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 . s?a??h th? n0v?l(?)ire.?et website on G??gl? to access chapters of n?vels early and in the highest quality.

    “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 .