] version of the 2005 steroid-era MLB [Major League Baseball], only even more enhanced because he was also a pitcher.

So, it wasn’t strange that some people were saying things like this:

“Hey, but honestly, isn’t Choi Soo-won a bit much?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, he’s only nineteen years old, and those stats are insane, right? Plus, he’s a two-way player? Seriously, it’s already amazing that a high schooler who played two games a week on weekends is suddenly adapting to playing six games a week, but he’s going above and beyond by being a two-way player. It doesn’t seem physically possible.”

“But he’s doing the impossible.”

“Yeah. If something impossible becomes reality, it might be a miracle, but… there’s a high probability that something else is going on. You know? In baseball, drugs not only improve performance but, most importantly, they boost recovery, which is a cheat code.”

“Come on, he just graduated high school. Don’t say ridiculous things.”

“No. You can’t let your guard down just because he just graduated high school. If you look closely, there might even be cases of players getting suspended for using drugs in high school.”

It was an inevitable conclusion that came from trying to think about something incomprehensible in the most rational way possible. And in the midst of all this, the KBO’s surprise drug test for the first half of the season passed.

[A player from a certain team A tested positive for drugs!!]

─GoingtoHwaseong: Choi Soo-won finally got caught, right?

─StrongestDongSoowon: What are you talking about? Why are you suddenly bringing up Soo-won here?

─SelfStrengthTwoSick: Honestly, Choi Soo-won was a bit suspicious. I mean, an OPS of 2.0? Is that even possible?

─HappyPhoenix: Nothing is confirmed yet, so don’t go around calling a young player a drug addict.

─SajikYagada: I’ve screenshotted all of this. I’m reporting all of you.

─CoinWillComeAgain: Choi Soo-won is going down!!!

─93rdFloorPerson: I’m a drug expert, and Choi Soo-won can’t be on drugs. You can’t have such a weak body if you’re on drugs.

─SelfStrengthTwoSick: What makes you a drug expert?

─93rdFloorPerson: I work in fitness. I was all in for about 7 years, but now I’m retired due to kidney problems and only work as a trainer.

─SelfStrengthTwoSick: Can you get it up?

─93rdFloorPerson: I can when I take drugs.

And somewhere, the story about the drug-using player was slowly spreading.

“Hey, you idiot. We give you the schedule, and you still screw it up… Ah…”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, screw your apologies. What is it? Why did you get caught?”

“I mixed up the dates…”

“Ah. Damn it. Seriously… You’re proving you’re an idiot in so many ways.”

“Senior. But it was such a trace amount that we can say it was from using the wrong herbal medicine and ointment.”

“Are you an inspector? If it gets into your blood, you’re screwed. Huh?”

“I’ll definitely take care of it on my end.”

“Don’t state the obvious. Just do it right, you bastard. Please, just do it right. Huh?”

***

On the way to Suwon.

We stopped at Cheonan Samgeori Service Area, and Senior Gyu-man bought everyone hodugwaja [walnut cookies], saying something incomprehensible about how hodugwaja is best in Cheonan. It actually tasted worse compared to the franchise hodugwaja. I didn’t really understand why people say hodugwaja is best in Cheonan.

“It’s just that it was a delicious food for Senior Gyu-man when he was young. I don’t know if you know about the IMF [International Monetary Fund crisis of the late 90s in South Korea].”

“Of course, I know about the IMF. I learned about it in modern history class in middle school.”

“Wow, you guys learn about the IMF in modern history class? The generation gap is really hitting me hard.” Lee Jung-hoon was rambling on about how the latest thing in his modern history textbook was the real-name financial system, while Seo Kyung-joon, who was sitting on the opposite side, leaned over.

“Lee Jung-hoon, anyone would think you experienced the IMF? You were born in ’98. And hodugwaja is best in Cheonan. It originated in Cheonan.”

“Oh, really? Is that why they haven’t improved the taste since it’s the original?”

“No, it’s because it’s after the game and it’s 새벽 [dawn]. They’re selling what they made in advance.”

As always, the pointless conversation went on and on, eventually leading to how Gapyeong pine nut cookies are better than hodugwaja these days.

“Huh?”

It was then.

Jo Yu, who was sitting in the front of the bus near the manager, in a pretty bad seat, suddenly gestured at me.

‘What is it?’

‘Look at your smartphone. Your smartphone.’

[The identity of the A player who tested positive in the doping test is a rookie who has been showing sensational performance??]

Oh my.

Drug test positive? As far as I remember, in the original timeline, the first-half drug test passed without anyone getting caught, and Carlos Edwin tested positive in the second half, which led to him being designated for assignment and the Griffins’ performance plummeting.

But a rookie tested positive in the doping test? Of course, Carlos is also a rookie in terms of the KBO, but usually, in the case of foreign players, they release their real names without any initials to protect the player. That’s the rule of this industry.

Of course, the real name of A will be revealed tomorrow morning, but at least the club is given a chance to issue a statement for about half a day.

So, that means it’s not a foreign player but a domestic player… Who is it?

But looking at the comments, it’s no joke.

I have no idea who took drugs, but most of the commenters seem to have a clue.

Choi Soo-won, a sensational rookie who plays as a two-way player for the Marines and whose stats are insane, is the most likely candidate. Of course, you can’t get these kinds of stats without drugs. That’s what most of the comments are saying.

Instead of feeling wronged, what should I say?

I started to think that my stats can’t be explained without drugs.

─GongBadi: Hey, what are we going to do about this? The reaction is no joke right now? Shouldn’t we respond to something?

─Me: Respond to what? I read the article, and it came out as a urine test result, but I had a blood test in the first place. And everyone will know who this A is tomorrow morning anyway.

─GongBadi: Ah, that’s right. Come to think of it, you said you couldn’t pee, so they just drew blood, right?

I had a brief conversation with Jo Yu, who was sitting far away, via messenger.

Of course, I knew from experience.

Whether I had a blood test or whatever, once the suspicion is raised, the guys who insist that I took drugs will keep insisting until their dying breath. They might even say something about having a blood test instead of a urine test. It doesn’t matter to them that a blood test is a stricter test than a urine test. Those guys don’t want to know the truth; they’ve already decided that I took drugs and are fitting all sorts of situations to it.

So, I just ignored it.

Even people like Mother Teresa, who spent their entire lives doing good deeds, had haters. Becoming famous means you have to put up with those kinds of people.

Another hour at Cheonan Samgeori Service Area.

Finally, we arrived in the land of Suwon Wang Galbi [Suwon-style grilled short ribs].

“The city name is very desirable. I feel like I’m going to achieve something perfect… Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey. Anyway, I have a feeling I’m going to accomplish something great.”

My start date is the third game, three days from now.

For now, it was time to focus on the hitter’s game in 28 hours.

***

“Hey, Choi Soo-won!!!”

“Senior Baek Kang-ho? What brings you here?”

“You!! Why aren’t you checking your messages?”

“Messages? Hold on. I don’t have anything.”

“No!! Not text messages. Instagram!!”

“Ah, Instagram? I just use it to post pictures, so I don’t check the messages… And I deleted the app a while ago.”

“Huh?”

“But what’s wrong? Did you send something important through it?”

“Oh, well, that is. No. I just wanted to say you’ve been a bit quiet with the home runs lately, so keep up the good work. Fighting!!”