Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 124

※ 124. Development

Humans are simpler than we think. Or rather, it’s easy to lose memories.

Where I went last week, what I ate yesterday, which road I took this morning.

Unless the event has a significant impact on my life, like 0.1%, I tend to forget about things that seem trivial.

Last year, the Wonha Challengers finished first in the regular season, narrowly lost in the Korean Series, and the Korean national baseball team won the Premier12 tournament.

Yes, these are all things that can be easily forgotten. But should they be forgotten?

Thwack-!

“Strike!”

New wine should be put into new bottles.

Half right, half wrong.

Thwack-!

“Ah, it’s okay, it’s okay, good ball!!”

“Keep going, keep going!!”

It’s true that new wine should be put in new bottles. But where do you get new bottles? It’s not like your body can be replaced.

I try to patch up the holes in the bottle. I try to prevent the new wine from leaking.

Clack—

“Ball stop! Don’t throw!”

I throw away all the hype I felt from the good results last year.

I fix all the shortcomings I felt from the bad results last year.

Like that,

Thwack-!

“Two, no, three!”

“Turn to second right away!”

“Hurry!”

The KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] 2020 season begins.

“Out!”

Seonghoon hyung [older brother/friend], who blocked a hard hit ball right next to the base, tagged third base, and then Sungmoon immediately threw to first.

In the exhibition game against Hanseong Winners, Hyukjoon, who had been narrowly avoiding hits from the first inning, recorded a triple play thanks to the help of the defense.

“Whoaaaa!!”

“Hwang Hyukjoon! Hwang Hyukjoon! Hwang Hyukjoon!”

The dugout became even more heated as it welcomed the returning heroes.

As the captain, I stood up and applauded the returning heroes to maintain my strict, solemn, and serious demeanor.

“Yaaaaaaak!!”

Being strict, solemn, and serious is easy.

After things calmed down a bit, it was the bottom of the first inning. Myungjin carefully picked four balls and walked out.

Second batter, Kang! Seong! Hyun!

Seonghyun removed the batting ring by tapping the knob of the bat on the ground! He stepped into the batter’s box with a blank expression and waited for the pitch after taking his usual routine.

The pitcher with Myungjin on first base,

Thwack-!

“Strike!”

Earned a count by throwing the first ball near Seonghyun’s body. Seonghyun, who took his left foot out of the batter’s box and loosened his back muscles once,

Thwack-!

“It went…!”

He hit the outside slider properly, but unfortunately, it slightly deviated from the right foul pole.

“Ah….”

“Ah, that’s a real shame.”

“1m?”

“It wouldn’t be 1m. About 30cm?”

Luck.

Yoonseong, who was the power analyst for the Wonha Challengers, evaluated me like this in the early part of last season.

It was just bad luck. A pitcher can’t control every hit. Hanwool will take off in the second half.

Thwack-!

In the end, I think Yoonseong’s words came true. As a result, I was invincible in the second half, just like Yoonseong said.

But, isn’t that guy the one who’s really unlucky, Yoonseong?

“Two-two!”

“Plenty of time, slowly, slowly!”

Seonghyun was preempted with two strikes, but he hit the curve properly and hit a bullet-like ball.

The problem is that it was ‘again’ connected to a double play.

“Ah, damn it.”

Seonghyun muttered a curse and came into the dugout. Because they knew how to read the atmosphere, his teammates only threw light words of encouragement and avoided the spot.

Everyone knows. In a sense, it’s ‘just’ an exhibition game. Everyone knows that hitting 100 home runs or striking out 100 times here is meaningless.

“Sigh….”

It’s just, that’s how I feel, that’s how I feel.

Feeling.

Unlike Seonghyun’s feeling, whose luck stat seemed to have dropped strangely since the second half of the Korean Series,

Thwack-!

“Oh, it went!”

“It went, it went!”

The feeling of the same age friend who is scheduled to apply for FA [Free Agency] two years later than Seonghyun seemed to be quite good.

“Oh, Kiseong is good?”

“I know. That hyung isn’t the type to pull like that.”

Kiseong’s batting style is… similar to Hong Seokjin of Sangsoo, who recently retired.

Looking at the good eye for pitches and the fact that the distance is better when pushing than pulling.

However, what can be said to be a slightly superior version of Hong Seokjin is his aggressiveness.

If Hong Seokjin doesn’t think it’s right, he leaves it even if it’s a strike. If Kiseong judges that he can hit it, he hits almost any ball.

“What’s going on!”

“Namgi Namgi!”

“Kiseong Kiseong!”

Kiseong this season,

“Oh, let’s try it, I tried it and it works?”

“Hey, hey, what are you doing!”

“Ah, right. Click!”

“Click!”

He has definitely developed one step further.

Kiseong wasn’t the only one who had developed one step further.

Jinhyeong, who bulked up and stably modified the swing trajectory according to the bulk up,

Thwack-!

“It went again!”

“Nice!!”

Seungju, who chose ‘stability’ as the concept for this season,

Clack-!

“Turn, turn, keep turning!!”

“Go to third!!”

Seonghoon hyung, who is scheduled for FA like Kiseong and Seungju,

Thwack-!

“It went again!!”

“Run!!”

Everyone could clearly see that they had developed one step further.

Clap clap clap-!

“Let’s go, let’s go!!”

Thanks to this, the captain of the Wonha Challengers was able to watch the game with a more relaxed mind.

* * *

Thwack-!

“Ah, nice ball!”

No matter how meaningless the exhibition game is, the main story is the regular season…

But that’s what we think.

Bang-!

“Ah, the curve is really good today!”

Will the fans of Wonha Challengers think the same way?

