The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 279

279. The Dignity of a Starter (2)

“What? Why isn’t Choi Su-won in the lineup for the first game against Tampa Bay again?”

“Does this mean he’s really starting in the second game?”

“Seriously, what is Dolak thinking? He’s already played as a hitter in the KBO and then pitched the next day, and then immediately played as a hitter without rest. What kind of ‘adaptation’ does he need that requires such a long rest? It’s not like he was worn out at the end of the season, is he?”

“Brian Cashman [General Manager of the Yankees]: ‘Choi Su-won doesn’t need adaptation.’ Dolak: ‘I’m going to give Choi Su-won time to adapt.’ Can’t the Yankees get their stories straight? Is it that hard?”

I headed to the airport immediately after the first game.

It was for the game against Tampa Bay in just 18 hours.

“Someone once told me that players who come from playing baseball in Asia realize they’re in America when they go to the airport after a game. How about you? Does it feel like you’re in America?”

When did I first feel the grind of the major leagues? Was it during that hellish 14- or 15-game road trip in my debut year? But it’s already been three years since I regressed [returned to the past], so that was a whopping 12 years ago. Honestly, my memory is a bit hazy.

But one thing is certain: I didn’t suddenly feel like I was in the major leagues just by going to the airport after the first series.

“It’s only a 2-hour and 30-minute flight, and even with the bus, it doesn’t take 4 hours. I’ve done that plenty of times in Korea.”

“Oh, really?”

Of course, if you ask which is tougher, the bus or the plane, the plane is tougher. There are various research results, but I don’t really know; it just feels a bit more tiring. Especially for long-distance flights of 4 hours or more.

These days, more major league teams are leasing planes from airlines than buying their own, but the Yankees, of course, used a private jet. You might think this isn’t a big deal, but planes leased from airlines often have less internal modification.

The Yankees’ private jet had all seats modified to the equivalent of first class according to airline standards, but even this was subject to an unspoken hierarchy. It wasn’t about the difference in comfort, but about minor things like distance from the manager and convenient locations for getting on and off. But after experiencing a lot of seniority dynamics, I realized this is subtly important. There are always rookies who don’t know their place, and you need to keep them in check to keep the team running smoothly.

Currently, in the team hierarchy, there’s Aaron Judge, Domingo Germán, and Gerrit Cole above me. Dylan [Cease] has seniority, so he deserves respect, and the manager and coaching staff are separate. Oh, and Jose Trevino also needs to be treated with seniority. Volpe is a bit ambiguous…

‘And I’m starting in the second game.’

The calculation was done.

I just need to respect Volpe.

I calculated the order of good seats based on my long major league experience and sat down in a suitable seat. If there’s a problem with this, someone will definitely complain. In other words, even if some guys grumble, if no one publicly complains, that means it’s my seat.

“Swan.”

“Huh? What?”

“Ah… No, nothing.”

Anthony Volpe started to say something but stopped. And that was proof that it was my seat without any problems.

Tampa Bay series, Game 1.

Since I had to start in tomorrow’s game, I watched the hitters’ swings with considerable focus. I receive videos and various data in advance, but honestly, considering the time to sleep, eat, and warm up after the game, there isn’t much time to analyze it all.

Watching during the game is all the data I can get.

Above all, thanks to our fourth starter, Andrick Naba, getting thoroughly hammered, I could watch the hitters for a very long time, which wasn’t bad. This is sarcasm, by the way.

No, he was getting hammered way too badly. It looked like he could be replaced by the first hitter in the first inning.

The Tampa Bay’s eighth hitter came to the plate.

‘Huh?’

Jackson Carroll?

The name was very familiar. But the face wasn’t very familiar.

So I wondered if it was a namesake and looked closely, but it was the Jackson Carroll I knew. He usually grows his beard like a Viking, but he still had a youthful face and a fluffy beard, so I didn’t recognize him at first glance. Besides, he was originally drafted by the Giants and was supposed to be a franchise player there, so I don’t know why he’s playing for Tampa Bay.

But what’s much more important is that he’s a really scary hitter. From the 34th season to the 43rd season I played, he was one of the top three hitters in the entire league. He even had five Gold Gloves, unlike me, because his defense was good.

A slight tension.

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

The Tampa Bay’s attack in the bottom of the first inning ended like that.

4:0.

If it were the Marines at the end of last year, there would probably be shouts of ‘Fighting!’ ‘Let’s go!!’ ‘We can definitely turn it around!!’ all over the place. But the Yankees were a little different. A heavy atmosphere? No. ‘Solid’ is a better word. It’s not a feeling of thinking about defeat, but a feeling that we are the Yankees and naturally aim for victory.

[Ah… Angel Cabrera’s unfortunate swing and strikeout. Bottom of the 1st inning. The Yankees’ attack ends like this.]

[The third pitch!! Inside pitch!! Wander Franco pulls it perfectly!! A huge hit!! Ah… It goes over again. The score is 5:0. The game continues.]

[Top of the 3rd inning, one out. Anthony Volpe’s second at-bat of the game!! Anthony Volpe, who was retired with an unfortunate fly ball in the previous at-bat!! But the quality of the hit was quite good.]

-Clang!!!

[A fast hit between 2nd and 3rd base!!]

“Out!!”

