I thought of it simply. A knuckleball was harder to hit than other pitches. So if I could hit a knuckleball, I figured I’d be able to hit other pitches easily too.
“Well, it’s true that batters who hit knuckleballs well have adaptability when it comes to pitch types.”
Yun Donghyeok shook his head.
“But that doesn’t mean being good at hitting knuckleballs means you can hit other pitches well. To begin with, the timing and swing mechanics for a knuckleball are completely different.”
The timing and swing mechanics were completely different?
“Because knuckleballs are usually hard to predict, batters have no choice but to react late and swing. In other words, they don’t swing until the ball comes close to home plate.”
If it was a fastball, you just had to get your timing early and prepare to swing quickly.
Then what about a knuckleball?
“What I’m saying is, once you get used to hitting knuckleballs, your timing gets pushed back and you won’t be able to hit other pitches.”
“Ah.”
Only then did I understand. If you only hit knuckleballs, the habit of waiting would become ingrained in your body, and you could actually end up late on fast pitches.
“Oh… That makes sense. I didn’t know.”
“We’re sorry, Senior Donghyeok!”
As everyone nodded as if it was reasonable, Yun Donghyeok clicked his tongue.
“What are you going to do if you don’t even know something this simple?”
At that, Baek Seongchan lightly tapped Yun Donghyeok on the shoulder.
“Don’t be too hard on them. They’re all just trying to work hard.”
“They don’t know something too easy.”
Yun Donghyeok folded his arms and jerked his chin.
“What are you doing? Train.”
At those words, everyone moved in perfect order. Except for a few who were senior to Yun Donghyeok.
I headed straight to where the pitchers were gathered. Everyone was loosening their shoulders and getting ready to throw.
As expected, once I came up to the first team, we did more strength training than throwing. Especially during the season, since they strictly limited pitch counts, it felt even more that way.
Manager Yun Seonggeun and Coach An treated a pitcher’s shoulder as his life and tried to protect it as much as possible.
Instead, they emphasized weight training. Squats and deadlifts were basic, and high-intensity stretching to improve flexibility was mandatory.
“Once you finish squats and deadlifts, we’re doing video analysis.”
After strength training ended, we threw. Twenty-five pitches per person. Coach An filmed it and analyzed the data.
The players who finished pitching immediately watched the footage and adjusted their arm angle and release point.
Just a little over ten years ago, it had been natural to train by throwing as much as possible and working the body hard, no matter what. But not anymore.
By incorporating science and technology, you could draw out the highest efficiency with less training.
The players liked it. I didn’t, though.
“Stop.”
As I was setting up to throw, I opened my mouth at Coach An’s words.
“Can’t I throw just a little more today?”
“You threw twenty-five. Come down.”
“I’ll throw just a little more!”
“Throw five more and come down.”
“Yes, sir!”
Only five pitches. Even combined, that was thirty. Back in high school, seventy or eighty pitches a day had been the norm.
Well, I’d thrown because the high school manager and coaches made me. But even if people called it overuse or whatever, I’d also thrown because I liked it.
But thirty. Only thirty pitches. It wasn’t enough. It was nowhere near enough.
After throwing five more pitches and coming down from the mound, I immediately asked Coach An.
“Coach. From now on, can’t I throw a little more?”
“Throwing too much won’t do you any good.”
“I need to throw more.”
At that, Coach An tapped his clipboard as if thinking it over.
“Then would around forty pitches do?”
“That’s not enough. Maybe fifty.”
“Ha. Gang-u, are you not going to play in games?”
“I am! That’s why I should throw fifty, shouldn’t I?”
“You want to lose the use of your left shoulder too?”
Lose the use of it? As I faltered, Coach An spoke.
“In the pros, the goal is to pitch for ten years. In the second team, even lasting two years is a success.”
He was right. I’d been running straight ahead since elementary school with the single-minded goal of becoming a professional baseball player.
But I didn’t want to play in the pros for only a few years and get released.
Ten years. To be honest, there weren’t many players who lasted ten full years. They got traded, their form dropped, they fell to the second team, and then they were released.
Players who stayed in the first team for over ten years and had long careers could be counted on one hand.
Forget ten years.
I was going to do fifteen. No, I was going to leave after having a grand retirement ceremony. Ah. Not leave—I should switch over to being a coach.
“You want a long career, don’t you?”
“I do!”
“But what are you going to do if you don’t take care of your shoulder, throw because you feel you’re lacking, and then your shoulder gives out? If your right shoulder was ruined, you should be more careful.”
If you’d almost had to quit baseball because your shoulder was wrecked, it would normally be natural to play it safe.
If you were normal.
“It won’t be too late to limit my pitching after my skill has improved to a certain level.”
