Pitcher’S End, Batter’S Start [EN]: Chapter 11

Pitcher Done, Batter Up – 10

The minor league road trips are tough.

Even though the environment has improved compared to the old days.

In the end, it’s still just taking a slightly better bus.

‘Spending hundreds of hours on the bus every year. It’s a wonder my back hasn’t been destroyed.’

Trying to take a nap.

Lee Jung-woo, who tossed and turned uncomfortably, eventually rummaged through his belongings and grabbed his phone.

Rather than just sitting still.

It would be better to watch some more videos of batting mechanics.

Lee Jung-woo, who replayed the video he had paused midway, suddenly thought of the away team.

The Greenville Drive.

A team under the Boston Red Sox organization, currently the first-place team in the Southern Division.

One of the driving forces behind that was their starting pitcher.

Because there was an amazing guy there.

‘Adam Straight.’

A player drafted in the first round this year.

Lee Jung-woo also had a connection with him.

Although, now that he has regressed to the past, it is one-sided.

‘I saw him at spring training next year.’

Coming over to the United States.

He demanded to be included in the major league spring training roster for three years.

Even though his performance was terrible, he was able to participate in spring training.

That’s when he saw him.

Adam Straight.

After that, he had no choice but to see him, even if he didn’t want to.

‘Adam Breaking.’

Two-seam fastball, splitter, curve, changeup, circle changeup. And even a slider later on.

He literally threw all kinds of breaking balls.

People jokingly called him Breaking instead of Straight.

‘I’m meeting a future Cy Young winner like this again.’

His heart was pounding.

He had met the pitcher in the past, but.

The situation is different now.

He is a pitcher, and he is a batter.

They are meeting as true enemies.

Lee Jung-woo was curious on the one hand.

‘Will my abilities work against such a pitcher?’

He had successfully attacked all the pitches with vertical movement thrown by the pitchers he had faced so far.

But now the level is different.

Third pick in the first round of the draft.

A genius who ranked as high as 4th in the prospect rankings.

‘I envied him a lot. If I hadn’t been injured, I would have been like that too.’

He remembers him because he was a target of envy.

He’s in Single-A because he’s in his first year.

Adam Straight is skilled enough to play in the majors right away.

Especially his curveball was amazing.

70 points based on the 20-80 scale [a common scouting scale where 50 is average, and each 10 points represents a standard deviation from the mean].

It was Plus-Plus [well above average].

It is rare to find someone who throws that kind of curveball even in the major leagues.

‘If it works against him, I can attack the curveballs thrown by most minor league pitchers.’

Lee Jung-woo desperately hoped.

That his strengths would work against Straight too.

Even if it doesn’t.

At least to see some potential.

####

Greenville in August is a great place to play baseball. It was warm enough not to be unpleasant.

In fact, most of the South Atlantic League teams’ home cities were like that.

‘His physique is definitely good. He has long arms and legs, and he is well-balanced.’

Lee Jung-woo, who entered Fluor Field, the home stadium of the Greenville Drive, saw a player who had arrived early and was warming up.

Except for seeing him once at spring training.

He looked younger than he remembered, as he had mainly seen him on TV.

‘Since he’s starting, let’s watch him as much as possible.’

Even if he gets out in vain.

He wanted to properly experience high-level pitches, so Lee Jung-woo, who was determined to do so, also slowly warmed up.

After warming up, he refined his form with simple tee batting.

After refining his batting mechanics with free batting, he kept moving steadily to prevent his body from cooling down.

He kept his eyes on Adam Straight.

“Lee, what are you looking at? Ah~ is that him? 7 million dollars. Don’t be intimidated, don’t be intimidated, it’s nothing. He’s just Single-A, right? And he’s a curveballer? If Lee, you hit him a few times, he’ll cry and go down, right? Wow, but 7 million dollars, how much is that? I got 1 million dollars when I signed.”

‘Yeah, he’s at it again.’

Lee Jung-woo shook his head at Paharo, who cut in on his seriousness and started chattering again.

In the meantime, Adam Straight, who was warming up, felt his gaze. Or maybe it was just time. He went into the bullpen.

Lee Jung-woo, who had lost his target, regained his focus.

