The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 90

90. Two Billion (4)

“Hey, Choi Su-won, are you really not coming? The atmosphere here is intense,” Jo Yu-jin whispered.

“What? I can’t hear you. Speak up a bit.”

“No, I’m asking if you’re really not coming.”

“Yeah, I’m busy these days. It’s so close, yet so far; it’s tough to make the time.”

“Ugh… I’m going crazy. Seriously, the atmosphere here is no joke right now.”

The Marlins failed to make the postseason again this year.

You could try to find solace in the fact that they made significant progress by contending for 5th place until July, but their performance afterward was so lackluster that it offered little comfort to the fans who had watched the season.

It would have been better if they had at least played spoiler at the end of the season, allowing for some mental victory like, ‘Next year will be different!’ But based on the last ten games, the Marlins had 2 wins and 8 losses, and the only consolation was that they weren’t in last place in the regular season thanks to the wins they had accumulated early on.

A win is always right.

In other words, a loss is always wrong, and it also meant that the Marlins were consistently hopeless.

Also, it would have been better if they had just been consistently listless throughout the season as usual. The atmosphere was even worse because they had been performing well until July and then plummeted to the bottom.

In that situation, the Marlins’ season wasn’t completely over.

No, strictly speaking, the Marlins’ main season was over, but the season for players below the 1.5-tier wasn’t completely over.

The Nakdong River Education League.

Initially, it was a simple series between the Changwon Blazers and the Busan Marlins, just as its name suggested, with the Nakdong River in between. It started in 2019 and has been expanding every year since. At first, the Daegu Griffins, which could be considered a team from the upper reaches of the Nakdong River, joined, and a little later, the Gwangju Hawks joined.

After that, teams in the Seoul metropolitan area began to hold similar education leagues, and the Daejeon Phoenix, who were debating whether to join the upper or lower league, eventually decided to join the Nakdong River Education League this year.

An education league was created in which as many as five professional teams competed. Twelve games per team, for a total of thirty games. It was a kind of gift to the fans who were full of regret after the Korean Series [championship series in Korean baseball] was all over.

Although no famous first-team players participate, it was not uncommon for players who stood out here to play in the first team the following year, so recently, some games were even broadcast on terrestrial TV.

And the Marlins were doing typical Marlins things again in that Nakdong River Education League.

“The seniors are saying you’re arrogant, and the other rookies almost treat you like a public enemy. They say you look down on them because you got a 2 billion won [approximately $1.5 million USD] contract,” Jo Yu-jin said.

“What about you?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, you’re from the same school as me and a 2nd round pick. Are the others ostracizing you?”

“No, not me. I’m working hard here.”

Jo Yu-jin on the smartphone screen subtly averted his gaze.

“Hey, honestly, you’re talking bad about me behind my back, aren’t you?”

“Huh? Me?”

Come to think of it, he was a bit like that in the past too. Jo Yu-jin knew very well that Ahn Byung-young was being a jerk to me, but he thought it was better to just leave it alone for the sake of the whole team. Besides, considering his tendency to go anywhere and be at the center of relationships, it was highly likely that he was subtly adding to the insults rather than covering for me, who had become a public enemy, so that he could blend in.

“No, well, it’s not like I was necessarily insulting you. I just think you deserved it. Well, I also covered for you a little bit. Hey, honestly, if you came back and I was in Hamin’s position, how would you integrate into the team? I have to do all this work in advance so that you can easily become one with us.”

“Hamin’s position? What are you talking about? What’s wrong with Hamin?”

Hamin had pitched quite well this season.

Of course, he didn’t pitch in the first team throughout the season. Hamin, who had been pitching well at the beginning, collapsed in the crazy heat of July, as many rookies do. In the end, he ruined a few games and was sent down to the second team after his ERA [Earned Run Average, a key pitching statistic] rose to the mid-4s.

However, he eventually returned to the first team in September, and his final record was a 4.14 ERA with 47 hits allowed, 24 runs allowed, 19 earned runs, 4 home runs allowed, 38 strikeouts, and 11 walks in 41.1 innings, finishing the season as the third-best bullpen pitcher on the team.

“No, it’s just that the coaches and everyone else seem to have a bad vibe.”

“Tell me more specifically. What’s wrong?”

“Um, how should I put it? Just like you were in our team two years ago?”

“Hey, isn’t that the worst, not just bad?”

“No, no. It’s just the feeling. Hamin has a good personality, unlike you. He’ll be fine after a while. Besides, I heard he gets along well with the first-team seniors. After all, there are no fixed first-team players here, and most of them are people who were pushed out by Hamin, regardless of their seniority. Besides, there are rumors recently that Hamin will be given a chance to start next year, so I think that’s why.”

In fact, it can’t be helped.

Actually, even in the US, the atmosphere was very different when I joined, between the big league regulars and the guys on the border between the 25-man and 40-man rosters. This wasn’t a problem with the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] or the Marlins, but rather that people are all the same everywhere. Anywhere, the issue of livelihood is bound to be sensitive.

“Hey, how’s your curveball going? Byung-young said the coach loves you so much he’s dying to see you.”

“What? Jjo-yu, you’re in contact with Ahn Byung-young too?”

