The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 307

307. A Record-Breaking Machine (1)

“So, if Choi Su-won wins both Player of the Month and Rookie of the Month awards this month, would that be a first?”

“Yes, that’s right. Until now, there have only been four instances of a player sweeping both awards in the same month: Mike Trout, Yasiel Puig, Jose Abreu, and Gary Sanchez. Choi Su-won became the fifth player to achieve this last month. So, if he wins again this month, he’ll be the first player ever to win both the Rookie and Player of the Month awards twice.”

“But I’m curious, there have been cases in Major League Baseball where a player has won both Rookie of the Year and MVP [Most Valuable Player] in the same year. Why are there so few instances of a player winning both Rookie and Player of the Month?”

“The reason is simple. There have been two players who have won MVP and Rookie of the Year simultaneously: Fred Lynn, an outfielder for the Boston Red Sox in 1975, and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001. However, the Player of the Month award started in 1958, while the Rookie of the Month award only began in 2001. So, the Rookie of the Month award didn’t even exist during Fred Lynn’s time.”

“I see.”

“And in 2001, Ichiro Suzuki won Rookie of the Month an impressive four times, but he had some tough competition that month. Looking at his stats for that month, it’s understandable. There was some controversy in September when Ichiro hit .429 for the month. Just like there’s an unwritten rule that to win MVP and Cy Young [award for best pitcher] in the same year, you need overwhelming stats and no outstanding competitors, there was a similar atmosphere around the newly created Rookie of the Month award back then.”

The anchor smiled subtly at the panelist, who took a sip of water, seemingly parched after the lengthy explanation.

After all, this long story was a kind of build-up to the current question.

“So, is there any possibility that Choi Su-won could be affected by such an ‘unspoken rule’ now?”

“Huh? Hahahahaha. Of course not. Unspoken rule or not, if Choi Su-won continues to dominate the league like he is now, there’s no way he won’t receive the award. If Ichiro Suzuki had put up these kinds of numbers in 2001, he would have swept both the Rookie and Player of the Month awards without any objections.”

Bingo.

The answer he wanted flowed from the panelist’s mouth.

“However, I understand that Choi Su-won’s performance this May has been slightly less impressive than his performance last April, when he recorded .475/.512/.950 with 9 home runs. This May, he’s hitting .358/.413/.691 with 6 home runs. Isn’t this a bit concerning?”

“The fact that .358/.413/.691 is seen as a slump is a testament to how highly we regard Choi Su-won, so let’s put aside the idea that his performance is poor. Of course, it’s a bit lower than April. He’s drawing more walks, and teams have been analyzing Choi Su-won in great depth. But Choi Su-won isn’t just a simple hitter. He’s a two-way player. His pitching performance has improved significantly. This month, he has 7 earned runs in 24 innings over 4 games. His monthly ERA [Earned Run Average] is 2.63. Thanks to this, his ERA+ [Adjusted ERA, normalized across the league] has risen from 98 to 111 compared to last month.”

“Ah, so you’re saying that his pitching performance has improved more than his hitting performance has declined.”

“Yes, although there is a separate Pitcher of the Month award, it’s difficult to give the Player of the Month award based solely on hitting stats. Other players’ defensive stats are also considered, and Choi Su-won’s defense is his pitching. And that’s not all.”

“What else is there?”

“Yes, the most important thing is left.”

“The most important thing? What could that be?”

And the finishing touch.

“A 40-game hitting streak. And a batting average that is still above .400 as May comes to an end. The American mainland is in an uproar. Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. Even people who don’t know baseball know those names. They were the two hottest stars during the golden age of baseball in America, which was even more popular than baseball is in Japan now. The records they set in 1941 have not been broken in 87 years, and Choi Su-won is challenging both of those records. The team is also amazing. Joe DiMaggio was a member of the New York Yankees, the same team as Choi Su-won. And Ted Williams was a member of their arch-rivals, the Boston Red Sox.”

“Ah, the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. I’ve heard that their relationship is similar to the Busan Marines and Gwangju Hawks in Korea in the 80s.”

“Yes, it’s similar to that. Anyway, in my opinion, the moment Choi Su-won records a 41-game hitting streak today, he’s a shoo-in for both Player and Rookie of the Month in May.”

It was a broadcast filled with nothing but praise for Choi Su-won, with no real substance. But surprisingly, the viewership rating was a whopping 9.7%. A number close to double digits.

Recently, the name Choi Su-won has been nothing short of a cheat code in the broadcasting world. Any interview with him would get double-digit viewership ratings as a baseline, and even without that, simply stimulating national pride would result in a viewership increase of nearly 30% to 50% compared to normal, so broadcasters had no choice but to utilize Choi Su-won.

“Did you hear the news?”

“What news?”

“The Choi Su-won documentary about the Marines’ championship challenge last year.”

“Ah, the one that Park Joo-bin got a 5-episode, 5 billion won deal for?”

“That’s the one. It’s currently ranked #1 in the documentary category and #2 overall for the month in the US. So, they’re going to do another Choi Su-won documentary with 8 episodes and a 50 billion won budget.”

“Netflix is entrusting that to Park Joo-bin again? Wouldn’t it be better to use a famous American director?”

“Choi Su-won is the ultimate power right now. We also proposed a documentary, but we got rejected. Do you think Netflix is any different? Park Joo-bin already filmed one last year and seems to have made a decent impression, so they’re probably trying to leverage that somehow.”

