🔊 TTS Settings
Episode 6
How do I throw a knuckle ball?
“I just, throw it.”
At that, Ryu Jae-yul’s brow furrowed.
“What kind of answer is that? You’re saying that just by throwing it, it becomes a knuckle ball?”
“Yeah.”
I instinctively knew how to throw a knuckle ball. All I did was increase my control and speed.
“Then, do you consider the situation?”
“What situation?”
“Temperature, humidity, wind… no. If you considered it, you wouldn’t have answered like that in the first place.”
Ryu Jae-yul’s expression was serious as he muttered things I couldn’t understand.
“First of all, yours is instinct. Huh, first, I’ll explain it simply according to your level.”
Ryu Jae-yul took the baseball I was holding.
“Usually, a knuckle ball is 90 to 110 km/h. But yours is around 120 km/h. The spin is only about one and a half rotations. That’s a ridiculous thing, you know.”
For someone who switched from right-handed to left-handed, the speed was unbelievably high. But to me, who was a right-handed orthodox fireballer, the number 120 just felt low.
“It’s lacking.”
At my words, Ryu Jae-yul tilted his head.
“What?”
“I need to increase it.”
I thought a knuckle ball was just another type of breaking ball. When I threw with my right hand, my breaking balls were over 130 km/h, so I should be able to do that with my left too.
Plus, my left shoulder is stronger than my right.
“I’m going to throw 130.”
At that, Ryu Jae-yul clicked his tongue as if dumbfounded.
“You’re going to throw a knuckle ball at 130? Do you know what you’re saying? Aerodynamically, it’s impossible.”
“That impossible thing, I’ll do it.”
Ryu Jae-yul stopped talking and just stared at me. I could tell what he was thinking without him saying it. His eyes were clearly asking, ‘What kind of confidence is that?’
“Well.”
Confidence.
Just looking at my left shoulder, which wasn’t just fine after all that punching but had become trained and stronger, I couldn’t help but have confidence.
Besides that, the fact that I felt no discomfort even after switching from right to left, and that I had learned the knuckle ball on my own without anyone teaching me, was enough.
For me to have confidence.
“To do that, I’d also need a catcher who can catch my ball.”
Right now, the only one who could catch my ball was Ryu Jae-yul.
“There are many things in the world that science can’t explain. They call those miracles, right?”
I grinned at Ryu Jae-yul.
“You said my ball is aerodynamically impossible. Then it’s a miracle.”
Miracle.
“Just wait. I’ll hit 130 later.”
Ryu Jae-yul, who had been standing still, let out a hollow laugh.
“It’s aerodynamics, not aerodynamically.”
“Same thing. Anyway, what are you going to do? Trust me and follow, or not.”
“Ha.”
Ryu Jae-yul put his hands on his hips and continued.
“I’m in a hurry too. As soon as I quit math and started baseball, my parents turned their backs on me.”
Then he shrugged his shoulders as if it was no big deal.
“Well, we compromised that I wouldn’t give up math completely, but they still hate that I play baseball.”
I’d probably feel the same way. There was all that fuss about him being a math prodigy since childhood, and suddenly he wants to play baseball?
“So I have to succeed even more. The problem is my skill. Honestly, I’m good at calling the game and psychological warfare. My pitch framing and catching sense are also good. But if there’s a problem…”
In an instant, a shadow fell over Ryu Jae-yul’s eyes.
“My shoulder is weak. Because of that, my pick-off throws are weak and my throwing distance to bases is short. Once a runner gets on, it’s over.”
A catcher with weak pick-off throws and short throwing distance.
I didn’t need him to spell it out. He probably managed until now with his analysis, calculations, game-calling, and psychological warfare, but that was only until high school.
In other words, it meant he was insufficient for the pros.
“I want to play in the KBO first team games.”
I paused at Ryu Jae-yul’s words. Everyone who lives as a baseball player has one goal.
To go pro and play in the first team.
“So do well. I’ll bet on you.”
My heart grew hot. So much so that I wanted to throw the ball right away.
“Let’s dominate the KBO!”
“To dominate, you need the skill first.”
Whoosh-.
Ryu Jae-yul threw the baseball he was holding. I reflexively caught it.
Thump.
“There are things you need to do to make your ball faster. Reduce your release angle, strengthen your lower body and core, build stamina, and increase arm swing flexibility to boost acceleration.”
“Wait, release angle, lower body, core… and arm swing?”
“Yeah. The knuckle ball is a push throw, right? If you lower the release angle slightly, the ball flies more linearly and gains speed. So practice lowering your release angle a bit.”
“Oh! So lowering the angle makes the ball faster?!”
At my question, Ryu Jae-yul looked at me with disdain.
“They say athletes study these days.”
“Hey, you’re an athlete too!”
“That’s why when baseball isn’t working out for me, I solve math problems.”
What was I expecting from this math-crazy guy?
Just as I was about to sigh, Ryu Jae-yul asked.
“You can strengthen your lower body, core, and chest muscles, right?”
What kind of question is that?
“Of course. I do it every day already.”
“Then keep it up. Don’t forget to do strength training every day.”
“Then what will you do in the meantime? Catcher practice?”
Ryu Jae-yul nodded.
“Yeah. If the ball speed increases, the instability will also increase, so I can’t just stand still.”
Ryu Jae-yul grinned.
“Your ball will never get past me.”
ER Hawks Second Team Strength Training Room.
“Ugh…”
The path to 130 km/h was not easy.
“Ugh!”
No, before that, I was about to die.
