A Different Level
I went to check out that car Ko Mandeok had called a dream car.
Of course, I didn't put a reservation on it right away. No matter how high my salary was, I wasn't getting the whole thing at once.
In other words, right at the start of the season, I didn't have much money to speak of.
So I decided to buy the car after the season ended. By then, I'd have some salary piled up in my account.
The day after I went with Ko Mandeok.
"Want me to look into it for you?"
When I casually mentioned Ko Mandeok's car to Jack, whom I was talking to for the first time in a while, that came flying back at me.
"… Look into it how, exactly?"
"Hmm… a bit cheaper?"
"… Is that possible?"
"Probably. Since you're not buying it urgently."
"Oh~"
I hadn't even thought of that…
"Leave these kinds of things to me. That's what agents are for, originally."
"Ah, I see…"
I had no idea.
I thought they just handled salary negotiations and baseball-related stuff.
"So, shall I look into it?"
"Yes!"
Looks like I'll be spending a bit less money.
After finishing the call with Jack, I headed to the stadium for work.
"Somehow these days I only seem to come out on Tuesdays."
Thanks to the rainouts postponing the schedule, it felt like I was fixed on Tuesdays. Because of that, I'd been resting a full week before coming out, so my condition was quite good.
I lightly prepared and entered the indoor practice facility.
There, Hyeon-bin was throwing balls…
"… You trying that again?"
"Yes. It's a bit difficult, after all."
"… You gonna be okay?"
"Even if it goes wrong, how much worse can it get than now?"
"……"
Hyeon-bin, who had shown poor performances in two consecutive starts, looked full of worry.
Actually, during the offseason, Hyeon-bin had tried to make a big change.
Currently, Hyeon-bin is a left-handed sidearm pitcher.
But it turns out he didn't originally throw like that.
Originally, his arm angle was much higher—a three-quarter or something? He threw at an arm angle similar to mine.
But there were quite a few problems…
Apparently, first the velocity didn't come out, and on top of that, the control was bad.
Hearing that, Ko Mandeok said this.
"Then maybe you shouldn't be a pitcher?"
At those bone-cutting words, Hyeon-bin smiled bitterly and nodded.
Then in his first year of high school. The baseball team coach at Hyeon-bin's school saw him and suggested lowering the arm angle.
Lowering it little by little, it eventually came down to the current form, and judging that it was most controlled and powerful as a sidearm, he stuck with it until now.
It worked well in his student days… but coming to the pros, it was too hard.
Lefties were manageable, but the problem was righties.
Hyeon-bin's average velocity wasn't fast to begin with, and he didn't have other pitches that could attack right-handed batters.
Knowing this concern, Jo Sangjun discussed it with Hyeon-bin during the offseason and tried training to raise the arm angle.
The problem was that it was nowhere near usable in real games.
In the end, he tried hard in the offseason but failed, and during camp he trained with his original pitching form again.
And now that Hyeon-bin was trying to raise the arm angle again.
"That doesn't seem right…"
Something that didn't work even after doing it all offseason isn't going to suddenly work.
Moreover, a guy who has to start tomorrow is doing that…
But since the pitching coach wasn't stopping him and was just watching, I had no right to say anything.
After watching Hyeon-bin briefly, I started preparing for my own outing.
While throwing a few balls into Ko Mandeok's mitt…
"Stop."
The pitching coach who had been silently watching until now blocked Hyeon-bin and quietly took him away.
"Whew… It's not working."
Taeseong-hyung, who had been watching alongside the pitching coach, let out a deep sigh.
"Not going well?"
"Yeah. Can't use that."
"Of course. Something that didn't work even in personal training all that time isn't going to suddenly work."
It was regrettable, but it couldn't be helped.
The match against the Falcons at Jamsil.
Today the Falcons were the home team.
Originally, today's Falcons starter should have been a player named Mark McCallum.
The foreign pitcher handling the Falcons' second starter slot.
Since the first starter had come out on Sunday, by order the second should come out, but…
"Who is that?"
"A second-year rookie?"
"…… Suddenly?"
"Apparently so."
A pro second-year player named Seol Dae-yeong was said to be starting today.
"They're giving up today and trying to take tomorrow's game, I guess."
"……"
I had memorized the analysis materials on McCallum that Ho-min gave me… and it all became useless…
"So what kind of pitcher is that guy?"
"Don't know? I only saw this, and it's just… ordinary?"
The analysis materials prepared by our scouting team.
It had info on the opposing pitcher who had been active in the Second Team and a simple analysis.
