Ace of Ace

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

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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 .