Diamond Girls (4)
The final group's tryouts had drawn to a close.
Inside the stadium's conference room, evaluation sheets covered the wide table. Seated opposite the coaching staff were Producing Director Park Seong-woo and broadcast writer Lee Ji-eun.
"Where do you want to play Han Seo-jin?"
Yoon Jae-wook answered Coach Jang Tae-oh's question without missing a beat.
"Shortstop."
"You've been beating that drum since earlier."
"You know how it was last season, Coach. How many routine infield grounders miraculously turned into base hits? Hell, we didn't turn a single double play the entire year."
Jae-wook slid his tablet toward the center of the table.
On the screen, Han Seo-jin was tracking a ground ball cutting toward the hole. She snagged it with a textbook slide, popped back up, and fired across the diamond in one clean, uninterrupted motion.
"The scoop was fantastic, but this is what really blew my mind."
The clip rewound slightly. The ball left Seo-jin's glove and streaked toward first base like a laser.
"Normally, after a slide like that, inertia works against you. It's almost impossible to transition straight into a throw. But look at her. The moment she fields it, she naturally absorbs the momentum into her footwork and fires. It just doesn't make any sense."
"Put it right on the numbers at first base, too."
"Right? That was pure rocket delivery right to the chest. She knows how to whip that shoulder. You saw her throw from the outfield to second base earlier, right? With that kind of velocity and pinpoint accuracy, grown men wouldn't dare test her arm."
Jang Tae-oh couldn't argue with that.
Last season, even after a ball was safely inside a fielder's glove, their hearts stayed in their throats. Far too many runners were gifted extra bases simply because routine throws sailed into the dirt or the stands.
If they had a player like Han Seo-jin holding down the infield...
"It would definitely shore up our defense."
"I want her right up the middle, no question. Just look at the transition from glove to hand—she's already playing like a pro."
Tae-oh tapped his fingertip against a number jotted on her sheet.
100.
Beneath the triple-digit velocity reading sat detailed notes praising her command on both the inside and outside corners.
"Yeah, but look at what she throws from the mound."
Jae-wook's passionate argument faltered for a second.
To be fair, other participants had thrown hard today. Oh Hye-rim had topped out at ninety-five kilometers per hour. But finding someone who could actually hit the catcher's target on command was another story entirely.
"I mean... it's hard not to drool over her as a pitcher too, honestly."
"If she'd just touched a hundred once and sprayed the rest into the dirt, I wouldn't be losing sleep over this. But when the catcher called inside, she painted inside. When he set up outside, she hit the outside corner."
"What if we start her at shortstop and bring her in to pitch whenever the game's on the line?"
Tae-oh leaned back in his chair with a low sigh.
Having a player who was too good at two different positions was a headache he hadn't expected.
It was the first truly happy problem he'd faced since taking the helm of this team.
"...Fine. Let's start her in the field and see how she handles game situations. Keep her arm warm and ready to pitch, though."
Jae-wook immediately put pen to paper on the evaluation sheet.
Meanwhile, Tae-oh swiped through the tablet to pull up the batting clips. While watching her defense and pitching, a grin had tugged at his lips the entire time. But batting was his personal domain, the craft he'd built a legendary career on. Looking at hitting footage provoked scrutiny rather than smiles.
He paused the video right as Han Seo-jin planted her front foot.
Slender arms, delicate legs. Looking purely at her frame beneath the oversized uniform, it was impossible to fathom the exit velocity that followed.
He pressed play, and the bat whipped through the zone in a blur.
"Aluminum bat or not..." Tae-oh muttered under his breath. "How on earth does she generate that kind of power from that body?"
Granted, it was batting practice—soft, hittable pitches tossed right down the pipe. It was vastly different from squaring up live pitching in a real game. With a wooden bat, the ball wouldn't carry nearly as far, either. But even accounting for all of that, the swing was nothing short of astonishing.
Her final hit had slammed directly off the left-center wall. Even among the elite former athletes at the tryout, not a single one had managed to drive a ball anywhere near the warning track, let alone the fence.
"She doesn't leak an ounce of power until the exact moment of contact. Her kinetic chain is dialed in so well that every scrap of force she has gets transferred straight into the ball."
Jae-wook pointed at Seo-jin's high, sweeping finish on the screen.
"Doesn't that follow-through remind you of someone, Coach?"
"...Bellinger?"
"Ha! So it wasn't just me."
"Spitting image. The uppercut trajectory, the massive extension on the follow-through—everything."
"And did you see her earlier? She took an outside pitch the other way using that exact same swing."
"That's what really gets me."
Tae-oh clicked the next video.
It showed Seo-jin staying back on an outside pitch and effortlessly lifting it over the shortstop's head into shallow left-center.
"Hitters with that kind of violent launch angle usually fall in love with pulling the ball for distance. But she saw it outside and instantly drove it the other way. She hasn't just mimicked someone's swing—she's adjusting to the pitch in real time."
"Then our clean-up hitter is locked in."
"Has to be. And once she packs on a little more muscle..." Tae-oh trailed off, turning his gaze toward the opposite side of the table. "How long did you say she's been playing baseball again?"
Lee Ji-eun flipped open her notebook.
"Her father told us it's only been a little over three months since they started practicing together."
A sudden silence fell over the conference room.
Jae-wook set his pen down.
