On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 268

“The pitcher is your teammate, right? Michael Fish is pitching.”

“It’s a great sight to see teammates helping each other out.”

Kim In-hwan blasted a home run right from the first pitch.

The crowd erupted in cheers as the home run easily cleared the right field fence.

“One! A home run right from the start!”

Kim In-hwan muttered.

“Okay. Got the feel for it.”

The balls Fish threw were continuously turned into home runs.

Two, three, four, five.

Five consecutive home runs without wasting a single ball.

The stands were buzzing.

“Kim In-hwan! At this rate, he seems close to winning today’s Home Run Derby!”

The problem was that it wasn’t just the stands that were buzzing.

“……What’s wrong with the ball…….”

Song Seok-hyun let out a hollow laugh.

Fish, with his strong competitive spirit, unknowingly put more and more power into his pitches as the home runs kept coming.

Kim In-hwan calmed Fish down only after wasting three balls.

“Sorry, sorry.”

The home run competition resumed after Fish caught his breath.

“Seven! The seventh home run!”

Kim In-hwan swung his bat as if possessed.

Eight, nine, ten, eleven.

Eleven home runs with four balls remaining.

Kim In-hwan wasted two more balls and then picked up his home run pace again.

“Thirteen! A tie record!”

After hitting one out at thirteen, he had one last ball.

Kim In-hwan’s record was broken with that one ball.

“Fourteen! First place! A new record!”

Even though he had already secured first place, Kim In-hwan had no intention of stopping.

He glanced at Song Seok-hyun once and then swung as if possessed.

“Fifteen!”

“Sixteen!”

“Seventeen!”

He had already surpassed the all-time All-Star Game home run record.

“Twenty!”

Now, every time he hit a ball, thunderous cheers and applause erupted.

“Twenty-two!”

“Twenty-three!”

“Twenty-four!”

“Twenty……!”

The twenty-fifth ball he hit soared so high that it flew in the sky for a long time.

The fans’ eyes were fixed on the ball.

The ball seemed to cross the fence, but it fell ambiguously.

The ball was pushed by the wind near the fence.

“Ah! Twenty-four! The new home run record stopped at twenty-four! Kim In-hwan! Truly the Hulk! He’s different! He sets a new home run record with a different level of power!”

Lee Nak-gyun, an idol from Daegu and a former home run king, hit twelve home runs and put up a good fight, but it was buried so easily it was almost anticlimactic.

The appearance of the next batter was met with cheers that could only be heard at an idol concert.

“The next batter is~~~! The King of Jamsil! The flawless catcher! Song! Seok! Hyun!”

Amidst fervent applause, Song Seok-hyun stepped into the batter’s box.

Song Seok-hyun winked at Kim In-hwan and mouthed.

“I’ll only hit twenty-five.”

The batting ball pitcher was Fish again.

Fish’s first pitch, Song Seok-hyun lightly swung his bat.

Successively rising as a catcher

Home run race

“…….”

“Pfft.”

“…….”

“Hehehehe.”

“Stop laughing.”

“Pwahahaha. Eight? Only eight? I was so scared.”

Song Seok-hyun, who stepped up confidently, only hit eight home runs.

Song Seok-hyun’s swing, full of power, mostly resulted in fouls.

It was an anticlimactic match for the audience who had expected a heated home run race, but it was a chance to once again imprint Kim In-hwan’s monstrous power on all baseball fans.

“Home runs, you know. It’s about relaxing and hitting it accurately. Huh? You know what I mean? This is too much power-.”

“I got it.”

“Hey. How can you talk back when the home run king is talking?”

“Ah, seriously. I’m going to hit thirty next year.”

The All-Star Game, which is supposed to be a festival for baseball fans, ended anticlimactically with a landslide victory for the Dream Team.

Song Seok-hyun, who suffered humiliation in the home run race, hit five home runs in the All-Star Game and won the MVP [Most Valuable Player] award.

The short All-Star Game break passed, and the second half of the regular season began again.

The Goat’s bullpen [group of relief pitchers], once collapsed, showed no signs of recovery, but Goat barely clung to 4th place and didn’t collapse.

There are various reasons such as the good pitching of the starters, stable defense, and balanced offense, but if you had to pick one, it would definitely be KS [Kim In-hwan and Song Seok-hyun].

It was thanks to the home run competition between Kim In-hwan and Song Seok-hyun.

* * *

Director Ham Seong-hoon closed the newspaper.

In the director’s office, the coaches were chatting over coffee.

