The Genius Hitter Who Conquered America - Chapter 129
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Chapter 129
Two weeks had slipped away.
During that brief span, Alex’s Underground Research Laboratory had become the stage for a miraculous batting mechanics overhaul that would echo through Major League history.
Initially, Alex had anticipated considerable difficulty in dismantling and reconstructing Soo-ho’s batting mechanics.
But Soo-ho’s true potential proved overwhelmingly superior, effortlessly surpassing even Alex’s meticulous calculations.
It was Soo-ho’s physical capabilities that far exceeded Alex’s projections.
This allowed Alex to establish the “ultimate mechanism” he had only conceived in his mind onto Soo-ho’s body far more rapidly and naturally than anticipated.
What Alex had grafted into Soo-ho was a flawless mechanism that exemplified the pinnacle of versatility.
The ability to make “contact” with the bat’s sweet spot against any pitcher’s fastball.
The ruthless “power” to tear line drives beyond the fence.
The explosive “bat speed” that met a pitcher’s heat without flinching, standing firm against the onslaught.
And the razor-sharp “pitch recognition” that dissected the Strike Zone with surgical precision.
In modern baseball, mastering just one of these four elements allows a player to survive on the professional stage.
Two elements make you a star player; three make you dominate the league.
But to possess all four in perfect balance within a single body?
That was nothing short of a “complete entity” at the Batter’s Box—a catastrophe that would devastate the Major League ecosystem.
Alex deployed ultra-high-speed cameras and ground reaction force sensors positioned around the Batter’s Box, dissecting Soo-ho’s swing down to millimeter precision.
Every joint angle, every hip rotation timing, every trajectory of the bat—all corrected to perfection.
And in just two weeks, Soo-ho had completely internalized this grueling, intricate mechanical overhaul.
‘I’ve never seen a madman like this before… His ability to absorb theory is absolutely sponge-like.’
Alex whistled as he studied the flawless swing data of Soo-ho displayed on the monitor.
Dismantling mechanics ingrained over decades and installing something entirely new is an agonizing ordeal.
The brain commands, but the body refuses.
Yet Soo-ho possessed exceptional mental processing speed and intelligence.
His ability to command his own body was equally extraordinary.
He not only comprehended the complex biomechanical theories Alex presented with perfect clarity.
He immediately translated them into flawless action at the Batter’s Box without error.
But both understood something crucial.
This miraculous achievement was not the finish line—merely the preparatory stage for the true beginning.
“Completing the mechanism doesn’t mean everything is finished. You understand that, right?”
At Alex’s serious question, Soo-ho nodded decisively, bat still in hand.
“Yes, I understand.”
“Good. If you’ve upgraded the engine to the highest grade, now you need to attach the chassis that matches it. Now that the mechanism is complete, what do you need immediately?”
Without hesitation, Soo-ho delivered the answer he had derived through direct experience at the Batter’s Box.
“I need to develop my own definitive batting stance.”
It was a clear answer.
My current physical condition and mechanics approached “completeness.”
But to unleash that potential in actual competition at the Batter’s Box, I needed a stance perfectly optimized for my unique physiology.
My answer wasn’t arrogance about my current perfection.
It was evidence that I possessed infinite growth potential ahead of me.
“That’s right. Precise.”
Alex nodded with a satisfied smile.
“Time is tight. We have roughly three weeks left until Spring Training.”
At those words, Soo-ho’s eyes gleamed with fierce determination as he adjusted his grip on the bat.
“I’m ready to learn!”
A loud and spirited response.
Alex couldn’t help but chuckle softly as he witnessed that fierce glint in Soo-ho’s eyes.
‘He’s definitely completely different from when I first saw him in Low-A.’
When I first met Soo-ho, his eyes burned only with desperation to survive on the American stage and an insatiable hunger to learn.
But now his eyes were different.
In the Major League, he would yield to no one.
A predator’s fierce ambition to claw his way to the very summit was seeping through every pore.
That relentless venom and ambition set Alex’s chest ablaze.
Alex deliberately adopted a serious expression and cast out his bait.
“The problem is, I don’t think I can teach you the perfect form myself.”
“What?”
A flash of deep disappointment crossed Soo-ho’s face for just a moment.
His desire to climb higher burned so intensely.
The thought that his most trusted guide couldn’t open the path forward left him feeling lost.
Would he have to collide with obstacles and learn through his own failures?
Watching Soo-ho’s hardened expression as his mind raced through calculations, Alex silently celebrated.
His instinct had been correct.
Soo-ho had taken the bait perfectly, proving just how ruthlessly sincere he was about his batting.
‘Of course. It’s not that I won’t teach you.’
After all, Alex himself was a sports scientist and analyst.
He was not a batter standing in the batter’s box swinging a bat.
While he couldn’t teach form directly, he possessed America’s finest technology.
Alex grinned at the bewildered Soo-ho and snapped his fingers.
“I can’t teach you with my own body directly. But the system I created will teach you perfectly. Take a short break, then let’s get going.”
