Chapter 14: Chapter 13 - People Scratching at Lottery Tickets
Chapter 13 - People Scratching at Lottery Tickets 02
Gun Choi called the system as he moved to hotel with David .
‘Abilities . ’
-Displaying the user’s basic abilities .
Physical strength: A
Muscular strength: B
Agility: B
Reaction: B
Reliability: C
Fortune: B
Mental strength: A+
Over the last few weeks, Gun Choi succeed in improving his physical and mental strength rank to A . They were very important to a starting pitcher .
‘I have a low rank in reliability . I hope this won’t affect my relationship with a catcher . ’
He checked the next abilities .
-Displaying pitcher abilities
Ball Speed: B+
Movement velocity: B+
Ball control: B+
Movement: B
1st Grip: Four-seam fastball B
2nd Grip: Slider B
3rd Grip: Changeup C+
4th Grip: Knuckleball C
Skill: Blood of the wild animal Level 2
Most of the abilities improved through live pitching .
‘I have a rank C knuckleball, this will be enough . ’
Gun Choi was confident about his knuckleball in spite of David’s negative opinion .
After they arrived at the hotel, Gun Choi just relaxed on the bed due to jet lag .
‘I can only use the ring for two hours during such a long trip . ’
Gun Choi researched records of minor league players who were on the same plane .
Some of them became a main player in the Major League but some of them gave up baseball .
Gun Choi checked the record of Don Blesso, a rival of his, and was surprised .
Don Blesso played actively while Gun Choi was in Korea . He won 31 games for 3 years . 10 wins per year .
He had a large role in the Major League .
“Already 3 years . His salary will be raised a lot next year . ”
A player became eligible for negotiating their salary after 3 years, which meant that he would not get minimum salary anymore .
Gun Choi thought that he could play as well as Don Blesso, as long as he didn’t get injured .
’10 wins in the Major League . It’s too hard . He might have a hard time right after entering the Major League and be degraded to AAA’
There was no “if” in baseball .
Gun Choi needed to be able to judge his current situation perfectly .
“I have brace my mind . I need to focus on the showcase . ”
He had a deep sleep to recover from his jet lag .
Alex didn’t obtain good results at the winter meeting .
‘I didn’t know I was going to be here . ’
His team, Baltimore, had a problem with pitching power during the last season . Alex wanted to find a good pitcher during this winter meeting .
But he couldn’t make a contract until the last day of the meeting, due to insufficient funds .
At the last day of winter meeting, he made his final move with permission from the team owner .
He made an offer to Greg, who won 17 games .
Greg and Gun Choi’s agent was the same David .
David made a counteroffer with amount of fifty million for three years .
Alex gave up on Greg because of his high counteroffer .
“He’s 36 years old next season, it’s not worth it to invest fifty million in him . ”
He described David as an exorbitant trader and criticized him .
But Alex is back in Arizona to see him .
‘I need to see him again . ’
Pitching power at Baltimore was in a terrible condition, so Alex needed to see David, however unpleasant it would be .
As he opened a door onto the field, he saw a familiar face .
It was Gordon, Strategy Analysis Manager of the Chicago Cubs .
Gordon saw him and waved .
“Alex, you’re here . ”
They were in the Minor Leagues before, as players .
Alex shrugged his shoulder .
“I had no choice but to come, I couldn’t find any pitchers during the winter meeting . By the way, why are you here? You already selected all your pitchers . ”
Gordon sighed slightly .
“One of our bullpen pitcher got injured . ”
“Hmm, you need a backup . ”
Gordon didn’t come to the showcase to just find a backup . He had lots of options from AAA .
The reason he’s here due to his interest to Gun Choi .
Gordon had an interest in Gun Choi when he was in Boston .
‘He had a nice pitch three years ago . I’m not sure about today . ’
The teams at the showcase were Chicago, Baltimore, Houston, and Colorado .
The four teams were evenly split between the National and American leagues .
They were here to gather a lottery, Gun Choi .
‘This lottery is literally a lottery . Little chance for the jackpot . ’
Anyway, he wanted to see the showcase .
David spoke loudly after he saw the PIC (Person In charge) from each of the four teams .
“It looks like everybody is here, let me start the showcase . Here is Gun Choi . ”
Gun Choi lightly stretched his shoulders and entered ontothe mound .
He already done his warmups .
As Gun Choi ascended the mound, David introduced him again .
“Gun Choi finished his mandatory military service in Korea . Is there anyone worried about his injury? If so, please don’t worry about that . If he got injured, how he could finish his service?”
Serving in the military is respectable in America, so each scout gave Gun Choi a high score on that . But nobody knew how and where he finished his service .
David looked at Gun Choi and spoke .
“Now, Gun Choi will pitch 20 balls . If you want to check their speed with speed gun, please stand behind the fence . ”
After his words, 3 of the four scouts moved to the fence .
Alex asked to Gordon as he saw that he hadn’t moved .
“Can you tell the speed just by seeing the pitch?”
“You guys can check the speed . I just want to see his pitching . Frankly, I didn’t bring a gun . ”
“Ok . ”
Alex shrugged his shoulders and moved to the fence .
‘It’s been a while since I used a speed gun . ’
He aimed the speed gun at Gun Choi .
Gun Choi felt little frustrated due to the small number of team at the showcase .
‘Only 4 teams? This is a really tiny showcase . ’
He threw his first ball after exchanging a sign with a catcher .
The ball flew through the air and entered into the mitt .