“At this rate, he might really hit 60 home runs.”

“If he keeps up this pace, he looks like he could even hit 70 home runs.”

“The synergy is good. Whether it’s In-hwan or Seok-hyun, you have to deal with one of them. If you avoid both, then Seon-ho or Wook will sweep them away.”

“This year’s lineup is the best ever, isn’t it? Good left-right balance, good harmony between old and new, and different styles.”

Ham Seong-hoon opened his mouth.

“If the bullpen had supported us a little more, securing first place would have been a sure thing.”

“Ahem.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

The coaches clicked their tongues at Ham Seong-hoon’s words.

After three bullpen pitchers left, Goat searched for usable bullpen pitchers from the minor leagues.

From the minor league ace with a young and fast ball to the veteran who went back and forth between the 5th starter and the bullpen long reliever until last year.

The results were disastrous.

Not a single player had an ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance] below 5.00.

Fortunately, Kim Jeong-ryul reigned as the ironclad closer this year, following last year.

Kim Jeong-ryul’s ERA is 1.12.

Amidst the league’s atmosphere flowing towards hitters, he alone was recording an ERA in the 1.00 range.

Since there were no pitchers who gave stability except for Kim Jeong-ryul, Goat had movie-like games every day, whether good or bad.

Games with frequent come-from-behind and re-come-from-behind plays.

It might be fun from the fans’ point of view, but the director and coaches’ hearts melted every day.

“Cheon-woon is getting called up next week, right?”

“Yes.”

“I’m worried that his minor league record isn’t very good…….”

“They say he’s adjusting his condition, so he’ll do well when he comes up. He’s originally a pitcher who matches the hitters.”

“Hoo, even if it’s Cheon-woon, it’s like having a thousand troops. Right now, we’re just grateful if they fill the innings.”

The coaches swallowed hard at Ham Seong-hoon’s sigh.

Go Jin-seok and Jeong Hong-min, who formed an ironclad bullpen with Kim Jeong-ryul, eventually decided to undergo surgery.

It wasn’t a major surgery, but they decided to have surgery and return quickly for next year.

“I think we need to make a decision now.”

The coaches listened carefully to Ham Seong-hoon’s words.

“We don’t have any elements of reversal right now. If we continue like this, we’ll be lucky to finish 3rd in the league, and it’s impossible to play in the post-season without the help of the bullpen. Everyone agrees with this, right?”

“……Yes.”

“Then we have to create the elements of reversal. Kang Tae-yang, Oh Young-shik, Joo Pan-seok. I think it would be good to send these three friends down to the minor leagues and intensively train them as bullpen pitchers during the second half of the season. What do you think?”

The pitching coach said.

“Then are you leaving Jang-il, Jin-pil, and Sang-heum in the bullpen right now?”

“Yes. Kang Tae-yang, Oh Young-shik, and Joo Pan-seok all have fast balls and haven’t played many games in the major leagues yet, so they’re unfamiliar pitchers to the major league players. Rather than ambiguously having them take starting classes in the minor leagues and playing in the bullpen in the major leagues, I think it’s better to train them firmly as bullpen pitchers.”

“All three players have been selected as future starters…… Would that be okay?”

“It’s more appropriate for Cheon-woon or Jin-oh to go up as starters in the long term. Baek-chan is also good enough to play as a starter if he equips a curveball. Rather than increasing ambiguous starters, I think it’s better to divide the routes clearly from a young age. If you study to be a starter and it doesn’t work out, then switch to the bullpen. I think it’s hard for that to work in this era. In a situation where the team has enough starting pitchers, if they don’t have a clear talent as a starting pitcher, I think switching to a bullpen pitcher is a win-win for both the individual and the team.”

The coaches’ eyes were focused on the pitching coach.

The pitching coach nodded.

“If the director thinks so, we should go in that direction.”

“All three players may not be a hit in the post-season, but wouldn’t it be better than now if even one or two of them do their part? Those of you here know better than anyone what the influence of one usable bullpen pitcher is in the post-season.”

“The bullpen is half of the power in the post-season.”

Chief coach Ahn Young-jae said.

“It would have been difficult to even get 4th place this year if it weren’t for In-hwan and Seok-hyun. I never thought the bullpen would collapse so suddenly like this.”

“That’s how pitchers are, good and bad. There are cycles in the lineup, but the hitters’ performance is more consistent when you look at a season.”

“I’m worried, I don’t know when the bats will cool down again.”

Ham Seong-hoon smiled bitterly.

