Countryside Ace

Chapter 11 : Coaching (1)

Coaching (1)

Gu Hyun-im, a first-round pitcher born in 2008 who had joined the Gangwon Miners' spring camp, was sweating profusely.

"Don't try too hard to aim. Just think about pounding the strike zone right in the middle, okay?"

"Yes, sir!"

The former head coach, who had stepped down after last season ended, had never given him any opportunity.

He hardly got any appearances in the second team either. Complaints about his control, saying he had no breaking balls at all.

However, this time was different.

The newly-appointed pitching coach had stayed right beside him, giving him over an hour of one-on-one instruction.

"You don't need to throw the curveball too precisely either. Since your fastball is good enough, just use it to mess up timing."

"All right!"

With such a good four-seam, the coach explained, hitters would be looking for it and end up swinging and missing at his curveball.

Even if that wasn't the case, the mere fact that hitters had to account for the possibility of a curve would work in his favor every time he threw the four-seam.

"There's no need to play mind games for nothing. Just overpower them!"

"Yes, sir!"

Gu Hyun-im believed that the previous second-team pitching coach, who had been what people called a "junkball pitcher" during his playing days, had looked down on fireballers.

It was the same for Gu Hyun-im as well as Terry, who'd joined the team at the same time.

Both could throw fastballs in the mid-150 km/h range, but last year, their appearances in the second team had been fewer than their rivals.

'Seo Tae-seung really is different.'

The GOAT of the Major Leagues. For someone like that to show up and recognize his real potential.

Gu Hyun-im was burning with motivation.

'No one can hit your pitches.'

With a legendary senior from the industry giving him such personal instruction, he couldn't help but be fired up.

After finishing his conversation, Seo Tae-seung walked up to his son, who'd just finished long toss and was taking a break.

"Hey, rookie."

"Coach."

Still, perhaps because it was his second life, he was very polite in public.

Seo Tae-seung gestured for his son, who stood up, to sit back down and said,

"Don't you ever feel things like that sometimes?"

"Feel what?"

"You know, when your body moves or words come out differently from what you had in mind?"

Seo Ye-sung tilted his head slightly.

"I'm not really sure what you mean."

"No? You haven't had that happen yet?"

Looking around, Seo Ye-sung lowered his voice and asked quietly,

"Does that happen if you go back to the past?"

"It's more like... call it youthful blood. There are times when your hormones just go wild."

"So, father, when you were young, you just sp... I mean, in interviews...."

"Yeah, sometimes I did. I'd get angry just seeing a reporter."

Seo Tae-seung raised his hand and laughed as if admitting it, and his son laughed along with him.

Seo Ye-sung, lowering his voice even more, asked,

"By the way, are you really going to try to fix Gu Hyun-im-sunbae?"

Seo Ye-sung knew Gu Hyun-im's future. But it wasn't out of worry—it was with expectation.

Maybe Father could save a first-round pitcher who was otherwise bound to crash and disappear.

"No."

"But you've been paying a lot of attention to him lately...."

"If I make him usable enough, at least we can use him as a trade card."

Seo Ye-sung clammed up. Well, it wasn't like there was anything wrong with that.

"Who knows? If he blows up here, great. And if not, he might go to another team and break out."

"But can you just make trades at will?"

Seo Tae-seung smirked rather slyly.

"Our general manager's a puppet. If the Chairman asks, he'll make it happen."

"... Then, should I give you a list of lower-round guys from other teams who might break out?"

At that, Seo Tae-seung poked his son in the side with a serious face.

"Don't tell me you haven't made that list yet?"

* * *

Father tells me all sorts of stories.

"Are you going to send all the FA seniors to the bullpen?"

"Yeah. If Bang Min-soo loses 20 kg, we'll use him; Jung Han-seung and Jo Sung-gyu just aren't fit to be starters."

He said he'd roughly set the starting rotation. Two foreign pitchers, Hwang Seung-tae, me, and one spot left unfilled.

"Aren't we too short on lefties?"

If Bang Min-soo is dropped completely, then aside from me and the foreign pitcher Bradshaw, only Lee In-gi would be a lefty worth registering for the first team.

