Chapter 11
Chapter 11: Live Pitching 05
Chapter 11 – Live Pitching 05
The players of the secondary string changed their opinions of Gun Choi .
“Could we ask him to teach us the changeup?
“No way, he’s a cold-hearted person . ”
“But Sung-Guk talked with him . ”
“He is different with us . He’s went back and forth the first string . ”
“Has he?”
“Yes . ”
Gun Choi tsk-tsked as he heard this conversation from far away .
‘Sung-Guk Jung isn’t any different . ’
Gun Choi only faced Sung-Guk Jung because he constantly talked to him, not because of his position in the team .
Gun Choi thought that his persistence was the reason why Sung-Guk Jung could enter the first string .
‘Persistence is the cornerstone of success . He might become a regular in the first string faster than expected . ’
The morning training started at the order of the batting coach .
“Ok, let’s get started!”
Gun Choi warmed up his body by running and stretching with the second string players .
‘If I can’t focus on winter training, I’ll have a hard time in the next season . ’
Gun Choi and the second string players spent a bit more time due to the cold weather .
“One! Two! One! Two!”
Players practiced at the word of command .
Gun Choi thought that AT Communication’s degree of training intensity was normal . It wasn’t harder or easier compared to the other teams .
After warming up, the players grouped in threes and started intensive training .
“I’m bored of repeating . ”
“We need this . We can’t go abroad training in November . ”
The players ran 60m at full sprint before warning track at the command of a coach .
It was Gun Choi’s turn .
Every player of the second string watched him .
“How fast is he?”
“He’s not going to run at full power, this is winter . ”
“I think he will run normally . ”
“Right . . . If he gets injured, that would be a big loss . ”
The coach made a signal while the players were noisy .
“Go!”
Gun Choi started to run forward rapidly .
He was very fast .
The players couldn’t believe his running speed .
“He doesn’t need to run so fast . ”
“Right, it’s easy to get injured during winter . ”
“Real training starts from spring camp . We just need to stretch our muscles . ”
If Gun Choi had heard the second string players’ conversation, he would have said: .
‘Keep practicing until you vomit . Otherwise, you can’t go to the first string . ’
Gun Choi had practiced a lot when he was in the Minor League .
Every one of his colleagues acknowledged that .
A genius of practicing, that is who Gun Choi was .
After training, he went home .
The players of the second string complained that he never mingled with others . But Gun Choi thought it was natural not to join them in drinking a beer or coffee .
The most important things for players were practice and relaxation .
“Brother!”
Gun Choi looked at him with his bag on shoulder . It was Sung-Kuk Jung .
“What happened?”
“I’ have one thing to ask you . ”
“To me?”
“Yes . ”
Gun Choi looked annoyed but didn’t turn his head to him which meant he would answer him .
“Brother, you’re right-handed but how you are good at changeup?”
In the baseball world, many left-handed pitchers were good at the changeup .
So Sung-Kuk Jung thought the changeup was the main weapon for those left-handed .
Gun Choi hesitated a moment .
‘If I don’t explain well, he will keep asking me . No way . I’ll answer correctly . ”
He sighed and talked to Sung-Kuk Jung .
“If you want to be good at using the changeup against those right-handed, you’d better change your stance . ”
Right .
The reason why Gun Choi’s changeup had threatened the right-handed batter was because he stepped on the left of the mound .
To cover this weakness, Gun Choi sometimes stepped to the right of the mound and pitched .
Sung-Kuk looked as if he had learnt a big lesson .
“Oh! Position of feet…Ok, I see . ”
After his teaching, Sung-Kuk Jung bowed ninety-degrees .
“Are you done?”
Gun Choi carelessly responded and turned away .
And a message showed up .
- Credibility rank increased .
Credibility: C- → C
Credibility rose to C from C- .
Gun Choi was little astonished that the system could also check the relationship among people .
“Someday this system is going to check my personal love life . ”
- Your love rank is F .
Gun Choi bent his brow at the unexpected message .
“Hey, that’s too bad, F? My character is not bad . ”
But the system didn’t change the rank .
Gun Choi tutted as he walked .
“AI playing with a human . ”
Gun Choi continued his practice even after getting back home .
In the virtual ground by using the ring .
Here he trained in the knuckleball .
The ball rode the winds and passed by the mitt .
“I considered too much wind . Let me try again . ”
He pitched exactly where he wanted . And then he loudly shouted .
“Strike!”
One of the problems of the ring was that people in the ring never spoke out .
So he often spoke loudly when he was in the ring .
Once he got the knack, his knuckleball improved a lot .
He trained in the knuckleball and his skill reached the peak .
His rank developed to D+ in a few days and to C by the end of November .
And after 3 days, his rank increased again .
- Knuckleball rank increased . C- → C
Gun Choi jumped up suddenly when his rank reached C .
“Ok, I’m ready for the showcase!”
Rank C meant that there wouldn’t be any problem in a real game .
Gun Choi thought that he could show something to Tomson who abandoned him from Boston because of his confident 150km fastball and knuckleball .
“Wait for me, Tomson . I’m going to the Major League . ”