The Genius Pitcher Dad Throws for His Daughter - Chapter 37

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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 37
#37.
The team dinner was canceled.
Of course it was.
The atmosphere was already unsettled enough without this mess erupting over alcohol.
Instead, the Senior Coach suggested we drink quietly at home, away from the public eye, and see each other tomorrow.
“There’s nothing we can do about it?”
“It’s fate.”
“Well, it doesn’t matter. At least we can drink comfortably without worrying now.”
In place of the team dinner, the senior players and I gathered for a modest late-night meal instead.
Chicken, pizza, and braised pork feet made up the diverse menu, while carbonated drinks lined the table in place of alcohol.
As the youngest, I found myself going back and forth to Kang Do-bin’s Room, receiving the delivered food.
The reason we ended up in Kang Do-bin’s Room was simple.
With his seniority, he had the largest room to himself, and since the most secluded room had an empty adjacent space, it was perfect for making noise.
When I entered with the last of the food, there was an unexpected person present.
“You came too, Senior.”
None other than Choi Jin-ha, today’s losing pitcher and the one who had earned his first victory in his previous appearance.
His face was darkened with despair, his shoulders drooping. Though he held chopsticks between his fingers, his plate remained pristine—he hadn’t eaten a single bite.
“We’re all the same age. He and I went to high school together.”
Jo Sang-hyuk poked Choi Jin-ha in the ribs repeatedly.
There should have been a reaction, but he simply sat motionless, only clicking his chopsticks absently.
“Come on, cheer up. You win some games and lose some.”
“But still…”
“What’s the point of dwelling on a game that’s already over? You should be thinking about winning the next one.”
“But still…”
Jo Sang-hyuk worked hard to lift the gloomy atmosphere.
Proving their friendship, he shared stories from the past and recent times, recounting moments when Choi Jin-ha had performed well, gradually restoring his spirits. They clearly had a close bond.
I wondered why he was going to such lengths, but then I understood the reason.
“So how’s your brother doing?”
“Hey! I told you my brother is off-limits!”
Choi Jin-ha suddenly bristled.
The despair from moments before vanished, and watching him charge at Jo Sang-hyuk like some guardian of the gates of hell was simply amusing.
“Alright, alright. Let’s just eat first. We can do a reflection session or whatever else later, but let’s finish eating first.”
At Kang Do-bin’s mediation, everyone’s chopsticks finally began moving.
We ate the late-night meal while talking about everything except baseball.
Which girl group was popular these days, stocks and cryptocurrency, variety shows, recently released movies, girls—we conversed freely and comfortably about it all.
Once we’d emptied all the food and drinks we’d prepared, I began tidying up roughly and headed outside to throw away the trash.
* * *
“Why did you guys suddenly get so good?”
Kang Do-bin nudged Choi Sung-hyuk casually.
Looking at Choi Sung-hyuk’s recent record, I could definitely feel his performance improving dramatically.
It wasn’t just a matter of numbers on a spreadsheet.
For Kang Do-bin, having started the season together in the 2nd Team and then being called up to the 1st Team to play in recent games alongside him, it was something he felt directly in his body.
“Sung-hyuk, you never rejected a sign before, but that one time you did, and then you struck him out.”
Kang Do-bin spoke as if he still couldn’t believe it, recalling that day.
Choi Jin-ha also gazed at their peer whose skills had suddenly surged, with an envious look. That gaze held no jealousy or resentment—only pure admiration.
At the two men’s reactions, Jung Ji-hoon pointed outside the door with his finger.
“Kang Ho-jin. That guy’s relentless.”
At the sudden harsh words, the other two chimed in.
“He’s really intense.”
“We learned that you have to be that intense to survive.”
As the three of them kept their eyes fixed outside the door, Choi Sung-hyuk quietly pulled out a stack of papers from behind his back.
“It’s actually this.”
Kang Do-bin and Choi Jin-ha took it and looked it over, both startled.
“Wow… it’s incredibly detailed.”
“Uh… hmm…”
As they examined the analyzed data, they suddenly began discussing it.
They were saying that if they’d read this material and prepared before today’s game, they wouldn’t have given up a hit or home run, but considering hindsight, it was in the past and didn’t matter much.
Still, the value was in learning to be more careful next time, so their eyes didn’t leave the papers.
“This is the material Ho-jin analyzes every day after games back at the Dormitory.”
“Sung-hyuk did it a day earlier than us, so he had a great game that day.”
“We just started yesterday… but we’ll have another chance.”
The three of them looked exhausted, but knowing this was helping, they said they’d continue doing it, and their goal was to survive in the 1st Team until the pennant race ended.
“Let me in on this too!”
It was Kang Do-bin’s cry.
As a Catcher, this scouting analysis was invaluable material to him. While the Scouting/Analysis Team had their own data, what was here was different in nature.
More than just detailed—it was meticulous, and by even writing out several simulations tailored to each batter, it was quite attractive to be able to predetermine multiple pitching styles and go with them.
With just this, it seemed the Pitcher’s game calling on the Mound would become much easier.
“Me, me too.”
Choi Jin-ha also coveted it.
He’d barely gotten his first win of the season. With just that, he couldn’t guarantee he’d continue surviving in the 1st Team, and seeing such detailed material made him think this way.
