The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 196

Grievance (2)

Lee Jung-hoon was an elite player.

Of course, in this baseball world where there are plenty of players worth 7 or 8 billion, not to mention 10 billion, some might say, “What elite player is worth only 4.2 billion over 4 years? And 4.2 billion in Busan, not even with the Seoul metropolitan area premium!” But he was a man who had never reached the top, but also never hit rock bottom. The fact that he succeeded in his first free agency at the young age of twenty-eight proves it. But even to such an elite player like Lee Jung-hoon, Choi Soo-won was an exceptional monster.

Originally, a senior’s experience should be passed on to juniors. Lee Jung-hoon also had seniors who passed on such experiences to him.

“Soo-won, in the summer, your body gets a lot of heat, so reduce your warm-up time… Okay, you’re already adjusting well. Good job.”

In fact, if you think about it deeply, it’s very strange. No, to put it more directly, it’s absurd.

You can say talent is like that. Talent is when someone can throw 160 km/h [~99 mph] with moderate practice, while someone else can’t even throw it with desperate practice.

But experience is different. It’s something you can learn by doing it yourself, or at least when someone tells you.

But Choi Soo-won was spending the summer as if he already knew everything. How much to cool down the body when it gets too hot. When is the right time to use the air conditioner, and when is it better to endure the heat and gradually lower the temperature? How much and how should you adjust the training volume to maintain your senses without getting exhausted?

Can all of that really be glossed over with just the word ‘talent’?

Even if someone tells you about that experience, it only reduces the trial and error a little bit. In many cases, you have to break yourself to realize it.

Looking at Lee Joo-hyuk right there, he suffered from the heat last year and adjusted his training volume to properly control his condition, but his batting sense, which had been gradually improving, disappeared, and he’s on a 10-at-bat hitless streak again.

On the other hand, Jo Yoo-jin looked exhausted as the number of games he played increased, regardless of training. For reference, this guy is on a 14-at-bat hitless streak.

In contrast, how is Choi Soo-won?

After recording an absurd record of 4 consecutive home runs against All-Star pitchers in the last All-Star game, all KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] teams clearly realized how foolish it is to face Choi Soo-won head-on.

That’s because 4 home runs in the All-Star game is the all-time record for the most home runs. The important point here is that this most home runs is the most home runs when counted as ‘career’ rather than ‘one game.’ In other words, this monster achieved the home runs that other all-time players hit in their entire All-Star game appearances in just one game.

‘A batter who can unconditionally hit over the fence if you face him head-on.’

This is as absurd as a basketball player who unconditionally makes a 3-point shot from the half-court line if no one is blocking him, or a soccer player who can unconditionally get past three defenders if there are no fouls, or a quarterback who unconditionally completes a forward pass.

Even in a baseball game, if such a character appears, they get criticized.

‘It’s like Barry Bonds in his prime playing in the KBO, so there’s nothing to say.’

Of course, I honestly think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. Barry Bonds in his prime was a player who recorded about 80% of the stats that Soo-won is recording now in the MLB [Major League Baseball]. Roughly like Albert Pujols in his prime or Mike Trout in his prime? So, an ordinary MLB MVP-level hitter…

‘No, the fact that they are MLB MVP-level hitters is not ordinary in the first place…’

Anyway, is it possible for such a monstrous guy to cover even the ‘experience’ part entirely with talent? In other words, accurately grasping his own condition, which deteriorates due to the midsummer heat, and doing just the right level of training to manage his condition?

Again, it’s absurd.

But is it even reasonable for a 19-year-old player who just debuted in the KBO to be a major league MVP-level hitter? Even Pujols and Trout needed a year of tempering in the minor leagues before playing in the majors.

That’s why Lee Jung-hoon stopped thinking about Choi Soo-won.

In the first place, Choi Soo-won was a guy who couldn’t be judged by his common sense. Even if he shows a strangely seasoned appearance, it’s not a big deal compared to the absurd skills he shows.

So, what he has to do is his best.

This hot summer.

It was a veteran’s skill great enough to make up for the slump of those clumsy youngsters over there.

Here I go!!

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

[8th pitch!! Kim Sae-han’s excellent changeup draws a swing and a miss from Lee Jung-hoon.]

Well, even though it’s a strikeout, seeing 8 pitches is enough for a leadoff hitter to do. Just looking at the performance score, it’s 2 points. Considering that a hit is 1 point and a hit with a runner on base is an additional 1 point, this is as much of a contribution to the team as a hit with a runner on base. This is not an excuse, it’s the truth.

Elite Lee Jung-hoon retreated with a clean strikeout.

***

Due to the recent abnormal weather, there were no monsoons in the summer, and it wasn’t as hot, but unfortunately, this summer, the monsoon didn’t come properly, but the heat did.

It was truly terrible heat. Thanks to that, my weight had been steadily increasing, but I lost a whopping 1.5kg [~3.3 lbs] in two starts.

Of course, after pitching in a game, my weight usually drops by about 3kg [~6.6 lbs], but most of that is due to the depletion of glycogen stored in the muscles, and the moisture held by the glycogen is lost. If I eat well, I can quickly recover about 70-80% in a day or two, but this weight loss was purely fat burning.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Lee Jung-hoon struck out. Now, I didn’t even feel anything. I just thought, ‘That guy’s doing that again.’ Usually, he hits pretty well, but whenever he goes out with a determined look on his face, he always strikes out or hits into a double play or a flyout. He looks like the type who sets up a lot of death flags in movies and dies after a boring flashback scene.