“Yeah, sometimes? Byung-young said he’s going to try to go early next year? Anyway, I think it’s better to join the education league if possible. It’ll be over by early November anyway. And then you can go back there and train from November.”

“Hey, is that possible? And when your education league is over, you’re going to Sangdong for finishing training until the end of November or the beginning of December, right? I don’t know if you’re not going at all. It’s even stranger to drop out in the middle.”

“Then training together until November…”

“Hey, then there’s only one month left for autonomous training? They’re recruiting for winter training again in mid-January. In the first place, education leagues and finishing training are for players who have difficulty training individually like me. I don’t need it.”

“Yeah, that’s the purpose. But that’s not the reality. You might end up being disliked and ostracized.”

I understood what Jjo-yu was saying.

Well, I can see why he would think that. Baseball is a team sport, and harmony with teammates is very important. Besides, in the baseball he’s played so far, the relationship between seniors and juniors has been very, very important.

“I don’t care.”

“What?”

“I don’t care. Hey, it’s not like school baseball. I’m disliked and ostracized because I didn’t train together? Those are just people who are ready to hate me from the start. Honestly, who would like someone who goes up to the first team before them? I don’t intend to cater to those guys in the pros.”

“Hey, Choi Su-won. Why are you talking like that? And even the first-team regulars don’t like it when you don’t participate in training diligently.”

“That’s the story of guys who can’t play baseball well because they don’t train hard. What if I do individual training and do it more perfectly than team training? I think I’d like that kind of junior a lot.”

One year is very important in amateur baseball. One year in the growth stage is usually accompanied by a difference in skill that is difficult to overcome. But the pros are different. In the end, it’s about skill. What’s the point of learning a breaking ball and preparing for the pros, and then integrating with the second-team members in the education league? It’s not just meaningless, it’s a serious waste of time.

Baseball is definitely a team sport.

But at the same time, baseball is a one-on-one match between individuals.

Unlike many ball sports that move complexly in the field, baseball ultimately starts with a 1:1 match between the pitcher and the batter. Nothing can happen if the batter can’t hit the ball, and nothing can happen if the pitcher can’t put the ball in the strike zone.

What I need now is an amazing curveball that makes the batters swing wildly in the strike zone, not an education league where the second-teamers fight.

“Jjo-yu, it’s time for my evening training. I’m hanging up.”

“Hey!! Choi Su-won. Choi Su-won!!”

***

14 seasons since the Changwon Blazers joined the professional first team in 2013.

Except for 2013, the first year of the Blazers’ founding, and 2018, when the Blazers recorded the worst performance in history, the Marlins have never been ranked higher than the Blazers in the final league standings.

Changwon Blazers even achieved an integrated championship [winning both the regular season and the Korean Series] in just eight seasons since joining the first team, something the Marlins had never achieved in their 45-year history.

The history of humiliation didn’t end there.

For the past 15 years, the Marlins have been a perennial bottom-ranked team in the league, consistently receiving high draft picks. Wouldn’t it be reasonable for at least the rookies or second-team players to stand out in the education league?

But the Marlins were never reasonable.

If they were reasonable, they wouldn’t be the Marlins.

2026 Nakdong River Education League.

The Marlins have played a total of ten games so far. And they’ve only won twice.

Baseball is a game where a good team aims to win one out of three games, lose one, and tie the remaining game.

And according to that standard, the 2026 Marlins weren’t even playing baseball in the education league.

-Thwack!!!

Baek Hamin’s finger pointed to the high-flying baseball.

The Marlins’ eternal prospect, center fielder Lee Joo-hyuk, chased the ball.

Is it to the right?

The sunlight was a bit blinding.

Ah, it’s to the left.

Lee Joo-hyuk’s feet were very fast. He was fast enough to follow the ball even though he had slightly misjudged the landing point.

No. The first prediction was correct. It’s to the right.

But no matter how fast your feet are, you can’t follow the ball if you misjudge the landing point twice. If you had those feet, you should have done track and field instead of baseball in the first place.

A zigzag defense that drives the viewer crazy.

A perfectly ordinary fly ball fell to the ground.

Baek Hamin’s expression crumpled.

The balance of the game, which had been tightly tied at 0:0 until the 6th inning, was broken by such an absurd defensive error.

“Good job.”

Besides, even if today’s game is a popular game broadcast on local TV, it’s still an education league game. Each pitcher has a limit on the number of pitches they can throw. He was going to let him pitch until the 6th inning because he was blocking well with 0 points, but there was no reason to be on the mound even if it was a non-earned run.

Baek Hamin came down from the mound.

And that day, the Marlins recorded their ninth loss in the education league.

2 wins and 9 losses.

The public opinion in Busan was boiling like crazy.

***

-Thud!!!

The sharply falling ball passed through the strike zone.

Eight in a row.

The size of the shot group [grouping of pitches in a specific area] is about the size of a child’s head.

Not bad.

It was even more surprising that the shot group didn’t get any bigger even though he threw two curveballs and mixed in a fastball in between.

Even Ahn Byung-young thought that Park Gwang-sik’s sense of the curveball was excellent, although his velocity was a bit disappointing.