But Lee In-gi isn't really cut out to be a bullpen ace among lefties.

"We'll have to revive Terry."

"So you liked him?"

"I spoke with him, and he seemed all right. If we'd just sent an interpreter to the second team, he might not have struggled so much last year."

That's kind of how this team is.

Unless you're an FA or someone the owner expects a lot from, you get treated a bit poorly.

Turns out, there's even a practice game scheduled with a team of minor leaguers.

With just a single call, father secured that rare training opponent.

"You know what the head coach said?"

"What did he say?"

"He asked if I was the true head coach and said he wanted to retire, so I should take over."

"..."

"So I told him to hang in there for one more year. Still, you have to be a coach and then a head coach—otherwise it doesn't look right."

"... Father."

"What?"

"That hormone thing you talked about before."

"Yeah?"

"Are you still like that?"

Father just chuckled.

"Those days are long gone."

That's not true.

You still let your mouth run wild sometimes.

"Anyway, I'm off. In a few days, when we have that practice game with the minor leaguers, the potential starters will each throw two to three innings, so keep that in mind."

* * *

Jung Han-seung, who once claimed the wins leader title in a Seoul Kangaroos uniform, was disheartened upon realizing he wasn't on the starter candidate list, but tried hard not to show it.

Jung Han-seung hadn't come to the Miners just to collect a retirement bonus at the end of his career.

The only sad thing was that his aging, ailing body wouldn't cooperate anymore.

There was always the dream of a slightly more special ending.

But he was now heading toward a different kind of finale than he'd pictured.

Still, he wasn't about to throw away the know-how he'd built up and those nearly 15 years of experience in the first division of Korean professional baseball.

His next goal was to go from coach to head coach.

"Rookie, are you throwing that changeup on purpose?"

This kid really stood out.

At first, it was just because of who his father was.

But even putting that label aside, he was destined for greatness.

Seo Ye-sung.

Sometimes, there are rookies who just feel different.

Most of them went on to great success in the KBO.

While some didn't, Jung Han-seung considered himself a good judge of talent.

"Yes. I'm practicing so I can throw it with the same form as my four-seam."

It's rare for a rookie to think this way. Most think only about velocity or movement.

Some high school draftees don't even really know why they should throw breaking balls or off-speed pitches.

"Ever thought about learning a curveball?"

Jung Han-seung, during his prime, was a power pitcher who overpowered hitters with a four-seam and two-seam over 150 km/h and a curveball.

Seo Ye-sung bowed and replied,

"If you teach me, I'd like to learn!"

A smile formed at the corner of Jung Han-seung's mouth. Few coaches dislike a rookie eager to learn.

"If you're up for it, I could also show you some two-seamers."

"Thank you so much!"

Most pitchers know how to throw a curveball, but there aren't many who can throw it well. This kid probably knows how to throw it too.

"Let's start with the curve. Try gripping it. Yeah, move your fingers a bit. That's it. You've thrown one before, right?"

There was a time when, in the KBO, "curveball" meant Jung Han-seung. Not anymore, though.

"Give it a throw. Yoon-seok! Catch him, would you? Thanks!"

He taught basic things including the grip and sat a bullpen catcher behind the plate.

Seo Ye-sung gripped it just the way Jung Han-seung explained.

Truth be told, Seo Ye-sung could already throw a decent curveball.

The ball left Seo Ye-sung's hand, flew straight for a bit, then dropped sharply with topspin.

"Wow, that's got nice movement."

It was good, but maybe just beginner's luck. He'd never seen Seo Ye-sung throw a curve in camp before.

"Try another one."

The second was also good.

It didn't break a ton, but it was quicker than your average curve and broke closer to home plate.

"Wow..."

"Thank you, senior. It's thanks to your great instruction... I'll keep practicing."

How it would do in games remained to be seen, but it broke at just the right spot to fool a hitter.

The downward drop wasn't huge, but it had some lateral movement and good velocity.

"Nothing more to teach you! You can graduate now."

He could only laugh because it was almost absurd.

Seo Ye-sung smacked his lips and asked,

"But maybe because I was thinking about the break, my pitching form is a little different from when I throw the four-seam... Is that a problem?"

