The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 243

243. Korean Series (8)

Today’s starting pitcher for the Braves is Jang Yao-xun.

He’s a professional player from Taiwan who, in the Taiwanese league, was an orthodox sinkerballer mentored by the famous “Taiwanese Express,” Wang Chien-ming.

Wang Chien-ming, who once pitched as a starter for the Yankees and held the record for the most wins by an Asian pitcher in a single season (even finishing second in Cy Young Award voting), is considered to have cultivated some of the most complete sinkerballers during his six years as a pitching coach for a Taiwanese professional team.

However, despite these accolades, he plays in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] instead of MLB [Major League Baseball] or NPB [Nippon Professional Baseball] due to his age (34 this year) and the fact that he only broke out last year. The KBO has shorter travel distances and a more relaxed schedule, and his first-year salary wasn’t significantly lower.

$450,000 USD for a single year.

This was nearly three times the amount he received in Taiwan. Although his performance in the Taiwanese league exploded last year, it was still uncertain whether it was a fluke, making it a risky gamble for the Braves.

And their gamble paid off handsomely.

Jang Yao-xun pitched 187.1 innings with a 3.07 ERA [Earned Run Average], making him one of the top ten pitchers in the league.

Of course, due to the nature of sinkerballers, he had few strikeouts and induced ground balls, which was a significant disadvantage in the Gocheok Dome, which uses artificial turf.

“Seriously, what were the Braves thinking, collecting only ground ball pitchers? Gocheok’s artificial turf is almost hell for ground ball pitchers. Jang Yao-xun pitched well this season, but there’s a 0.16 difference between his ERA and runs allowed. I don’t think there’s anyone with a bigger difference except for Dilton Doyle, right?”

“Dilton has a 0.15 difference between his ERA and runs allowed, so it’s 0.01 less than Jang Yao-xun. Jang Yao-xun’s 0.16 is tied for first with Choi Eun-deum and Jack Sutton of the Phoenixes.”

“Anyway, considering the Gocheok Dome environment, shouldn’t they bring in fly ball pitchers instead of ground ball pitchers? That’s what I’m saying.”

“Ah, I read a special article about that. What was it? ‘There are no fly ball pitchers’? Ah, that’s right. This is it.”

Jang Yao-xun on the mound took a light breath.

$450,000 USD this year.

Considering that the total salary he received during his 12 years of professional life in Taiwan until last year was less than $800,000 USD, this is a significant amount. This is even more so when considering that Elian Gurriel, the highest-paid foreign hitter in the Taiwanese league last year, had a salary of $320,000 USD.

‘If we win the championship, there’s a bonus of $100,000 USD…’

He is 34 years old this year.

He doesn’t know how much longer he can play, especially considering that sinkerballers are prone to injuries.

Kang Ra-on, the Marines’ leadoff hitter, came to the plate.

He is a difficult hitter, with a wide strike zone and the power to hit nearly 10 home runs in a season. He is also fast enough to consistently produce 2 or 3 triples.

Jang Yao-xun threw the ball.

-Thwack!!

[First pitch, a low 144.7 km/h (90 mph) ball!! Kang Ra-on fouls it off!]

[That was a very good sinker. Kang Ra-on showed good discipline.]

His determination to lay off anything that wasn’t a fastball down the middle on the first pitch paid off. If he had swung, it would have ended in a ground ball to the infield.

Second.

This time, a slightly higher pitch.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!”

It was a 139.9 km/h (87 mph) slider.

A trajectory completely opposite to the sinker.

Kang Ra-on calmly breathed and waited for the third pitch.

Ball count 1-1.

The ball came with a trajectory not much different from the second.

Slider?

Sinker?

-Clang!!!

Kang Ra-on’s bat connected with the ball, but he didn’t hit it cleanly.

Kang Ra-on quickly ran towards first base. You never know what kind of play will unfold in baseball, especially in the Korean Series. Even if he anticipated a ground out, he had to run with all his might. Shin Hee-sung, the Braves’ second baseman, also ran a few steps forward to field the batted ball.

It was an error.

The ball, which bounced off a slightly uneven patch of ground, slipped out of second baseman Shin Hee-sung’s glove. He hurriedly turned around to pick up the ball and threw it, but it was too late.

“Safe!!”

Jang Yao-xun slightly frowned.

But that was it.

“It’s okay!! It’s okay!!”

Awkward Korean flowed from his mouth.

Jang Yao-xun is thirty-four years old this year, with a wealth of experience. The reason he was able to achieve excellent results despite the occasional errors throughout the season was because he had a strong mentality that wasn’t easily shaken by such mistakes.

The next batter is Lee Jung-hoon, the second batter.

He stood at the plate without exchanging words with Choi Soo-won just before his at-bat.

The Marines’ top of the lineup is tricky.

Excluding Choi Soo-won, who is extraordinary, few teams are definitively better than the Marines, except for the Dolphins.

And Lee Jung-hoon is a table setter who consistently bats 1st or 2nd for the Marines.

‘Lee Jung-hoon. A very disciplined hitter.’

But there are times when Lee Jung-hoon mysteriously loses that discipline.

That’s when a ball comes into his favorite zone with a favorable count. At this time, he swings his bat aggressively.

Just like this!!

-Clang!!

[He hit it!! A ground ball between 2nd and 3rd base!! Jang Chan-min fields it cleanly and throws to Shin Hee-sung!! Shin Hee-sung!! Throws to first base to Myung Jin-soo!!]

“Out!!”

[A clean double play!! Jang Yao-xun induces a double play from Lee Jung-hoon.]

