Villain On The Mound [EN]: Chapter 99

Mound Villain – Chapter 99

During spring training, the Athletics used a nearby hotel for accommodation.

Since the battery [catcher and pitcher] players arrived first, the hotel was spacious. However, it would be crowded in a few days.

‘Once the beasts join, it’ll be like a marketplace. Let’s enjoy this peace while we can.’

He was relaxing and making the most of the hotel services.

“But why was the power dispersed at the end?”

Ha-seong recalled today’s bullpen pitching session.

Clearly, the movements of his lower and upper body were perfect. There was also no issue with the power being transferred to his arm.

However, at the last moment, the power seemed to dissipate.

‘The power dispersed when I hit the ball with my fingertips, so I couldn’t get a good grip. As a result, the ball didn’t have the extension I expected.’

He hadn’t gathered enough data yet.

But it felt like the movement was less powerful than his usual pitching.

And that wasn’t just once; the same phenomenon occurred in all 15 pitches.

‘Is it because my muscles are too stretched?’

Many experts were expressing concerns about Ha-seong’s muscle gain.

After hearing those concerns so often, Ha-seong himself briefly wondered if that might be the case.

But he quickly dismissed the thought.

‘Those so-called experts have never watched me pitch. They also don’t know how I trained. There’s no way what they’re saying is right, is there?’

People love to talk.

And they insist that what they say is correct.

The basis of their claims mostly comes from results estimated through existing data.

Since it’s a result derived from various data, there’s a possibility that it’s the correct answer.

But it couldn’t be said that it was necessarily the correct answer.

‘Data can’t perfectly define me as a human being. I am me. I can’t be the same just because other people were.’

In his previous life, Ha-seong couldn’t inject his own thoughts into baseball.

He focused on throwing the ball as the coach told him and as the manager instructed.

Because he thought that was the right approach.

However, while taking the coaching course, he learned that in the United States, the home of baseball, they don’t teach in that way.

‘In Korea, the grip method is standardized, but in the United States, they allow each person to throw according to their individuality. That’s why various changeups [a type of pitch thrown with deceptive speed] come out.’

The grip of throwing the ball, as well as the pitching style, are taught with reference to the individuality of the players.

Korea will also adopt such American methods in the future.

But that was only a story of the distant future.

Ha-seong had learned such American teaching methods and knew that what he had learned was fundamentally wrong.

That’s why he lightly ignored the words of the experts who criticized him in Korea.

‘I have to find my own pitching style. I’m just in the process of finding it now.’

Ha-seong wasn’t impatient.

It was just a process now.

When this arduous process is over, he will find the result.

* * *

The training at the camp wasn’t long.

The morning was finished with group training and pitching practice.

Naturally, the amount of training had to decrease. But that’s how the major league training system was originally designed.

‘I have to train autonomously. No one will guide me.’

Knowing that well, Ha-seong made his own schedule.

‘Let’s do the morning training as is and add weight training and cardiovascular endurance training to the afternoon training.’

The intensity of the weight training was reduced compared to Hawaii.

If he trained to that level, his muscles would continue to grow, and that wouldn’t be of great help in his current condition.

‘Cardiovascular endurance training will be maintained at the current level.’

On the other hand, he chose to maintain the intensity of cardiovascular endurance training.

This was the result of discussions with the trainers.

(Cardiovascular endurance is bound to decline quickly if you don’t train it. If it declines, you’ll have problems playing a full season.)

Remembering Sam’s advice, Ha-seong decided on the schedule.

And he continued training according to the schedule.

“Hoo! Hoo!!”

He was slowly adapting to the camp while doing weight training and cardiovascular endurance training in parallel.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, but there were problems.

“Hiss!”

Pow-!!

“Nice pitching!!”

He was gradually raising the intensity while doing bullpen pitching.

It was pitching that didn’t seem to have any major problems to others.

“How is it?”

“The velocity is steadily increasing. The speed is a bit slower than last year, but it’s not bad considering you’re playing as a starter.”

“Well, if you pitch as a starter like you did as a closer, you’ll burn out quickly.”

“Yes. So, I was wondering if I should give you advice if you were throwing with all your might. But it seems like you’ve prepared in advance.”

“That’s Ha-seong.”

The fact that Ha-seong’s velocity wasn’t as high as last year was just thought to be an intentional distribution of stamina.

The reality wasn’t like that, but Ha-seong didn’t reveal it.

‘I have to find my own way. I need to know why this power is being dispersed.’

He was also thinking of asking for help at the last moment.

What he knows isn’t everything. If he can get various ideas by asking for help from those around him, that’s also a good solution.

‘What has changed about me now?’

However, Ha-seong was still trying to figure it out alone.

Because he’s gradually finding the answer.

No blocking points have been found in the process yet.

He still thought he could solve it himself.

‘Muscle gain. But this plays a role in increasing strength, not decreasing it.’

Muscle gain was excluded for now.

‘The second is that the body has become larger than before. But this is an additional thing caused by muscle gain…….’

He was continuing his train of thought.

Pow-!!

Bailey threw the ball from the side, and a good sound echoed.

But it was a sight of shaky control.

There can be several reasons why control is shaky even though strength has increased.

But Bailey was still trying to find that method.

“Strangely, the control is shaky.”

Ha-seong, hearing the muttering to himself, slowed down the tempo and watched Bailey’s pitching.

Bailey kicked and then strode forward.

Ha-seong’s eyes lit up when he saw the angle at which his feet were spread.

Swaeak-!

