The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 191

All-Star Game (1)

July 10th.

Alexander McDowell was in St. Louis, Missouri, home of Busch Stadium. At just nineteen years old, he was playing in the Major League All-Star Game.

Having just celebrated his birthday a few days prior, at 19 years and 15 days old, he was the youngest player to ever participate in the Major League All-Star Game. The previous record was held by Dwight Gooden at 19 years and 176 days, followed by Bryce Harper at 19 years and 225 days.

“Of course, my goal is to be the greatest hitter of all time.”

Few scoffed at his ridiculously grand ambition. In fact, many believed that Alexander McDowell should naturally have such aspirations.

Looking at the ten youngest players to have played in the Major League All-Star Game, excluding current players Bryce Harper and Jason Heyward, and Alex Rodriguez, who was rejected from the Hall of Fame for the sixth time due to his scandals, the only player not in the Hall of Fame was Dwight Gooden, who ruined his career with drugs.

“Rivals? Well, obviously the greatest hitters of all time. Oh, and Swan. That guy has the potential to be a good rival for me. Of course, that’s only if he gets rid of his stubbornness and comes to the big leagues soon.”

“Even when I was playing in the minors last year, I didn’t think the pro league was anything special. If I hadn’t had that brief experience in the big leagues at the end, I wouldn’t have changed my mind so easily. The reason I’m doing so well this year is because I got my soul crushed in the big leagues at the end of last season. Swan is having too much fun in the minors right now. He’s just like I was last year. He needs to come to the big leagues quickly to step up. With his talent, it won’t take him long to reach the same level as me.”

Up to this point, Alexander McDowell’s interview wasn’t much different from his usual ones. He had consistently mentioned Su-won’s name in interviews and on social media.

The problem was that he hit home runs in the All-Star Game.

Two of them, in fact.

Since the first All-Star Game in 1933, only five players have hit multiple home runs in the 94-year history of the event.

Gary Carter, Willie McCovey, Al Rosen, Arky Vaughan, and Ted Williams. Among them, the only one not in the Hall of Fame was Al Rosen, who retired after 10 seasons due to injuries.

The public loves young prodigies. And the media always craves public attention.

Therefore, the media has no choice but to pay attention to every move of a young genius. And the young genius, selected as the youngest All-Star at just nineteen years old, recorded multiple home runs in the All-Star Game, a feat only five players had ever achieved. An interview that wouldn’t have been so sensational otherwise graced the front page of ESPN, and it didn’t take long for it to spread across the Pacific to Korea.

Moreover, words tend to become more sensational as they pass from mouth to mouth. And Alexander McDowell’s interview articles were no exception.

[Youngest All-Star!! Youngest All-Star MVP!! Alexander McDowell. ‘My rivals are Ted Williams and Choi Su-won.’]

[Alexander McDowell: ‘Choi Su-won needs to come to MLB as soon as possible. KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] is just a waste of his talent.’]

[Big fish should play in big waters to grow. 60 games, 263 plate appearances, 106 walks. KBO is too small to contain Choi Su-won.]

Articles with sensational headlines dominated the main sports sections of portals. Some of them even made it to the main pages of portals, going beyond just sports news.

July 11th, 2 PM.

These were the articles from the day before the KBO All-Star Game.

***

Our Marines are one of the most popular teams in the KBO.

The level of popularity is such that there’s talk that KBO’s ten million attendance mark is only possible if the Busan Marines, Gwangju Hawks, Daegu Griffins, and Daejeon Phoenix all advance to the postseason together.

The media and front office talk about it so much that it’s drilled into my head, and I even know the specific numbers. This season, our Sajik Stadium has had a total attendance of 830,000. Considering that the attendance at the same time last year was only 360,000, you can imagine how amazing this record is.

And reflecting that popularity, in this season’s KBO All-Star Game Dream All-Stars, 11 out of the 12 players voted first by fans were from the Marines. Most of the players also took first place with a fairly overwhelming vote difference. Of course, the All-Stars aren’t just decided by fan votes. Player votes also account for 30%.

However, overwhelmingly taking first place in the fan vote means that unless you fall far behind in the player vote, your All-Star appearance is almost guaranteed.

And among them was Jjoyou.

Lee Ju-hyuk clicked his tongue.

“It’s the end of the world. The end of the world.”

“I know, right? How did he even make it to the All-Star Game…”

Jjoyou really took first place in the All-Star fan vote ‘overwhelmingly’.

Thanks to that, even though he ranked 4th among the 5 catchers with only 36 votes in the player vote, he was able to be safely selected as an All-Star without the slightest threat.

“What do you mean how? It’s because he’s your classmate. Su-won keeps saying that you’re the catcher he’s been working with since high school, so how can people not like him?”

