Opening Day Preparations

We got through spring training pretty smoothly.

Starters, bullpen — every pitcher looked good, and the lineup looked even better. Park Jeonghun, who'd spent the offseason under Cho Hyun-joon's coaching, had transformed so completely it was hard to believe he was the same player.

Kim Seok-hwan and Kim Tae-seong were a little disappointing, but spring training was only just over.

Once the exhibition games wrapped, the experts released their preseason rankings.

"Whoa… a team can really flip its reputation in a single year, huh. Heh."

"I know. This is exactly the evaluation the Raiders got last season."

The clear favorite.

Out of ten teams, we were ranked the strongest. A few analysts still listed the Raiders as co-favorites, but they were a minority — and even those guys gave our roster the edge on pure talent.

The Raiders' stock had dropped partly because we'd dismantled them in last year's Korean Series… but the bigger issue was Kwon Jong-jin.

How do I put this… the Kwon Jong-jin I saw in spring training wasn't the crafty, dominant pitcher I knew.

This was the guy who'd once made me wonder how anyone could make hitters look that helpless. In the exhibition games, his velocity and stuff weren't what they used to be, and his command was shaky. In other words — problems everywhere.

Even so, watching him still find ways to get batters out, I had to tip my cap. But he was a long way from the Kwon Jong-jin of old.

"Injury?"

"No way… if he were hurt, they wouldn't have put him out there in spring training."

"Then how does someone just fall off like that overnight? He's not even that old."

"True, but…"

"Maybe he threw too many innings in the Korean Series last year?"

"Come on… that was ages ago."

Honestly, I was a little worried. We weren't close — just the occasional nod and a brief hello, never a real conversation — but I'd always liked him as a player, and it stuck with me.

Anyway, spring training ended, and while we waited for Opening Day on March 31st, we enjoyed a short break. Turns out, a lot had been happening behind the scenes that we knew nothing about.

"Hey! Look at this!"

"What?"

"Trade! There's a trade!"

"Huh? Out of nowhere… our team?"

"Yeah! Your team."

"For real? Who?"

Instead of answering, Ho-min shoved a tablet in front of my face.

"…… Their front office has lost it? They're giving us Go Yeong-su?"

"And why are they shipping Min Gyeong-hak?"

"… They actually gave up Go Yeong-su? Why? That's insane."

"… They gave up Min Gyeong-hak too, I'm telling you."

"Yeah, I heard you, but… damn…"

"…… Do you even care about the two guys leaving your team?"

"Uh… I feel bad I didn't get to say goodbye, but honestly, there wasn't a spot for either of them here. For their own sake, leaving is the better move."

"Wow. Cold-blooded."

"It's not cold-blooded… both of them were struggling. Tae-seong hyung lost his job to Jeonghun hyung. Seok-hwan got completely buried by younger guys coming up behind him."

"……"

"Seok-hwan might even start for the Raiders. That's better than grinding it out in our long relief corps."

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"Yeah, fair enough."

I still couldn't wrap my head around it. Why would they actually give up Go Yeong-su? A player of his caliber was the future of the Raiders' franchise, wasn't he?

Even a two-for-one trade would've favored us — and they threw in a starting pitcher on top of that?

What the hell had our front office pulled off…

The day before Opening Day.

We finally got to meet the two new arrivals from the trade.

Veteran pitcher Min Gyeong-hak went first, greeting everyone with an easy smile. The room broke into applause, but a few of the pitchers looked a little tense.

Lee Yong-hun especially. Hyeon-bin was already breathing down his neck for a roster spot — and now a veteran starter like Min Gyeong-hak had walked through the door. He had every reason to be nervous.

Then there was Go Yeong-su.

Lee Won-jeong and Na Seung-won's jobs had just gotten a lot less secure.

With the Raiders, Go Yeong-su had played left field. Our left fielder was Lee Won-jeong. But Go Yeong-su could handle every outfield position. Shane owned right field, so he was safe for now… but center fielder Na Seung-won couldn't exactly relax either.

Na Seung-won at least had speed and range working in his favor on defense. The real problem was Lee Won-jeong, whose position overlapped completely. Purely on offense, Go Yeong-su crushed him — and even on defense, there wasn't much separating the two.

And Ju Yang-gyu… the kid just looked shell-shocked. He'd been getting occasional starts as a backup, and now a mountain had dropped into his path.

"Things are about to get interesting~"

Kang Chanjung hummed past us, clearly enjoying the chaos. He was probably the most carefree guy on the roster right now.

Why? Because he'd just cashed in big on free agency. Our owner had decided to open the checkbook for real, and Chanjung signed almost the moment he hit the market.

You could argue a big contract comes with pressure… but that guy didn't care about any of that. He had the self-proclaimed pride of being the best closer in the country.

Self-proclaimed being the key word. Everyone else said Im Jong-hun was the best… and honestly, I had to agree that Im Jong-hun was—

After the introductions wrapped up, we got into practice. With Opening Day tomorrow, it was a light session…

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

Go Yeong-su's batting practice was something else. Every ball he touched sailed over the fence, and the quality of contact was excellent.

"Seriously, why did they trade him?"

It was driving me crazy. There had to be a reason, but I had no way of finding out. If this was just about boosting our roster strength… the value on both sides of the deal didn't add up.

After watching Go Yeong-su hit, I headed into the indoor facility. I'd loosened up enough — time to start my own prep.

Prep for what?

For tomorrow's start.

I'd drawn the Opening Day start.

The Opening Day lineup dropped.

Go Yeong-su — traded in just yesterday — was already in it. Lee Won-jeong was out. Manager Park slotted Go Yeong-su in the two-hole. A power two-hitter kind of thing, I guessed.

Then he put Park Jeonghun third and dropped Shane down. Apparently he figured Jeonghun, who'd added real contact skills to go with his power, was a better fit for the three-hole than the raw-strength Shane.

And I was batting sixth.

Honestly, I'd expected him to tell ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me to focus purely on pitching for Opening Day… but the Dolphins' new foreign import had once won ten games as a Major League starter. Not last season — a few years back. After that he'd bounced between the majors and minors as a classic AAAA guy…

Which meant the opposing pitcher had real ability, so I'd wondered if Manager Park might sit me. He hadn't given it a second thought. All he said when he came over was that he'd put me lower in the order to manage my stamina.

Honestly, the batting order didn't matter much to me. And sixth wasn't exactly the bottom of the lineup anyway.

Besides, this worked out fine. I'd been itching to hit.

The hitting coach had watched me and marveled that I looked far better than last year… but you never really know until you face live pitching.

Manager Park had kept me under wraps all spring. Or rather — he just hadn't seen a reason to use me. Between giving the young guys looks, me, the captain, Kang Chanjung, and the rest of the veterans barely got any opportunities.

I'd pitched exactly one spring game. As a hitter, I hadn't even reached ten plate appearances.

Pitching had been fine since the San Diego games at camp. My body felt fully ready — even I figured I didn't need to throw in the exhibition games. Hitting was the issue.

I'd torn my swing down to the studs starting in the offseason and rebuilt it from scratch. Even I felt like I hadn't tested it enough.

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"So you're not confident?"

"As if…"

Just talking, that's all. I still had to earn my paycheck.