On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 44

Thwack!

“Foul.”

The batter swung at the first pitch, which came in suddenly, but it went foul.

“Outside curve, strike zone.”

Jung Jin-oh followed Song Seok-hyun’s call exactly.

“Ball, outside.”

The batter didn’t swing, just watching it pass.

“Fastball, low inside, into the strike zone.”

Jung Jin-oh threw a fastball that drifted close to the center.

A mistake.

Jung Jin-oh’s heart sank, but the batter held his swing.

“Strike!”

1-2.

Song Seok-hyun gave the sign as soon as he caught the ball from the pitcher.

“Curve, center, bounce.”

Jung Jin-oh skipped even a brief nod.

As soon as he caught the ball, he took a breath and threw it.

“Strike! Out!”

Swinging strikeout.

The batter closed his eyes tightly, still gripping the bat.

“Yesss!”

Jung Jin-oh smiled broadly.

Jung Jin-oh gave up a hit to the next batter but immediately induced a double play to end the inning.

“Hyung [older brother or respected senior], your pitches are amazing today!”

“Hahahaha, I guess so. It’s really working today?”

Jung Jin-oh puffed out his chest.

The game settled into a pitching duel.

A battle between Goo In-sun, a first-team local second starter, and Jung Jin-oh, a pitcher ranked in the top three among the second-team pitchers.

Gote’s batters were swinging wildly and striking out, but Jung Jin-oh shortened the inning with quick matchups.

“Ah, seriously.”

Goo In-sun was annoyed watching the batters get out by swinging at the first and second pitches.

Jo Yang-sun said to Goo In-sun.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

“I’m frustrated, frustrated. They should watch the ball longer, or at least get a single. I don’t have time to breathe.”

“You’re throwing to control your condition, hyung, why are you like this? Just throw comfortably.”

“Aish, can I do that as I please?”

Jo Yang-sun turned his head, embarrassed by Goo In-sun’s annoyance.

“I really hate this feeling of trying to mediate.”

As if responding to Goo In-sun’s annoyance, the batter hit a fly ball to the right fielder on the second pitch again.

“Ha, I won’t need practice throws. My shoulder has no time to cool down.”

Bottom of the 5th inning, Gote’s attack.

Goo In-sun glared at Song Seok-hyun coming to the plate.

*That guy has the biggest share of the blame for ruining my mood today.*

‘Fastball?’

‘Fastball.’

‘Okay. Fastball, outside.’

Goo In-sun shook his head at the catcher’s sign.

‘Inside?’

‘Inside.’

‘Then low.’

‘No.’

Only when the catcher signaled for a high inside pitch did Goo In-sun nod.

“Ahem.”

The catcher cleared his throat while giving the sign.

Even if you look at it positively, Goo In-sun’s control isn’t great.

To be cold, it’s below average.

Goo In-sun’s release point was somewhere between the edge of the strike zone and the center.

Throwing an inside fastball with Goo In-sun’s control is 50% like aiming for a beanball [a pitch deliberately thrown at the batter’s head].

It was clear that Song Seok-hyun getting a walk in the previous at-bat had touched Goo In-sun’s nerves.

Swish.

Goo In-sun didn’t hesitate and aimed at the catcher’s mitt.

The catcher brought the mitt closer to the center of the strike zone rather than inside.

As Goo In-sun threw the ball, the Wales players on defense tensed up.

The ball was too close to the batter’s body.

Bang!

The catcher tilted his body to the side while catching the ball.

The ball was caught at Song Seok-hyun’s shoulder height.

It was a course that would have been a perfect beanball if it had missed two more balls inside.

“……”

Song Seok-hyun stared at Goo In-sun without moving.

He didn’t get angry, step back from the plate, or argue with the catcher.

He just kept looking into Goo In-sun’s eyes.

*That bastard, why is he staring at me like that?*

If they were close, you could apologize with a gesture even if it wasn’t a beanball, but a ball close to a beanball.

Since the difference in years between Song Seok-hyun and Goo In-sun is more than 10 years, Goo In-sun didn’t necessarily need to gesture an apology to Song Seok-hyun even if it wasn’t a beanball.

“The ball was a little off.”

The catcher apologized instead, but Song Seok-hyun didn’t budge.

The catcher changed the sign to an outside fastball.

The pitcher shook his head.

“……”

The catcher hesitated for a moment and then gave an inside sign.

Inside, forkball.

Only then did the pitcher nod.

The catcher scanned Song Seok-hyun up and down again.

*His body looks quite solid.*

*In case a beanball comes out, the catcher has to block it.*

*The batter will put up with it because of the difference in years, but you never know.*

“……”

Song Seok-hyun was just spinning the bat gently, looking at Goo In-sun.

Success Story as a Catcher

Simultaneous Hatching (2)

Thank goodness.

That was the Wales catcher’s feeling.

