The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 171

171. The Legend of the Watch (1)

There’s a legend whispered around Elitz.

It’s the legend of the 30-year-old watch, locked away in the team office safe.

It all started back in 1998.

The late owner of the Elitz team, during an overseas business trip, purchased a luxury watch. It cost 80 million won at the time—a significant sum, equivalent to about 2.5 billion won today, when an apartment might cost 130 million won—intending it as a motivational prize for the baseball team.

“This watch? Of course, it’s a gift for the Korean Series MVP when Elitz finally wins,” he declared.

The Elitz owner, likely in his early 50s then, could never have foreseen his passing in his early 70s, never witnessing Elitz’s victory. Moreover, that elusive championship wasn’t something he would have seen even with a few more years of life.

Ten years have passed since the owner’s death.

The luxury watch, a relic of the Elitz owner’s overseas trip, remained in the team office safe, patiently awaiting its destined owner.

Thirty-three years.

Elitz’s 33-year championship drought marked the second-longest in the league, trailing only the Marines’ 35 years.

Of course, the feeling was nuanced. Since 2019, Elitz had consistently reached the postseason. Some years, they came agonizingly close. But regardless of the shifting emotions, the undeniable truth remained: no championship.

That’s what fueled their relentless drive.

This year, as in the last, they ran.

“It’s always so vast here.”

Jamsil Stadium.

The largest baseball stadium in Korea.

Diego Rodriguez’s muttered observation drifted past me.

Our foreign second starter, who had called this stadium home until last year, seemed contemplative.

“Don’t you have a stadium this big in Mexico?”

“Swan? When did you get here?”

“Just now.”

Diego chuckled, answering my question.

“Well, Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey is somewhat similar, but this place is still bigger. Especially the left-center and right-center fields here are really weird.”

Indeed, Jamsil is not only expansive but also possesses a uniquely shaped outfield. By the way, Estadio de Béisbol Monterrey… literally translated, it’s simply Monterrey Baseball Stadium.

Just as Sajik Stadium is located in Sajik-dong [a neighborhood in Busan] and Jamsil Stadium is in Jamsil-dong [a neighborhood in Seoul], it seems that stadium is simply named Monterrey Baseball Stadium because it’s in Monterrey.

And hearing the name, a memory flickered. I’ve played in that stadium once. Not in the Mexican League, of course, but during the Major League’s occasional overseas opening games, held there about once every other year.

“Monterrey Baseball Stadium is where the Dodgers and Angels played their overseas opening games, right? It was definitely huge there too.”

“What? Have you been there?”

“Oh? No. Just videos. I’ve seen it in videos.”

“Really? Anyway, it’s reassuring to see such a big stadium. It’s unlikely that anything will go over the fence. Ah, but come to think of it, it’ll be different for you, Swan. You’re not just pitching, you’re also hitting. How do you feel when you see such a vast stadium?”

“Well… I prefer pitcher-friendly stadiums when I’m pitching and hitter-friendly stadiums when I’m batting. But if I had to pick one, I’d prefer a wide one like this.”

“Oh, you’re even throwing perfect games these days. Are you enjoying pitching a bit more?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just that there’s no reason for me not to hit it over the fence, no matter how big the stadium is.”

Diego laughed heartily at my words.

“Hahaha, yeah, that’s right. There’s no reason for you not to hit it over the fence, no matter how big the stadium is.”

I was half-expecting him to playfully tease me for my boast, but his calm agreement left me slightly embarrassed.

His gaze returned to Jamsil Stadium.

“To be honest, I was a bit resentful of Elitz when I failed to re-sign with them. It’s not just because they didn’t want to sign with me. They lacked respect for me.”

Diego Rodriguez had transitioned to being a starter in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] after consistently playing as a reliever in the Major Leagues.

“I needed time to adjust. Honestly, I thought I had done well enough with those stats, and I was sure I could do better next year since I had adjusted to rotating in the second half. But they didn’t believe me at all. They only focused on my 141.2 innings.”

Well, to be honest, I thought it was natural to adjust the amount during the negotiation process, but Diego seemed to dislike the process very much. That’s why agencies are important. It’s cleaner to finalize the deal without upsetting the player and the team.

“When I stayed with the Marines, I thought, ‘At least I won’t lose to Elitz.'”

The Hispanic man with bronze skin looked quite cool when he said that with his eyes blazing, but…

“But didn’t you lose to Elitz last game?”

“…So after losing that game, I thought, ‘At least I won’t lose to Elitz at Elitz’s home.'”

His goal is quite flexible, which makes me think he’s not normal either.

I guess it’s really hard to find a normal one among pitchers.

“In that sense, Swan, please do well today. No, no. You don’t need to do anything extra special. In fact, you can’t do any better. Just do what you always do.”

“Don’t worry about run support. I already have bad feelings about that Jake Boar.”

A gentleman’s revenge is never too late.

I haven’t forgotten.

That bastard Jake Boar who threw a beanball [a pitch intentionally aimed at the batter] at me in the opening game. Of course, I also threw a beanball at Kang So-gu as a form of retaliation, but that’s that, and this is this.

What choice will Jake Boar, who has reigned as the best pitcher in the KBO for the past few years, make with this vast Jamsil stadium?

The first game began.

***

This year marks Jake Boar’s fourth year in the KBO.

