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 .




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