Chapter 704 – Episode 691. Major League Spring Camp. (2)

“I was really looking forward to seeing you in the big leagues. It would have been better if we had met as opposing teams. Welcome to the big leagues. Ji.”

Cole holds out his left hand to me with a rotten smile on his face. Even though pitchers say they care about the hand they throw the ball with, he didn’t go to the extent of not even shaking hands.

Plus, this guy is a right-handed pitcher. Although he has seen a person born right-handed throw a ball with his left hand, he has never seen a person born left-handed throw a ball with his right hand, so there is only one reason for him to hold out his non-dominant hand.

“Nice to meet you too. Cole is very lucky. “He doesn’t meet me as an enemy.”

And I wasn’t the type to avoid a fight. I extended my left hand to him, and we held each other’s hands. Then Cole grinned again and tightened his hand as if he was going to break it.

‘… It’s a bit strong.’

Cole’s grip strength was quite impressive. But it wasn’t to the point where he couldn’t hold on. Still, he was an old man, so he gave up the lead, but he only gave up to this point.

“Okay? “I guess you’re the lucky one?”

Cole thought I was being pushed and opened his mouth with a smile, but as I slowly started to put more pressure on his hands, his expression began to distort.

“Is it so? Me?”

More, more, more.

The more force he applies, the deeper the wrinkles become on Cole’s frowning face.

“…”

And Cole couldn’t answer my question and instead focused his energy on his hands. He tried his best to clench his hand, but he couldn’t overcome my strength.

“But you’re weaker than I thought? Since he is a pitcher, does he not exercise his left hand? Or because you’re old?”

“Keuuuuu…”

“Now. Enough with the handshake, call. Now let Ji go. “I have to say hello to other players too.”

And Mattingly, realizing the situation, taps us on the shoulder. Mattingly was telling Cole to let me go, but his eyes were on me, as if he knew who won the power struggle just by looking at his expression.

I didn’t want to ruin the pitcher who was going to be on the same team, especially the team’s ace, so I relaxed my hands, and Cole opened his mouth without even showing pain.

“Well, it looks like you’re not just talking about chaff. “I’m looking forward to this season.”

Is it a look in their eyes that seems to acknowledge me?

“I’m looking forward to it too.”

After saying hello to Cole, Mattingly slowly began introducing the other pitchers. There were a total of 7 pitchers in the group that Cole was training with. Before coming here, I had studied the Yankees a bit, so I was able to immediately find out which pitchers were training with Cole.

The pitchers training with Cole are our team’s starting pitchers.

“This guy is Logan. “He is a friend who definitely filled in for Cole’s absence last year due to injury.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, Ji.”

Logan. As a player who has been playing for the Yankees since last year, is he a true ace who perfectly filled the shoes left by Cole due to injury? Last year’s record was 19 wins, 6 losses, and an ERA of 2.77, making him a player with more expectations for this season. He was scheduled to become a free agent this year.

In addition to Logan, there is Rodon, who recorded 49 wins and an ERA in the 3-point range over three years, Buehler, who received high expectations through a 4-1 trade from the Dodgers in 2025, but did not perform as expected, and Singer, who was newly acquired as a free agent this season. 〈 Br〉

As expected from the Yankees, who always aim to win, the starting lineup was quite strong. Well, last year, I did get into a bit of a fight with McClenahan.

For reference, Tampa Bay was also defeated by Houston, and Houston won the league championship. In the end, we lost to the Dodgers in the World Series.

Overall, the power is good, but was something lacking to make it to the World Series?

But it didn’t matter now. Because I have come to fill in those shortcomings.

*

‘… You’re training hard.’

I don’t like him, but he trains hard.

That was how Cole felt while watching Ji Maeng-ho for a week.

In fact, when that guy said he was coming here, Cole felt uncomfortable.

Because I met him at the Olympics and the 2026 WBC and suffered the hardship of being eliminated from the competition. Plus, there was always a call on that mound. And in that match, Cole had no idea that he lost due to skill.

In the first match against him, I was so excited by the mean home run celebration and throwing the bat that I couldn’t compete properly, and in the WBC, I was immediately kicked after being hit by a batted ball.

From Cole’s perspective, Ji Maeng-ho was a guy who threatened the pitcher with ceremonies and all kinds of catches rather than with his skills. Cole, who was aiming for the championship, couldn’t help but be annoyed because he paid $55 million in salary to a guy like that for his performance in a low-level league where he would have an ERA in the low 0s.

