Chapter 46

A Walk Around the Neighborhood -4-

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Professional players sometimes feel inferior when they see other players.

In fact, it's a very normal and common thing. Most people don't try to harm others just because they feel inferior.

At worst, they might pick a fight over something trivial or say a few bad words.

When inferiority turns into a competitive spirit, it becomes a source of growth.

In that sense, Yang Daegun felt quite a bit of inferiority towards Jung Joon.

f**k, Yang Daegun, learn from Joon, you big, clumsy guy

Baseball skills?

If it had ended there, he might have just acknowledged it and moved on.

f**k, Daegun, that guy is wasting his hardware.

f**k, he has no star quality, just a big, clumsy guy

f**k, he thinks he can win by himself in a team sport

f**k, Joon is so annoying, but having him on our team would be really reassuring...

f**k, can we trade Daegun for Joon?

f**k, would you do that? Think about it

f**k, he's a big, timid guy<->annoying, but a star hitter with great baseball skills?

But what can you do about a personality like that? And it's just the kind of baseball he pursues.

Home run hitters naturally strike out more. It's the same principle as why pitchers who give up a lot of home runs also have a lot of strikeouts.

To hit a home run, you have to swing big, and to get a strikeout, you have to throw in the strike zone.

Yang Daegun hated strikeouts. He thought that a walk or a hit to first base was the same thing.

In the final of a high school tournament, he hesitated between his principles and the coach's instructions, and struck out with a weak swing. Seeing his slumped back in a sports newspaper made him consider quitting baseball.

What can you do with a personality like that? Fans demand more from him as a star hitter, but he feels far from that.

He just likes a high on-base percentage and is a fan of sabermetrics.

So, the free-spirited and expressive Jung Joon was an insurmountable wall for Yang Daegun.

As a professional baseball player, but also as a human being.

"Looking strike! Yang! Daegun!"

Pirates fans know the Oceans very well. That's why they chant like that.

But Yang Daegun has recently undergone a psychological change.

He felt a sense of defeat towards Jung Joon, and then Kang Geon-woo appeared in front of him.

Kang Geon-woo is full of confidence and doesn't fear expressing himself, but he maintains his own pace in every aspect.

Despite the media and people around him talking about him as a 1.5 billion won rookie, and even if a veteran player in front of him is performing well, or if people speculate whether he can maintain his performance.

If it were the usual Yang Daegun, he would have taken a long time to face a struggling pitcher.

Perhaps, it was an overreaction to meet the expectations of some sabermetricians who are enthusiastic about on-base percentage.

To increase the number of pitches and get a walk.

Thwack-!

Last season, Yang Daegun wouldn't have even swung at such a pitch. A sinking fastball diving below the strike zone.

Based on experience, the probability of the umpire calling it a strike is about 30%.

It's likely to be a ball, but it could also be a strike.

A pitch that he could have hit but didn't to increase the ball count, Yang Daegun hit it.

"Yang Daegun! Yang Daegun! Yang Daegun!"

Fans cheered his name, and the commentator was busy praising Yang Daegun's swing.

The Pirates manager tried to maintain a poker face while thinking.

'F**k, damn it.'

The newly acquired foreign pitcher couldn't get a single out and gave up four runs.

Of course, it's right after recovering from an injury and there's an adaptation issue, but getting hit so badly will make it very hard to get used to the new league.

What can I do? Should I replace him or let him keep pitching?

While he was thinking, Yang Daegun stepped on home plate and shyly waved to the fans.

"Wow! Yang Daegun just waved!"

"What? Daegun waved?"

"Must have been a mistake!"

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Baseball doesn't have 'what ifs,' but I don't think there's much else where the butterfly effect is as significant.

The debut game is really important. While it's not common to have an amazing debut, if you show your true skills from the first game, the chances are high that you'll continue to do so, in my opinion.

It's consistent with what I've always said. If things don't go well, you start to doubt whether what you've been doing is wrong. When you start to think that way, you unconsciously start to change things, and your skills disappear.

Ricky Miguel might shake off his poor debut and show better performance over time. Or this might be his true level.

Foreigners have it even harder. I was a foreigner in the major leagues too, and even though it's a bit different here, there's that sense of unease.

Anyway, we won the game today.

Kim Jeong-yong pitched 7 innings with 2 runs, making him a high-quality pitcher today. After the game, he stood in front of the players and said something different from usual.

"You guys, I had a really simple dream, do you know what it was?"

The veteran pitcher's dream was really simple.

"To pitch and get the Pirates a winning streak."

No Kyung-woo rolled his eyes. He seemed to not understand what it meant.

In baseball, the best team batting is a home run, and the best team play is a win.

I don't know if it's just my feeling, but the team training atmosphere has been quite good lately. Bae Young-han came into the locker room smelling of alcohol without drinking a conditioner, and Daegun doesn't get startled when he sees fans or shrink in front of reporters.

Relief pitchers?

It would be hard for them to suddenly improve without taking some kind of drug, but they are analyzing their opponents seriously and trying to improve even a little.

More importantly, after the game, when we were moving to the bus.

Fans waiting for the team shouted when they saw me.

"Kang Geon-woo!"

It's a familiar scene. But it's troublesome when the path is complicated, and it's also troublesome for the security personnel, so I can't sign as many autographs on my way home.

Still, I walked up to the fan who called my name the loudest. But the fan wasn't asking for an autograph.

"Kang Geon-woo! Yoo Ri is here!"

I thought it was a joke, but Yoo Ri was really there.

She seemed a bit embarrassed because there were so many people, twisting her body.

"Geon-woo..."

"Did you wait to see me?"

Seeing her in a different way from usual, I couldn't help but laugh. Although we didn't have much time to talk, sometimes that's enough. The idea that you can meet in unexpected places.

-Yoo Ri: I just wanted to see you from afar

-Yoo Ri: Those jerks were going to call out Geon-woo for me

-Me: It was so good to see you ㅎㅎㅎ

-Yoo Ri: I'm working overtime

-Yoo Ri: Now even the older guys call me Yoo Ri

-Yoo Ri: Even the women call me Yoo Ri

-Me: You can't marry anyone but me ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ

-Yoo Ri: Don't make me angry...

-Yoo Ri: Someone said they would inspect who illegally dumped 100 tons of kimchi in the Nakdong River...

-Me: ㅎㅎㅎㅎㅎ

I had a thought once.

If there's someone who can make Yoo Ri happier than me, should I let her go?

But I don't think that's the case.

Since I made Yoo Ri sad, no one knows better than me how to avoid making her sad.

Still, Yoo Ri is so beautiful and smart that there might be someone after her, but I have no intention of letting her go.

-Me: Yoo Ri

-Yoo Ri: What

-Me: Should we file for marriage first?

-Yoo Ri: What are you talking about again?

-Me: After seeing you today, I got more and more worried that someone might take you away

-Yoo Ri: Hey

-Me: Yes?

-Yoo Ri: You're proposing with a Korea Series ring

-Yoo Ri: You keep saying two things at once

-Yoo Ri: Is my mood a bit off?

-Me: Ah, okay

-Me: I'll go do some special training

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The next day, the Oceans recorded one loss after a four-game winning streak.

A hard-fought battle that lasted until the 12th inning.

Despite the loss, Oceans fans applauded the team for their good fight.

They didn't show the complacent attitude they had last season.