Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 36

The team’s overall performance seemed stagnant, a frustrating irony considering the individual talent scattered throughout the roster. The season was still young, barely two months in, but the team needed to find a way to coalesce despite this imbalance.

Despite the team’s struggles, some players were shining.

First, there’s Seong-hyun, who’s carrying the offensive load with his powerful bat. He currently leads the league with nine home runs. He’s always had raw power, but the fact that he’s already approaching double-digit homers so early in the season – projecting to potentially 20+ for the year – is incredibly encouraging.

Another pleasant surprise is Gyu-hak, who’s currently ranked 12th in batting average. Gyu-hak, who typically hovers around the Mendoza Line [a batting average around .200, considered poor], is hitting a solid .310.

Our ace pitcher, Hyuk-joon, threw a shutout in his third start of the season and is currently second in the league in strikeouts. Surprisingly, Gyu-jin hyung [hyung is a Korean term for older brother or older male friend] is leading the league with an impressive 42 strikeouts in just five starts since opening day!

Originally, we had a solid rotation with two reliable starters, followed by Jun-hyuk as the third and Tae-woong as the fourth. Jun-hyuk has a record of 2 wins and 1 loss in 4 starts, with a respectable ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance] of 1.85 over 24 innings.

Looking at the advanced stats, his performance is a little less impressive, but on the surface, he boasts the best ERA among our starting pitchers. Tae-woong, on the other hand, is still a bit inconsistent.

And me?

I haven’t allowed a single run in 27 innings across 18 relief appearances since the season opener.

18 games, 27 innings.

The number of innings pitched exceeds the number of games played, meaning I’ve had multiple multi-inning outings. It’s manageable for now. Like I said, it’s still early in the season. But how will I hold up as the season progresses?

Tak―!

“…Ah.”

But there’s nothing I can do about it.

Senior Choi Eun-gu. 24 walks in 12.2 innings. That’s terrible.

Senior Shin Kyung-seok, a batting average against of .386 in 10.1 innings. Also terrible.

“…Han-wool.”

“Yes.”

“Get ready to go in.”

“Yes.”

Those two are at least marginally better than the rest of the bullpen. At least…

– Your love is the wildcard…….

My familiar entrance music blares through the stadium speakers. We’re at our home stadium. The situation is the top of the 7th inning with two outs. Runners on first and second.

I wonder how long I’ll be pitching today. As I throw a few warm-up pitches, following my usual routine, the play call comes in. I glance at the scoreboard and check the opposing batter.

Pursuing a comeback when down by three runs, the opposing manager is making a bold move, replacing their sixth batter with a pinch hitter.

I take a few steps towards home plate, signal to the fielders, and then settle back down to observe Gyu-hak’s intricate finger movements.

I focus intently on his signals, and then his hands converge in my glove. I briefly check the runner and quickly deliver the pitch.

“Ball.”

The ball, which I intended to throw to the outside corner, must have slipped slightly. Without dwelling on it, I retrieve the ball and look for the next sign.

A changeup that dips slightly to the outside. I nod in acknowledgment and stretch again.

Tick―

“Foul!”

The batter, attempting to pull the ball, barely made contact, resulting in a foul ball that trickled past the first base line. The next pitch is a sinker aimed for the same location. It seems he wants to vary the speed rather than the location.

I slightly adjust my grip from the fastball hold, lift my left leg, and feint a throw towards second base.

Pak―

“Safe!”

The runner, momentarily caught off guard by the pickoff attempt, which I didn’t seriously intend to execute, hurriedly scrambled back to the base.

I felt a twinge of sympathy seeing his relief, but I quickly shook it off. As I stepped back onto the rubber, the batter stepped out of the batter’s box and glanced at the runner on third base.

What kind of play are they planning with two outs?

I was puzzled, but unsure of their strategy, I simply kept my eyes on Gyu-hak. Gyu-hak steps out after briefly lifting his foot off the plate.

Mask, mitt, left chest, mitt, belt, left shoulder, left elbow.

While the usual block sign is only conveyed to the fielders, this time the sign for this play was a play that I also had to participate in.

After receiving the sign, I stepped onto the plate and checked the sign for the pitch this time. I don’t really need to see it, but it’s a play that requires some acting skills.

