episode_0129

“Coach, aren’t you pushing the players too hard from the beginning of the season?”

“[Hitting coach, as you know, it’s natural for players to get worse as the season goes on. So, if you don’t build up your stamina from the beginning of the season, isn’t it natural that you will lose strength in the second half of the season like last year?]”

‘That’s because the intensity of training these days has increased compared to last year.’

The hitting coach couldn’t get his inner thoughts out. Because Director Sands had venom in his eyes.

‘Nothing good will come of over-stepping like this.’

With just morning training, the veteran players were already becoming exhausted. It was obvious to the eye that the players would not be able to endure if they trained at this intensity for every home game, but since it was not something that he, as a hitting coach, could be involved in, AT Thunders’ hitting coach Byeong-cheol Kim remained silent.

However, sparing words did not mean that the players’ dissatisfaction was not felt.

Such complaints have been slowly coming out since spring training this season. Because the amount of training at spring camp has increased significantly compared to previous years. This kind of training intensity was a training method that was used only in some teams during his time as a player, that is, in the early 2000s.

In fact, in Kim Byeong-cheol’s opinion, this kind of training was not the solution. The physical training that pushed the players to the point of ignorance actually caused them to lose their motivation and pace, and the effect was minimal. As they are professional players, with the exception of some rookie players, it is clear that they know their own physical strength best.

Moreover, considering that the intensity of training increased after consecutive losses, the pressure in the game was bound to increase.

‘hmm… . I can understand why the director is impatient… .’

Coach Sands’ contract expires this year. It was obvious that if I didn’t get good results here, my contract wouldn’t be renewed, and it was understandable since I hadn’t had fun playing autonomous baseball for the past two years, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t possible.

“[So, has the power analysis team finished the analysis?]”

It was Coach Sands’ words that broke Coach Kim Byeong-cheol’s thoughts. Director Sands’ words were delivered through an interpreter, and the power analysis team played the prepared data.

“yes. Analysis of the last five games shows that most teams use signs similar to those used in exhibition games. The teams whose names have changed are UG and Volcanoes.”

“Because the UG director is sensitive to such things.”

“Yes, we have to be careful too.”

“But why did the volcano kids change? Haha, isn’t it the same whether you change it or not?”

“Well, that’s right. Anyway, I was able to find out that Silla uses 6 patterns just like in the demonstration game, and I was able to confirm that they change depending on the day of the week. “The patterns I will use today can be summarized as a total of three, excluding the patterns used in the weekday series, and I think I will probably use this pattern.”

The power analysis team leader finished speaking and played the video. Although it was filmed from a distance, the image quality was so clear that you could even see the nail polish on the catcher’s fingers.

“[hmm… . It’s a similar pattern to the exhibition game.]”

“Yes, that’s right. And when a runner is on second base, the pattern is like this.”

The topic that AT coaches and power analysis teams are discussing is sign stealing.

In fact, there is no club that doesn’t steal signs.

Any team analyzes the opponent’s signs and always changes the signs to prevent the team’s signs from being stolen. It was natural for the sign to change when the catcher, who was in charge of the team’s role, left, and in baseball, if there was even the slightest feeling that the opposing team was stealing the sign, an empty ball was thrown.

In fact, there was a saying in the baseball world that it was the team’s fault that the signs were stolen, and some major league teams even used electronic devices to steal signs and win the World Series. In addition, each team’s efforts to steal signs were considerable, as there was no chance of getting caught as long as the person involved did not do something foolish such as openly posting the stolen sign in the dugout.

Of course, not all teams could steal signs even if they tried. First of all, before planning or mixing balls, numerous fake signs were exchanged, and signs were changed for each inning, each batting order, each date, each catcher, and each pitcher.

So stealing a sign was not an easy task. It is a difficult task that requires the club, players, and coaches to come together and move with one purpose.

However, AT Thunders was one of the clubs that achieved that difficult task.

Until now, this was not possible due to lack of data, but now that we have played 5 games, it is time to get a general idea of which club uses which sign. And the AT Thunders’ power analysis team was the team using the most cutting-edge equipment in Korea.

“[This is enough. Then, I think we can distribute the data to the players during this power analysis session.]”

The coaches all nodded at what Coach Sands said.

“[Tsk, but how can our signs not be complemented? “It doesn’t make sense to lose three times in a row.”

“But if you change it too often, the players may get confused, so I think it would be a good idea to keep an eye on it this week.”

“[Tsk, I feel like changing it every inning.]”

“Maybe then the players won’t be able to memorize it?”

“[I guess so. It’s a shame. Professional players are unable to memorize a single sign, which hinders their operations. Tsk.]”

Sign stealing is part of baseball. As long as there is no cheating through electronic devices such as listening devices or outsiders, there is nothing that cannot be done to win.

