The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 25

25. Development (1)

Seo Young-joon, the general manager of the Suwon Dolphins, set the scouting team’s report down on his desk.

2025 was already halfway through. The draft for this year was less than a month away. The previous year, the Dolphins had performed exceptionally well.

The media had reacted negatively when they offered an extension to Park Joo-won, a 37-year-old veteran who had once played in Major League Baseball. But last season, he’d hit an impressive twenty-four home runs. Moreover, Baek Kang-ho, Suwon’s franchise player, who was expected to enter the major leagues at the end of this season, played 144 games with 642 at-bats, hitting 37 home runs. He recorded an OPS [On-Base Plus Slugging, a common baseball statistic] of 1.077 and won the MVP award.

A perfect blend of experience and fresh talent.

It wasn’t just about those two players. The Dolphins’ batting lineup was excellent across the board, and they recorded the best performance among the 10 teams in terms of team batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, and scoring.

If they could have brought in a decent foreign starting pitcher, they might have won their second championship. And it was the same this year. This time, the foreign starting pitcher wasn’t too bad, but Shin Yu-min, who had been the team’s third starter and domestic ace until last year, was out for the season due to Tommy John surgery [a common elbow ligament reconstruction procedure for pitchers]. But no matter what, it was undeniable that the Dolphins were strong contenders for the championship again this year. In fact, the Dolphins had consistently remained in the top 4 since the season began.

“In the end, it’s all about Choi Su-won, isn’t it?” they were saying.

It was an unbelievable record.

No matter how significant the skill gap was in the high school league, and especially in the second half when many of the starting players were missing, a slash line of 0.857/0.938/2.286 was simply unbelievable.

Of course, he had to consider that it was a small sample size of only six games and 17 at-bats, he reminded himself, but there was a limit to that. Could even a top-notch professional player go to the high school league and unconditionally produce such a record?

Absolutely not.

He couldn’t say for sure that even a Major League All-Star player, not just a top-notch professional player, could achieve such a record. Of course, that didn’t mean that Choi Su-won was a better player than a Major League All-Star. Even if a player had similar performance in the upper league, depending on his style, he could either dominate the lower league or perform only slightly better than in the upper league.

But one thing was certain: if he was a talent who could devastate high school baseball to that extent, he was a talent that would attract attention not only from the KBO [Korea Baseball Organization] but also from the best leagues in the world.

“Which teams are currently showing interest?”

“Yes? Ah. Of course, all ten teams…”

Seo Young-joon shook his head.

“No, no. That’s obvious. Which teams in the big leagues are showing interest?”

“Ah!! Ah!! That is…”

“Hoo, Team Leader Park. Where are we in the standings right now?”

“We’re in 2nd place, 2 games behind 1st place!!”

“Yes, we’re in 2nd place, 2 games behind 1st place. And we’re 1.5 games ahead of 3rd place, and 14 games ahead of last place. So, can we win the ‘Choi Su-won Sweepstakes’ and get Choi Su-won? Or can’t we?”

“Winning the ‘Sweepstakes’… there’s still a lot of season left, and it’s only a 2-game difference…”

-Thump!!

“Team Leader Park, Team Leader Park. Come on, think before you speak. Is winning the ‘Choi Su-won Sweepstakes’ the same as winning the league championship? Can’t you understand the context? Do we have to win the championship to get Choi Su-won? Shouldn’t we be in last place this year?”

“Ah…”

“I’m going crazy. Seriously. Team Leader Park, listen carefully. We can’t get Choi Su-won anyway. Even if Choi Su-won gets into a car accident and tears his ACL [anterior cruciate ligament, a common knee injury], another team will definitely take him. So, what are you going to accomplish by investigating Choi Su-won now?”

“That is…”

“Hoo…. Team Leader Park. What’s going to be solved if you sit there and repeat ‘That is…’?”

“I-I’m sorry!!”

“No!! Don’t just be sorry. Go and work. Work. Find out which teams in the major leagues are interested in Choi Su-won. Check Japan too. And the data you prepared four years ago when you were trying to keep Baek Joo-wan in the KBO, right?”

“Yes, yes!!”

Four years ago.

When the first draft was still in place.

The Dolphins had successfully convinced Baek Joo-wan, the biggest prospect in the region, to forgo going straight to MLB.

“Bring that, but instead of adding seasoning to it, bring the original data and add seasoning to it in reverse. Make it look like it’s in his best interest to go to the major leagues, but not too obvious. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand!!”

“Alright, alright, move quickly. It doesn’t make sense for such an absurd talent to waste time in the KBO unnecessarily. So, let’s help him go to the big leagues from a broader perspective.”

***

Jo Yu-jin, the starting catcher of Joongang High School, had recently fallen into serious 고민 [gomin – a Korean word meaning “worry” or “trouble”].

‘Is it okay to keep doing this?’

In fact, it wasn’t like he hadn’t had such concerns before. He was a pretty decent defensive catcher, but if you asked if he was a catcher who would definitely be picked in the draft, he couldn’t confidently say yes.

The problem was his batting record.