“I have to pray that our lineup doesn’t cool down before our bullpen comes up. Hoo. I hate saying these words, the director should have an alternative.”

“Hehe, isn’t that what the director’s position is? Unless you’re Zhuge Liang [famous strategist from the Three Kingdoms period], how can you open a silk pouch every time?”

* * *

Friday, the fourth week of August.

The first game of the three-game series against Wales in Jamsil.

The game between Wales, who had risen to 5th place in the league, and Goat, who remained in 4th place, flowed anticlimactically from the start.

[Right fence! Right fence! Right fence! 33rd home run! Kim In-hwan! He hits another home run!]

[This time it’s the left fence! Left fence~~~~~ over! It went over! Song Seok-hyun’s 31st home run! The KS duo is having a great performance in Jamsil again today.]

Director Hwang Geun-seong gritted his teeth.

Even the expensive foreign pitcher was useless against the KS duo.

When the score widened to 6-1 in the bottom of the 4th inning, Hwang Geun-seong took the drastic measure of prematurely relieving the starting pitcher, but…….

[Kim Wook! Kim Wook’s three-run homer! Kim Wook’s 22nd home run!]

[Kim Wook, at this pace, it looks like he’ll hit over 30 home runs even in Jamsil. Is this the synergy effect? Kim Wook’s slugging power has suddenly improved.]

[Goat’s destructive power is really the best ever. Once it’s on fire, it doesn’t go out!]

Hwang Geun-seong clenched his fist.

The score is 9-1.

The camera zoomed in on Hwang Geun-seong’s stiff face.

[At the beginning of this season, there were many talks about whether Wales would reign as Goat’s nemesis, but now it’s flowing in the opposite direction, right?]

[Wales’ power has dropped sharply since the first half of the league. I think this is all overload. A pitcher’s shoulder is also a consumable. If you don’t save it, it will definitely go wrong.]

During the three-game series, Wales gave up eight home runs to Goat and gave up a sweep.

A fierce ranking competition, especially a sweep in the second half of the league, had a fatal impact on the ranking.

Wales fell to 7th place in the league at once and was being chased by last-place Phoenix by 0.5 games.

By August, Kim In-hwan had hit forty-one home runs and Song Seok-hyun had hit thirty-six home runs, each taking 1st and 2nd place in home runs.

The league’s popularity was ignited by the two players’ home run competition, but the league had to take a break for a while.

The reason was none other than the Asian Games.

It was an important game in Korea with medals and military exemptions at stake, but Asia’s strongest team, Japan, did not send professional players this time either.

The pitcher was Kim Young-hoon, the catcher was Song Seok-hyun, and the left fielder was Kim In-hwan.

The Korean team, composed of top-notch players, won the Asian Games gold medal with an undefeated record.

The game was so one-sided that it was rather less of a topic.

The most reported news was the Asian Games home run king competition between Song Seok-hyun and Kim In-hwan, rather than the Korean team’s victory.

* * *

“Thank you for your hard work, senior.”

Evening on the day the Asian Games final ended.

Song Seok-hyun bowed his head once again to his roommate and senior, Kim Young-hoon.

“Yes. You worked hard too.”

“It was really an honor to receive senior’s ball.”

“What honor.”

“I’ve been a Phoenix fan since I was young. I became more of a fan after watching senior’s games…….”

Kim Young-hoon blinked.

“Then why did you go to Goat instead of coming to Phoenix?”

“At that time, Goat was the only team that picked me.”

“……Hoo, really?”

Kim Young-hoon rolled around in bed.

“Well, it worked out. Either way, you’ll only get twisted if you come to Phoenix. It’s good that you went to Goat and won the championship and got a lot of money.”

“Ah…… Yes, well. I think I’m lucky that the treatment is good at Goat.”

“Yes. It worked out. It worked out.”

Kim Young-hoon lay down with a sullen expression and then got up.

“Still, it’s a shame. It would have been nice if you and I were on the same team.”

“Yes. I really wish I could have been on the same team as senior……. Still, I was honored to be able to play together in this Olympics.”

“Hoo. Yes. This is the last game we’re playing together. Right?”

“Ah. Aren’t you playing in the next international competition? There’s also the WBC [World Baseball Classic].”

“I can’t play.”

“You can’t play? Is the team opposing your selection?”

The saying that Kim Young-hoon is half of Phoenix’s power is not just empty words.

He only participated in this Olympics because of Kim Young-hoon’s strong will, and his team, Phoenix, strongly opposed it.

Now that he had already received a military exemption, there was no reason to go out of his way to go.