episode_0359

“What? You want me to go out as a starter?”

“Yeah, Kyungho. You saw it yesterday too, right? Seungjun is so unstable that you know we can’t trust him.”

“But, I thought we agreed to manage stamina during the AT game this season.”

Facing the news akin to a thunderbolt targeting Jimaengho, Baek Kyungho’s face turned pale. After allowing over ten steals in last year’s Korean Series, how much criticism had he faced from the fans?

The memories of that time still lingered vividly. A month spent living like a recluse, drowning in alcohol after the Korean Series ended. Even in his dreams, he couldn’t escape Jimaengho stealing bases. And now he had to face Jimaengho again?

“Damn it, wasn’t I supposed to sit out before the AT game? They said it was fine to skip the AT game! Even the team allowed me not to play in the AT games where Jimaengho appears for stamina and mental management.”

Approaching his late thirties, Baek Kyungho reluctantly put on the catcher’s mask just as Jimaengho returned, after just one game.

A flood of curses towards Jimaengho, memories of humiliation, and his psychopathic gaze filled Baek Kyungho’s mind.

“Baek Kyungho, aren’t you a pro?”

Nevertheless, even Baek Kyungho couldn’t refuse the coach’s order. As the coach said, he was a professional who received money to play for the team’s victory.

“…I’ll do my best.”

Battery coach patted Baek Kyungho’s shoulder and turned away. Despite cursing internally at the coach’s back, Baek Kyungho started to regain control of his mind.

“Yeah, I need to overcome this. I can’t be intimidated by a younger player when I’m thirty-seven. I have to overcome this!”

As he clenched his fist and encouraged himself,

“Damn, why am I feeling so anxious? There shouldn’t be any issues.”

The faces of his family flashing through his mind and the cold sweat trickling down his back were unavoidable.

*

“Oh, today’s starting catcher is Baek Kyungho? Interesting. Yesterday was a bit dull, but now it might get exciting.”

Yesterday, the catcher hit two home runs in the first inning, seemed to lose his composure, and UG struggled a lot, winning but not making an enjoyable game.

“But wasn’t he avoiding playing? He didn’t even come out for the practice games. Was it because of the designated catcher system? Was it just my imagination?”

“He’s not a pitcher, why would he avoid you out of fear?”

“Well, that makes sense.”

Although it felt like that, it seemed to be my misconception.

“Hey, do you like Kyungho? Your face lights up when Kyungho comes out.”

“Just find it fun to compete.”

“Is it fun because of Kyungho?”

“Yes. It’s challenging to win knowing it’s difficult, isn’t that fun?”

“Anyway, your personality is strange.”

While chatting with Choi Jincheol sitting next to me, the coach entered the meeting room.

“Do you know who’s starting today? Everyone should know.”

Today’s UG starter was the Korean ace Kim Sunggyul. One of the few meticulous pitchers in Korea. Not to be underestimated, but not someone to take lightly like other mediocre pitchers. Especially adept at handling left-handed batters despite being a right-handed underarm pitcher, posing a challenge for us with many left-handed batters.

At the core was his changeup, making my role crucial today. There weren’t many in our team who could handle Kim Sunggyul’s changeup, so my role was essential.

“Let’s start with today’s lineup. Center fielder Jung Hwichul at number one, second baseman Jimaengho at number two….”

“Me? Are you calling me?”

“You’re calling the lineup, what’s up?”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

I’m number 2? I’ve been in various spots, but suddenly being placed second in the batting order was surprising. Not that I minded, but it caught me off guard.

“Then let’s continue. Batting third, Lee Gisang, fourth, Choi Jincheol at first base, fifth, Kim Suho at third, sixth, Yoon Seongtae at shortstop, seventh, Baek Jeongjin in right field, eighth, Kim Hyunseong, ninth, designated hitter Lee Inhyuk.”

“But why am I number 2?”

“Well, Williams is coming up soon, and from then on, we plan to keep using him as number 2. Well, no issues, right?”

“Yes, I’m fine with it…”

“And Sangju hit a lot of doubles, so it was uncomfortable.”

“Oh, yes, he did mention that.”

He mentioned that yesterday after intentional walks, and it seems the coach passed it on to the manager.

“What? Sangju hyung was uncomfortable?”

Gisangju immediately responded to my words.

“Well, Sangju hyung can be a bit uncomfortable.”

“How much does a kid have to annoy you for you to dislike being around him?”

“What are you talking about?”

While other players joked around, the discomfort was real. Well, it wasn’t that I found him uncomfortable as a person.

“Sometimes his nagging gets annoying.”

Especially when we went out to have fun on away games and he would start nagging the next day, but I didn’t particularly mind. However, it was really uncomfortable in the batter’s box.

Gisangju was one of the players who could hit the most doubles in the league. He hit over 40 doubles last year, and this year his pace was still going strong. He was the typical mid-range hitter suited for Jamsil.

But our styles didn’t quite mesh. If Gisangju hit a double and went out, my next turn at bat was almost guaranteed to be an intentional walk.

“Probably the reason they moved Kim Suho, who has the best on-base percentage in the team apart from me, back.”

Kim Suho also hit quite a few doubles, so it seemed like they wanted to give me as many at-bats as possible by placing the contact-hitting, power-lacking Jung Huicheol at number one.

“Probably the top of the lineup or cleanup will stay like this for a while. Williams will be up next series, so let’s try some experiments this time.”

