Min Hyoseop.
He had followed the typical elite baseball trajectory, and he was a right-handed fireballer. Even his primary pitches were identical to mine before my shoulder injury.
If asked to pick the player most similar to me in the pros, I would have thought of Min Hyoseop.
“I heard back in the day that every nobody threw a knuckleball, then things quieted down. What, you actually have control now?”
Baek Seongchan said to Min Hyoseop, who was chewing gum obnoxiously.
“Watch your mouth? Hyoseop?”
“Ah, hyung, it’s hilarious. A knuckleball in this day and age.”
Then Min Hyoseop looked me up and down.
Ha. I take back thinking we were similar, even for a moment.
Having dismissed me just like that, right when I was about to throw the ball.
“You gonna throw? Throw it. I don’t even expect control. It’s a no-spin ball, so eighty? Ninety? You’re not throwing something that comes out like that, are you?”
At that moment, I was fired up.
Hierarchy in baseball was distinct, but my personality was too much of a hot-headed bastard to let a senior picking a fight go unnoticed.
“I have control.”
Min Hyoseop frowned, displeased at my words.
“What?”
“My velocity sits around 128. I’ll hit 130 soon.”
In that moment, not only Min Hyoseop but even Baek Seongchan beside him asked as if they couldn’t believe it.
“Wait, you throw a knuckleball at 128?”
“Yes.”
“Throw it.”
Seeing Min Hyoseop speak as if riled up, I felt no more words were needed.
“Yes.”
Rather, I just had to throw and prove it.
Right when I, rolling the ball with my fingertips inside my glove, was about to throw.
“Now, now. Everyone gather around.”
I flinched and turned around at Coach An Chunghui’s words.
“The manager says let’s have a light game.”
A game?
“Huh? A game?”
Coach An Chunghui nodded at Min Hyoseop’s question.
“Since you’re here anyway, the league is starting soon for you guys, so he wants to lightly warm up. It’ll be good experience for the second-team kids too since they have the Futures League.”
My calmed heart grew hot again. A game between the second team and the first team.
“We’ll only go 7 innings, so everyone warm up lightly.”
At Coach An Chunghui’s words, the second-team players’ faces turned quite flushed.
It was natural. This was an opportunity.
The manager and coaching staff were all gathered here right now. If I properly displayed my skills while playing against the first-team players, I could get called up.
The atmosphere changed in an instant. The second-team players were swept up in a sense of mission to show something and burned with fighting spirit, while the first-team themselves were fired up with competitive spirit, saying they couldn’t lose to the second team.
Everyone moved to prepare for the game. I was also excited and was about to throw the ball one more time.
“Coach. This kid’s a development player, right?”
At Min Hyoseop’s words, my hand froze in mid-air.
“Gangwoo? Yeah, he’s development.”
Then Min Hyoseop clicked his tongue and muttered.
“What. He’s not even second team, so he won’t even play in the game.”
Only then did I recall that I was a development player, not a second-team player.
Since it was a game between the first and second teams, there would be no reason for a development player to go out. My excited mood sank in an instant.
“If you were a high-speed knuckleballer like you said, you’d have come straight to the first team. As a first-round draft pick. But since you’re a development player, well, I can guess your skills without even seeing them.”
Min Hyoseop turned away, snickering. Normally I would have argued back even if he was a senior, but the fact remained that I was a development player.
“You said Chae Gangwoo?”
It was Baek Seongchan who lifted my mood that had sunk to the bottom.
“Hyoseop isn’t that bad of a guy. There are no knuckleballers these days. There were kids who threw breaking balls and insisted they were knuckleballs.”
Someone in Baek Seongchan’s position could have lorded it over juniors. No, most seniors actually did that.
“That’s probably why he can’t believe it. I’ll apologize in his stead, so please understand.”
But Baek Seongchan wasn’t like that. To think he’d even apologize on his behalf.
Was his personality glowing too?
“It’s a shame. That we can’t play together this time. Work hard and come up to the first team. Let’s play together then.”
And with that, Baek Seongchan patted my shoulder and turned around.
I was blankly watching Baek Seongchan’s back when I came down from the mound at a second-team senior’s words telling me to move aside.
I had said I’d go straight to the first team, but I was a development player who couldn’t even play in a practice game against the first team, let alone the Futures League.
“Ha….”
I had every reason to be discouraged, but instead, I burned up.
It was a really fucked-up personality. The type that gets stubborn when told something can’t be done and makes it happen.
That’s why I didn’t cower. Even so, I was going to the first team.
I came down from the mound and quietly sat on the bench. Since I probably couldn’t play in the game, I decided to take it in with my eyes at least.
Ryu Jaeyul must have thought he had no chance of playing either, as he sat silently beside me.
Yeah, well. You learn just by watching.
I thought it was an honor just to watch Baek Seongchan’s pitching up close, whom I had respected so much.
Since I wouldn’t be playing in the game, I took off my glove too. I wouldn’t need it until the game ended.
But that thought was shattered exactly one hour later by the coach’s voice calling me.
“Chae Gangwoo, come out.”
***
7 innings.
At first, everyone thought it was no different from 9 innings.
Because everyone was certain it was enough innings to show what they were capable of.
But the opponent was the first team.
Before the game started, all the second-team players shouted that they had to try it once, that there wouldn’t be much difference, but after every inning, the expressions of the second-team players darkened.
With the batting lineups collapsing miserably and the pitchers struggling as well, there was no answer.
With the league approaching, the first-team players had raised their condition to the highest level.
Of course, the second-team players were the same, but the wall of the first team was high.
0:8.
Along with the miserable score, it was now the 5th inning. The second team had already changed pitchers seven times, and the first-team pitcher was the starter Min Hyoseop, who kept throwing.