Pow!

Again, the ball was not properly controlled.

Ha-seong, towards Bailey who was feeling puzzled, said.

“Bailey, you seem taller than last year?”

“Huh? Really? I think it’s the same as before.”

“It doesn’t feel like your knees are straightening out as much as before when you stride. You can spread it out a little more because you’ve grown taller…….”

At that moment, his head flashed.

“Ah, is that so?”

Bailey’s words didn’t reach his ears.

Because he remembered something while giving advice to him.

‘My age is only 20 years old. It means I’m still growing. The last time I measured my height was in November. But since then, my nutrition has been better than before.’

While in Hawaii, Ha-seong had a systematic diet.

In the process, he was able to consume more and better quality nutrients than before.

As a result, his muscles grew explosively.

But it wasn’t just the muscles that grew.

‘It’s clear that I’ve grown taller too.’

There was a need to confirm.

* * *

After finishing training, Ha-seong went straight to the medical center to properly check his current condition.

After completing all the tests, he checked the data with the team doctor.

“This is…….”

The team doctor, after checking the data, wore an unbelievable expression.

“Such a change in just a few months. What kind of training do you have to do to increase muscle mass like this?”

“I just ate well, slept well, and worked hard.”

“Ha…… If that’s the answer, I can’t say anything. Your genes seem to be really innate. I’ve met many Asians, but this level of data…….”

“Is there a difference in height, and is everything else okay?”

“Height?”

His words were cut off, but the team doctor thought it was okay.

Top-class players in the major league often only focus on themselves.

If you pay attention to them one by one, you’ll only get tired.

It was best to just give them what they wanted.

“Let’s see……. It’s 2㎝ taller compared to this time last year. It’s 193㎝ now.”

“Was it the upper body that grew? Or was it the lower body?”

“Hmm…… The lower body has increased by 2.2㎝?”

He found the answer.

“Thank you.”

Ha-seong, who had achieved his purpose, got up from his seat.

Looking at him moving away, the team doctor wore an absurd expression.

But Ha-seong, without paying attention to such a team doctor, was organizing his thoughts.

‘2.2㎝. It’s not even a finger’s length, but the fact that this much change has occurred in the stride is a huge difference.’

Stride means the length of the step on the mound.

The longer this stride, the shorter the distance to home plate, and the more you can drive the ball forward and throw it.

But it wasn’t unconditionally advantageous to have a long stride.

‘The longer the stride, the less the lower body can properly support it. So, the movement of the center of gravity becomes unstable.’

Ha-seong wasn’t placing much meaning on the stride.

He was throwing the ball in the same form as before.

But his physical attributes had changed.

‘The physical attributes have gone beyond a generation. If the technique is in that state, it’s natural that it can’t perform properly.’

If the physical attributes were updated, the technique also had to be updated.

That was Ha-seong’s mistake.

‘Now that I’ve found the error, it’s time to update.’

Ha-seong’s steps became lighter as he found his own problem.

* * *

Ha-seong’s every move was being exposed to the public by reporters.

[Jeong Ha-seong records 88 miles in his first spring camp pitching.]

Starting from the first pitching.

[Jeong Ha-seong records 89 miles in his second pitching, about 2 miles lower than last year.]

Up to the second and third pitching.

Everything was reported and made public.

The first pitching was closed to reporters, but from the second pitching, reporters were also able to watch, so they delivered more vivid articles.

[Jeong Ha-seong’s ball seems to have decreased in power compared to last year.]

[Jeong Ha-seong’s ball speed has dropped.]

[Is it a strategy according to the change to the starting pitcher? Or has raising muscles become a disaster?]

[Experts express concerns about Jeong Ha-seong’s bullpen pitching.]

As time passed, the tone of the articles worsened.

As the bullpen pitching continued in a similar form to last year, the reporters added their own speculations to attract attention.

They forgot the duty of a reporter to deliver facts.

Of course, there were reporters who upheld that duty.

[Baek Jun-ki’s Spring Camp]

Baek Jun-ki put his name on it and released a spring camp coverage in the form of a column.

Naturally, the focus of this column was Ha-seong.

[Jeong Ha-seong’s physical condition looks very good.

The content of the bullpen pitching was also not bad.

When I checked the precise data with the help of the Athletics club, it showed RPM [revolutions per minute, a measure of spin rate] and movement similar to last year’s figures.]

Because he supported Ha-seong with data, the public was giving more trust to the article.

But not all of the public.

-Isn’t it a fact that the ball speed has dropped compared to last year?

-Ball speed is the most important thing.

-Ha-seong was successful in the major league thanks to the ball speed. What kind of sophistry is it to say that it’s okay even though it’s reduced?

Ha-seong’s anti-fans were only focusing on the ball speed and claiming that their opinions were correct.

Their actions of ignoring opposing opinions and shouting their own were enough to make people frown.

If these opinions are in the minority, you can just ignore them.

The problem was that these opinions were not in the minority.

‘I feel like the number of fans has increased, but the number of anti-fans has also increased. As expected, if you do a lot of noticeable things, the number of anti-fans will inevitably increase accordingly.’

Baek Jun-ki sighed as he looked at the comments on his article.

‘Today’s game will be important.’

Baek Jun-ki’s gaze turned to the Athletics’ training ground.

The players were divided into two teams and preparing for the game.

‘The simulation game is just a scrimmage, but you’ll still be able to see pitching close to the real thing.’

The simulation game was about to begin.

Ha-seong came to the mound as the starting pitcher for the white team.