How do you throw a knuckleball?
“I just… throw it.”
At that, Ryu Jaeyul furrowed his brow.
“What kind of answer is that? So just because you throw it, it’s a knuckleball?”
“Yeah.”
I just instinctively knew how to throw a knuckleball. All I did on top of that was improve my control and velocity.
“So you don’t consider the situation?”
“What situation?”
“Temperature, humidity, wind… No. If you’d considered them from the start, you wouldn’t even think like this.”
Ryu Jaeyul muttered things I couldn’t understand, his expression serious.
“First of all, for you it’s instinct. Hoo, let me explain it simply, tailored to your level.”
Ryu Jaeyul took the baseball from my hand.
“Usually knuckleballs are 90 to 110 km/h. But yours is around 120. The spin is only about one and a half rotations too. It’s an absurd story.”
It was an absurd speed for someone who switched from right-handed to left-handed.
But to me, who had been a right-handed fireballer, the number 120 just sounded low.
“It’s lacking.”
Ryu Jaeyul tilted his head at my words.
“What?”
“I have to raise it more.”
I thought the knuckleball was just another breaking ball. When I threw with my right hand, my breaking balls exceeded 130 km/h, so I could do the same with my left.
Besides, my left shoulder was stronger than my right.
“I’m going to throw 130.”
At that, Ryu Jaeyul clicked his tongue in disbelief.
“Throw 130 with a knuckleball? Do you even know what you’re saying? Aerodynamically, it’s impossible.”
“I’m going to do the impossible.”
Ryu Jaeyul stopped talking and stared at me. I felt like I knew what he was thinking without him saying it. His eyes seemed to ask exactly what kind of confidence this was.
“Well.”
Confidence.
After beating on the punch machine like that, left not just intact but trained and strengthened, it was inevitable.
On top of that, having switched from right-handed to left-handed without discomfort, and having mastered the knuckleball alone without anyone teaching me, was enough.
For me to have confidence.
“To do that, I’ll need a catcher who can handle my pitches too.”
Right now, Ryu Jaeyul was the only one who could catch my pitches.
“There are many things in the world that can’t be explained by science. Don’t they call those miracles?”
I flashed a grin at Ryu Jaeyul.
“You said my pitch is aerodynamically impossible. Then it’s a miracle.”
A miracle.
“Just watch. I’ll hit 130 later.”
Ryu Jaeyul, standing still, let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s aerodynamics, not aerology.”
“Same thing either way. Anyway, what are you going to do? Believe in me and follow.”
“Ha.”
Ryu Jaeyul put his hands on his hips and continued.
“I’m in a hurry too. The moment I quit math and started baseball, my parents turned their backs on me.”
Then he shrugged as if it were nothing.
“Well, we reached an agreement that I wouldn’t let go of math completely, but they still hate that I’m playing baseball.”
I would’ve done the same in their shoes. He’d been a math prodigy since childhood, and suddenly baseball?
“That’s why I have to succeed even more. The problem is my skill. Honestly, I’m good at leading and mental warfare. My pitch framing and catching sense are pretty good too. The only problem is….”
In an instant, a shadow fell over Ryu Jaeyul’s eyes.
“My shoulder is weak. That’s why my pickoff throws are weak and my throwing distance is short. Once a runner gets on, it’s over.”
A catcher with a weak pickoff arm and short throwing distance.
I could tell without him saying. He’d managed to hold on somehow through analysis, calculation, leading, and mental warfare, but that was only good enough through high school.
In other words, it meant he wasn’t good enough to go pro.
“I want to play in the pro first team.”
I froze at Ryu Jaeyul’s words. While living as a baseball player, there was one goal everyone shared.
Making it to the pros and playing on the first team.
“So do your best. I’m betting on you.”
My chest grew hot. I wanted to throw the ball right that instant.
“Let’s devour the KBO!”
“You’ll need skill if you want to devour it.”
Swish-.
Ryu Jaeyul threw the baseball he was holding. I caught it reflexively.
Thwack.
“There are things you need to do to make your pitches faster. Reducing your release angle, building your lower body and core, increasing your stamina, and improving arm swing flexibility to increase acceleration.”
“Wait, release angle, lower body, core… arm swing?”
“Yeah. You push a knuckleball, right? If you lower the release angle slightly, the ball flies more straight and picks up speed. So practice lowering your release angle just a bit.”
“Oh! Lowering the angle makes the ball faster?!”
Ryu Jaeyul looked at me as if I were beneath him.
“They say athletes study these days.”
“Hey, you’re an athlete too!”
“That’s why I do math problems when baseball isn’t working out.”
What was I expecting from this math maniac?
As I sighed, Ryu Jaeyul asked.
“Can you build your lower body, core, and chest muscles?”
Was that even a question?
“Of course. I do it every day already.”
“Then keep it up. Don’t forget your strength training every day.”
“Then what will you do? Catcher practice?”
Ryu Jaeyul nodded.
“Yeah. If the ball speed increases, the instability will increase too, so I can’t just sit still either.”
Ryu Jaeyul flashed a grin.
“Your pitches will never get past me.”
***
ER Hawks 2nd Team Weight Room.
“Urk….”
The road to 130 km/h wasn’t easy.