“Ball!”
When he let Jin Gangho, a first-team player of the ER Hawks and the KBO’s representative slugger, get on base via a walk, Manager Yoon Seonggeun quietly shook his head.
Even if he couldn’t record an out, Manager Yoon Seonggeun’s mindset was that he would rather the pitcher give up a hit while actually battling. But a walk to reach base?
When Manager Yoon Seonggeun gestured, Choi Kyeongsik, the coach in charge of the second team, quickly ran over.
“Who’s in the bullpen?”
At that question, Coach Choi Kyeongsik sent a glance toward Coach An Chunghui. Then Coach An Chunghui came over and held out a paper he’d brought to Manager Yoon Seonggeun.
Manager Yoon Seonggeun’s eyes were fierce as he scanned the paper with the list of second-team pitchers.
“Two are injured, so the remaining players are Sion and….”
Of the sixteen second-team pitchers, excluding the seven who had played and the two injured, seven remained.
But perhaps there was no suitable pitcher, as Manager Yoon Seonggeun pushed the paper away with a swipe.
“Call that kid over.”
“Huh?”
“Knuckleball.”
I flinched at the sound of the word knuckleball. At the same time, my eyes met Coach An Chunghui, who was looking at me.
Coach An Chunghui looked back and forth between me and Manager Yoon Seonggeun, then opened his mouth.
“Are you talking about Chae Gangwoo?”
“Yeah. Bring him up.”
Coach An Chunghui, who had hesitated briefly at Manager Yoon Seonggeun’s words, nodded.
“Understood. Manager, only Jaeyul can catch Gangwoo’s ball. Shall I bring Jaeyul up too?”
“Yeah.”
Coach An Chunghui turned around. At the same time, my heart began beating like crazy.
No way.
Was I really going in?
Soon, Coach An Chunghui stood before me and spoke to me and Jaeyul.
“Chae Gangwoo, come out. We’re substituting right away, so warm up quickly.”
At those words, I picked up my glove.
There was no time.
Since I had been throwing the ball like crazy with Ryu Jaeyul before the game started, there would be no problem even if I threw right away.
“I’ll just throw now.”
Then Coach An Chunghui asked back as if he had misheard.
“What?”
“Right now. I’ll go up immediately. I warmed up earlier, so I’m fine.”
At my words, Coach An Chunghui stared at the mound. The pitcher who had given up a walk earlier had now given up a hit.
“Huh.”
Coach An Chunghui clicked his tongue, then nodded as if he understood.
“Jaeyul, you’re ready, right?”
Ryu Jaeyul answered, putting on his catcher’s mask.
“Yes!”
“Yeah, then. Both of you go out.”
Before he had even finished speaking, Coach An Chunghui turned and gestured toward the coaching staff watching the umpire.
It was the substitution signal.
The second-team pitcher came down from the mound with his head hung deeply. Somehow, it didn’t feel like someone else’s problem.
Among the formidable first-team batters, could I really do well?
No, that wasn’t the question.
I had to do well.
Coach An Chunghui, standing on the mound, gestured toward me. It was the signal to come up.
“Let’s go.”
Ryu Jaeyul followed behind me as I walked to the mound and said.
“Good thing we trained, huh?”
“Right. But let’s still throw the ball two or three times before starting. My body seems a bit stiff from watching the game.”
“Okay.”
And as soon as I stepped onto the mound, I heard the voices of the first-team batters.
“Who’s he? I haven’t seen him before.”
“Is he a new draftee? He looks young; isn’t he a total amateur?”
“Coach, where did this kid come from?”
To the batters’ questions, Coach Lee Gwanggi, the first-team head coach, answered.
“He’s a development player. I heard he just graduated high school this time.”
Then the batters laughed as if dumbfounded.
“You’re bringing up a development player? The manager is too much. What if the kid’s mental breaks?”
“He’ll gain experience.”
“Let’s finish quickly and rest. Don’t take it too seriously against a kid.”
The batters’ words, each and every one, stung in my ears.
Well, whatever. It wasn’t wrong.
However, unlike the second-team pitchers before me, I had no intention of ending it like that.
“Gangwoo.”
I raised my head at Coach An Chunghui’s call.
“Don’t be nervous. Throw loose. It’s okay if you make mistakes.”
“Understood.”
As soon as I answered, Coach An Chunghui held out a ball.
“Here, throw however you want.”
I took it and nodded. Coach An Chunghui went down from the mound.
Taking a small breath, I looked around.
Runners were on first and second, and there were no outs.
“Ryu Jaeyul.”
“Yeah.”
“Catch the ball well for me.”
“What do you take me for?”
A laugh came out. My heart beating pleasantly, the thrilling tension. And the overflowing adrenaline at the same time.
Preparation was over.
Then shall I lightly cause some confusion?
Since it was just a warm-up game anyway, I had no intention of revealing my full strength.
I rolled the ball in my hand inside the glove. Normally, I would have pressed it with my fingertips on a spot away from the seams, but not now.
Grasping exactly the seams, I took a two-seam grip. Stopping my breath briefly, I swung my arm. It was exactly the two-seam I mainly threw when I was a right-hander.
Swish—.
Thwack.
Ryu Jaeyul, who caught the ball, tilted his head. That was understandable. I had suddenly thrown a two-seam instead of a knuckleball.
After throwing the same ball two or three more times, I heard the voices of the first-team batters.
“I thought a development player coming up would be something special. But this is too nothing. Coach, even if he’s a development player, wasn’t this too random of a pick?”
“Jaeyoon, just go up there and hit it.”
The first-team batters talked as if it was already over.
And I wasn’t shaken by those words.
Because it was all intentional.