I believed in it. My shoulder.
“I still have to get better, so it’s right for me to throw more.”
Seeing me speak so firmly, Coach An shook his head.
“That stubbornness.”
“Didn’t you say it yourself, Coach An? That my left shoulder is stronger than my right shoulder.”
My right shoulder had worn out after ten years of playing baseball. My current left shoulder was stronger than my right shoulder had been.
It would probably hold out until my retirement ceremony.
“Right now, I have to throw.”
This was a chance I’d barely managed to seize. I had to make the most of it.
“Heh heh.”
A laugh sounded from behind me. I instinctively turned my head, and there stood Manager Yun Seonggeun.
“The era of playing baseball on grit is over. Back in our day, throwing a lot and training a lot was always considered good.”
“Good day, Manager.”
I quickly took off my cap and greeted him, and Manager Yun Seonggeun’s voice reached me.
“It’s fine to throw. You know your shoulder best, so you’ll take responsibility for it yourself. You’re not an amateur anymore, but a professional player now.”
Not an amateur, but a professional player.
“And if you fail to control yourself and it affects the game, that also means you’re not qualified to be a pro.”
At words that sounded almost like a test, I nodded without hesitation.
“Yes, sir!”
“Heh heh, all right. Do your best.”
Manager Yun Seonggeun turned around. And with my pitch count restriction lifted, I was a colt with the reins cut loose.
“Then, I’ll—!”
Rolling the ball inside my glove, I said to Coach An,
“I’ll throw just twenty more pitches!”
***
With his arms crossed, Manager Yun Seonggeun’s expression as he looked at the monitor was more serious than ever.
“Manager.”
Coach An Chunghui, who had finished training, quietly entered the manager’s office.
“Mm, yes.”
“Training is over.”
“All right. Good work.”
He answered, but Manager Yun Seonggeun’s gaze remained fixed on the monitor.
What on earth was he watching? Coach An approached the monitor.
“Isn’t that Gang-u?”
What was playing on the monitor was footage of Gang-u. It was video analyzing Gang-u’s pitching form, captured through motion capture.
“Mm. His control is still unstable.”
“For a high-speed knuckleball, it’s good.”
“That’s true. Heh heh.”
Manager Yun Seonggeun folded his arms. In the footage, Gang-u’s pitch not only had a large drop, but a good angle as well. To the point where you would never think he was someone who had learned the knuckleball less than a year ago.
It exceeded his expectations by more than he had imagined. With Chae Gang-u’s grit, physique, and innate talent, he had thought he would be able to throw a knuckleball, but he hadn’t expected him to throw a high-speed knuckleball this perfectly.
“I thought he was interesting, but he’s even more interesting than that.”
“You mean Chae Gang-u?”
“Yes.”
If things continued just like this, there would be no problem.
“And he seems to work well with Jaeyul.”
“That’s right. Jaeyul is the only one who can catch Gang-u’s pitches.”
Yes. As long as there were no problems, that was. Manager Yun Seonggeun’s eyes narrowed.
“But that will become poison.”
Knowing what he meant, Coach An had no choice but to nod.
For a knuckleball, the catcher who could catch it was important. Right now, the only one who could catch Gang-u’s pitches was Ryu Jaeyul.
And that would become his greatest weakness.
Without Ryu Jaeyul, Chae Gang-u’s pitches were as good as useless.
Moreover,
Once batters learned that the knuckleball was his main weapon, there would definitely be those who prepared for it. It was a wicked pitch, but it was not a pitch that no one could hit.
Someday, someone would hit it, and countermeasures would keep appearing.
So he needed another pitch. A pitch that would make them think it was a knuckleball, but was completely different from a knuckleball.
Of course, that was still a little premature.
“Coach An.”
Manager Yun turned off the monitor and looked back.
“Don’t say anything to Gang-u for now. Right now is the time for him to rise.”
“Yes, sir.”
“But…”
A strange smile formed at the corners of Manager Yun Seonggeun’s mouth.
“Start preparing little by little. Gang-u is going to run into a huge wall soon.”
Manager Yun slowly rose from his seat and cast his gaze out the window. Red sunset light was spreading long across the baseball field.
“Because the pros are a place that creates those walls for you on its own.”
Those words contained an undeniable reality. The reality that things would not end simply because he had become a professional player, a first-team player. In truth, this was only the beginning.
“We… just need to prepare him to get over it.”
“Understood.”
Coach An nodded heavily. And at the same time, a strange sense of anticipation boiled up inside him.
How Chae Gang-u would change when he met that wall. And if he overcame that wall, just how much stronger he would become.
As Coach An took the sunset into his eyes, his pupils burned hot.