‘Yeah, it’s nothing. I have to score points no matter who the opponent is. I’m number 3 today.’

The batting order assigned to Lee Jung-woo by the manager in this game was number 3.

As the theory that you should use good players a lot has emerged.

Modern baseball has shifted the focus of hitting a little further forward than the traditional cleanup trio.

It is still an important batting order.

If the 4th batter symbolizes the team’s big hit as a slugger.

The 3rd batter scores the most runs.

Lee Jung-woo had scored the most runs among the Rome Braves hitters in the last ten games.

So the 3rd batter, who produces runs, suited him well.

And Lee Jung-woo himself liked the batting order.

‘I can see it from the 1st inning.’

Because he can stand at the plate and face the opponent a little faster.

The future Cy Young winner.

####

Top of the 1st inning.

Adam Straight, who confidently took the mound, properly showed the spectators and players why he was drafted in the 1st round.

Why he received a whopping 7 million dollars.

‘The scenario is the same. Did he already complete it in the minors?’

Lee Jung-woo clicked his tongue.

The number of pitches used for the 1st and 2nd batters who entered the plate earlier was exactly 8.

Both batters struck out by throwing 4 pitches each.

The pitching content was what Lee Jung-woo knew.

It was similar to when he became a Cy Young winner and made a name for himself.

In other words, not a catcher’s lead.

He knows how to create his own recipe for cooking batters.

‘The deciding pitch is a curveball for both of them. My curveball was also rated Plus-level, but….’

There is no comparison.

Lee Jung-woo before the injury also used the curveball as a deciding pitch to deceive many batters.

But he can’t throw that kind of ball.

The monstrous curveball with a waterfall-like drop, commonly called 12-to-6 [referring to the direction the ball breaks, like the hands on a clock], is at a level that you can’t hit even if you know it.

So he was more convinced.

‘If I can hit that, I can definitely hit anything else.’

Lee Jung-woo, who stood at the plate with a stiff face, looked at the mound.

The cool gray eyes, firmly embedded in the good-natured face, had the magic to overwhelm people.

Lee Jung-woo thought that he became a better pitcher because of those eyes.

Because it naturally puts pressure on the batter.

‘But this side is not young enough to be intimidated by that.’

Lee Jung-woo stared intently with a nonchalant expression.

The pitcher was the one who backed down first in the brief staring contest.

Lee Jung-woo, who had won a battle of pride, looked at the mound with a heated face.

Adam Straight, who had turned his gaze away first, turned his head again and glared at home plate.

Soon he wound up powerfully.

The ball thrown from the overhand’s violent pitching form was fast.

Incredibly.

‘Crazy.’

The two-seam fastball was embedded with a roar.

96mph (154.4km/h)

The left-handed fireballer’s ball, which is said to be brought from hell, was incomparable to what he saw in the waiting seat.

He had seen a faster speed than this once in the last game, but that was a four-seam fastball, and this is a two-seam fastball.

It is also very different qualitatively.

Because the dynamically moving ball stretched out until the end and came in.

‘It’s not as good as my two-seam fastball before the injury. But it’s monstrous enough. I can’t hit this.’

So Lee Jung-woo admitted it.

He can’t hit it now.

‘With my current batting skills, I can’t even graze it.’

It will be different over time.

He probably believed that.

‘But the control is not there. He probably wasn’t aiming for a ball as the first pitch.’

It seems like he was trying to throw it close, but the judge called it a ball because it was slightly off.

That’s the only good thing.

Because he earned one count.

‘Let’s wait. Steadfastly.’

Lee Jung-woo, who muttered that, waited.

No, he said he waited.

To be honest, he just didn’t get a ball he could hit.

The circle changeup thrown after the consecutive two-seam fastballs was also a difficult ball for Lee Jung-woo to swing at.

So the count was cornered.

Two and one.

Lee Jung-woo prayed.

‘Splitter or curveball. Use either one as a deciding pitch. You throw that well.’

Like soothing a child.

Lee Jung-woo, who desperately repeated it, waited for the deciding pitch.

If a normal changeup or two-seam fastball comes out here, it’s ruined.

Perhaps because he was so nervous.

The inside of his batting gloves was soaked with sweat, but his eyes were on the mound.

