The Genius Hitter Who Conquered America - Chapter 89
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 89
Crack—!
The sharp report of the bat swallowed the ambient noise of the ground.
The ball traced a brilliant white arc through the night sky.
The Center Fielder instinctively pivoted and sprinted toward the fence.
But after just three strides, he realized the chase had become futile.
The Center Fielder stopped in his tracks, lifting his gaze to follow the ball’s distant flight with vacant eyes.
Victor Moretti atop the Mound felt the same paralysis.
His eyes tracked the ball’s trajectory, his head tilting slowly backward.
His pupils dilated with shock.
At the end of that gaze, the ball struck the uppermost tier of the Outfield stands and vanished in magnificent silence.
‘How… how is this even possible?’
Soo-ho, whom he’d just faced, was no home run hitter.
At best—being generous—he was a middle-distance batter.
To Victor, he was nothing but a pushover.
And to Victor, a pushover was exactly this type of player.
Someone who posed no threat to the pitcher.
Too late on fastballs, too early on breaking pitches.
A batter who should be content merely making contact.
For Victor, this held true for all Minor League Baseball players, and Soo-ho fell squarely into that category.
His physique was incomplete, after all.
He was a complete novice to American Baseball itself.
‘And yet…’
A perfect home run had just materialized.
How could this possibly happen?
Victor found no answer.
Meanwhile.
Soo-ho, standing in the Batter’s Box, gently lowered his bat to the ground.
There was no flashy bat flip.
Only a composed demeanor, as though this outcome were inevitable.
Yet his right fist, clenched tight, betrayed the thrill coursing through him.
The Broadcast Booth broke the silence.
Tom Brennan, the Caster, shot to his feet and unleashed a shout.
[It’s going to center! High! Far! Back! Further back!]
Tom’s voice climbed in pitch, resonating through the Stadium.
[Over the fence! Kiss it goodbye! A moonshot adorning Arizona’s night sky has erupted!]
Commentator Rick shook his head in disbelief, as though in agreement.
[Who’s the opponent? Victor Moretti. Ranked number one across all of Minor League Baseball. A monster with his Major League ticket already confirmed for next year. And in the Batter’s Box? A prospect who just finished his Low-A season.]
He continued.
[To be blunt, the gap between them is heaven and earth. If Victor is a nobleman with his Major League reservation already secured, then Oh Soo-ho is nothing but a commoner who came to watch that game. The level itself is entirely different.]
In the world of American professional baseball, the difference between leagues is absolute.
It is normal for a lower-league batter to struggle merely to make contact with a pitch from an upper-league pitcher.
Yet now, that absolute law has been shattered.
And on the most dramatic stage imaginable.
[A home run! He met that 100-mile fastball head-on and drove it clean over! How is this even possible?]
Tom paused at Rick’s question.
Watching me round the bases, he delivered his answer with unwavering conviction.
[The answer is simple. If a batter can completely dominate and drive a pitch from a prospect Major Leaguer, doesn’t that prove something?]
[…!]
[It means that batter has already earned the qualifications of a prospect Major Leaguer.]
As I rounded First Base toward Second, a new title followed in my wake—prospect Major Leaguer.
* * *
In one section of the stands, where scouts from all thirty Major League teams had gathered.
The moment the home run ball struck the scoreboard, an eerie silence fell.
Some scouts’ jaws hung open; others dropped their pens in shock.
But when the stunned silence broke, the first sound was not cheers—it was a groan.
“Damn it….”
The Yankees scout ran his hand roughly through his hair, muttering.
“He broke out too fast.”
At his lament, the Red Sox, Giants, and Cubs scouts nodded as if they had rehearsed it.
Their expressions were clouded with regret.
In truth, they understood perfectly now.
The value of the raw gem that is Oh Soo-ho.
Because of that, they seized every opportunity to submit reports to their front offices.
We must sign this guy at all costs.
We need to pry him away from the Dodgers through trade before they wake up. Or so they insisted.
But all those efforts crumbled against the iron wall of Kevin, the Dodgers’ Farm Director.
Whenever Kevin heard my name mentioned, he would simply say “don’t even dream” and hang up the phone.
The reason they had become so obsessed with me was crystal clear.
There exists one immutable law in baseball.
Five-tool players inevitably break through.
A player possessing all five talents—hitting for average, power, defense, arm strength, and baserunning—is a lottery ticket guaranteed to win.
History had proven that once their shell cracks, they become monsters that dominate the league.
The question was timing.
“But this doesn’t make sense, does it? It’s only been three months. The guy’s been on American soil for barely a hundred days.”
The Cubs scout clicked his tongue.
Typically, five-tool players take a minimum of three years, sometimes five or more, to unleash their potential.
Especially if they’re foreign players like me.
They must eat the tears-soaked bread of the Minor Leagues, endure strange environments and languages, and suffer countless failures before finally blooming.
But I had skipped that entire process.
A failed player cast out from Korea had crossed the Pacific and broken free in just three months.
And he did it by shattering the 100-mile fastball of the number one pitcher in the entire Minor League Baseball rankings.
“It must be because the environment changed.”
The Veteran Scout beside him wrote “Top Tier” in bold letters in his notebook and added his thoughts.