‘If I predetermine things like this beforehand, my head won’t be cluttered, so I can throw comfortably, right?’
Stray thoughts—one of the characteristics of a rookie.
In Choi Jin-ha’s case, whenever he took the Mound, his head would get cluttered with all sorts of thoughts, which shook his concentration and put him under pitch clock pressure, causing his control to waver.
Choi Jin-ha thought that if he predetermined things based on this material, he could throw well on the Mound, so he became greedy for it.
“We welcome it, of course.”
“Ask Ho-jin.”
“But you need to know one thing. Once you commit to this, you absolutely can’t back out.”
It was a warning to be fully prepared.
The three of them, who had actually suffered over the past couple of days, told them about it, and hearing that, Kang Do-bin and Choi Jin-ha felt slightly intimidated.
The threat of being denied sleep if I didn’t do it properly was honestly terrifying.
Yet Kang Do-bin and Choi Jin-ha both made the decision to survive in the 1st Team.
And then the two of them thought to themselves.
‘So that’s why he’s so good—it’s not just effort alone, but detailed analysis too.’
‘They say you can’t beat a talented person who works hard, and they’re right.’
The magnitude of Kang Ho-jin’s abilities was freshly impressed upon both their minds.
Knowing that baseball alone was exhausting, and considering he had a sick daughter on top of it all, they could only imagine how much more effort and dedication went into everything he did. It was a moment that made them ashamed of how little they’d truly pushed themselves until now.
Just then, Kang Ho-jin returned, and the two of them cried out.
“Let me join starting tomorrow.”
“I’ll work hard too.”
Kang Ho-jin looked at them bewilderedly, but when Choi Sung-hyuk waved the stack of papers, he nodded as if he understood.
“Understood. But you absolutely cannot back out.”
And so the group chat called ‘Post-Game T-Time’ was created.
The T stood for Team, not Tea.
* * *
Monday.
A day without a baseball game, everyone gradually made their way to the stadium to prepare for the training scheduled to begin in the afternoon.
The first to arrive at the stadium was none other than Kim Jin-ho, who had been called up to the 1st Team because of the recent drinking incident.
“Phew… this time, let’s make it last.”
Memories of those days when he’d frequently moved between the 1st and 2nd Teams came flooding back.
At thirty years old this year, he was spending the season thinking of it as his final, true challenge.
Because of that, he’d been somewhat impatient and anxious, wavering back and forth, but one incident had fundamentally changed his mindset.
It was the day he’d made a bet with Kang Do-bin over Kang Ho-jin.
After that day, Kim Jin-ho showed what it truly meant to burn with everything he had left, and despite his age, he experimented with changing his pitching form and found the proper technique.
From three-quarter to sidearm.
It was a radical transformation, but remarkably, his control was better than with his original form, and the characteristics of his low-riding snake fastball came alive perfectly, sweeping through 2nd Team batters effortlessly and securing this call-up opportunity.
He ran alone across the ground, warming up his body, and gazed out at the empty stands.
‘Thank you, Kang Ho-jin. I made it up because of you.’
For someone like him, making this his final challenge at a late age, Kang Ho-jin was incredibly precious for giving him this opportunity.
If he hadn’t reflected back then and had continued drowning in darkness, he never would have set foot here again. The thought made him dizzy.
As he ran alone, he spotted someone entering the ground from far away, and Kim Jin-ho smiled slightly and headed toward them.
“Hey, I’m here.”
“You made it.”
It was none other than Kang Do-bin, and he thrust out his fist in greeting, bumping it together with a thud.
“It’s been a while, Ho-jin.”
“Yes, Senior. It’s been a while.”
He greeted Kang Ho-jin somewhat formally.
But Kim Jin-ho soon spoke with a smile.
“I’ve changed a lot because of you. Look forward to my pitching later.”
“Yes, I will.”
With that, Kim Jin-ho resumed his run.
He warmed up his body diligently to honor his own words.
* * *
Kim Jin-ho’s appearance had certainly changed.
The Senior Pitcher who would have retired from the Baseball World by year’s end had ascended to the 1st Team looking as sharp and honed as a finely whetted blade.
After meticulously warming up, the moment he began pitching in the Bullpen, I was taken aback.
“Wow… what is that?”
“A snake fastball? Look at those details breaking.”
“Ever since he switched to sidearm, he’s completely different.”
The distinctive sidearm pitch, colloquially known as the snake fastball, burrowed into the Catcher’s glove with extraordinary movement. Even the four-seam fastball writhed visibly, while the two-seam was so deliberately undulating it was almost grotesque to watch.
After finishing his pitching, he approached me and asked.
“What do you think? Not bad?”
“Yes. That’s incredible, sir.”
“Ha ha.”
Kim Jin-ho smiled, genuinely delighted.
Then he bowed his head slightly toward me and spoke.
“Thank you. It’s all because of you.”
“Me?”
With that, Kim Jin-ho left the Bullpen, and Kevin, who had been watching from beside me, sidled over and asked.
“Hey, bro. Another one of your creations?”
“Huh?”
“Does only Ssang-dong breed monsters?”
Kevin was making a strange misunderstanding.

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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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