Ace of Ace - Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – Spring camp in winter 02

Gun Choi became stiff hearing the words of the ex-Major leaguer .

‘I didn’t expect to get this qualified an instructor . Did Gordon assess me as good?’

Eric looked around, and asked Gun Choi, “Where’s Bank?”

He knew Bank, a custodian, because he played 7 seasons .

“He’s in the office . ”

Eric furrowed his brows .

“At office? He’s lucky . ”

He headed to the office with a big stride .

It looked like he had something to tell Bank .

After a while, shouting was heard . Bank quickly came out .

He moved around and grabbed gear for practice .

A fence with webbing in it, a helmet, a bat, and box for the balls .

Gun Choi was astounded at Bank’s attitude .

‘Huh, I’ve never seen that before . He’s always been calm . ’

Eric grumbled at Bank, and returned his attention back to Gun Choi .

“Are you aiming for the Major leagues?”

Gun Choi replied confidently, with his chin up . “My goal is not a simple debut . I want to be a star in the Major leagues . ”

Eric tilted his head .

“Really?”

“I’m sure it’s possible . ”

Gun Choi was a still novice who hadn’t even entered into the 40 rosters to Eric .

A novice wanted to be a star . Eric smiled .

But Eric talked to him, instead of laughing .

“If you survive training with me, you can be an Allstar in the Major leagues . Can you do that?”

Gun Choi thought that Eric’s training would be easier than that of the system .

“Any way I can improve my skills, I’ll do . ”

Eric listened to him silently .

“Every player has said that but, gave up within a week . ”

Bank set up the gear while Gun Choi and Eric talked .

Bank installed a fence, brought balls to the mound, and flattened the ground with tools .

Gun Choi became tense as he saw the scene .

‘Too many balls . Surely I don’t need to pitch thousands of balls, do I? If so, there’ll be a problem with my elbow . I got injured before . ’

As the setting up was done, Eric ask Gun Choi to pitch a ball .

Gun Choi asked cautiously, as he saw lots of balls, “How many do I need to pitch today?”

Eric answered curtly, “5 fastballs . ”

There were hundreds of balls in the box . But Gun Choi only had 5 balls to pitch .

“What? Only 5?”

Eric furrowed his brow and answered, “It’s useless to pitch a lot, because your pitching form isn’t set up . ”

He answered, and pointed at the mound .

“Go and pitch . ”

Gun Choi nodded his head, and took the mound .

5 fastballs . No need to overwork .

He just needed to pitch as calm as usual .

Gun Choi pitched as he did during live pitching, without full power .

The ball flew into the air and hit the net .

It was a fresh pitch .

‘Not bad . It’s better than live pitching with movement and velocity . ’

The ball speed was 93 mph, but Eric’s opinion wasn’t good .

“Not good, not bad . ”

Gun Choi pitched the 2nd ball with more power because of to Eric’s comment .

‘Not good, not bad? He isn’t satisfied with my pitching, is he?’

This time, the ball made a big wave on the webbing, and fell down .

It was the best ball during Gun Choi’s recent pitches .

But Eric shook his head like he didn’t need to see any more .

“Stop it . ”

Gun Choi clicked his tongue inwardly .

‘What do you want me to do? I’m not a pitcher who can throw a ball at 98 mph like you . ’

Eric was a closer who pitched fast balls at the speed of light .

He often shocked people with a 99 mph ball .

Gun Choi thought Eric wanted a faster fastball .

Eric spoke, as he walked to the mound .

“I heard your position is at bullpen . ”

Gun Choi nodded and said, “Yes, for this year . ”

Eric raised the end of the word like he heard an unpleasant story .

“This year?”

“I’ll be selected as a starting member next year . ”

Eric snorted at Gun Choi’s words .

“You can’t enter the Major leagues with that mindset . In the Major leagues, you can’t survive if you don’t do your best at any position . ”

Gun Choi thought that he already knew that .

But Eric asked him for more than that .

He thought that Gun Choi needed to be a real bullpen pitcher .

“Listen . Your pitch is not for a bullpen pitcher . ”

Eric pointed out that Gun Choi threw a ball with same form as when he was a starting pitcher .

Gun Choi was in difficult situation .

He’d thrown the ball with the same form for his whole life but his form needed to be changed .

Eric talked as like he was on a high horse .

“Bullpen pitchers throw a ball for only one inning . In other words, you need to pitch with full power as you attack a hitter . ”

Gun Choi’s previous pitch was soft and smooth . The pitching itself was good . But Eric shook his head .

“Your pitching is for playing several innings . So you that’s how you arranged your physical ability . In other words, you showed me a pitch of a starting pitcher .

Eric told Gun Choi that he needed to fix the problem with how he unconsciously arranged his physical ability .

Bullpen pitchers didn’t need to pitch for long innings .

‘Am I saving my physical ability unconsciously? It became my habit due to being a starting pitcher over 10 years . If so, it should be fixed . ’

Gun Choi asked to Eric .

“Do you mean I need to pitch little more explosively?”

“Not a little more . You should be an exploding ball . This is the ball of a bullpen ace . ”

Eric pointed out that Gun Choi should change his pitch propensity prior to changing his form .

Gun Choi agreed with that .

He decided that he would be a perfect bullpen pitcher .

Eric shouted to Gun Choi as he saw his expression .

“You will be born again as a bullpen pitcher in a month . Can you do that?”

Gun Choi shouted in response to the Major leagues All Star .

“No problem!”