[Jang Yao-xun’s sinker is definitely tricky. It’s a really difficult pitch to hit squarely.]

[Two outs, no runners. The Marines’ starting pitcher is up next, right? Third batter Choi Soo-won comes up.]

Choi Soo-won.

In other words, a monster.

Jang Yao-xun always regretted his age.

If only he had met Wang Chien-ming a little earlier and learned pitching from him, he would have been able to aim higher than the KBO. It was inevitable that he would feel regret.

But the moment he saw Choi Soo-won in the KBO, he was able to put that regret aside for sure.

‘Ah, so that’s what a major league player is like.’

The standard itself was different.

Everyone else is playing 야구 (Yagu) [Korean for baseball], but he was the only one playing Baseball. What nonsense is that? Isn’t 야구 (Yagu) baseball? Yes, that’s right. 방셔우 (Bangshou), 야구 (Yagu), and 야큐 (Yakyu) [different pronunciations of baseball in various languages/dialects] all mean the same thing. But Choi Soo-won’s uniqueness could only be explained that way. He is definitely playing the same game under the same conditions, but he is different on his own.

So the choice was not difficult.

A huge boo filled the stadium.

[Automatic intentional walk!! The Braves’ dugout signals for an automatic intentional walk for Choi Soo-won. This is already the 4th consecutive automatic intentional walk since the last game.]

[Well… I think I would have made a similar choice even if I were in manager Park Yu-sung’s position.]

Even in that huge boo, Jang Yao-xun’s expression remained unchanged.

Yes, in the end, he is the only one playing Baseball, so all I have to do is not face him. Of course, that guy is still a pain in the ass even if I do that. He has a whopping 24 stolen bases this season. The success rate is not bad either, at 85.7%. But at least it didn’t matter today.

[In fact, Choi Soo-won is a troublesome player even if he gets on base with a walk when there are no runners. He’s fast. He steals second base, and then Noh Hyung-wook hits a single right after, and he scores a run. But if you look at it, he has 0 stolen bases when he plays as a pitcher. There are no attempts at all.]

[Huh? As I recall, he stole a base in a game against the Braves when he played as a pitcher.]

[Ah, if it’s a game against the Braves, you’re probably talking about the game where Choi Soo-won pitched 2.1 innings and was taken down early, then played as a first baseman and stole a base.]

Set position.

He threw the ball quickly with a slide step.

-Thwack!!

Thanks to that, his control faltered.

Noh Hyung-wook did not swing at the ball that went out of the zone.

Looking at first base once more.

He threw another ball from the set position with a slide step.

A slider that barely missed to the outside as if scooping it up.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!!”

Noh Hyung-wook’s bat swirled through the air.

Ball count 1-1.

Third.

Mix in a little feint here.

Shake the rhythm with a normal step instead of a slide step from the set position. And the fastest sinker!! A fast sinker of 146.4 km/h (91 mph) flowed subtly towards the batter’s body in the middle of the zone.

-Clang!!!

Noh Hyung-wook’s bat, drawn out like lightning.

He didn’t hit the sweet spot, but regardless, he pulled the bat all the way with his strength.

The high fly ball stretched out.

Noh Hyung-wook threw his bat away 멋지게 (meotjige, stylishly) and ran towards first base. (T/N: I kept the Korean word here because it’s a common expression and adds a bit of flavor.)

Two outs.

Choi Soo-won also ran towards second base, not considering retouching [returning to the original base]. The Marines fans who filled the stadium watched the batted ball with pounding hearts.

[A high fly ball!! It’s going deep!!]

Jang Yao-xun’s heart was pounding as well. The ball he threw was very good, but he knew that a good result did not always follow a good pitch.

‘Please!!’

Of course, apart from his inner cry, his expression was calm, and that calm expression was one of the gifts that the eventful past had given him.

Kang Ho-chang ran.

A 32-year-old veteran who was the Marines’ starting center fielder before Lee Joo-hyuk, and a center fielder whom the Braves ambitiously signed for 4 years and 4.5 billion won [approximately $3.4 million USD] for this season’s championship.

Just as the Marines’ Diego Rodriguez did not want to lose to the Elitz, his former team, Kang Ho-chang also did not want to lose to the Marines.

Of course, there was a difference in that Diego was abandoned by the Elitz, and Kang Ho-chang directly abandoned the Marines. However, just as an ex-girlfriend is someone you don’t want to show a shabby appearance to, regardless of whether you dumped her or she dumped you, the same is true for your former team.

Kang Ho-chang’s running speed was not as fast as Lee Joo-hyuk’s sprint.

But his start was a little faster, his direction was very precise, and his will was extraordinary.

One step to the warning track.

Kang Ho-chang’s outstretched glove snatched the flying baseball.

[Caught it!! Kang Ho-chang!!]

[Wow, Kang Ho-chang. That was a really great catch. It was not an easy ball, but he caught it like that.]

[Bottom of the 1st inning. The score is 0:0. The Marines’ attack ends a little disappointingly.]

The game continued.

Choi Soo-won suppressed the Braves’ lineup with overwhelming stuff. There were often threatening batted balls, but luck also played a part. Thus, he allowed only one walk through the 5th inning.

Jang Yao-xun also blocked the Marines’ lineup very well.

As the game progressed, his velocity also gradually increased, and in the 4th inning, the velocity of his sinker finally reached 147.9 km/h (92 mph).

And at the top of the 6th inning, the Braves’ attack.

Choi Soo-won came up to the mound again.

The leadoff hitter is number 8.

The Marines’ betrayer, the 4.5 billion won center fielder, Kang Ho-chang.