Chapter 33
33. Right-Handed Underhand Mode Unleashed
Fourth game of the World Baseball Championship.
South Korea versus Colombia.
Most people probably had not heard much about Colombia in baseball.
Soccer, yes.
Baseball, not so much.
But Korea lost.
It was a shocking 1 to 3 defeat.
The shock of the fourth-game loss had not faded.
“Are you kidding me? Not Venezuela, not the Dominican Republic, but Colombia?”
Sharp voices from the coaches echoed through the hallway.
Korea had still advanced to the Super Round, where the top three teams from each group moved on.
But after back-to-back losses against the United States and Colombia, morale had fallen.
“Our next Super Round opponents are Taiwan and Japan! Taiwan is one thing, but we have to beat Japan!”
“Coach Kim, you managed the pitchers too lightly. The ace should have thrown more.”
Naturally, the coaches’ attention turned toward the one player who had stayed on the bench.
Coach Kim pointed at him.
“Seo Ji-tae! If you had pitched even one inning during the crisis, we could’ve won!”
“You need to work for the team! Do you even understand that you’re on the national team?”
The coaching staff complained.
But Seo Ji-tae simply lay comfortably on the dormitory sofa while looking at them.
“What’s the problem?”
“What do you mean, what’s the problem? Remember that you’re representing South Korea.”
“We already secured a place in the Super Round as third in the group. So what exactly is the problem?”
The coaches were speechless.
The usual pressure adults used did not work on Seo Ji-tae.
And he was not simply refusing.
“Do you not want good results in the Super Round?”
“W-What?”
“Do you want me to waste my arm in the group stage and get hit around in the Super Round?”
“As a national team player...”
“As a national team player, I need to help us get the best result, right? That means I need rest.”
They had nothing to say.
Even when they tried to use the national team as an excuse to overwork him, Seo Ji-tae defended himself by pointing to the importance of results.
“You want me to sacrifice my arm in the group stage? Does that make sense?”
Nobody could easily answer.
There was only one clear path to the championship for this team.
Preserve Seo Ji-tae’s arm until the decisive games.
“Besides, the manager told me to rest. Why do the coaches keep complaining? Go discuss it with him.”
“No, that’s not how you should talk...”
Manager Seo Dong-won, who had personally brought him in, was protecting him.
The coaches could only click their tongues.
Instead, they tried a petty threat.
“You know what happens if you fail, right?”
“I’ll be fine. Your careers will be in more danger than mine.”
He refused to lose even a single verbal exchange.
The coaches shook their heads and retreated.
A few days later, Mokdong Baseball Stadium in Seoul.
The first game of the Super Round began.
More spectators than usual filled the stadium.
“Seo Ji-tae’s pitching today, right?”
“They say Kim Geon-seok wasn’t even close to him.”
The top three teams from each preliminary group were now competing in the final round.
Only the top two teams would earn tickets to the championship game.
Their opponent was Taiwan, the second-place team from the opposite group.
Normally, a youth baseball tournament would not draw this much attention.
But Seo Ji-tae changed that.
“It’s my first time seeing Seo Ji-tae pitch in person.”
“I came to see him in a real game, not on an entertainment show!”
The arrogant genius.
Interest in Seo Ji-tae was intense.
The Korean spectators were filled with anticipation.
They wanted to see how overwhelmingly he would pitch.
“He’s coming out!”
At last, the man everyone had been waiting for stepped onto the mound.
But something looked strange.
A confused murmur spread through the Korean dugout and first-base stands.
“W-Wait, his glove!”
“Why is the glove on his left hand?”
“Is that an ambidextrous glove?”
After the Golden Lion Tournament, Seo Ji-tae had stopped carrying two separate gloves.
The glove now on his left hand was perfectly symmetrical on both sides.
It had six finger holes, allowing it to be worn on either hand.
An ambidextrous glove.
Seo Ji-tae had only used his left hand during broadcasts and exhibition appearances, so people were only now noticing it.
And the greatest reason Seo Ji-tae had become famous was his identity as an ambidextrous switch pitcher.
The crowd had finally gotten lucky enough to see the ability they had only heard about.
The stadium erupted.
“He’s finally using his right hand!”
“Crazy! How long has it been since Seo Ji-tae used right-handed mode?”
Those who had followed him since Cheongryong High cheered.
A switch pitcher.
A weapon that allowed him to throw with either hand.
Now it was appearing against Taiwan.
The atmosphere in Taiwan’s third-base dugout was completely different.
“Right-handed? Right now?”
The Taiwanese manager hurried to the front of the dugout fence.
They had heard the rumors about Seo Ji-tae being a switch pitcher.
But he had used only his left hand in exhibitions and group-stage games.
They had assumed that was what he would continue doing.
They had never imagined he would use his right hand on an international stage.
Play ball.
Seo Ji-tae moved at the umpire’s signal.
It was different from the high leg kick he used as a left-hander.
His upper body dropped low.
Middle underhand.
A point between normal underhand and low underhand.
A compromise that kept decent velocity while maximizing movement.
Taiwan’s leadoff hitter, Lin Zhihao, was caught off guard.
“!”
Seo Ji-tae’s right-handed upshoot flew toward him.
The pitch was alive like a snake.
The upward path unique to the underhand delivery confused Lin Zhihao’s eyes.
From low to high.
An illusion that the pitch was rising.
Lin Zhihao swung.
But he missed the contact point entirely.
“Strike!”
The ball easily disappeared into Lee Jin-woo’s mitt.
Cold sweat began forming on Lin Zhihao’s face.
It had been said many times.
Seo Ji-tae’s naturally dominant hand had been his left.
But after his injury, he had spent more than ten years living as a right-handed pitcher.
His right hand felt comfortable.
I did nothing but eat and play baseball with my right hand for years.
His left-handed repertoire was still developing.
Even Seo Ji-tae did not know how far it could eventually go.
But he knew exactly what his right arm could become.
The experience had returned with him when he regressed.
My left hand is going from three pitches to four. But my right hand already starts with five.
Up-shoot.
Frisbee slider.
Heavy sinker.