Gyu-hak’s eyeballs rolling around are quite funny. Index finger, middle and ring finger and little finger, index finger and thumb. After three changes, back to the set position.

I turn my head to the right and check second base. My eyes meet Myung-jin’s, and then Sung-moon’s in turn, and then I look back at Gyu-hak.

This took about 2 seconds. After that, I look back at Gyu-hak. The catching surface of the mitt is visible in the lower part of the batter’s body for targeting. About 1 second later, the mitt blinks like a human eye and closes.

Chwaak―!

At the same time, I turn my body to the left and head towards second base. A pickoff sign that requires trust between teammates. In the rapidly reversing field of vision, Sung-moon can be seen arriving at second base.

Sung-moon’s glove, which is clearly visible in the hazy background. The motion of twisting my body was already fast, so I use only my snap to throw accurately.

Outside pickoff complete.

“Out!”

Yeah!

As I entered the dugout, the hand gesture of the second base umpire, who had signaled the out, was copied on its own. After high-fiving Sung-moon and Gyu-hak, who had been with me in the wonderful play, I went into the dugout.

“Yo, how did you catch him?”

“When hyung [hyung is a Korean term for older brother or older male friend] was picking off at second base earlier, the runner seemed to be spacing out a bit.”

“Oh.”

It seems that the pickoff I did without thinking, just to waste some time, was effective. Oh yeah. Thanks to that, I ended the inning by throwing only two pitches.

“Is the next one the 8th…….”

Since it wasn’t a battle with the batter, I’ll start again with the batter who was at the plate a little while ago. Anyway, the 8th starts with the 6th batter.

“Han-wool. Can you do the 8th too?”

“Yes, I can.”

“I’m counting on you.”

“Yes.”

I put my jacket on only my right shoulder and started watching our team’s offense. But my thoughts were heading towards the defense that would come next. 6th, 7th, 8th batters. If I’m careful with the first batter, the next ones won’t be difficult. What I’m worried about is the top of the 9th.

I’m facing the relatively easy lower batting order, but who will face the 9th batter, where the difficulty increases sharply? Could it be me again?

But the pitching coach’s tone didn’t really seem like that. Then that means someone will go up in the 9th, but who?

If we could score at least one point in this bottom of the 7th inning, the shoulders of whoever goes up in the 9th would be a little lighter, but unfortunately, we couldn’t. Because it ended cleanly with three batters.

I took off the jacket I was wearing and picked up my glove. I slowly walked out and stood on the mound.

Since I had already been staring at Gyu-hak’s hand even before the play call came out after eight practice pitches, the sign exchange was quick. The two pitches in the previous interrupted at-bat became a hint.

He’s pulling.

I pull Sung-moon slightly to the right and move Ki-sung slightly back.

The sign for the first pitch was bold in the opposite sense. A changeup that runs away to the outside instead of trying to catch a strike from the first pitch. It seemed like he definitely intended to send it towards Sung-moon. I nodded and slightly moved the position of my hand to grab the grip.

Tak―

“Foul!”

Perhaps he was thinking about something else, but instead, he had a late swing on the changeup, resulting in a foul that went to the left of the catcher. It seems like there’s no preparation for that side today. I shook my head and nodded when the sign for an outside fastball came out.

The fastball, heading for a course that would have been sufficiently out of the zone for two pitches, didn’t even flinch. Since I didn’t expect it in the first place, I immediately made the count 1-2 with an inside fastball for the next pitch. What’s next?

I shook my head at the sign for a slider that would graze the zone, and the sign for a forkball came out. I thought it wouldn’t be bad and nodded. The batter touched the change that flew towards the middle point on the outside and then suddenly headed towards the ground with an awkward swing and immediately started running towards first base.

It was heading towards the original shortstop’s position, but it was slightly biased to the right. Myung-jin ran a few steps, caught the ball with a backhand, saved a step, and caught the count at first base.

I applauded the wonderful defense and received the returning ball. Since it was still a usable ball, I stepped on the plate as it was. 7th batter Shin Yong-hee and 8th batter Lee Kyung-mo. They’re not particularly scary batters.

At most, a double. Since both of them had the lowest level of power, I faced them without any pressure and got good results as they were, and the top of the 8th inning ended cleanly.