Kang Ra-on stepped up to the plate.

His face is quite haggard. He wasn’t that big to begin with, but now he looks like a regular person who exercises a lot. I heard that Senior Gyu-man is taking care of the players’ health food these days, but it doesn’t seem like that will solve the situation for some players.

Jo Yoo-jin still has backup catcher Jang Jae-kyung playing games in between, but Kang Ra-on has started in a whopping 93 out of 96 games so far. Recently, they tried to form the infield with backup infielders Jung Ji-woon and Kim Hoon, but it failed miserably once. Foreign hitter Saul Lopez is also being called an all-around utility player, but shortstop is a bit difficult. Thanks to that, Kang Ra-on was only allowed to rest a bit as a substitute in the late innings when the game was almost decided, so his fatigue must have been accumulating.

-Clang!!

[He hit it!! Kang Ra-on!! A hit that slightly exceeds Chae Chang-sik’s height!!]

“Safe!!!”

But even in that situation where fatigue is accumulating, he grinds out hits like this, so the manager can’t take him out even more.

[Now, one out, runner on 1st base. Choi Soo-won at the plate!! Choi Soo-won comes in.]

[Two days ago, he started against the Incheon Dragons and pitched 7.1 innings with 1 run allowed. In this heat, other rookies’ performances are slightly faltering, but this player doesn’t have that. All I can say is that he is showing with his whole body what the word ‘different class’ means.]

The sticky heat envelops my whole body.

Of course, I’ve played in even hotter places in terms of temperature alone. Was it 2034? At Angel Stadium, it was 104 degrees Fahrenheit [~40 degrees Celsius]. So, I’ve played in 40-degree heat.

But the weather there wasn’t like this. The humidity was low, so it was quite cool in the shade, and thanks to that, the dugout environment was quite pleasant. It wasn’t an environment where my body was full of sweat after walking a few steps. Just standing at the plate, my underwear is slowly getting damp.

I took my stance according to my routine. Of course, I didn’t do the crazy thing of raising my bat and pointing at the scoreboard. For reference, I only had two hit-by-pitches before the All-Star game, but a whopping two more were added in just half a month. Looking at the game content, it was ambiguous whether it was intentional or a mistake, but looking at the atmosphere, anyone could tell it was intentional. But even Babe Ruth, the originator of the home run call, was hit by a beanball the very next day, so there’s nothing to say. In fact, the home run call performance was a bit over the line, even for the All-Star game.

Ah, of course, that’s that, and this is this, so I threw two revenge pitches as well. Thanks to that, I almost feel like enemies with the Phoenix and Blaze, but the KBO secretariat and the club’s front office seem to like this heated atmosphere. The professional baseball era of 10 million spectators, they say?

Kim Sae-han on the mound wound up.

The Griffins and we have a classic series, and in many ways, we are traditional rivals, but thanks to being on the same team in this All-Star game, he doesn’t have any personal grudges against me. Thanks to that, it’s not a beanball. Of course, that doesn’t mean he’s going to compete with me.

-Swoosh!!

A pitch that completely misses the zone.

Ball count 0-1.

After the previous All-Star game, the atmosphere towards me was roughly divided into two categories.

The field and public opinion. In the case of the field, the atmosphere was, ‘You absolutely shouldn’t face him. It’s better to give a walk even with the bases loaded.’

Fielders may have had a bit of a popularity vote tendency, but pitchers were mostly recommended by the manager, and that’s mostly based on this season’s performance, so the fact that I hit 4 consecutive home runs is not much different from saying that I beat up all the pitchers who are showing the best performance in the league.

However, public opinion was a bit different.

-I wish the Marlins a great strategic choice.

-I support Choi Soo-won’s historic season.

The tone was a bit different, but the conclusion was that they should let me do everything I can this season, end the Marlins’ 34-year dark age since 1992, and send me to the United States. Something like that.

-I support maintaining the Marlins’ tradition.

-Tradition? What tradition?

-A tradition of grinding rookies, winning for a year, and then collapsing. Of course, looking at what Choi Soo-won is doing, it doesn’t seem like he’ll be ground down, so let’s just assume he’s ground down and send him to the United States next year as a great strategic choice.

-I support maintaining the Marlins’ tradition. (2)

-I support maintaining the Marlins’ tradition. (3)

Something like that.

But this is a bit funny because it has worked very favorably for me. What should I say? Usually, in the case of a particularly good player, the fans of the other 9 teams except for the fans of that team generally dislike him, but it has gone beyond that?

Like a certain player in the past who was about to break the Asian home run record, I have become a concept of a player who is supported by the entire KBO beyond being a good player for a specific team.

Thanks to that, if the dugout orders an intentional walk, even the home team fans beyond our Marlins fans send boos. This is bound to be a considerable burden on the club’s coaching staff.

As a result, the number of times they choose this kind of passive walk instead of an automatic intentional walk is increasing, and the reason why this is much more advantageous to me than an automatic intentional walk is…

-Clang!!!

Pitchers are not machines, and unless they raise the catcher and throw a walk from afar, sometimes there are pitches that come right down the middle as ridiculously as this.

[A high fly ball!! It stretches out!! Will it go over! Will it go over!!! It went!!!]

[Season 34th!! Choi Soo-won adds another home run!!]