Moreover, after being hit by that guy last season, the balance was lost and injuries occurred again, and the team was shaken during his absence. Even after returning from injury, he struggled to find balance for a while.

He was even less pleased with the guy because he thought his country could have won if he hadn’t had that injury last year.

However, the more we trained together, the more Cole’s mind relaxed.

In Cole’s mind, the impression that Ji Maeng-ho was a mean guy remained, but starting with his manly appearance in the first meeting where he did not avoid a power struggle, the fact that he participated in spring training a week early even though it was not yet the hitter’s call-up day, and that week I also quite liked the fact that they were training hard inside the ground.

It was a call I had often seen and heard of players who become lazy and do not train properly after signing a large contract, so the fact that they worked hard even after signing a large contract at a young age was worthy of a passing grade.

I heard from clubbers and young players that he goes out to clubs in the city every night, but as long as he plays baseball and trains properly, his personal life is none of his business.

What particularly relaxed The Call was that most of his training was defensive training.

Usually, unless it was a group training, most batters would do batting training. Because receiving fungo was quite an arduous task. This was especially true for infielders. Rolling around on the dirt floor in the scorching sun was something I couldn’t even imagine, and it was so difficult that an ordinary person would be completely exhausted and rolling on the floor in just 10 minutes.

Besides, he knew because he had practiced defense himself. The fact is that fungo is not very fun.

On the other hand, batting training had the pleasure of hitting the ball, and it was not that difficult compared to fungo, so unless it was team training, there were not many hitters who did defensive training individually.

But the guy just quietly practiced defense training. According to the coach who helped him train with him, he said that he already had nothing to learn about hitting.

It may have been an arrogant remark, but the fact that he was working hard on defense training on his own that others didn’t want to do meant that he had the right mindset as a professional.

‘I’d like to see how bad the damage is…’

Now all that’s left is to see if his batting skills are good enough to make such arrogant remarks. I’ve seen them a few times in international competitions, but it wasn’t much of a reference material because in short-term games, even unremarkable players can show crazy performances at some point.

In addition, the KBA league performance against low-level pitchers was even less reliable.

Therefore, Cole wanted to quickly see Ji Maeng-ho’s batting level, and the opportunity came not long after.

“Gary, are you feeling okay?”

“Take care of yourself. “It’s not like you had a hard time just because you came out full-time last season, right?”

“Of course not. Look forward to this season. How about a new friend? Ji from Korea.”

“Well, it wasn’t bad.”

“I’m sure they’re not bullying you, right?”

“What do you mean?”

“Was it the Olympics back then? “I said I was going to kill that bastard in the dugout.”

“… “When does that happen?”

“Anyway, let’s do well this season. To win.”

This was because the team’s captain, Judge, and other batters arrived at spring camp one after another, and live pitching took place not long after the batters arrived.

“Okay, then let’s start light. The situation is top of the first inning, no outs. The batter is number 1 batter Ji. The pitcher is Logan. Are you ready?”

The pitcher is Logan, who served as the team’s ace last year in place of himself, who was slightly sluggish due to injury.

Logan was one of the top three pitchers in the American League, winning 19 games with a 2.77 ERA and 204 strikeouts in 204.1 innings last season, and his physical condition was good during camp, so Cole was interested in the match between the two. I watched.

‘Looking at Ji from the first simulated game, it looks like Mattingly plans to use him as the number one hitter this season, so we’ll have to see how he bats in that situation.’

Logan is the type of pitcher who uses his height of nearly 2 meters to attack batters with fast balls in the low 90s, high-speed sliders, knuckle curves, and splitters. Logan took advantage of his strengths and threw a knuckle curve that seemed to drop right from the start.

And,

Ta – Aak!

From the first pitch, a tremendous hitting sound rang out on the ground. And just like the incredible sound of the impact, the ball disappears into the distance.

‘You hit Logan’s curve with support from the beginning…’ !’

It must have been your first opponent, but to send Logan’s curve like that… Cole unconsciously opened his mouth and looked at the scene.

“… Can I hit it again? “Curves are a bit boring, aren’t they?”

And Ji Maeng-ho’s next words.

It was certainly an arrogant remark, no different from before, but since it was said after showing a huge home run, it sounded like an expression of confidence.

‘Maybe this season…’

And as Cole saw Ji Maeng-ho like that, his heart pounded at the thought that his dream of winning the World Series might be possible with that guy.