Chapter 7 – Live Pitching 01

SW park at Suwon.

AT Communication suggested for Gun Choi to perform a live pitch after hearing about his recovery of ball velocity and movement.

This was the last step towards a real game, Gun Choi accepted the proposal without hesitating.

“Ok.”

“Let me know when?”

Live pitches couldn’t be decided on the spot because it should be treated like a real game.

“Maybe three days later?”

The team manager asked Gun Choi again.

“Do you want a batter to hit the ball? We usually don’t….’

Gun Choi smiled and replied.

“Without a batter, it’s not live pitching. If possible, let me have an ambidextrous batter. I want to get a three out count.”

This meant that he wanted to test his pitching on a left and right-handed batter.

“Ok.”

The manager sent notice of this to the coach of the second string.

The manager and coach of the second string bent their brows at his proposal.

“He must be confident. He is willing to try an ambidextrous batter.”

“I heard he played well before his injury.” 

“I don’t like his att.i.tude. He doesn’t have a firm record, it's only temporary.

“What will you do?”

The manager replied to the coach without hesitation.

“Prepare the cleanup trio.”

The manager wanted to take Gun Choi down a peg with the cleanup hitter of the second string.

“Sir, no way…”

The hitter coach spoke to the manager of the possibility that they might be defeated instead but the manager didn’t agree with that.

“Whatever the result, we get a benefit.”

“If the cleanup fails, they will lose confidence.”

The manager turned purple with rage.

“Do you know why our cleanup hitters were released from the first string? No skill? No experience? No, I don’t agree. They don’t know that they don’t have enough skill to survive. They just think they were unlucky. I hope they can realize it this time.”

The coach thought that the manager’s words made sense.

“Yes, Sir. I’ll follow your order.”

The cleanup trio of the second string heard of the matter from the coach and bent their brows.

“Why do we need to go for live pitching? There are bench members too.”

“Right. You should give a chance to the rookie. This is great chance to see a Major Leaguer.”

“I don’t want to help him. He is so arrogant.”

The players of the second string showed their hostility towards Gun Choi. Especially those who had stayed in the second string for a long time expressed strong antagonism against him.

The hitter coach replied loudly.

“You can hit a ball at this live pitching. You can take Gun Choi down a peg.”

The three players changed their att.i.tudes at the coach’s words.

“We get to bat?”

“That’s good.”

“We can show a novice Major Leaguer how good we are doing.”

The three players packed their gears cheerfully.

But the coach thought Gun Choi was a very difficult player to deal with.

‘His speed at the bullpen was 148km, so he could even throw 150km.’

Gun Choi stretched on the mound.

At practice, he threw a ball with half power.

Gang-Han was the catcher for the live pitching, and he cheered every time Gun Choi pitched b.a.l.l.s.

“Nice pitching.”

Gun Choi thought Gang-Han had enough skill as a catcher.

‘He has enough skills, but why does he stay at the bullpen?’

He had a good defense score. But his batting score was pretty low.

In the secondary string, he was a catcher with a record of 200 hits.

Gang-Han Kim had accepted the proposal to be a bullpen catcher because he himself thought it would be hard to survive as a professional player.

Gun Choi threw ten b.a.l.l.s and stretched out.

“Ok, let get started.”

Gun Choi nodded at the coach.

“Ok.”

At that time, a message showed up in his eye.

- Live pitching mission start.

Condition: Three out.

Reward: Will acquire points that can be used for improving skills.

Gun Choi tilted his head.

‘I didn’t wake the system up, acquiring points? Anyway, it will be a benefit.’

Min-Suk Park was the first batter up. He had an average batting rate of 0.331 in the secondary string this year.

He twitched his lips.

‘Major Leaguer? I’ll put you down a peg.’

He stared at Gun Choi after taking up position in the batter's box.

Gun Choi also noticed the look in his eyes and tilted his head.

‘He is much too serious, this is only a live pitching. Is this a trick of the system? No way.’

He took a deep breath and threw the first ball. It was a fastball.

Min-Suk Park swung the bat but failed. Gun Choi’s ball flew into the mitt before Min-Suk Park could swing his bat.

“Strike.”

The speed was faster than Min-Suk’s expectation.

‘Wow, he’s superb.’

Si-Hyung Gong, the sole trainer for the secondary string, was an amateur licensed umpire.

Min-Suk took a lower grip on his bat because he noticed that Gun Choi’s ball was much faster than the other pitchers in secondary string.

‘Pretty much all the pitchers in the secondary string can throw a ball at 150km. But I can hit b.a.l.l.s from them. 150km, it’s just a number.’

He prepared a lot but also failed on the second ball, a slider.

 A slider angle was totally different with secondary’s.

‘s.h.i.+t..sharp slider with 150km. This is better than the first string.’

Gun Choi received the ball silently.

‘No ball two strikes. Usually people throw outside at this timing.‘

He chose the upper center instead of the outside.

A fastball entered the strike zone.

This was a perfect combination of b.a.l.l.s to catch the batter off guard.

“Strike! Batter out!”

Min-Suk was struck out without a single hit.

The other cleanups, Won-Yong Kim and Gil-Sung Lee bent their brows.

“Oops, strikeout.”

“He caught us unprepared. In a domestic game, we don’t see a center ball at 2:0.”

“Right…”

“He must be flattering himself that it was Major League style.”

Tut-tutting, Won-Yong Kim picked up a bat. His record was 0.347 and 15 home runs which was better than Min-Suk Park.