[But shortstop Wander Franco catches it. Ah, Wander Franco is showing a great performance in both hitting and pitching today. Anthony Volpe is retired with an unfortunate first-pitch ground ball.]

Next is Aaron Judge’s turn.

He didn’t say anything.

-It’s okay. We can definitely attack.

But the giant was conveying that message to the people with his huge back.

Yes, Aaron Judge will be able to break through this frustrating situation.

Because the Yankees’ number 99 is that kind of number.

-Bang!!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

But a clean strikeout on the fifth pitch.

Aaron Judge sent an intense look to the umpire, asking how he could call that a strike, but it was no use.

Game 1 against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Overall, if our team didn’t do well, yes, it was really bad. But after Andrick Naba was taken down in the 4th inning, we didn’t give up any additional points and desperately chased after them, and if we had a little luck, we could have actually turned it around.

5:3 defeat.

Yes, unlike the Marines days when we used words like ‘unfortunate narrow defeat’ even when we lost by 6 or 7 points with almost the same number of hits, this was a real unfortunate narrow defeat. So even after the game, the atmosphere in the locker room wasn’t too bad.

“Su-won, it’s your first time in Tampa Bay. Should I introduce you to a good restaurant? Tyler and Jake are going too.”

“No, it’s okay. It’s an important day tomorrow, so I want to eat something light today.”

I declined Volpe’s offer and had a light sandwich. And I looked through the materials prepared by the club in advance and lay down on the bed at the exact time.

Some players bring their own pillows when traveling for away games, and before I regressed, I thought it was a bit fussy.

‘I should bring a pillow from the next away game.’

I felt strangely unable to sleep.

I tossed and turned a little and fell asleep without realizing it.

And I woke up about 15 minutes later than I was supposed to. Did I oversleep a little? There shouldn’t be a difference in total sleep time, but strangely, my body felt good.

It felt a little ominous.

Pitching is all about balance, so if your condition is too good, your command can get messed up. I actually had that happen when I was in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization].

“Ptooey, ptooey!!”

I felt very refreshed as soon as I opened my eyes.

My body felt light. The weather was moderately cloudy, as if celebrating my historic major league pitching debut. I ate the Subway sandwich I had ordered in advance. Galbi-jjim [Korean braised short ribs] would have been better, but unfortunately, I couldn’t get it here, so it’s a new routine.

I had a brief meeting in the hotel business meeting room.

It was a meeting with the coaches, the scout, and Oswald, who would be catching my pitches today, to exchange general stories about pitching.

I went to the stadium at the appointed time, finished training, and had a simple meal.

And meditation.

Oh, by the way, my batting order today is 9th.

Oh, of course, you might say that it doesn’t make sense to be 9th with a batting average of over .500. But even this is because it’s my first start, and I insisted that it’s better to focus on pitching, and when I pitch as a two-way player, I’m used to hitting too, so it’s much more comfortable.

“It’s an away game. A major league start is different, and there’s no reason to play as a hitter first and then pitch in such a game. The team currently sees you as the most important prospect and hopes that your growth will be the key to the Yankees’ third dynasty in the long term.”

I had no choice when manager Jeff Clark said this. He was a manager who had about 15 seasons, even if he wasn’t Hall of Fame level. Honestly, even if it’s Aaron Judge, if a manager with Jeff’s career says that, you have to say, ‘Yes, I’ll do it that way this game.’ Even if you do front-office-oriented baseball with data baseball, the reason why managers mainly use players from their careers is because of respect for this career.

Anyway, in that relationship, the top of the 1st inning.

The opponent is Tampa Bay’s 5th starter, Jason Montgomery.

-Clang!!!

[Anthony Volpe!! He hit it!! A fast hit!! Jackson Carroll runs to catch it, but he’s a little late. In the meantime, Volpe goes to 2nd base!! At 2nd base!! At 2nd base!! Safe!! Safe.]

-Clang!!!!!!

[Aaron Judge’s huge hit!! Anthony Volpe goes all the way home!! Aaron Judge lands on 1st base.]

-Thwack!!!!

[Tyler Wade!! Tyler Wade’s hit stretches out!! Over the fence!! Over the fence!! Season’s first home run!! The score is now 3:0. The out count is still 0. The Yankees are completely destroying Tampa Bay’s Jason Montgomery from the top of the 1st inning.]

Just like Tampa Bay completely destroyed our Andrick in yesterday’s game, this time we completely crushed Tampa Bay’s 5th starter, Jason Montgomery.

‘Shouldn’t I be holding the bat first from the 1st inning, regardless of being 9th?’

But unfortunately, that was too much wishful thinking. The top of the 1st inning ended with a double play by the 7th hitter, Mark.

The score is 4:0.

My turn came around in a situation where there was really no pressure.

“!@$%@!#$^!”

“!@#$^%!#^!#%^!”

I heard a loud noise from the Tampa Bay dugout in the distance, saying let’s cheer up. It’s definitely a young team. The more those teams get on a roll, the scarier they become.

In major league games, where there is no rule to give half of the stadium to the away team like in Korea, the Tampa Bay stadium was quite full of Tampa Bay fans. The number of spectators was much higher than yesterday, even though it was the same weekday, probably because Tampa Bay won yesterday’s game.

The sky was still cloudy, but the ceiling of Tropicana Field was perfectly blocking that cloudy sky. It was truly a perfect day to make my pitching debut.