Experiments, huh? I had an idea of how UG was doing currently. Just last year, UG was a team you couldn’t beat unless you gave it your all. But now, even if the coach openly used the word “experiment,” the players didn’t seem to find it odd.

“Well, yesterday’s game was a bit strange.”

The coach couldn’t have missed what I felt.

“Let’s watch some videos and think about how to handle Kim Seonggyul.”

And the video footage of Kim Seonggyul pitching this season. Just from watching the footage, there didn’t seem to be much difference from last year. Despite the mercenaries failing, he was still playing a crucial role for the team, throwing good pitches.

And that same feeling from watching the screen continued at the stadium.

“Strike! Out!”

After seeing seven pitches, leadoff hitter Jung Huicheol struck out on a changeup, shaking his head. Kim Seonggyul’s pitches from the on-deck circle looked just as good as they did in the video.

“Well, not bad enough to be unhittable.”

“Hey, long time no see.”

“Ha… ”

When I greeted Baek Kyungho, whom I hadn’t seen in a while, he sighed abruptly.

“Why are you sighing right off the bat? Like you’ve seen something you wish you hadn’t.”

“Would you be happy to see me?”

“Well, deep down, yes. But how did the game go? Really conserving energy? I thought I’d have to dodge you because I was scared.”

“…Not really?”

Are we exchanging signals or something? The response was delayed.

“It’s a fastball.”

“Okay.”

And Ross B’s voice could be heard. It seemed like he was really sharing my thoughts on the sign. The first pitch was a fastball. Although I had seen the ball from the side at Jung Hwi-chul’s plate appearance, I still needed to confirm the location today, so I decided to watch the first pitch.

“Ball.”

The first pitch was an outside pitch. The speed was 144 km/h. In the Korean Series, Kim Sung-gyeol had been throwing balls in the late 140s from the beginning of the game, but today he didn’t seem to be overexerting himself, maybe because it was the regular season or the early part of the season.

“But you’re answering well this time? You didn’t even answer last year.”

“You wouldn’t know about that.”

Even without him saying it, I seemed to understand what had happened. It was a strategy they used when Moon Ki-taek was around, so it was obvious they weren’t using the same strategy this year after Moon Ki-taek was cut. With that strategy, they were able to crush it last year.

“Thanks to that, I had a lot of time to talk with the catcher yesterday, who was it again? Seungjin? I talked with him and all, but his mental state didn’t collapse? He seemed a bit lost.”

“This guy is older than me, his brother… Ugh, just shut up and focus on baseball. Please.”

Well, thanks to that, I had plenty of time to talk with the catcher.

“It’s a curveball.”

“Okay.”

Even if I’m known for handling curves well, I had to be careful with Kim Sung-gyeol’s curveball. His knuckle curve flew like a slider and boasted a pretty fast speed. I hadn’t actually confirmed it, but probably Kim Sung-gyeol’s knuckle curve was the worst among my curveball batting averages.

“Ball.”

Since there was room in the count, I swung at the second pitch, but luckily it was called a ball.

“Phew, that was close, hit the ball better. Kabyo.”

“Just focus on playing instead of talking.”

“I can’t hear you with your mouth full.”

“That damn bastard…”

“Fastball.”

Thud – Crack!

“Oh, Kabyo. If it had gone a bit more to the side, it would have been a home run.”

The third pitch was a foul home run that went far beyond the foul pole.

“….”

Watching that foul home run brought back memories of the Korean Series, and Kim Sung-gyeol’s ball began to waver at the end.

“Ball.”

And the fifth pitch was thrown.

“Bases on balls!”

“Haah….”

Along with the umpire’s ball call, Baek Kyung-ho’s long sigh could be heard.

“Well, that’s disappointing. Can I send Kyung-ho here like this? Am I walking again?”

“Ugh….”

Was it just my imagination that the catcher’s shivering seemed fitting? After teasing Baek Kyung-ho one last time, I moved to first base.

“Safe!”

“Damn it!”

Unable to hold back any longer, Baek Kyung-ho cursed as a safe call rang out from third base. One out, one runner on first turned into one out, three runners on bases in just four pitches.

The nightmare of the Korean Series that he had forgotten came back to Baek Kyung-ho’s mind. Well, to be honest, he had been trembling since Ji Maeng-ho stepped up to the plate.

“Phew, but the ball count isn’t bad. Two balls, two strikes, so if I strike out Gisang-ju, I won’t give up a point.”

Thinking like that, Baek Kyung-ho gathered his resolve. If he could strike out Gisang-ju or get a shallow hit, then there would be no repeat of last year’s nightmare.

“Sung-gyeol, changeup.”

“Yes.”

And the fifth pitch was thrown. Along with Kim Sung-gyeol’s pitch, Gisang-ju swung the bat.

“Please, don’t hit it. Don’t hit it!”

But unfortunately, the heavens did not heed Baek Kyung-ho’s prayer.

Thunk!

Gisang-ju’s bat made contact with the ball, sending it flying to the outfield, towards right field.

“Alright. If it’s only that much, even Ji Maeng-ho shouldn’t be able to score, right?”

Right fielder Choi Jae-hyun was a formidable player even within the league. And the hit wasn’t that deep. An ordinary runner wouldn’t be able to come in on that hit.

Feeling relieved, Baek Kyung-ho thought,

“…No way, right?”

From third base, Ji Maeng-ho,