The Prodigy Who Rejected the Major League Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

After finishing the morning classes, the players gathered at the school baseball field.

“Did you all eat lunch?”

“Yes!!!”

With the players’ booming response as the signal, we began warming up. After stretching, we moved into full training.

The pitchers headed to the bullpen.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

When I grabbed a pitcher’s glove instead of a catcher’s mitt, everyone looked at me in confusion.

“Attention!”

Pitching Coach Park Junseok raised his voice, and the chatter died down.

“Starting today, Seongjun will be participating in bullpen sessions as well. That’s all you need to know. Understood!”

“…What?”

“Yes!”

They answered, but their expressions were still puzzled.

Coach Park understood their reaction. And he found it amusing.

But come to think of it… Why does it look like no one had any idea?

“Hey, Minsu. You didn’t tell them?”

“No, sir. It’d be unfair if only you and I were the ones surprised.”

Minsu grinned.

“Unfair?”

“Yes, sir.”

When you put it that way… he had a point. If we’re going to be surprised, we might as well all be surprised together. The kid could make sense sometimes.

Still, I wasn’t the type to save the best bite for last.

Once the pitchers had loosened up their shoulders, Song Seongjun was sent up first.

“Sunbae, are you really going to pitch?”

“Seriously, what’s up with him?”

If they’d been confused at first, now they looked intrigued.

But that only lasted a moment.

Swoosh!

Bang!

As soon as Song Seongjun threw his first pitch…

“What? What was that?”

“What was that pitch?”

Every pitcher there could tell the ball was fast.

At that moment, the team manager holding the radar gun shouted in shock.

“O-One-fifty?!”

Everyone in the bullpen heard it.

“Coach! That just clocked 150!”

Song Seongjun’s first bullpen session turned the place upside down.

(Except for Coach and Choi Minsu.)

 

***

 

“Hey! What happened to you?”

“Sunbae, since when could you throw like that?”

“Judging from your form, it looks properly trained. You taking private lessons somewhere?”

“Life’s unfair. You’re already good as a catcher… did you really have to be able to throw like that too?”

Still, no one looked bitter.

That was how overwhelming the impact of Seongjun’s first bullpen showing had been.

If he’d just been decent, there would have been complaints.

But Song Seongjun had topped out at 155 km/h in his very first bullpen session.

At Jeongchun High, that was second only to Moon Seungchan.

“Coach Park, how are the kids reacting?”

“After seeing Seongjun throw, things seem settled.”

“I see… Hm.”

As head coach, he couldn’t ignore team morale.

If one player stands out, it means fewer opportunities for someone else.

You have to make them understand that.

This wasn’t an era where a coach’s authority alone could settle everything.

In any case, since there didn’t seem to be an issue, that was a relief.

“He shouldn’t have a problem pitching off the mound.”

It had only been one bullpen session…

But when someone is obviously good, you can tell from the first look.

It’s the borderline players who are hard to judge.

“The rest is the question.”

Being a pitcher isn’t just about throwing hard.

He needs to throw from a slide step. He needs to hold runners.

Once runners get on, they’ll try to rattle him.

How well he keeps his composure in real game situations, how consistently he maintains his mechanics… that would be the key.

After just one day of watching, all of that remained unknown.

“Well, since he’s a catcher, at least he won’t mess up the signs.”

Once Head Coach Bae Seonggon decided something, he usually pushed it through.

“Coach Park, keep a close eye on him.”

In high school baseball, velocity is a tremendous weapon. And Seongjun was sitting in the mid-150s.

Even if you aim right down the middle, that’s not easy to hit.

“Get him ready to throw one inning.”

If he goes long, he’ll get exposed.

But for a short outing? That might work.

 

***

 

If Pitching Coach Park Junseok had been shocked by the unexpected pitching card…

Crack!

Crack!

Crack!

Hitting Coach Hwang Taeho was stunned by the quality of the contact Seongjun was producing.

Looking closely, even his batting stance had changed.

“Song Seongjun!”

“Yes, Coach!”

“What is that batting stance?”

Just a few days ago, he didn’t look like this.

Seongjun used to be a leg-kick hitter, lifting his front leg at the plate.

But after the weekend, he’d switched to a toe tap.

A batting stance isn’t something you overhaul in a few days.

‘Well… I suppose you could hit without lifting the leg.’

The reason hitters choose a leg kick is for weight transfer and power loading. The force transferred into the ball increases, which boosts distance.

‘But accuracy usually drops.’

At the high school level, many hitters still struggle with off-speed pitches.

The toe tap is the opposite.

Less raw power than a leg kick, but better timing and contact ability.

If that was his thinking, it would make sense.

But what Seongjun was showing in batting practice was completely different.

With a toe tap, he was blasting balls into the upper netting above the fence.

If that net wasn’t there, they’d all be home runs.

The distance was better than when he used a leg kick.

Even the quality of contact was on another level.

How absurd was that?

Anyone involved in baseball would nod in disbelief if you told them.

And yet… they were seeing it with their own eyes.

“Have you been preparing that stance for a year, too?”

He had told Coach Park he’d trained for over a year to hit 155 km/h.

The question sounded ridiculous even as it was asked.

He’d been training with this stance in secret, alongside his old one, until it became natural.

Did that even make sense?

“It works.”

…And that was all he said.

Hard to argue… he’d already shown 155.

If a former catcher can train separately and throw 155…

Changing a batting stance?

Maybe it’s not impossible.

If your name is being mentioned for the first round, you’re already good.