“Ugh!”
No, I was dying before that.
“100!”
I collapsed on the floor. 100 push-ups in 2 minutes. It was right after training had already ended. Plus, I had run on the treadmill for 30 minutes after training.
But I couldn’t rest. If the knuckleball was obtained without effort, growing that pitch was 100% my effort.
“Next… squats and deadlifts. And dumbbell flyes….”
I didn’t have time to lie around. I tried to get up to do squats immediately when I saw Ryu Jaeyul in the distance.
He was really insane.
Ryu Jaeyul was doing a plank while watching a video of math problem solutions on an iPad.
“You know you’re really insane, right?”
Fixing his gaze on the iPad, Ryu Jaeyul said.
“Use that time to work out more.”
“I will.”
I got into a squat position immediately. Right, better to exercise than waste time on useless talk.
130. I’ll hit 130 within a month.
“One, two, three….”
I started doing squats, gritting my teeth. Repeating 130 in my head.
Exactly two hours after starting the workout, players gathered in front of the training room.
Everyone clicked their tongues at the sight of Ryu Jaeyul and me.
“Ruthless, so ruthless.”
“They’re crazy, right? Those two have been working out like madmen since earlier.”
“Didn’t Chae Gangu throw a ton earlier too?”
“He’s the same way with catching. Ryu Jaeyul did a ton of blocking and throwing practice.”
“So both of them work out like that after training? They’re really insane.”
It had only been a few days.
Among the players and coaches, Ryu Jaeyul and I had become bound together as relentless madmen full of determination.
***
Thwack-.
The ball drawing an irregular trajectory was sucked into the mitt.
“You’ve definitely gained speed. I think it came out around 122?”
I nodded as if it were only natural at Ryu Jaeyul’s words.
“I trained like crazy, so it should be.”
It was exactly one month since entering the ER Hawks 2nd team. And during that time, I had truly trained like crazy.
Ryu Jaeyul was the same. Because we trained relentlessly morning, noon, and night, everyone called us “Dokbae.”
Dok. Bae. Meaning a fierce battery, apparently.
“Today I’ll hit 125.”
Just as I was about to throw the ball again.
A commotion was heard along with a presence.
I turned my head toward the sound. Then a scene that made me doubt my eyes unfolded.
Director Yun Seonggeun and Coach An Chunghui. And the people visible behind them.
They were definitely first team players. First team players I had only seen on TV were right before my eyes.
The most eye-catching players were, of course, the starting lineup.
Baek Seongchan. 37 years old. ER Hawks’ best pitcher with 100 career wins and 1,300 strikeouts in the KBO.
He was also the pitcher I admired the most.
My gaze, blankly staring at player Baek Seongchan, shifted to Director Yun Seonggeun standing before him.
Director Yun Seonggeun standing before the players was talking earnestly about something with Coach An Chunghui.
Watching that scene, the 2nd team players whispered among themselves.
“Soon the first team will start the KBO regular season and we’ll start the Futures League, so did they come for a practice game?”
“No way. Even if they practice together, they won’t play a game.”
That was right. The first team had no reason to play against the second team.
“It would be nice just to practice. Practicing with the seniors would be a huge help.”
It would be nice just to practice. I agreed, but there was no way the first team would train together with the second team.
I quickly abandoned vain hope.
I had to focus on what I could do now.
“Ryu Jaeyul.”
Ryu Jaeyul, blankly staring at the first team, turned his head toward me at the sound.
“Catch.”
The first team came, but so what. I had decided to hit 125 today.
Only then could I join the first team I so admired.
The moment Ryu Jaeyul finished preparing, I threw the ball. Pushed from my fingertips, the ball cleanly split the air.
Thwack-.
“Hmm, 123? Not bad?”
“Not yet.”
Swish-.
I threw the ball again.
“Was that a knuckle?”
Thwack. The moment Ryu Jaeyul caught the ball, I turned my head.
“…Huh?!”
The person standing beside me now was,
“Senior Baek Seongchan?”
Player Baek Seongchan, who was standing beside me without me knowing when he arrived, asked Coach An Chunghui.
“Coach, he threw a knuckleball, right?”
When Coach An Chunghui nodded, player Baek Seongchan asked me again in surprise.
“You really throw a knuckleball?”
Baek Seongchan, who had decorated KBO history with brilliant numbers, was talking to me.
“A-ah, yes!”
I answered in a sharp, disciplined voice.
“What’s your name?”
“I’m Chae… Gangu!”
“Chae Gangu.”
My heart pounded fiercely. Something hot rose from the bottom of my throat.
Just having the existence I so admired call my name was overwhelming.
My emotions soared at the unbelievable reality. Strength unconsciously entered my fingertips gripping the ball.
Only now did it feel real. That I had come to the pros.
I was still in the 2nd team, but someday I would make the 1st team and play in games with player Baek Seongchan.
“You look young. Did you just graduate high school?”
“Yes!”
“Amazing. But you throw a knuckleball?”
Amazing?
My heart swelled. I had never imagined hearing player Baek Seongchan call me amazing.
But my elation was short-lived.
“What knuckle? Who?”
A sharp, menacing voice.
It was player Min Hyoseop swaggering over to Baek Seongchan’s side.