With that in mind, AT Thunders’ manager, coaches, and power analysis team worked harder than usual in meetings to break the losing streak.

*

“You mean I have to memorize all of this?”

What the fuck, we’re not even in high school and I have to memorize this dense sheet of paper?

The paper handed out by the team’s analyst was filled with the autographs scheduled to be used in Silla today.

Memorize all of this? It was impossible. If I had the brains to memorize this, when I got injured, I would have quit baseball and gone to study.

For me, just memorizing our strategy signs and the defensive positions of each player was overwhelming. I can memorize it because I train every day, and if I had been given a piece of paper and told to memorize it like I am now, I definitely wouldn’t have been able to memorize it.

But stealing autographs? Is this a common thing in the professional world?

‘Did Mr. Rossby steal the autograph too?’

‘Isn’t it obvious? I saw it even if it was stolen, and even released the stolen bastard Ajak. Do you know the feeling of your shins breaking?’

‘… ‘You don’t want to know?’

Are you saying he shattered his shin with a spike?

‘Hehe, weak bastard. Anyway, back then, if you wanted to steal a sign, you had to be prepared to break your shin, but baseball has become so girly these days. There’s no romance in baseball these days.’

Rossby’s eyes were somewhat filled with memories.

‘When I was directing, I had a lot of fun leaking fake autographs and fooling stupid people. When did I… … .’

Additionally, it was obvious that he was out of sorts as he kept telling me stories that weren’t even asked. While Rossby’s epic story was going in one ear and out the other, the staff member looked at the players and opened his mouth.

“The players can watch and do what they practiced in spring training.”

“… “What did you practice during spring training?”

“Oh, I don’t know because you are a national university student. When I got to the scoring range, as a right-handed hitter, I practiced putting my right hand on my knee if it was an inside ball, and my left hand on my knee if it was an outside ball. And if it’s a breaking ball, three fingers, if it’s a fastball, two fingers.”

You did this training when I wasn’t around? Just hearing Seongtae’s words gave me a headache.

“So, you have to memorize this and let me know when you get to the scoring zone, right?”

I looked again at the paper handed out by the club analysts. The white thing is paper and the black thing is writing.

“Well, you all got it, right? We will now watch the video, so everyone please pay attention. “Silla’s starting catcher today is Kim Dong-hyun, so there is a high possibility that he will use the sign from the third chapter.”

And then the video plays. I don’t know where it was taken, but the quality was very clear.

‘Oh, I don’t know, I don’t know.’

Shinra Triggers’ cause of death was too complicated. It was clear that my head would explode if I tried to memorize this in our team’s sign.

‘I’m sure I’m not the only one who can’t memorize it, right?’

But I felt a little anxious and looked around. And I was able to gain stability. This was because most of the players also had puzzled expressions.

‘Hehe, even a genius like me can’t memorize it, so other players can’t memorize it all at once, right?’

‘… genius?’

‘That’s a genius. Baseball genius. ‘The season batting average is .500.’

‘We played five games. ‘You damn shoes.’

‘Even if it’s five games, 50% is 50%. Hehe.’

Rossby had boasted to me that he was a .400 hitter, but since he was hitting .500, a level that even Rossby had never reached, it was natural for Rossby to be jealous. Ignoring my jealous inferiority complex, I looked around at the players again.

It was clear that the other players were also unable to memorize it. In particular, Ki-Gyeong-ju, who has the best career here, was not even looking at the paper in the first place. When the passionate lecture ended and the analysis team members left, several players threw away the papers handed out by the analysts.

“Senior, but at national university, they didn’t do anything like autograph analysis, right?”

As soon as the analyst left, I approached the weatherman and asked him what I was curious about.

“Hey, in the national team, the signs change every game, so how can you steal them? We changed it every day too, right? “There is no use in analyzing it.”

It was like that.

“But senior, don’t you memorize it?”

“Hey, even if I memorize it, my head just hurts. Do you think it’s easy to hit when you see a runner? I also have to figure out timing with the pitcher. And what are you going to do if you see the sign and hit another ball? Won’t you regret it? Just swing it. “I didn’t do it even when I was in the majors.”

“is it so? Do something in the majors. “Then you wouldn’t have come here.”

If I had stolen the sign there and played well, I would not have returned to Korea, which was a shame.

“You bastard. It keeps climbing these days? “Come here, you bastard.”

Empty!

“Ahh! “The weather forecaster is a human fan!”

“Haha, Sangju. “I’m going to catch the kid.”

“Wow, the youngest’s hair has matured well. But what kind of sound does it make, like hitting an empty can?”

“Oh, stop laughing and report it!”

… The night of the weather warning was spicy.