Maybe he wasn’t just good.

Maybe he was something else.

Geniuses operate by different standards.

“But damn, he hits pretty.”

Even to Hwang Taeho’s eye, the mechanics were textbook.

His back leg rotated smoothly in an arc as it drove forward.

“Look at that back-leg coiling…”

Before the upper body moved…

The rear knee rotated toward the pitcher, creating torque.

The back leg supported the body’s balance, transferring force cleanly into the swing.

The improved distance and quality weren’t flukes.

“This is insane.”

If you said a high school kid was hitting like this, who would believe you?

‘No one.’

Even Hwang wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t seen it.

Naturally, this was reported to Head Coach Bae Seonggon.

“His batting stance completely changed?”

“Yes. Even among pros, there aren’t many with back-leg coiling that clean.”

At such high praise, Coach Bae simply smiled.

A former catcher throwing 155 off the mound was shocking enough.

But to show growth at the plate too… and to this degree?

“Hwang, when did we schedule the intrasquad game?”

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t looking forward to what Seongjun would show, now that he’d grown both as a pitcher and a hitter.

 

***

 

Three weeks flew by.

Summer break began.

Our team headed to Seoul to compete in the Presidential Cup National High School Baseball Tournament.

The games were held at Mokdong Baseball Stadium and Sinwol Baseball Stadium.

We were scheduled to face Jeongchun High in the first round on July 25 at Mokdong.

 

***

 

Day Four of the Presidential Cup. Mokdong Stadium.

“If you ask me, Deputy Manager Min is the most to blame.”

I forced an awkward smile.

The coach had told me to go greet the family and acquaintances who came to support me.

I did… and got cornered by Seunghee noona’s complaints.

Manager Min had two daughters.

The eldest, Seunghee. The younger, Seunghye.

Seunghee noona was attending college in Seoul, living near campus.

“Dad got to enjoy a dynasty, and I’m stuck watching eighth-place baseball again this year? Seongjun, tell me I’m not wrong.”

She looked at me indignantly.

“Dad’s having the time of his life, and I’m stuck watching insane baseball.”

“So, Unni, are you still going to see Dad this weekend?”

Seunghye cut in.

“Of course. I need allowance money.”

“Well done.”

“Hey, if I hadn’t bought so much merch, I’d be fine.”

“What else did you buy? You even bought the voodoo merch. What’s left?”

“This.”

Under Seunghye’s rapid-fire questioning, Seunghee raised what she was holding.

“Hey! You lunatic. That’s merch?”

In her hand was the newest smartphone model.

“Of course it’s merch. If that’s not merch, what is?”

“Then the Gwangju Sunshines’ merch must be cars.”

“Exactly. That’s why we should be grateful we’re not Gwangju fans. At least they don’t sell merch in the tens of millions.”

Seunghye looked at her like she’d lost her mind.

“Seongjun, say something. It counts as merch, right?”

“How is that merch?”

They both stared at me.

This is extremely uncomfortable.

Suddenly, I’d become a shrimp caught between two whales.

Still… between my future sister-in-law and my future wife…

I chose my future wife.

“Isn’t calling that merch a bit too broad a definition? Hahaha.”

As vaguely as possible.

“See? Who calls a phone merch?”

“Traitor! I didn’t expect this from you.”

Excuse me? Why?

I only spoke within reason.

“You traitor. A man who doesn’t understand a woman’s delicacy.”

“……”

If I didn’t escape soon, I felt like I’d be dragged into eternal hell.

 

***

 

“You greeted them properly?”

“Yes!”

Everyone’s voices were strong.

“Seongjun, why do you look like that?”

“It’s nothing.”

“Jeongchun High is a team we’ve faced twice already.”

The E-Mart Cup semifinals and the Golden Lion Quarterfinals.

“Today’s the third time. So this time, we win. Right?”

“Yes!!!”

The players shouted.

“Today’s starting pitcher is Kim Hyunsoo.”

Objectively speaking, Seongun High was the underdog.

“Seongjun, lead Hyunsoo well.”

“Yes!”

But today, Seongun High had a hidden dagger.

 

***

 

“Play ball!”

With the umpire’s declaration, the first-round Presidential Cup match between Jeongchun High and Seongun High began.

Top of the first. We were on defense.

I started at catcher.

Depending on how things went, I’d already been told I might take the mound mid-game.

Jeongchun’s leadoff hitter, Joo Eunsang, stepped up.

 

“Long time no see.”

Twenty years, technically.

Of course, I didn’t remember him.

I just knew from the scouting report.

“Uh, yeah.”

“You were flying at the Blue Dragon Cup.”

“Thanks.”

Why did I greet him so casually?

Habit.

Anyway, the scouting report said he was cautious and serious.

He used a slight leg kick… just enough to time the pitch.

You can always see personality in a swing.

“Ball.”

Hyunsoo’s first pitch missed outside.

I called for a fastball inside.

His top velocity was 145.

Not blazing, but his command was solid.

Crack.

“Foul!”

Good location inside.

One ball, one strike.

Another inside pitch wouldn’t hurt.

“Strike!”

Oh?

That one caught the machine zone?

High school tournaments in Korea use ABS.

Even pro players get rattled when they get a borderline call like that.

Let alone high schoolers.

His inside command looks good today.’

I called for one more.

“Swing! Strike three!”

See? The bat chases.

It was just the first batter.

But Hyunsoo was hitting my spots.

So…

Jeongchun High.

You’re all dead today.