The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 189

189. Leading (12)

Jang Jin-gyu looked at the mound and thought,

Ah, what terrible luck.

He knew better than anyone how unfair the world was.

Frankly, Jang Jin-gyu himself was one of those who benefited from that unfairness, just by being on the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] League’s first-team stage, whether through effort or whatever.

People often praised Jang Jin-gyu’s efforts, but how many of his peers hadn’t worked just as hard? Effort is only possible when there is talent to bloom from it, and the endurance to withstand that effort.

But the pitcher on the mound now was so far beyond that, it was absurd.

No, if he was born looking like that, he should have become a movie star. Why is he even playing baseball? And what about his talent for baseball? The fact that he can throw a ball over 150 km/h proves how special his talent is.

As always, he gripped the bat short, stood close to home plate, and waited for the pitch.

It was a strong expression of his will to get to first base no matter what.

-Clang!!!

A slightly inside pitch.

The pushed ball went outside the foul line.

A fastball of 150.3 km/h.

It was a scary ball.

But Jang Jin-gyu had already faced a much scarier ball.

Just a few tens of minutes ago.

His gaze turned to first base.

If the pitcher on the mound was a possessor of absurd talent, then that monster on first base was something incomprehensible. Even those who claim to be baseball experts can’t understand the results he produces.

“If Barry Bonds in his prime played in the KBO, could he produce these kinds of stats?”

“No, Barry Bonds showed that kind of force in MLB [Major League Baseball]… Strictly speaking, it’s not quite Barry Bonds, but if an MVP-level hitter who appears once every ten years in the majors played in the KBO…”

“So, to summarize, you’re saying that a rookie who just graduated from high school is playing as a top-class starting pitcher in the league, and at the same time, he’s showing the force of an MLB MVP-level hitter who appears once every ten years, far surpassing the KBO level?”

What should I say?

It’s like a 1.3-meter dwarf complaining that a 2-meter giant is too tall, only to have a 4.5-meter real giant standing next to him.

That’s why Jang Jin-gyu couldn’t feel despair at the wall of talent that Baek Ha-min, the pitcher, possessed. Instead, he just felt like he was terribly unlucky.

Because in front of that incomprehensible talent, everyone was just about the same.

Baek Ha-min on the mound prepared his second pitch.

A pitch that cut inside even further.

A 151.1 km/h fastball grazed his face, perhaps a bit exaggeratedly. But Jang Jin-gyu didn’t back down.

Ball count 1-1.

The mindset of not backing down in the face of fear of being hit by a pitch was Jang Jin-gyu’s most powerful weapon.

Baek Ha-min prepared his third pitch in front of him.

An outside fastball.

-Swish!!!

“Strike!”

Jang Jin-gyu frowned.

It was clearly a ball that was going to miss.

“Alright, good ball.”

Jo Yu-jin pounded his mitt.

Come to think of it, this guy is really annoying too. He swings the bat with a bizarre batting form that is unlike anything else in the world, but he still manages to maintain an average, and his defense, including throwing out runners, blocking, and framing, is impeccable.

This season, he’s been completely overshadowed by monsters like Choi Su-won and Jeong Byeong-cheol of the Phoenix, who are showing overwhelming batting stats, but in reality, this guy is no pushover either. He just tricked the umpire with a ball that was clearly going to miss.

Ball count 1-2.

It was unfavorable.

The fourth.

Another ball going outside.

He stopped his bat halfway through the swing.

“Huh? Isn’t that a swing?”

Jo Yu-jin strongly appealed to the third base umpire. But the bat clearly didn’t cross the imaginary line that extended the foul line.

“Ah, too bad…”

Ball count 2-2.

He didn’t listen to Jo Yu-jin’s chatter. Even if he won the argument, allocating even a little bit of attention to this guy would be a defeat.

Baek Ha-min’s specialty is the slider.

In particular, the two types of sliders he throws are very powerful. But the reason why he can’t become a top-class starting pitcher in the league is that the slider is his only weapon. For hitters of the same hand, the slider is a ball that looks like a strike. Therefore, for hitters of the opposite hand, the slider is a strike that looks like a ball. It means that if you’re not fooled, it’s a perfect ball to hit.

That’s why the slider was the best breaking ball against hitters of the same hand, but it couldn’t exert such power against hitters of the opposite hand. That’s why Baek Ha-min, a right-handed pitcher, is weak against left-handed hitters.

A fastball that missed the outside corner by one and a half balls.

It wasn’t a fastball. It was a high-speed slider that curved slightly inward.

That ball, which would have made the opposing hitter swing and miss in high school, was hit by Jang Jin-gyu, who was only at the KBO average level, or even below.

-Clang!!

A ball that went outside the foul line.

The ball count was still 2-2.

It wasn’t a bad count, but he didn’t have a finishing pitch to strike him out.

Changeup.

Jo Yu-jin hesitated for a moment at Baek Ha-min’s sign.

But he nodded. It’s not a completely unusable pitch. He saw him throw it a few times before the game today, and it wasn’t bad.

-Clang!!!

But Jang Jin-gyu wasn’t fooled.

Clean hit.

The batted ball evaded Kang Ra-on’s glove, who was guarding second base.

[Ah, Jang Jin-gyu hits the sixth pitch on a 2-2 count and gets a hit.]

[Top of the 4th inning. Two outs, runner on 1st. Kang Ho-chang comes to the plate.]

-Boo

The jeers from the crowd towards him were still there.