“A fish that found water—no, a shark is more like it. He was trapped in Korea’s narrow fishbowl, but now that he’s been released into America’s vast ocean, his instincts have awakened. His suppressed talent has exploded when it met this free system.”
Environmental change, systematic development, and the player’s own desperation.
All of it converged to create this miraculous growth rate.
In fact, Koreans seemed peculiar to foreigners.
Despite having a small landmass and sparse population, they were a people born with talent across various fields.
Even looking at sports alone, it was evident.
Not just the three major sports—baseball, soccer, and basketball—but even the Olympics showed it, didn’t it?
Fencing, swimming, ice skating, badminton, and more.
Even in those harsh conditions, they managed to win gold medals and produce world-class athletes—that was Korea.
So for foreigners, it was puzzling worldwide that such a small land produced mutant-like geniuses across all disciplines.
But there was one thing that could be confirmed with certainty.
Korea consistently discovered world-class players despite lacking superior infrastructure.
In places with proper infrastructure, potential could explode even more.
A prime example being Soo-ho right now.
“Tsk.”
And so the scouts smacked their lips bitterly.
With this single home run today, the value of the Korean player Oh Soo-ho would skyrocket even further.
The chance to bring him in at a bargain price had vanished forever.
He was no longer a lottery ticket worth scratching.
He had already become the Dodgers’ treasure with the jackpot confirmed.
“…Now I understand why that fox Kevin protected him so fiercely. I’m so jealous I can’t even watch.”
Gazes mixed with jealousy and awe fixed upon Soo-ho circling the ground.
And among them, there was one man watching the spectacle with a peculiarly enigmatic expression.
‘Ugh. My ears are itching.’
Scout Paul of the Dodgers.
He scratched his ear with his pinky finger.
Naturally, curses directed at the Dodgers he belonged to were hitting him in 4D surround sound, making his ears unbearably itchy.
‘Getting cursed at like this, I won’t live long.’
Paul blew on the finger he’d been scratching with and let out a snort of laughter.
Others might think he was upset about being cursed at, but that wasn’t it.
He was thoroughly mocking the entire situation.
And for good reason.
‘The opportunity was fair for everyone.’
Did those idiots even remember?
That day when Soo-ho first picked up a bat on American soil.
‘It was a tryout.’
Was it a private test? No.
It was a public audition, open to everyone.
‘That venue wasn’t just our Dodgers’ Frank. There were others there too.’
The scouts from the Cubs, Yankees, and Red Sox who are now spitting complaints had also been dispatched there.
But they didn’t see it.
Or rather, they couldn’t.
‘A failed castoff from Korea. A scrawny Oriental. They just looked at the surface in front of their eyes and turned away, didn’t they?’
An offer? After the tryout ended, was there a single team that handed over a business card or made a phone call?
Only the Dodgers.
Only they recognized the diamond buried in mud, reached out their hand, and polished it clean.
But now that it’s starting to shine.
‘Why do they whine that we’re the only ones who have it? That’s typical loser mentality.’
Paul clicked his tongue.
They say the fish that got away always looks bigger, but this one was too big.
And that fish’s owner was clearly the Dodgers.
‘Now they want Soo-ho.’
Trade requests would inevitably flood in.
But Paul could say with certainty.
No ordinary prospect package would even get close to the negotiation table.
‘At minimum, they’d need to bring a Major League All-Star caliber player just to have a conversation.’
But as his thoughts reached that point, Paul shook his head.
No, that was wrong.
Even if the other side offered a current All-Star, would the Dodgers accept that proposal?
‘Absolutely not.’
The business math didn’t work out.
Soo-ho had just proven it.
That he wasn’t merely a prospect, but a transcendent Minor League talent capable of succeeding in the Major League right now.
Perhaps even a future All-Star, or even an MVP contender.
So let’s examine the Major League rules a bit.
Suppose Soo-ho becomes a Major Leaguer.
‘For years to come before he gains free agency eligibility, the team holds the upper hand and can use him at a bargain price.’
A card that could extract perhaps MVP-caliber performance for wages close to the minimum salary.
Where could you find better value than this?
On the other hand, if they brought in an All-Star whose market value had already skyrocketed?
The salary would cost tens of millions of dollars.
The efficiency drops.
‘The chance to use the most expensive player at the cheapest price—that’s something only we possess.’
That was Soo-ho’s value right now.
Unless the General Manager had taken a bullet, there was no way he’d hand over this golden goose to someone else.
‘And our General Manager… has an uncanny knack for sniffing out money.’
Scout Paul closed his notebook while humming a cheerful tune.
Let them be jealous.
Let them seethe with envy.
No matter how much they writhe in agony, that jewel belongs to us.
‘Anyway.’
Scout Paul’s gaze turned toward the ground.
Soo-ho crossing Home Plate came into view at that very moment.
The Scoreboard lit up with one point.
Scout Paul let out a quiet chuckle at the sight.
‘The game just started, didn’t it?’
What other wonders would he display from here on….
It would be a lie to say he wasn’t anticipating it.
After all, Soo-ho had always exceeded expectations thus far.
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Mara55
I’m so excited for him!! Thank you for translating.