“……”

Anyway, eight of our Marines players participated in this All-Star Game.

Thanks to that, even though it’s the All-Star Game, it feels pretty much the same as playing a game with our team members during the season.

Of course, there were a lot of interview requests before the game.

There would have been an absurdly large number of requests based on my performance alone, but thanks to Alexander causing a stir over there across the Pacific, there were even more. It was quite annoying. But that didn’t make me resent Alexander McDowell.

“There are a lot of talks that the changed rule in this All-Star Game is a special favor for Choi Su-won. What do you think about this?”

“The Ohtani Rule [allowing a player to pitch and hit in the same game] is already being implemented in the United States and Japan. We’re just a little late. Rather, I think the Marines have suffered a lot this season because there was no rule in the regular league.”

Because the Ohtani Rule was applied to this All-Star Game, there were a lot of unnecessary questions about special favors until the day before yesterday, but thanks to Alexander saying that his rival was Ted Williams and that only someone like me among the active players was qualified, the talk about the Ohtani Rule disappeared.

And in its place were questions about my move to the Major League, which I was a little more pleased to answer.

“I don’t know when Alexander started acting so arrogant, considering he spent almost all of last year in the minors, but I think I’m growing enough here.”

“But looking at Choi Su-won’s performance right now, he has 106 walks in 263 plate appearances, so he’s not really getting a proper hit, is he? Isn’t it not a good situation when he should be experiencing a lot of actual games? Can you really say that you’re growing in this situation?”

“Ah… Hitting? I don’t think there’s anything to improve even if I go to the Major League. I was talking about pitching. It’s actually gotten a lot better compared to the beginning of the season.”

There was a brief silence in the press room.

The reporters probably didn’t expect that answer. Even though they talk about Generation Z and all that, Korean media interviews still tend to value humility. Besides, these kinds of interviews are risky because if you mess up the game after doing this kind of interview, there’s no greater embarrassment.

“…So, are you saying that Choi Su-won’s hitting is good enough to go to the Major League right now?”

“Yes, of course. Actually, KBO is said to be AA level, but the reporters know that some players are MLB level. Im Gwang-hyung, the Phoenix pitcher who’s starting today, played in the Major League until two years ago and actually turned down a multi-year contract in the big leagues to return to Korea. And what about Cho Chang-hyuk of the Braves? He’s scheduled to advance to the big leagues next year, and my record against Cho Chang-hyuk is… Well, I don’t remember exactly, but I hit home runs and it was pretty good. So I don’t think the Major League is anything special.”

The interview right before the game ended like that.

The reporters’ expressions were very bright. They had a lot of good bait, so of course, they couldn’t help but be happy.

“Choi Su-won.”

“Oh? Reporter Lee Ji-yeon?”

“Do you have a moment?”

“Yes, well, I’m starting, but it’s only for one inning. And it’s a game where I’m pitching without any pressure today. There’s no reason to refuse a 1:1 date with a beautiful woman.”

I had already finished the interview, but Lee Ji-yeon was a reporter who was usually friendly to me, and although she didn’t know it, she was also a woman who had a brief connection with me in a future that would never come. A brief conversation wasn’t difficult.

“It’s nothing much. I’m just a little worried…”

Lee Ji-yeon’s business was about her concern about my interview earlier and how to fix it.

“Reporter.”

“Yes?”

“I’m okay. Rather, I’ll give you a scoop.”

“A scoop?”

“Yes, I’m thinking of setting a record this time. That will probably solve everything you’re worried about right now.”

***

In fact, I was selected as a designated hitter for this All-Star Game.

I guess I would have been number one even if I had been nominated as a starter, but since the team nominates candidates and people vote, I couldn’t nominate myself for both the starting pitcher and designated hitter positions.

However, for some reason, my name was on the list of recommended players by the manager for one of the starting pitcher spots.

Well, even so, it was customary for the starting pitcher selected by the vote to start the game, so it would have been natural to be in charge of about 1 inning in the middle. But surprisingly, the cause of public opinion and professional baseball success was much stronger than that tradition. In addition, the fact that the pitcher who was voted number one in the All-Star vote was our team’s Dilton Doyle was also a big help.

“Well, they say it’s a game that’s much more about fan service than MLB [Major League Baseball]. It’s the first KBO two-way player in history, so we have to make this much concession.”

He very gladly gave me the starting spot. As a result, I was able to stand on the mound as the starter for the Dream All-Star team.

The number one hitter for the Sharing All-Star team is Chae Gwang-min of the Phoenix.

He’s the same age as our senior Gyu-man, who is retiring this season, but he’s a gap hitter [a hitter who consistently hits the ball into the gaps between fielders] who’s playing so well that it’s hard to believe he’s that old.