Goo In-sun’s lack of control sent the ball to the center of the strike zone rather than the batter’s body.

Swish.

The batter started his swing.

*That’s it.*

*The batter who had only been holding back is finally fooled.*

Thwack!

“……?”

The catcher didn’t know what was going on.

The ball, which should have bounced, was touched and became a long hit that went over the right fielder’s head instead of a ground ball.

Song Seok-hyun threw his bat and safely landed on second base.

“Ha.”

Goo In-sun sighed with his teeth clenched.

Clap, clap, clap.

Applause came from the Gote bench.

Goo In-sun, who gave up a hit to Song Seok-hyun, gave up two walks due to control issues and then gave up 3 points with a sweeping hit.

The Wales bench took Goo In-sun down.

It was judged that there was no need to throw more balls as he was playing the game to control his condition.

“Haa, shiba [a Korean swear word].”

Goo In-sun threw his glove on the bench.

As soon as the catcher came to the bench, Goo In-sun asked.

“Can you see my ball?”

“What?”

“Can you distinguish between the fastball and the forkball?”

“Hey, how can you do that? If that were possible, how would you have made a living until now?”

“Right? Isn’t it?”

“No. He just hit it luckily.”

“It’s so unsettling. It feels like that guy is picking out all my balls.”

Top of the 6th inning.

Wales continued their batting order with lead batter Jo Yang-sun.

After a hit and a walk, it was his third at-bat.

From the first pitch, Song Seok-hyun demanded a ball to the body.

Thwack!

The batter pulled the first pitch with all his might.

The ball went towards the third baseman, but the third baseman misstepped and couldn’t make the throw.

“Sorry.”

As the third baseman apologized to the pitcher, the pitcher smiled pleasantly.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. It’s nothing.”

As the fast runner stood on first base, the pitcher looked straight at the runner.

The advantage of a left-handed pitcher is that it is easy to check the first base runner.

Of course, that didn’t mean he could stop all steals.

Taat!

As soon as the pitcher threw the first pitch, the runner ran.

The lead wasn’t long, but it was a steal attempt because Jin-oh’s ball wasn’t fast and the runner was fast.

Bang!

The batter swung, but it was a swing and a miss on the ball that went outside.

As soon as Song Seok-hyun caught the ball, he threw it to second base.

Jo Yang-sun made a headfirst slide.

Whoosh!

The runner slid, scattering dirt.

“Out!”

The infielder’s glove blocked the runner’s hand from the base.

“Yesss!”

Jung Jin-oh clenched his fist.

After the infielder’s mistake, the catcher’s throw to second base resulted in an out.

Jo Yang-sun got up and brushed off the dirt.

“His shoulder is good.”

The second baseman laughed at Jo Yang-sun’s words.

“His throwing speed is over 150km/h [approximately 93 mph]. Don’t steal unless you really have to.”

“Don’t exaggerate. What 150km/h? My timing was a little late.”

“Then try stealing one more time. Then you’ll know.”

After watching Song Seok-hyun’s throw, the Wales coach called the battery coach [coach specializing in pitchers and catchers].

“How is it?”

“Looking at the throwing speed alone, it’s top-notch.”

“The way he swings the bat and throws, where did a guy like that pop out from?”

“They say they were lucky enough to pick him as an undrafted player.”

“Geez, if Yang-sun is out, the other kids won’t be able to steal today.”

Jung Jin-oh gave up two hits but induced a double play and ended the inning without giving up a run.

The coach was about to replace Jung Jin-oh, but the pitching coach dissuaded him.

“We need to push harder on days like today. I think this is the timing for Jin-oh to grow even bigger.”

“If so… let’s drag it out a little more. But just in case, get the bullpen ready.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Song Seok-hyun took off his catcher’s mask and sat down.

Kim In-hwan came and sat next to Song Seok-hyun and asked in a low voice.

“I couldn’t ask earlier.”

“About what?”

“How did you hit Goo In-sun’s forkball? No, how did you pick it out earlier? Did you just know when the opponent was going to throw it? Or did you see it and pick it out?”

“Well… I can see it.”

“You can see it?”

“Yes, I can see it. If there’s so little spin, it’s easy to distinguish from a fastball.”

“You can see that?”

“You can’t see that? There’s so little spin.”

Kim In-hwan blinked, looking at Song Seok-hyun.

After looking at Song Seok-hyun once and the Wales bench once, he shook his head.

“I’m going crazy. I can’t see it.”

“Can’t you see the seams?”

“Uh, I’m not sure.”

“……Hyung, what’s your eyesight?”

“I don’t know. When I measured it before, I think it was 1.0 [20/20 vision].”

“When I hit Taisei’s forkball before, it was a traditional forkball, so topspin was applied and it was difficult to distinguish by the number of rotations alone, but that ball has so few rotations that it’s easy to distinguish.”