“Ha… Seriously. I should have tried to get on his good side when he was in Korea. Do we have any connections?”

“If we did, we would have done something already. Look at the Korea Daily. They got an exclusive interview this time and broadcast it on their channel, and their subscriptions increased by 2.3 million in one day.”

“Our population is 50 million, and they got 2.3 million subscriptions in one day? Wait, didn’t they already have around 1.2 million?”

“Think about it. Do you think only Koreans subscribed? They properly translated it into English, Japanese, Chinese, and even Spanish, not just using automatic translation. So, I’m saying, aren’t there any people who have connections to Choi Su-won? You’re pretty close with the Marines players.”

“Well, I used to be close with some of the Marines players. But that was years ago. I left the field five years ago. Five years.”

The players of the Marines, as well as the colleagues who were in the baseball team together during school days. The coach and coaches. Family and relatives had already made a round, and even the braised short ribs that Choi Su-won enjoyed eating had changed its menu name to a bizarre name, ‘Braised Short Ribs that Choi Su-won ate before taking the mound.’

“Sister, I know what you’re thinking. But don’t get too carried away. We’re still acquaintances from the same school. It’s okay to share a few stories from high school, right? It’s more like a clean freak if you draw a line like this.”

“That’s right. I agree with Se-jeong. I mean, it’s a bit much to say that you had a ‘some’ [romantic] relationship with him during school days. But everyone shares stories about what he was like during high school, right? I think it’s more awkward to draw a line like this when you’re from the same school.”

“That’s true, but…”

“That’s right, and you’re going to the All-Star Game in the US in July anyway, right? If so, it might be good to lay the groundwork to some extent.”

“What? Eun-jin, you were happy that we were taking a break in July. Were you planning to go to America?”

Choi Su-won’s popularity was really great even when he was playing for the Marines.

It was so popular that even if a scandal broke out with the visual center of a first-tier idol, not just Eun-jin herself, who was a second-tier idol, people would say that one of them was a waste. What if it’s now that he’s treated almost like a national hero beyond a simple sports star?

“No, sister. What America are you talking about? If you go there now and even take a picture, it’ll be a disaster if you get involved with Su-won.”

“So, emphasize in the media in advance that you’re just friends. Sister, you know, that thing where you were almost forced to go to a game and cheer for him from school. And that you sat next to him while studying English at different levels. It would be natural and good if you could share something like that.”

To be honest, Kang Se-jeong’s story was a little tempting. Their job is to create stories that attract people’s attention in any way possible. In that sense, how big of a blessing is it to have a past that you share with the hottest Choi Su-won right now.

But even so, twenty-year-old Eun-jin couldn’t easily decide.

***

[Doubleheader against the Tampa Bay Rays. The first game. Choi Su-won is on the mound at Yankee Stadium. Choi Su-won has recorded 7 earned runs in 24 innings over 4 games this month. Choi Su-won, who is recording an ERA of 2.63. Especially if you exclude the 5 innings and 4 earned runs game at the beginning of the month, he is showing a really great performance overall. Today’s game is also worth looking forward to.]

[However, a slightly uneasy point is that the schedule has been slightly twisted because the appearance was originally scheduled for yesterday, but it was canceled due to heavy rain. I hope there are no particular problems with the condition.]

[That’s right. In fact, Choi Su-won is a player who is setting a record of 40 consecutive games, isn’t he? I hope that this doubleheader will not have a negative impact on continuing the record.]

Last day of May.

The humidity was a bit high because it rained yesterday, but honestly, it wasn’t as bad as the summer in Korea.

However, having the appearance day delayed was a bit bad.

Not only was the appearance day delayed, but the game time was moved up due to the doubleheader, so I had to wake up four hours earlier than usual, and I had to come to the mound like this at the time I would normally be warming up.

Honestly, when I was playing as a hitter, I felt that the doubleheader was a bit hard, but now that I’m playing as a pitcher, I could understand why the pitchers became more sensitive on the day of the doubleheader game as if they were under a spell.

Evan Murphy came to the plate.

He was a batter I had faced once last month. Usually, the more a pitcher and batter face each other, the more advantageous the batter becomes. From that point of view, Evan Murphy was supposed to be a little more advantageous than last month.

-Clang!!!

[Shortstop front!! Anthony Volpe catches it and throws it to 1st base!!]

-Boom!!!

“Out!!!”

Leading batter groundout to shortstop on the first pitch.

A very clean start.

Yes, it is clear that the more often a pitcher and batter meet, the more advantageous the batter should be. But that’s only on the premise that the batter is familiar with the pitcher.

I in May was different from I in April.

Yes!! Clearly, I am a much better pitcher now than I was last month.

-Ttaak!!!

[Wander Franco!! Fast ball!! Center left!! Jake Domingo follows, but it’s too late!! Wander Franco!! Past 1st base to 2nd base!! At 2nd base!!]

-Boom!!!

“Safe!!!”

[Safe!! It’s safe!! One out in the top of the 1st inning. Wander Franco’s double. Tampa Bay sends a runner to the scoring position.]

Uh…

So, as I said before, that guy is going to win the American League MVP this season based on before the regression.

Again, I’m definitely a better pitcher than I was last month.

Really.