Jung Han-seung scratched his chin and answered,

"Still, I think it'll be more than enough to sneak past hitters once in a while... Let's keep working on it together."

Actually, Seo Ye-sung was also surprised by his own curve.

He already had plenty of experience with it, but using Jung Han-seung's method, the trajectory felt different.

* * *

The practice game with the minor league all-star team was approaching.

Once this practice series was over, we'd be heading out for the second phase of camp in Japan.

Four games in two days, two a day. Each was seven innings.

I'd be following Donald Porter as the second pitcher in the second game on the first day.

Father called me aside to talk.

"It's just a minor league all-star team, but they're not going to be easy. There are some good guys mixed in with the rest."

"Are they all Father's fans?"

"How'd you know?"

"Just a guess."

Father burst out in laughter. A few phone calls, and they'd been gathered in no time.

This was only for evaluation, but if I wanted to secure my place on the first team, I needed to make an impression.

Reporters often came to camp.

The Miners were a weak, unpopular team, but the coaching staff appointments this year had made headlines.

"Hey! Seo Ye-sung!"

"Hello."

"Do you have a moment?"

Because I was Seo Tae-seung's son, I got the kind of familiar attention from reporters.

To excuse myself from my first life—I think maybe that overexposure did more harm than good.

"I can spare a moment."

A reporter who had shown interest in me grinned. Most of the questions were about my father.

His aura, being his successor, his guidance, my father's...

"Is there any rookie you're especially determined to beat?"

That was an unexpected question. Had I ever been asked something like that before returning to the past?

Hmm. I can't really remember.

"Well..."

The 2028 draft—so among the batch who entered the KBO in the 2029 draft, there were plenty of notable prospects who'd made an impact on Korean baseball.

Including those who made it to the Major Leagues—there was at least one on both the pitching and hitting side.

Among those who stayed in the KBO too, Byeong-ju and some others went on to have good careers.

"Jeon Hee-chan... I'd say."

I blurted out that name without even thinking.

The reporter furrowed his brow slightly.

"Jeon Hee-chan?"

"Yes."

"The 10th-round pick for the Gwangju Vipers?"

Oh.

Jeon Hee-chan was a 10th-round pick.

He won rookie of the year this season and took MVP a few times, and even won awards after making it to the Major Leagues.

"Unexpected."

The reporter smirked and muttered,

"Jeon Hee-chan, huh? That's a new one."

Apparently, this question had been asked to several new players.

Maybe it's for a feature article or something.

"Actually, most players picked your name, Seo Ye-sung. But you, Seo Ye-sung, picked Jeon Hee-chan? Hmm."

It was probably because of my father, and also because I was nicknamed the top pick of the draft.

My glory days were in high school and after age thirty. My twenties were mostly a dark tunnel as far as my baseball career went.

The reporter, seeing my indifferent reaction, poked a bit.

"Off the record, but to be honest..."

"Yes?"

"The others seemed to have a bit of an emotional reason for picking you."

"Emotional reason?"

"Don't you have a guess?"

Yeah, just because I was Seo Tae-seung's son, and because in interviews I responded boldly (even if I was just scared and barking back), reporters always stoked the flames.

Because drama got views.

Just thinking about it made my blood boil for a moment. Of course, my failures were all my own fault.

But really, is it right for people twice my age to keep picking at barely adult rookies?

But I wasn't really twenty years old. I cooled myself down, ready to answer calmly and move on...

"Well, I guess when they can't beat me, emotions come out."

"Oh, so it's like an inferiority complex?"

"If you tell me who's saying that about me, I'll tell you more."

"Hmm..."

He licked his lips and, rather deftly, avoided making a personal comment.

"I can't say that, but Jeon Hee-chan actually said, he doesn't have someone he wants to beat, but the player he most wants to resemble is you, Seo Ye-sung."

... Jeon Hee-chan, someone wants to be like me?

Seeing my odd expression, the reporter gave a strange look and said,

"If you don't like provocative stories, tell me. I'm not that kind of reporter. I'll anonymize it. Not going for a serious piece, just something gag-like..."

Before I knew it, I let out a small snort and replied,

"Do whatever you want."

"Sorry?"

"You can use my real name. I don't mind."