"Three months? Not three years? I was dead certain she played Little League growing up!"
"Not at all. She said so herself before the tryout—she only just picked it up. She worked as an actress from childhood, so if she had any baseball background, the public would already know."
"...Then is it just raw talent passed down from her father being an ex-pro?"
Listening to them talk, Tae-oh chuckled quietly.
If having an ex-pro for a father automatically made someone great, his own daughter would have been drafted into the big leagues years ago.
Seventeen years old. Barely three months of baseball...
Remembering what that frail, delicate body had displayed on the diamond today, he felt momentarily at a loss for words to write in the notes section.
"You received the video from her father, right, PD Park? Did you have any idea she was this good?"
Park Seong-woo waved his hands in defense.
"I knew her swing looked crisp, sure. But that was just footage from a batting cage. I had no idea about her fielding or her pitching."
"You brought us a real diamond in the rough."
At the compliment, Seong-woo's face lit up with pride.
Tae-oh played the final batting clip one more time. After crushing the ball, Seo-jin stood frozen in place, holding her follow-through pose. Even after the ball ricocheted off the fence and the dugout erupted in cheers, she didn't break her stance.
"And this kid... she definitely has flair."
"Well, she did grow up in front of the cameras."
"No, not just that. She's got a shameless streak. She craves the spotlight."
Tae-oh tapped the edge of the screen.
"Look right here. The second the camera pans over to her, she refuses to relax her pose. The ball hit the fence ages ago."
Seong-woo took one look at the frozen frame and burst into roaring laughter. Beside him, Ji-eun quickly covered her mouth, giggling.
Jae-wook slapped his knee, suddenly remembering.
"Come to think of it, she did the exact same thing on defense! Whenever someone praised her play, she put on this aloof, nonchalant face, but you could tell she was practically vibrating with pride underneath."
"Doing that with such an innocent, porcelain face... she's hilarious."
The conference room broke out into easy laughter.
"As long as she plays that well, she can show off all she wants. In fact, we welcome it. Natural star power like that is pure ratings gold," Seong-woo said warmly.
As the laughter subsided, Tae-oh gathered the evaluation sheets into a neat stack.
"Let's take Oh Hye-rim from handball as a pitcher. She has raw arm strength, so if we can clean up her throwing mechanics, she'll pull her weight."
"Moon So-hee could easily slot into the middle of the order once she adjusts to live pitching."
"Agreed. With her tennis background, her contact instincts are remarkably sharp. And Han Seo-jin goes in as we discussed."
Three evaluation sheets were set down together on the corner of the table.
Other participants possessed impressive athletic ability as well, but for this season, they desperately needed players who could contribute immediately alongside the veterans. After checking the three sheets once more, Tae-oh looked over at the production staff.
"We'd like to move forward with these three. How does the production team feel?"
Seong-woo exchanged a brief glance with Ji-eun before nodding firmly.
"Sounds fantastic. In the pre-interview, Seo-jin said what she wanted most was to play real games. Seeing her in actual match situations is going to make incredible television."
"Her facial expressions are wonderful on camera, too. When she hit a hundred on the radar gun earlier, she acted so cool, but she was visibly ecstatic," Ji-eun added. "Since she's a high school student, we'll need to coordinate filming schedules with her mother, but she already mentioned weekend shoots wouldn't be an issue."
"Make sure to handle that carefully. School comes first."
Tae-oh transferred the three names onto the final roster sheet.
"Then it's settled. Let's go with this."
By the time the participants gathered once more around home plate, the afternoon sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.
As everyone trickled out of their respective waiting rooms into one central cluster, the dirt around the batter's box quickly filled up. The existing Red Phoenix players also stepped out from the dugout, taking up positions alongside the nervous hopefuls.
Jang Tae-oh stepped forward holding the roster sheet.
"Thank you for waiting, everyone. You all worked exceptionally hard today."
Applause broke out from the back, and soon all the participants were clapping for one another, sharing tired smiles.
"We will be selecting three new players today."
The murmurs throughout the crowd quieted to a tense silence.
"As we stated beforehand, our primary focus in this tryout was identifying players who possess the immediate skill to take the field alongside our team in live games. To those who aren't selected today, we sincerely hope this tryout serves as an opportunity for you to continue loving and playing baseball."
Tae-oh bowed respectfully to the assembled participants, then unfolded the roster.
"The first recruit to join our team: Oh Hye-rim."
A sharp gasp cut through the air, instantly swallowed by a storm of cheers and applause.
Oh Hye-rim buried her face in both hands before frantically bowing at the waist. As she walked forward with wobbly knees, one of the veteran players stepped out with open arms to envelop her in a warm hug.
"Our second recruit is Moon So-hee."
This time, the person standing next to Moon So-hee shoved her forward in excitement. Moon So-hee walked up with a stunned, dazed expression, breaking into a radiant smile only when Coach Jang offered his hand for a firm handshake.
"Looking forward to working with you."
"Thank you so much! I promise I'll give it everything I have!"
The two new recruits took their places alongside the veteran roster.
Only one spot remained.
Lee Ji-eun gave a subtle hand signal to the camera crew. One of the camera operators scanning the tense faces of the remaining hopefuls smoothly pivoted his lens.
Jang Tae-oh lifted his eyes from the paper, looking out over the crowd.
"And the final wing of our Red Phoenix is..."