“100!”
I collapsed onto the floor just like that. I finished 100 push-ups in 2 minutes. It was right after I had already finished training. Moreover, after training, I had run on the treadmill for 30 minutes.
Even so, I couldn’t rest. If the knuckle ball was obtained without effort, then developing that ball was 100% my effort.
“Next is… squats and dead lifts. And dumbbell flies and…”
There was no time to lie down like this. Just as I was about to get up to do squats, I saw Ryu Jae-yul in the distance.
He’s really crazy.
Ryu Jae-yul was watching a video of someone solving math problems on an iPad while doing a plank.
“You know you’re really crazy, right?”
Keeping his eyes fixed on the iPad, Ryu Jae-yul said.
“Instead of saying that, you should exercise more.”
“I will, you know?”
I immediately got into a squat position. Yeah, exercising is better than making pointless remarks.
-
I’ll hit 130 within a month.
“One, two, three…”
I started doing squats, gritting my teeth. All the while, repeating 130 in my head.
Exactly two hours after we started exercising like that, players gathered in front of the strength training room.
They were all looking at me and Ryu Jae-yul, shaking their heads in disbelief.
“Intense, really intense.”
“They’re crazy, right? They’ve been exercising like mad since earlier?”
“I heard Chae Gang-woo was throwing a ton of balls too?”
“That guy, the catcher’s the same. I saw Ryu Jae-yul doing a ton of blocking and throwing practice.”
“So, both of them exercise like that after training? They’re really crazy.”
It had only been a few days.
Among the players and coaches, Ryu Jae-yul and I had become known as the fiercely intense crazy duo.
Thwack-.
The ball, tracing an irregular trajectory, was sucked into the mitt.
“Definitely gained speed. Looks like around 122?”
At Ryu Jae-yul’s words, I nodded as if it were only natural.
“I trained like crazy, so it should.”
It was exactly one month since I joined the ER Hawks second team. And during that time, I truly trained like crazy.
Ryu Jae-yul was the same. Because we trained intensely morning, noon, and night, everyone called us the ‘Poisonous Duo’.
Poisonous. Duo. Meaning a poisonous battery, I guess.
“I’ll hit 125 today.”
I was just about to throw the ball again.
I felt a presence and heard murmuring.
I turned my head towards the sound. Then a scene unfolded that made me doubt my eyes.
Director Yoon Sung-geun and Coach Ahn Chung-hee. And the people visible behind them.
They were definitely first-team players. The first-team players I’d only ever seen on TV were now right before my eyes.
The most noticeable players were, of course, the starting lineup.
Beck Sung-chan. 37 years old. The best pitcher of the ER Hawks, with 100 wins and 1300 strikeouts in the KBO.
And also the pitcher I admired most.
My gaze, blankly staring at player Beck Sung-chan, shifted to Director Yoon Sung-geun standing in front of them.
Director Yoon Sung-geun, standing before the players, was talking intently with Coach Ahn Chung-hee.
Watching this, the second-team players whispered.
“The KBO regular season for the first team is starting soon, and our Futures League is starting too, so maybe they came for a practice game?”
“No way. Even if we practice together, they probably wouldn’t play a game against us.”
That made sense. There was no reason for the first team to specifically play a game against the second team.
“Just practicing with them would be great. I think even practicing once with the seniors would be a huge help.”
Just practicing would be great. I agreed, but the first team probably wouldn’t train together with the second team.
I quickly dismissed any vain expectations.
I had to focus on what I could do now.
“Ryu Jae-yul.”
Ryu Jae-yul, who was blankly staring at the first team, turned his head towards me at the sound.
“Catch.”
The first team’s arrival was its own thing. I had decided to hit 125 today.
That was the only way I could join the first team I admired so much.
As soon as Ryu Jae-yul was ready, I threw the ball. Pushed from my fingertips, the ball cleanly sliced through the air.
Thump-.
“Hmm, 123? Not bad?”
“Not yet.”
Whoosh-.
I threw the ball again.
“Hey, was that a knuckle?”
Thump. At the same time Ryu Jae-yul caught the ball, I turned my head.
“…Huh?!”
The person now standing next to me was,
“Senior Beck Sung-chan?”
Having appeared next to me at some point, player Beck Sung-chan asked Coach Ahn Chung-hee.
“Coach, that kid threw a knuckle ball, right?”
When Coach Ahn Chung-hee nodded, Beck Sung-chan asked me again in surprise.
“Do you really throw a knuckle ball?”
Beck Sung-chan, who adorned the KBO’s history with brilliant numbers, was now talking to me.
“Ah, yes sir!”
I answered in a voice full of discipline.
“What’s your name?”
““Chae, it’s raining!”
“Chae Kang-woo.”
My heart pounded violently. Something hot rose from beneath my throat.
Just being called by my name from the person I admired so much filled me with emotion.
My elated feelings soared at this unbelievable reality. Strength unintentionally went into the fingertips gripping the ball.
Now I finally felt it. The fact that I was in the pros.
I was still in the second team, but someday I would become a first-team player and the day would come when I could play in a game alongside Beck Sung-chan.
“You look young. Did you graduate high school this time?”
“Yes sir!”
“That’s amazing? But you throw a knuckle ball?”
Amazing?
My heart swelled. I never imagined I’d hear the word ‘amazing’ from player Beck Seong-chan.
But the excitement was short-lived.
“What? A knuckle ball? Who?”
A voice asked menacingly.
Walking casually next to Baek Sung-chan was player Min Hyo-seop.