The pitcher’s windup.

For some reason, he could see the hand stretching out from afar. He could also see the tightly held ball. Even the grip that held it.

That’s a curveball.

The same repertoire.

After gaining more experience, he sometimes deceived batters aiming for a curveball by throwing a changeup.

But he’s not quite there yet.

‘Properly thrown-‘

The curveball flying slowly.

Lee Jung-woo swung.

No, he was going to.

His eyes were clearly watching it properly, and his head was naturally drawing the trajectory.

But his body didn’t follow.

‘F***.’

After the ball that dropped sharply passed through the strike zone, the bottom of the bat passed over it.

The ball slammed into the ground.

The catcher, who quickly caught it, tapped him.

Strike out.

Lee Jung-woo cursed in his mind for the first time since regressing.

After looking at the pitcher for a moment.

He thought as he stepped away from the plate and headed to the dugout.

What should I do to an opponent whose greatest strength doesn’t even work?

His head went blank.

####

Lee Jung-woo stared intently at the pitcher who was going down, receiving applause from the audience.

“That bastard is finally going down.”

“If he kept throwing… I would have really cried.”

“Ah, I’m starting to get the timing right. It’s a shame.”

“When you swung and missed earlier, the distance between the bat and the ball was as big as your head. What timing.”

“That’s what I mean, that’s what I mean.”

“If it’s the rotation, is this the last game we’re playing with them?”

“Probably. Maybe it’s the last time forever. Because he’ll be in Double-A next year.”

The batters, watching Adam Straight, who gave up the shutout cleanly.

And went down after throwing exactly 100 pitches, threw a word each as if they felt relieved.

All they took away during the 7 innings was 1 hit and two walks.

Even one hit was a Texas hit [a weak hit that falls between an infielder and outfielder] due to an error, so in fact, the Rome Braves themselves were completely blocked by him.

So was Lee Jung-woo.

So far, Lee Jung-woo’s record is 3 at-bats, 2 strikeouts, and 1 fly ball.

It was very shabby.

He felt complicated seeing the guy going down with a faint smile.

There was a time like that for me too.

But now he is sitting on the dugout bench as a batter who has been thoroughly toyed with.

The world was so frustrating.

‘Hoo. I tried to shake it off, but I still have regrets.’

Lee Jung-woo, who clenched his molars tightly, sighed and shook his head.

Whenever he sees such a good pitcher, he always remembers his glorious past.

That frustration that I could have been like that too.

The more he harbors these feelings.

The uglier he becomes.

Lee Jung-woo tried to shake off his emotions, but in fact, he didn’t feel so bad.

‘But I saw the potential.’

Although he was miserably beaten, his abilities definitely worked.

Because he saw everything from the beginning to the end, from the posture to the seams of the ball.

It’s just that his body didn’t follow.

So he is stepping down like this now. If he adapts more to being a batter.

If he pulls up things like bat speed more through training.

‘I can definitely attack him.’

Lee Jung-woo was confident.

He is a loser right now.

It will be different when we meet next time.

‘And the game is not over yet.’

Lee Jung-woo looked at the relief pitcher coming up instead of the guy going down.

He doesn’t know what his skills are like.

But Lee Jung-woo could bet his wrist that he would be worse than the guy going down.

Top of the 8th inning, 1 out.

The Rome Braves have not yet scored against Adam Straight.

But the Greenville lineup was also silent.

The score is only 2 points apart.

They can definitely come back.

And it was accurate.

“Go back! Go back!”

“Come in! Come in!”

“It’s a comeback! You bastards!”

The Braves batters, who were beaten by a high-level pitcher, teed off on the pitcher who came up next as if to vent their anger.

Lee Jung-woo also hit a long hit that rolled to the left-center field fence, scoring 1 RBI [Run Batted In].

He saved his pride.

Before leaving the stadium.

Lee Jung-woo saw Adam Straight packing his bags for a moment.

He’s going up to the major leagues from next fall. I won’t see him for quite a while.

“Let’s see each other in a higher place.”

‘I’ll definitely hit a home run then.’

Lee Jung-woo, who muttered as if vowing to himself, packed the rest of his bags and left the stadium.