Villain On The Mound [EN]: Chapter 191

Mound Villain – Episode 191

On the way to the airport.

Chris, the general manager, sighed.

“Looks like we’re going with the two-way player after all.”

He’d tried to stop it by any means possible.

As general manager, he was concerned about his ace’s choice, and not just because of the potential impact on the team.

‘If he tries to be a two-way player and fails, there’s a high chance he’ll collapse as a starting pitcher, too.’

Chris wasn’t inherently against Ha-sung doing both pitching and hitting.

The problem was the significant risk of him burning out as a starting pitcher.

This decision could make or break the player’s entire career.

If things went south, Ha-sung, a top-tier pitcher, could disappear from the sport altogether.

He wanted to prevent that worst-case scenario.

Speaking as a baseball fan, not just as a general manager.

‘But I can’t break through that stubbornness.’

There was no real way for the team to stop the player from pursuing his ambition.

Of course, they *could* simply refuse to use him as a hitter.

But Ha-sung wasn’t an ordinary player.

He was one of the most outstanding pitchers in Major League history.

Even if they sidelined his hitting aspirations to avoid the risk of him collapsing, no one could seriously criticize the team.

‘But if that happens, the trust between Ha-sung and the team will be shattered.’

Ha-sung would likely choose to transfer to another team at the first opportunity.

Of course, the Athletics only had a limited window to keep Ha-sung anyway.

But there was no need to make that time even shorter.

‘And I’m also looking forward to it, damn it.’

It was a complete contradiction.

Opposing him being a two-way player while simultaneously being excited by the prospect.

But as a former baseball player and someone who had loved the game for a long time, he desperately wanted to see history being made.

‘Two-way player…….’

It was the stuff of legend, the kind of story anyone could imagine.

A player becoming a dominant pitcher *and* hitting a game-winning RBI [Run Batted In, a statistic in baseball].

He was trying to make this story, which seemed ripped from the pages of a comic book, a reality.

There wasn’t a baseball fan alive who wouldn’t want to witness that.

‘He’s really a player beyond imagination.’

His performance and skills, as well as his way of thinking, were on a completely different level from everyone else.

Chris was intensely curious to see just how far Jung Ha-sung could go.

* * *

Ha-sung had essentially declared war on the team.

“If I don’t perform well, the team won’t put me in the batter’s box.”

“Well, isn’t that what you expected?”

“That’s right. Performance is the top priority.”

“Still, it’s a bit much. The ace is trying to take on a new challenge, but they’re already opposing it.”

“We have to understand the team’s position, too.”

Opinions were divided within Team Ha-sung.

Some understood the team’s cautious stance, while others were disappointed by their unwillingness to even give him a chance.

But one thing was certain.

“In the end, if you prepare perfectly, the team won’t be able to just oppose it.”

“If you show enough promise in the exhibition games, they’ll have no choice but to put you in the batter’s box.”

One month until the exhibition games.

Ha-sung had to get his condition up to par by then.

“Have you gotten used to hitting left-handed?”

“There are still many awkward parts, but I’m gradually getting used to it.”

Ha-sung was adapting to left-handed hitting under Gaynor’s expert guidance.

And today, batting practice to adapt to left-handed hitting continued.

*Thwack-!!*

Ha-sung placed the ball on the tee, turned his waist, and continued batting.

He was steadily increasing his accuracy and getting used to the swing through tee drills.

“Your swing is gradually taking shape. But you’re still trying to swing with your arms. Swinging isn’t done with the arms alone, but with the overall body rotation.”

Often, amateurs or inexperienced players tend to rely solely on their arms when swinging.

But a proper swing required rotating the entire body.

That’s how you could generate power efficiently and make solid, accurate hits.

“Pitching and hitting ultimately revolve around the same core mechanism. Just like how control suffers if you put too much force on your arm when pitching, the same principle applies to hitting.”

Following Gaynor’s explanation, Ha-sung started by consciously relaxing his arm and fine-tuning his pinpoint accuracy.

As Ha-sung’s hitting gradually improved, Gaynor moved on to the next step.

“The most important thing in a swing is how to rotate the barrel of the bat.”

In baseball terminology, the word “barrel” is used in two distinct senses.

The first refers to the “barrel ball,” a concept used in sabermetrics [the empirical analysis of baseball]. The second is simply the part of the bat used to hit the ball.

In fact, it’s become a common term within the sport.

Tom Tango, the sabermetrician who coined the term “barrel ball,” understood that balls hit squarely on the barrel of the bat tend to travel farther and faster.

The barrel refers to the part commonly known as the sweet spot.

It’s widely accepted that hitting the ball accurately on this part of the bat maximizes the chances of a long hit.

“In order for this barrel to meet the hitting point at the precise moment, you have to rotate with your waist, not swing with your arms.”

The concept of “rotating with the waist” can be difficult to grasp at first.

But it’s actually a very simple movement.

“If you keep your elbows close to your body while turning your waist, the barrel will naturally come around later, allowing you to hit the ball at the right timing without the bat flying open prematurely.”

Gaynor grabbed a bat and demonstrated the technique directly.

He stabilized his lower body, then rotated his waist and lightly swung the bat.

*Thwack-!!*

Ha-sung nodded as he watched the ball rocket off the bat.

“It doesn’t seem like you put much force into it, but the hit flies powerfully.”

“This is why it’s so important to turn the barrel correctly. The barrel stays behind until the last moment, allowing it to accumulate maximum power.”