"This is stuff you could find just by searching the internet."
"Yeah, well."
"So he throws a 145 km fastball with curve, changeup, slider, forkball?"
"The curve and forkball didn't work even in the Second Team, apparently?"
"……"
So a pitcher who throws three pitches.
"Last year's Second Team record… 4.63, hmm…"
"……"
What is this really? Did he suddenly grow massively at camp?
"This is driving me crazy…"
I'd seen a post like this while browsing the community once.
I'd laughed at that post…
But today it felt like our team was playing shy baseball.
Bases empty, runner on third, and we couldn't score a single run…
Moreover, the third inning was the heart of the order…
The trusted Park Jeonghun got caught on an infield fly, they intentionally walked the captain, and then they got Shane on another fly ball.
"Still, his pitch count is almost done, right?"
That was a relief, at least.
That pitcher already had seventy pitches.
They wouldn't make a guy called up from the Second Team throw a hundred… so roughly the next inning would be his last.
"Why can't we hit him, though?"
I had hit a double in my first at-bat. So I confidently asked Ko Mandeok, who had flied out on a foul in his first at-bat.
"The ball looked too good? I thought it was a batting practice pitch."
"… Then why did you swing like that?"
With nothing to say, he just avoided my gaze and went back to his seat.
Actually, I thought I roughly knew the reason. I just wasn't sure enough to say it out loud.
Because I'd gone up as the leadoff hitter in the second and swung at the first pitch, I hadn't gotten a proper look at the ball and couldn't be certain.
If I'd watched a few from the on-deck circle, I could have judged more accurately…
"Ah, right. I'm the leadoff again. Damn."
Looks like I won't be able to tell them after all.
I lightly retired the side in the bottom of the third, came into the dugout, immediately grabbed my bat, and headed to the plate.
I hadn't told the other players, but that thing I was suspecting.
To confirm it, I needed a fastball to come in.
"Ball."
"Stri~ke!"
Two consecutive sliders came in for a 1-1 count.
And on the third pitch, the fastball I'd been waiting for finally arrived.
CRACK!!
The moment the ball met my bat, I knew. My suspicion had been right.
And since I could go straight home, I could finally tell the hitters.
"Nice!"
"Hyung. Hyung. It drops less."
"Huh?"
"The four-seamer drops less, I said."
"……?"
"Argh, seriously! The spin is good!"
"……!!"
The frustrated Ko Mandeok finally understood what I was saying.
That Seol Dae-yeong guy's four-seamer dropped just a little less.
Of course, it wasn't to the point of seeming to rise like mine. Just about half a ball less drop?
That was why so many fly balls kept coming out.
I'd been half-sure in my first at-bat, but my prediction had been correct.
After Ko Mandeok, I went into the dugout and told them again.
"But how did you know that?"
"I saw it."
"You swung at the first pitch in your first at-bat."
"I still saw it."
"… You can see it after looking once?"
Yeah?
Why could I see it?
"W-well, I don't know?"
"This guy's a real freak."
Is this also thanks to the drug boost?
I don't know anymore. Whenever something's hard to understand, I just figure it's the drug boost.
Crack!
While we were chattering like that in the dugout, Ko Mandeok hit a single and went to first.
Standing on first, Ko Mandeok raised his arm toward the dugout and suddenly drew a big circle.
"Why…"
Was Ko Mandeok trying to express in his own way that I was right?
"Ah, they're changing him."
I was looking at Ko Mandeok in confusion when the captain's heavily disappointed words made me follow his gaze, and the opposing pitching coach was coming out of their dugout.
"Isn't it because of that idiot Mandeok that they're changing him? Doing that with his hands for no reason?"
The captain grumbled and tried to pin it on Ko Mandeok…
Hearing it that way, it kind of seemed like it.
The pitching coach took the ball from Seol Dae-yeong, and soon the Falcons' next pitcher took the mound.
And then.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Suddenly the lineup exploded.
The lineup erupted and I secured my fourth win without any trouble.
So, as always, I mindlessly went online and clicked on an article about Kwon Jong-jin that had even more talk than mine.
"Six innings, five runs allowed…"
I remembered he'd given up quite a few runs in the previous games too, and apparently he'd allowed five again today.
He'd gotten his first win with help from the lineup, but… 1 win, 2 losses.
A record that didn't suit the name Kwon Jong-jin at all.
"Looks like there's a real problem."
The crumpled expression on Kwon Jong-jin's face in the photo from the article kept bothering me.