***

It was a bit disappointing.

Hamin hyung’s [older brother/close friend] changeup is too bad to use as a finishing pitch. It’s almost at the level of my changeup. It might be okay for a surprise to get one strike, but it would be better to go with a fastball or slider there.

“It’s been a while.”

“……”

Jang Jin-gyu, who was on first base, didn’t answer.

He just silently took off his equipment, took three steps towards second base, and crouched down. He’s definitely not a fun type. It’s like he’s not enjoying baseball, but really risking his life for it. But it wasn’t bad. I’m always happy to face an opponent who does their best.

-Clang!!

Jang Jin-gyu ran to second base with all his might.

But as things go in the world, you can’t always get good results just by doing your best. Kang Ho-chang’s batted ball didn’t escape Kang Ra-on’s glove.

-Swish!!

“Out!”

A routine force out.

The game continued.

After the 4th and 5th innings, finally the bottom of the 6th inning.

Hamin hyung had been barely holding off the Braves’ attack until then.

During the 3.2 innings and 11 outs, the batting order had gone around twice, but the score given up was only 1 point.

And in the meantime, Jo Chang-hyuk had also completely shut down our batting lineup, as if he had awakened. The highlight of that was, of course, striking me out in the bottom of the 5th inning.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike! Out!”

It was a precarious slider that slipped slightly out of the zone on a 3-2 count. After getting that strikeout, he stared at me intently, and his expression was really hard to describe; it was so annoying.

8th in the batting order.
Hamin hyung went up.

In the previous at-bat, he had a refreshing swing and a strikeout.

Actually, it was a natural thing.

Well, he was an ace and batted 3rd in high school, but that was only possible because the level difference between players was huge in high school. He hasn’t even properly held a bat for over a year since coming to the pros, so it was almost impossible for a pitcher to get a hit against a top-level pitcher in the league.

In fact, Jo Chang-hyuk was also leisurely competing against Hamin hyung by throwing fastballs appropriately…

-Clang!!!!!!

[He hit it!! Baek Ha-min!! A strong hit that goes over the third baseman’s head!! A hit!! It’s a hit!!]

A very clean left-field hit.

“Wow!!!”

Jjo Yu, who was in the on-deck circle, looked at him with a startled expression.

Lee Jeong-hoon, who was waiting in the dugout, said to Jjo Yu with a playful expression.

“Hey, Jjo Yu. Learn something from him. Huh? Even the pitcher is hitting and getting on base. What are you doing?”

“I was just about to hit one properly.”

“That’s not going to be a double play, is it?”

“Of course not. I’ll set up the RBIs [Runs Batted In] perfectly, so senior can come and sweep up 3 RBIs cleanly with a home run.”

“Really? Then should I try to become the RBI king from today?”

It was such a mess that I didn’t even know where to start.

Jjo Yu stood at the plate as usual. Baek Ha-min awkwardly walked out two steps from first base.

Jo Chang-hyuk’s 154 km/h fastball grazed the zone.

-Swish!!

“Strike!”

Jjo Yu waited for the second pitch with an uncharacteristically serious expression.

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!”

The result was a swing and a miss on a high fastball.

It was a whopping 155.7 km/h fastball.

Ball count 0-2.

It was the third pitch.

-Clang!!!

It was a breaking ball that slipped slightly out of the zone, but Jjo Yu’s bat touched the ball. Did Lee Jeong-hoon see the future? This was clearly a double play situation.

Baek Ha-min on first base ran towards second base.

Jjo Yu pulled the bat all the way back and ran towards first base with all his might.

In a normal situation, it would be a double play.

Even for the Marines until last year, at least the lead runner should have been out.

Jang Chan-min caught the ball.

And threw the ball to Shin Hee-seong, who was covering second base.

It was a very light rhythm.

And Shin Hee-seong’s glove missed that light throw.

There was no special reason. No, if I had to find a reason, Jang Chan-min processed the ball at a timing that was half a beat faster than usual, and Shin Hee-seong’s movement was subtly more sluggish than usual.

A mistake that would just happen about once in 1,000 or 2,000 times.

Unfortunately, that mistake happened now.

Shin Hee-seong quickly picked up the ball that had rolled behind him, but it was already too late.

No outs, runners on 1st and 2nd.

Jo Chang-hyuk’s face was greatly distorted.

Lee Jeong-hoon, who was at the plate, didn’t miss that distortion.

Two consecutive balls that missed.

Ball count 2-0.

The Braves’ catcher went to the mound.

What kind of conversation took place? I couldn’t know. But one thing was certain: with just that 20-second conversation, Jo Chang-hyuk, who had been shaken, returned to his original self.

Pitching as if he didn’t care about giving away two ball counts as a penalty.

His personality didn’t seem to have any redeeming qualities, but those aspects were worth learning from as a fellow pitcher.

But Lee Jeong-hoon wasn’t easy either.

Of course. If he came back without doing anything after getting two free ball counts, that would be shameless.

-Swish!!!

The eighth.

Lee Jeong-hoon easily succeeded in getting on base with a walk.

No outs, bases loaded in a 5:5 situation.

Jo Chang-hyuk didn’t waver.

Against the following Kang Ra-on, he executed the most sure-fire way to not give up a single point with no outs and bases loaded.

Three-pitch strikeout.

In the bottom of the 6th inning, he suddenly threw fastballs exceeding 159 km/h, which he had never thrown once today, and struck out Kang Ra-on.