“If you accumulate power like that and then unleash it on the ball, the hit will inevitably travel a long distance.”

“That’s right.”

Gaynor’s hitting theory centered on the barrel swing.

Considering that the barrel ball theory has been in use since 2015 and the importance of the barrel has been recognized since the mid-2010s, Gaynor was definitely employing an advanced and modern approach.

‘Bringing this man on board was definitely the right decision.’

Once again, Ha-sung felt confident in his choice and focused intently on Gaynor’s training, steadily raising his hitting level.

* * *

Gaynor was watching videos in his room late at night.

He was meticulously reviewing the videos he had recorded of Ha-sung’s batting, carefully analyzing how much his skills had improved.

“He’s full of talent in hitting, too.”

Having taught Ha-sung directly, he could clearly see just how exceptional his natural talent was.

“His physical abilities are simply overwhelming compared to other players. And above all, his work ethic is tremendous.”

All professional players work hard, of course.

And some players are blessed with innate talent.

Naturally, there are varying degrees of talent.

Gaynor had coached players with seemingly heaven-sent gifts before.

Some of them became complacent with their natural abilities and neglected their training.

But Ha-sung was definitely not one of those cases.

“Rather, he’s constantly striving to reach even greater heights while working even harder.”

He refuses to settle for simply being at the top.

He possesses extraordinary talent, but he still pushes himself relentlessly.

This combination of factors meant that Ha-sung was making progress at an almost unbelievable rate.

“He might actually succeed.”

When he first received the offer, Gaynor had secretly believed that Ha-sung was destined to fail.

In fact, it wasn’t just Ha-sung.

Most people who heard about his ambition dismissed it as a reckless challenge, viewing the pursuit of being a two-way player as an almost impossible feat.

But Gaynor, watching from the sidelines, was starting to see the word “possible” emerge from within the “impossible.”

“I want to see it happen.”

Perhaps it was a form of greed.

But as a lifelong baseball fan, Gaynor desperately wanted to see Ha-sung revolutionize the sport.

* * *

Ha-sung’s training regimen was kept strictly confidential.

Because the resort was inaccessible to reporters as well as other guests, no one had any real insight into how his training was progressing.

Since glimpses were only available through occasional YouTube videos, curious fans flocked to his channel.

Naturally, the number of followers and views on the YouTube channel skyrocketed.

“The number of subscribers exceeded 1.5 million this week. The average number of views is also over 500,000, and the growth is clearly accelerating.”

Ha-sung smiled as he received the report on the growth of his YouTube channel.

“It’s all going according to plan.”

“Concentrating on YouTube as a primary medium without disclosing information to the traditional media was a stroke of genius.”

Looking back, it was a strategy that was both simple and brilliant.

It was a method that anyone *could* have thought of, but few would have dared to implement.

Turning your back on the mainstream media was a difficult decision to make.

But Ha-sung had pushed through, and it was paying off handsomely.

“And YouTube is heavily promoting our channel, too.”

YouTube was strategically supporting Ha-sung’s rapidly growing channel.

They had begun promoting it aggressively, placing it prominently on their platform.

Of course, this was part of a pre-arranged agreement.

‘Now that we have YouTube, which is growing so rapidly, backing us, it’s like a tiger growing wings [an idiom meaning to become much stronger].’

Everything was progressing perfectly.

As things were unfolding even more smoothly than the previous year, Ha-sung was able to focus solely on his training.

‘Two weeks left.’

Two weeks left until spring camp.

He had to get his condition up to peak performance and prepare for the exhibition games.

* * *

As February began, reporters from various countries began to converge on the spring training camps.

In particular, the largest contingent of reporters gathered in Phoenix, Arizona, where the Athletics were holding their camp.

“We can finally see Ha-sung in person.”

“I’m looking forward to seeing how well he’s prepared.”

“Will there be any noticeable improvement from last year?”

“That’s true. His physique was already as developed as it could possibly be.”

“I’m more curious about whether he’s adequately prepared to be a two-way player than about his physique.”

“Wasn’t it all just media hype?”

“Media hype?”

“Yeah. No matter how you look at it, there’s no logical reason for Ha-sung, a top-tier pitcher, to bother trying to be a two-way player, right?”

“That’s true.”

Reporters remained largely unconvinced about Ha-sung’s two-way ambitions.

They believed that Ha-sung had little to gain from pursuing both pitching and hitting.

“Even if he tries to be a two-way player, he won’t be able to reach the same level as a pitcher, and he’s likely to just become a mediocre hitter. There’s no point in forcing two things in parallel.”

“So, it’s all for image building?”

“There’s a high probability of that. Not settling for being the best and challenging the impossible! Wouldn’t that kind of image be more appealing to fans?”

In reality, there was no real need for Ha-sung, who was already at the pinnacle of his profession, to engage in image building.

But because the reporters considered being a two-way player to be an impossible task, they leaned heavily toward that explanation.

The majority of the reporters gathered there were betting on Ha-sung’s two-way experiment failing.

And that sentiment was shared by many within the sport.

Because it was such an improbable undertaking, people were simply curious to see what Ha-sung would look like.

It was at that moment.

Vroom-!!

A sports car roared as it entered the hotel grounds, its exhaust echoing loudly.

The reporters who saw the red sports car instinctively knew that Ha-sung had arrived.

They quickly set up their cameras and began snapping pictures of the sports car as it pulled up in front of the hotel.

‘What will he look like?’

‘It’ll probably be similar to last year, right?’