The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 263

263. The First Pitch (1)

Major League teams generally have a 40-man roster. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can run a Major League team with only 40 players. To explain in detail would be a bit complicated, but it simply means that the number of players who can be freely moved between the Major League and its minor league affiliates is limited to 40.

Anyway, out of that 40-man roster, the players who actually play in the Majors typically number only 26. And this 26-man roster is separately called the Active Roster.

There are also restrictions within the Active Roster.

The number of pitchers is limited to a maximum of 13.

Therefore, the remaining 13 spots are filled with fielders.

In other words, the 26-man active roster can be seen as selecting the 13 best pitchers and the 13 best fielders from within the 40-man roster.

But there’s a catch right there.

The number of pitchers is ‘maximum’ 13.

Here, the meaning of the word ‘maximum’ acts as a restriction: ‘You can have 14 or 15 fielders, but never exceed 13 pitchers!’ This also means that if there were no such restrictions, some Major League teams would try to fill more than half of their active roster with pitchers.

It is at this point that the two-way player appears.

Two-way player.

A ‘fielder’ who can also play as a pitcher.

The condition is at least 20 innings pitched and at least 20 games played as a fielder.

Originally, the 26-man roster consists of the 13 best pitchers and the 13 best fielders. But what if someone isn’t good enough to be in the top 13 as a fielder, but has the skills to pitch at least 20 innings? For clubs that wanted to utilize even one more pitcher, it would be a dream come true.

And this is why I bothered to explain the Major League rules in such detail.

“They call him a two-way player. But it looks like he’s not playing as a hitter today?”

“Right. They say he’s the Asian home run king, so I wanted to see how great he is.”

“Greatness, my foot. Just by looking at him, he seems weak. I can already tell how it’s going to go.”

“Well, a friend of mine said that there was match-fixing in that league recently. It means the credibility of the league’s performance is terrible.”

“Hey, aren’t we being too loud? It sounds like he can hear us?”

“It’s okay. Even if we say it word by word, I doubt he’d understand properly. You saw him walking around with an interpreter.”

“And even if he does understand, what can he do? Can he argue with the three of us?”

I didn’t need to go over there and say, ‘I understand everything you guys are saying. You losers.’

Maybe there isn’t a fool among those guys who sincerely thinks I’m not skilled. Basically, the guys who are talking over there are barely on the 26-man roster, and if they spend a few more years like that, playing in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] will become their life goal.

In the end, the reason they’re whispering among themselves like that is because of the realistic fear of losing their spot. So, I willingly forgive them. I’m too good to hate the jealousy of the incompetent.

“Jose.”

“Yeah?”

“Those guys over there. What are their names?”

“Who? Oh, those guys? What? Did they say something to you?”

“No. Not really. I’m just curious.”

I don’t hate them. Because I am generous.

So, I’m just trying to remember their names.

That’s all.

***

First inning, top.

The Blue Team’s start was with the Yankees’ ace, Domingo Rodriguez.

He was a man with a unique charm, different from any Latino handsome man you could think of, and a height of 187cm [approximately 6’1″], which is above average for ordinary people, but slightly small for a starting pitcher.

Domingo Rodriguez fumbled the baseball in his glove several times with his left hand. It was his own little routine that he’d had for a long time, and his mind calmed down very calmly with those few light movements.

The White Team’s batter was Mark Thomas.

24 years old this year. Last year, he recorded a batting line of .299/.341/.479 in the Somerset Patriots, the Yankees’ AA [Double-A] affiliate. Considering that the Eastern League was a pitcher’s paradise with an average OPS [On-Base Plus Slugging] of .697, Mark Thomas could also be seen as a player who could fully expect to be called up to the Major League this season.

– Whoosh!!

It was a light practice swing, but the power contained in that swing was by no means light.

Like most players on the verge of being called up to the Major League, he had conditioned his body to a very high level with a strong desire to make a good impression on the manager and coaches during this spring training. On the other hand, Domingo Rodriguez is already a recognized league ace and needs to slowly ramp up his body in time for the opening of the regular season.

If we had to express this game in numbers, it could be seen as a game between Domingo Rodriguez, who couldn’t even show 70% of his skills, and Mark Thomas, who was fully demonstrating 100% of his skills.

First pitch.

A 93.7 mph fastball.

– Clang!!

Mark Thomas hit the ball.

‘Damn it… It was high.’

A tingling palm.

It’s only the end of February. The speed was not yet that of league ace Domingo Rodriguez in peak form, but the movement of the ball was still that of league ace Domingo Rodriguez.

First pitch foul.

And the second pitch, same location.

Mark Thomas swung his bat hard again.

– Whoosh!!

“Strike!!”

Slider.

It was already known that Domingo Rodriguez had a deceptive tunneling section [referring to the similar initial trajectory of different pitches]. But experiencing it directly was different. By the time he realized it was a slider, it was already completely too late.

A high-speed slider at 86.7 mph.

And the last, third pitch.

– Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Even a fastball at 93.4 mph in a high location.