Last winter, when he won the Choi Dong-won Award, which can be considered the KBO’s Cy Young Award [an award for the best pitcher], he was convinced that choosing to come to Korea instead of taking on a new challenge with another Major League team was the wisest choice of his life.

The cutter, which sinks low at around 91 miles per hour, was a useless pitch in the Majors, but in the KBO, it was a magical pitch in itself.

Moreover, the slider he had honed since settling in the KBO had become a decisive pitch that could strike out right-handed hitters.

Of course, he never dared to think about advancing to the Majors again.

That place is a collection of monsters. The purpose of the low cutter is to induce ground balls through weak hits. But even a cutter in the early 90s can be hit weakly by the monsters in the Majors and sent to the outfield, even over the fence.

Just because he added a slider, there was no way he could throw the cutter, which is the basis of his repertoire, in a place where it didn’t work.

Therefore, what he wanted was to earn enough money in this land of milk and honey and, furthermore, to engrave his name as an Elitz franchise player. Considering that there was a similar foreign pitcher in the Jaguars, who share the same stadium as Elitz, his imagination was not impossible.

“Oh, good morning. Let’s all fight hard today.”

When he first heard the word “fighting,” he thought it was just the Korean version of “Go on!!” But when he found out it was “fighting,” he was really surprised. The “fighting” he heard sounded closer to “paiting” than “fighting.” Of course, he still couldn’t understand why fighting became cheer up. Nevertheless, he adapted to the culture here enough to use the word more Korean than anyone else.

It wasn’t difficult. Unlike the brash guys from Europe or South America, Korea, like his native South Texas, was a place where etiquette and manners existed. He even thought that perhaps a scholar was like a cowboy without a gun.

And in that sense, Choi Soo-won from the Marines.

That guy was no different from the drug-addled vagrants in the West. He’s a brash guy who doesn’t respect tradition or seniors and just lives for his own ego.

Yes, the only reason Jake Boar himself didn’t like that guy was because of his brashness.

It wasn’t because of petty jealousy that the guy had 61 strikeouts, the same number as his career-high pace, or that he could throw balls over 95 miles per hour, or even over 101 miles per hour, which he didn’t have.

Top of the 1st inning.

The Marines’ leadoff hitter is Kang Ra-on.

Not a bad hitter. But that’s it. According to the meeting this morning, his batting pace has been fierce lately, but he only recorded two infield hits against him last year.

First pitch.

A 143.4 km/h cutter tempting the hitter.

A slow ball that doesn’t even reach 90 miles per hour by Major League standards, but in the KBO, it’s a breaking ball that’s faster than the league’s average fastball speed.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!”

Kang Ra-on picked out the first pitch.

Because it was such a good ball that even if he hit it, it wouldn’t be a proper hit.

Second.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!”

Kang Ra-on frowned slightly.

Basically, there is discrimination in judgment against foreign players in the KBO.

But even aside from being a foreign pitcher, it was clearly a ball that was missing. There were rumors that Jake Boar treated the umpires like seniors, almost like real Korean players, and looking at what he’s doing now, it seems to be true.

Third.

-Clang!!

A bat that had to go out.

The cutter couldn’t get out of the infield.

One out.

Second hitter Lee Jung-hoon came to the plate.

Lee Jung-hoon was more difficult for Jake Boar than Kang Ra-on. The guy’s bat skill was strange, creating a lot of foul balls and stubbornly aiming for mistakes.

But

-Whoosh!!

The slider, which he had never thrown against a left-handed hitter this season, pulled Lee Jung-hoon’s bat.

Strikeout swinging.

Two outs.

Choi Soo-won came to the plate.

I don’t really remember the hitter stats that I see in the briefing right before the game, but that guy was so impressive that I couldn’t help but remember him.

69 at-bats, 34 hits, 15 home runs, 48 walks.

0.493/0.669/1.275.

No, the number of walks is close to 70% of the total at-bats.

Moreover, even though the season is over two months old, and his batting average has dropped a bit recently due to intentional walks and walks every day, he added another home run in the game before last, bringing his current total to 15 home runs. The number of home runs is close to half of the number of hits, and the number of singles is less than the number of home runs.

And two of those home runs were given up by Jake Boar.

Jake Boar’s gaze swept over Choi Soo-won’s not-so-thick torso. And the vast Jamsil outfield spread out behind him overlapped in his mind.

Yes, the last game was in Sajik Stadium, which was incomparably smaller than this. If it had been here in Jamsil, those hits would have been outfield flies, not home runs.

Above all, his ball was very good today. With his low-controlled cutter, he could stop that brat, even if he was a monster playing Bonds in the KBO.

Wasn’t he the best pitcher in the KBO, shining with last year’s Choi Dong-won Award?

Etiquette and respect for a brat who doesn’t know his seniors.

Jake Boar put more strength into the hand holding the ball.

146.7km/h

A 91.1-mile cutter.

The most powerful ball he could show flew perfectly low. Almost knee-high. Or maybe a little lower. Choi Soo-won swung his bat at the cutter flying in a course where it wouldn’t be strange if a strike was not called.

A cool swing with no hesitation.

-Clang!!

0.5 seconds of observation.

‘That @!#$?’

Choi Soo-won, who gracefully threw his bat, ran towards first base.

With light steps that showed no etiquette or respect.