His recent slash line was 0.286/0.375/0.357, which was very good compared to the first half of the league. Especially considering that the high school league has been pitcher-heavy recently, it was certainly a respectable record, even if the second half of the league tended to have better records for elite players. But when you think about the record of the player playing right next to him, it could never be a satisfactory record.

“Su-won, am I doing okay like this?”

“Huh? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

At his question, Choi Su-won looked at him with an expression that said, “Where did that come from?”

Ah, of course, the person Jo Yu-jin was comparing himself to was not Choi Su-won, this monster.

0.857/0.938/2.286.

No, what kind of numbers are these? A batting average of 0.857? Jo Yu-jin’s own OPS was currently 0.732, which wasn’t that low when looking at the entire league, but it was lower than this monster’s batting average. And what about the on-base percentage? 0.938? Damn it, the current 2nd place in OPS in the league was 0.938.

Even 2.286? I don’t even know if that’s a possible number in baseball.

But this monster surprisingly recorded those numbers as his batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. It’s like, even if you want to compare, you have to be able to keep up to some extent to even want to compare.

“No, we practice together, but it seems like I’m the only one who’s not improving.”

“Not improving? You had a slash line of all 2s in the first half. Compared to that, your batting average still starts with 2, but your on-base percentage and slugging percentage are 3, aren’t they? Well, even if the second half is less intense than the first half, that’s a great improvement.”

“No, that’s true, but…”

-Clang!!

The bat swung powerfully and sent the batted ball to the top of the net on the left end of the field. The man who swung the bat was Jo Gyu-hyeok, the 4th batter of Joongang High School, the owner of muscles that could not be completely hidden by his loose uniform.

“No, we train together, but even if we leave you out of it, look at Gyu-hyeok senior.”

“Gyu-hyeok senior?”

He had recorded 4 hits, 1 home run, and 2 walks in 13 at-bats in the five games so far. With a record of 0.308/0.400/0.538, he was currently ranked 2nd in OPS in the district, following Choi Su-won. Because of the existence of the monster Choi Su-won, he was out of the running for batting-related awards, but it was still a great improvement considering his performance in the first half.

Jo Yu-jin had watched his development closely from the side.

That’s why he knew that, unlike the batting coach Seo Min-woo, who said that Jo Gyu-hyeok had finally understood his teachings and was opening his eyes to batting, he was actually going in the opposite direction from what Seo Min-woo was telling him to do.

Pull it hard and lift it up.

It’s a concept that’s easily found with a quick internet search these days. But the reality of baseball that Jo Yu-jin had experienced was different.

Of course, there were many kids who could get away with it until middle school baseball using aluminum bats. But after coming to high school baseball and changing to wooden bats, if you hit like that, it would usually end up as a fly ball to the outfield. In the end, the best you can do is to push the ball as far as possible to the 3rd base side and run to 1st base as quickly as possible.

But right next to him, he witnessed Choi Su-won and Jo Gyu-hyeok achieving amazing results in a way that wasn’t considered optimal. Perhaps he couldn’t help but think that what was called the best might not actually be the best.

“No, I was wondering if it’s right to just pull with a full swing like Gyu-hyeok senior or you. Honestly, I hit the ball pretty well, but there are a lot of times when I get ground balls to the infield. But if I swing like that, the ball will have power, so I might be able to break through the infield and get a hit, right?”

Su-won stared at Jo Yu-jin for a moment.

A moment of contemplation.

“Well, I don’t think that’s something I can tell you what to do. Where is the right answer in baseball? It’s just that everyone has a different style. Even if you look at the pros, Park Joo-won and Choi Gyu-hyeok have both been home run kings, but their styles are completely different. One is Park Joo-won, who lifts it up with an upper swing and flies it high, and Choi Gyu-hyeok is focused on creating barrel hits with a level swing. In the end, it’s important to find out what you can do well, and I can’t say that there’s one right answer.”

A much more serious answer than he expected.

What was most surprising was that Choi Su-won, who wasn’t known for his academics, was talking about upper swings, level swings, and barrel hits so naturally. And he even knew the swing styles of professional players in his head.

Of course, there are some players who study this and that. But that’s a very small number. In the first place, people are busy exercising and taking school classes, so how many people would study that kind of thing in their spare time?

“What is it? Why is Choi Su-won so smart? This is a bit strange?”

“What are you talking about, you idiot? Don’t talk nonsense and go swing your bat. Hamin hyung [hyung – an honorific term used by males to address older male friends or brothers] is starting the next game, and if you don’t want your on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which were at least 3, to go back to 2, go practice.”

“Don’t say unlucky things. I’m going to get two hits and make my batting average 30%?”

“Yeah, Baek Hamin, the MVP of the Golden Lion Flag [a prestigious high school baseball tournament]. And your record is 0.000/0.000/0.000.”

“Ah, Choi Su-won is so annoying. Just you wait. I’m going to get a hit in tomorrow’s game.”

“Yeah, please do. Hey, I need you to get on base so I can get some RBIs [runs batted in]. I’m tired of solo home runs now. I’m tired of it.”

And finally, the last game of the weekend league in the second half.

The MVP of the Golden Lion Flag.

Baek Hamin of Cheonnam High School went up to the mound.