Domingo Rodriguez turned away the Yankees’ hitters with pitching befitting his reputation.

“His command seems to be better than last year?”

“There’s still room for him to grow as a pitcher. I heard he received coaching from Martinez this off-season.”

“Ah, I heard from General Manager Joshua too. Pedro liked him quite a bit because he was from the same Dominican Republic.”

The only image that manager Jeff Clark could associate with the name Pedro Martinez was the word ‘overwhelming’. 1 hit and 8 strikeouts in 11 at-bats during his active career. It was truly an overwhelming defeat. But even so, he didn’t have to be ashamed of it because the weight contained in the name ‘Pedro Martinez’ was that heavy.

Even the Pedro of the time when manager Jeff Clark was playing was Pedro at the height of his prime. If you got a hit even once against a pitcher who was perhaps the most overwhelming in Major League history, it would be something to be proud of, not a humiliation.

“First of all, his changeup has improved quite a bit, so it would be good to keep an eye on that.”

“If it’s Pedro’s changeup, there’s nothing more to say.”

But they didn’t see Domingo Rodriguez’s changeup in the first inning. Fastball, slider, and curve.

With only three types of pitches, Domingo Rodriguez struck out three and perfectly proved that even 70% of Domingo Rodriguez could not be handled by players around the 40-man roster.

Change of attack and defense.

The spot where Domingo Rodriguez went down.

Gerrit Cole went up to the empty mound.

His physical condition was not very good as he joined spring training a day later than others due to personal reasons.

In his opinion, being able to do personal training in the off-season was a privilege of young people in their 20s. The winter off-season was a time when veterans in their late 30s really had to rest to the fullest.

But even so, he was Gerrit Cole.

A total of 2,901 strikeouts and 197 wins.

The weight of his career was by no means light.

Gerrit Cole on the mound lightly threw three practice balls.

– Bang!!

Starting catcher Jose Trevino encouraged him with a pleasant catching sound.

Blue Team hitter Bart West came to the plate.

Unlike White Team’s Mark Thomas, he was a man who had experienced the Major League several times. 29 years old this year. A typical AAAA-class player [a player who performs well in Triple-A but struggles in the Major Leagues], he recorded .317/.401/.422 in the International League, the AAA [Triple-A] league, last year.

He looked at Gerrit Cole.

Gerrit Cole on the mound was a middle-aged man with a slightly chubby body, but the Gerrit Cole that Bart West remembered was an absurdly great pitcher.

That’s right.

Clearly, Gerrit Cole in his prime was truly a strikeout machine. He threw over 200 innings as a starting pitcher, and his average fastball speed was 97-98 mph. His top speed was 102 mph. His movement was truly overwhelming, and he also threw sliders at the highest level. On a 20-80 scouting scale, his fastball was graded an 80 and his slider was a 70.

Of course, now that he was over 37 years old, he couldn’t show the same power as in his prime. But even looking at last year’s record, his average speed was around 95 mph. His top speed was also 100 mph, so he was still a pitcher who could be put in the category of a fastballer even by Major League standards.

– Thwack!!

And against him, Bart West recorded a hit that went far beyond the shortstop’s reach.

Would that hit have made a definite impression on the manager? But unfortunately, Bart West was not the only one who showed a good performance against Gerrit Cole.

Yes, clearly last year’s Gerrit Cole was a pitcher who could be included in the category of fastballers. But Gerrit Cole’s performance in today’s scrimmage was incomparable to that of last year.

As many as 3 hits and 1 walk against five batters.

In the meantime, the only fortunate thing was that he got one out with a strikeout, as if proving that he was a strikeout machine in his prime.

“Any problems with his body?”

“Not at all. However, he seems to be ramping up his body more slowly than last year, as he suffered quite a bit at the end of last year. He seems to be thinking of refusing to play even if he is selected for the All-Star Game.”

Of course, even so, the Yankees’ dugout was not worried about Gerrit Cole. He was a veteran, and today was the first scrimmage of spring camp. There was nothing strange about his body coming up more slowly as he had responded a day late to the call-up due to personal reasons.

“It’s a bit early, but let’s bring up Su-won.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The phone in the dugout rang.

If today was a real game, it would have been a bit difficult. But today’s game was an internal scrimmage, so Su-won was given enough time to warm up despite the slightly early timing of the substitution.

First inning, bottom.

Runners on 1st and 3rd base.

The opponent is the 6th batter.

Choi Su-won on the mound smiled inwardly with a straight face.

The man at the plate was Tanner Gordon.

He was the moron who was spouting nonsense in the bustling locker room this morning, saying that he wouldn’t dare to argue with the three of them.

But Su-won was already too great a player to have feelings for such a young punk. He threw the ball with all his heart, with a cold mind that was not mixed with hatred at all, and even contained some teachings for the still young hitter.

‘Originally, a good pitcher teaches the batter who stands close to the plate to be prepared to have his head smashed.’

First pitch, 96 mph.

Tanner Gordon collapsed.