* * *
After resting, Soo-ho was led to a specialized batter’s box set up deep within the massive Indoor Practice Facility.
Instead of the typical tin-can-like pitching machines seen in ordinary baseball stadiums,
a massive special screen filled the wall directly in front of the batter’s box, positioned at actual Mound distance.
And across that screen were dozens of microscopic holes through which balls could be ejected.
It wasn’t simply a machine that fired balls.
It was a cutting-edge AI pitching system that adjusted the contact point in real-time based on the player’s physique and release point.
“Until you head to Major League Spring Training, you’ll need to battle this machine and find the form that fits you most perfectly.”
Despite Alex’s confident declaration, Soo-ho wore a bewildered expression.
And for good reason—it was absolute common knowledge in the Baseball World that a pitching machine could never perfectly replace an actual human pitcher.
Sure, you could mindlessly crank up the machine’s output to set raw velocity above 100 miles per hour.
But the dirty movement that erupted from the pitcher’s fingertips.
The heavy velocity of the ball coming alive and the subtle timing battle born from the pitching form.
This kind of living vitality was a realm exclusive to humans that machines could never imitate.
So Soo-ho harbored deep skepticism about what this screen machine could possibly help with.
“Just step into the batter’s box first.”
At Alex’s instruction, I walked into the batter’s box without hesitation.
Regardless of whether I could trust the machine’s limitations.
What was most urgent for me right now was acquiring a batting form that could fully capture the ultimate mechanism.
I had to complete this process flawlessly so I could display an overwhelming performance against the true monsters of the Dodgers in Spring Training.
As I gripped the bat and took my stance amid tense anticipation, Alex tapped the keyboard.
“Good. First, let me show you how this machine works.”
At that moment, a hologram image the exact same size as a real person appeared clearly on the massive screen.
It wasn’t simple robot graphics.
The pitcher’s distinctive pitching form as he entered the windup.
The massive physique, and the release point where the ball left his hand.
It was unmistakably a mechanism I’d seen so many times before—far too familiar.
‘This, this is?’
My eyes widened in surprise for an instant.
Matching the exact timing and release point of the pitcher’s fingertips grazing the ball on screen, a real baseball shot out ferociously from a specific hole in the screen.
Whoosh!
Moreover, it wasn’t a ball thrown by a machine arriving as a bland fastball.
As it approached home plate, it curved sharply like a serpent—a perfect movement.
A slider.
My instincts reacted first.
I explosively rotated my hips and swung the bat without hesitation.
Crack!
With a crisp sound of impact, a perfectly struck ball slammed hard against the netting of the indoor practice facility.
Alex, checking the trajectory recorded on the monitor and the batted ball speed data, nodded with satisfaction.
“That hit was a double down the right-center gap. You hit it very well. But there’s something you need to remember. You just swung the bat using your old, worn-out form. That means it wasn’t 100 percent efficient. It doesn’t matter if you can’t hit the ball right now—first, find the exact form that can fully contain your explosive power.”
Alex offered some substantive advice.
But to my ears right now, those words just buzzed and scattered like white noise.
I stood there holding the bat, my expression dazed as I opened my mouth.
“That, just now…”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“Oh, no. That, that slider that just came. Wasn’t that Victor Moretti?”
My voice was trembling slightly.
I had merely hit a mechanical ball that shot out from the screen.
But having seen the ball’s trajectory and movement with my own eyes from the batter’s box and felt it directly with my entire body,
I had instinctively realized who the virtual pitcher I’d just faced was.
“As expected. You’ve got a good eye.”
Alex shrugged with an air of obviousness and offered his praise.
But there was no way Soo-ho could hear it.
This was an act that completely shattered common sense.
Victor Moretti, a prospect Major Leaguer who didn’t even exist, materialized in this empty Underground Research Laboratory.
And he had just unleashed a slider at full power toward me standing in the Batter’s Box.
The pitching form, the release point, the velocity—all of it.
Even the angle at which the ball broke and its filthy movement.
It was a perfect replica, as if Victor Moretti’s very soul had been ground into it.
An overwhelming sense of reality so complete that it created the perfect illusion of facing an actual human pitcher.
Watching Soo-ho frozen in shock, Alex’s characteristic arrogant smile deepened as he drove the point home.
“Disappointed, are we? Didn’t I tell you when I first met you? At least in this field, there’s no one across the entire United States who can beat me.”
But that wasn’t all.
There was something even more astonishing.
“By the way, this system I created contains the data of every Major League pitcher. What do you think? This should be more than sufficient training, wouldn’t you say?”
Soo-ho’s jaw dropped.
Had he ever been this shocked in his entire life?
Just how far had Alex’s technology advanced?
But was that what mattered right now?
“Yes! Absolutely!”
The Dodgers Soo-ho had seen so far were all eccentrics.
But every single one of them was a genius.
And they were all working with him.
The hope of growing far beyond where he stood now felt tangible in his grasp.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————