And when I wondered who would go up in the top of the 9th, I saw Senior Choi Eun-gu warming up. In the middle of the top of the 8th and the bottom of the 9th, we added a point in the bottom of the 8th, making the score 7 to 3. Four points.

The extremely low walk rate is still the same, but the decent strikeout rate is also maintained to some extent. Thanks to the good velocity and the completely unstable grouping of pitches, the opposing batters react passively, so the batting average against itself is low.

Let’s trust him.

Senior Choi Eun-gu, who is in charge of the closer role even though it’s not a save situation, went to the mound. The top of the 9th inning starts with the 9th batter.

Play―

After exchanging signs, his left knee only went up to the belt line and then slowly went down. He has style, but unlike my flamboyant pitching form, Senior Choi Eun-gu’s form is very neat. A neat, tidy way of throwing, but,

153km [approximately 95 mph].

The result is quite violent. How can he throw like that?

But the ball flew high into the air, so high that Gyu-hak had to jump.

How can he throw like that, despair version.

Immediately after sending the sign, Gyu-hak slowly moved his hands to try to stabilize Senior Choi Eun-gu. It worked, and two balls went into the zone in a row. Everyone watched and it became a pitcher’s count, and then another high ball flew, making it 2-2.

I think the saying that the first button is important is quite true. Because a vicious cycle can come more easily than you think.

Seeing someone who had at least the minimum control to force the ball into the zone, even if it wasn’t originally top-tier control in the league, become like that.

Whatever the reason, the control that he had, even to that extent, slightly slipped and ruined a game. The next game, the previous failure comes to mind, and he unconsciously puts strength into his shoulder.

The first few times, the opposing batter unconsciously pulls the bat out, but after that, they don’t even react. No, they don’t even try to swing the bat itself.

If you just put it in the zone, you can easily get the count, but that easy difficulty puts even more pressure on you. It doesn’t go into the zone even more. The bat doesn’t come out even more. It doesn’t go in even more.

Infinite loop.

This time, the 152km [approximately 94 mph] fastball that was buried in the ground represents this. The next ball also heads towards the ground, and even though he caught two strikes first, he walks the batter.

As if he’s used to it, Gyu-hak takes off his mitt to waste some time and slowly wipes the ball, encouraging the pitcher.

“Ball!”

“Ball―”

“Ball!”

“Ball, base on balls!”

The cycle that has already been deeply embedded cannot be easily broken. Even more so with his own power. It has already gone far beyond the level that he can control.

“Strike!”

“Ball!”

So, what kind of action is needed in this case? There’s nothing that he or his side can do. Then you have to get it from the other side.

Tak―

“Three, three!”

Like now.

“First!”

“No, second!!”

“Two, two!!”

The 2nd batter’s batted ball, which he swung after a long time, headed straight for the third baseman. After catching it on one bounce, Hyung Sung-hoon ran a few steps and tagged third base, then headed straight for first base, but headed for second base at the call of the fielders.

Sung-moon, who received the ball at second base, threw the ball to first base with all his might, but the hesitation at third base prevented a triple play.

“Yaa!!”

“Good, nice play!!”

“Hyung Sung-hoon, take me!!”

The team’s atmosphere begins to rise with unexpected luck.

External action. Average.

If you forcibly associate these two words that have nothing to do with each other, you can create a situation like now.

“Strike!”

“Swing!”

Someone who was far from the average returns to the average due to external action. Whether that average is in a high place or a low place.

“Swing!”

Gyu-hak blocked the bouncing slider, quickly grabbed it, and tagged the batter, ending the game with three outs.

It was an inning where external luck worked very strongly, but as a result, it was blocked cleanly.

In any case, Senior Choi Eun-gu, who blocked the inning, shared high-fives with his teammates with a bright smile, in stark contrast to the end of his previous appearances.

I also quickly ran over and shared a high-five with Senior Choi Eun-gu.

I soon stood in front of the first base foul line and watched Senior Choi Eun-gu’s back as he bowed his head once towards our stands with everyone and headed towards the dugout.

The direction of the graph, which had been heading vertically and then towards the bottom, slightly turned upwards. Just a little bit. It’s okay to be satisfied with the fact that the direction has changed, even if it’s just a little bit.

Because life is more unexpected than you think, and reversals happen with things that don’t even sound like words.