Well…….

Bang-!

“Good, good!”

The starting pitcher who threw 80 pitches, all fastballs to the body.

The third batter who only bunted for three at-bats in a row.

A delayed steal attempted at a seemingly nonsensical timing.

Fans who understand baseball with records understand.

Yes, you have to try everything you want to do now. Please don’t screw up in the regular season.

But fans who just cheer don’t understand at all. No, they don’t even think about understanding in the first place.

Still, it’s a game, we have to win!

They want the team they support to achieve munchkin status in a few games during spring camp, 8 exhibition games, 126 regular season games, and 4 Korean Series games, not to see a growth drama.

Because what the fans of the team want is for the team they support to achieve munchkin status, not to see a growth drama.

“Hanwool, let’s go up.”

“Yes.”

Well, I don’t want to criticize that. Rather, I’m grateful because that means they’re cheering for us that much.

But there’s a realistic compromise. Even if we can’t say it’s good to maintain a 50% win rate, it’s not bad.

Ding-!

[Development]

– Get 3 strikeouts in 1 inning with improved pitching (0/3)

– Reward – All pitches +3

“Hmm….”

I ran to the mound while looking at the text floating above the opponent’s dugout. When I arrived at the mound and stepped on the plate, my shoes felt strangely heavy.

Because the ground was slightly muddy due to the spring rain that fell in the morning, I shook off the spikes on the cleat cleaner and stepped on the pitcher’s plate.

The pitcher’s plate at Jamsil Stadium that I’m stepping on after a long time.

Thwack-!

“Strike!”

Let’s think positively.

Thwack-!

“Ball!”

The Hanseong Winners’ batting order that I will face in the top of the 7th inning is 3, 4, 5, the cleanup trio.

Originally, I had to face Lee Yongho, Jo Taepung, and Kim Hongju, but Lee Yongho left, and as time passed, there were quite a few changes in the batting order.

The first change, 3rd batter Jung Seonghoon. He’s really strong, so his batting power is good, and his shoulder is good, so his throwing is good, but,

Whoosh-!

“Swing-.”

What is that accuracy? Both the contact and the inaccuracy of the throw were so poor that he was hitting 7th as a designated hitter until last year.

Well… I guess he had no choice but to fill the spot because Lee Yongho left, but will he be okay?

First of all, I’ll pass on the curveball to the body against Jung Seonghoon. The memory of getting a home run after throwing a curveball to the body comes to mind.

Jung Seonghoon’s weakness is his chronic outside eye. The fact that he swung at the changeup that caught the second strike, and maybe the fastball too.

Thwack-!

…That’s what I thought.

Ding-!

[Development]

– Get 3 strikeouts in 1 inning with improved pitching (0/3)

– Reward – All pitches +3

– Quest failed.

“Out!”

Center fielder Jinhyeong threw the ball to Myungjin, who was far away from the spot where he had retreated quite a bit. Myungjin ran over and tossed it to me.

I touched the received ball and thought.

Jung Seonghoon isn’t that kind of hitter. What was it? Was it just a coincidence?

A hitter who had an absolute weakness for outside balls properly hit a ball that was an issue whether half an outside ball was missing or not and sent it far away.

“It can happen.”

Still, he’s a professional. He’s a pro Tarzan. He can’t just keep watching that ball forever.

I shook my head and stepped on the plate again. The next batter is Jo Taepung, the 4th batter who is evaluated as playing baseball alone in Hanseong Winners.

“Ugh!”

Thwack-!

“Strike!”

I received the ball and glanced back. The speed shown on the scoreboard is 144km [kilometers per hour]. My body is definitely less up.

Since that’s my plan, and that’s what the team thinks about me, there’s no need to waste energy yet, so I didn’t really want to.

Just,

“Ugh!”

Thwack-!

Let’s not lose our sense.

“Oh, Myungjin’s handling is good!”

The ground ball that was hit well bounced up at the end, but Myungjin hurriedly pulled his left back and caught the irregular bounce.

Since it was a well-hit ball in the first place, there was plenty of time,

Bang!

“Out!”

There’s plenty of time to throw to first base.

Clap clap clap!

“Hyung.”

“If you’re going to talk nonsense, do it later.”

“Hing.”

After lightly defeating Myungjin, I faced the third change in the Hanseong Winners’ batting order.

Chae Jihun, who was originally hitting 6th, moved up one step.

“Ugh!”

Thwack-!

“Ball-.”

I tried to throw a sinker to the outside as the first ball, but it was judged to be slightly off and started with a ball.

I feel a little disappointed, but well,

Bang!

“Strike!”

I can always bring the count.

I checked the defensive positions in the back once and stepped on the plate again. And a sinker sign to the body that starts from my side.

Gyuhyuk nodded and sat close to Chae Jihun’s body.

“Keuk!”

Tick!

I felt like it was a little more on my index finger than usual, but I think it was rather fortunate. Thanks to the fact that it was twisted in more, it was not a direct hit but a foul.

And what else can I throw….

I kept picking out balls that I hadn’t thrown to check the condition of the overall pitches. The one that was selected was the slider.

Nodding,

“Heut!”

I threw the ball into the full outside zone. I thought the bat would follow the ball that was flowing to the outside, but I didn’t think it would reach it,

Clack—

The ball that touched even the end of the bat floated very high.

“M, My!! Myyyyy!!”

As soon as he checked the hit ball, Myungjin screamed from behind and stopped the movement of the infielders.

Myungjin, who took a position somewhere between the mound and second base, kept watching the hit ball without taking his eyes off it.

Fwack!

“Out!”

It floated really high.

“Nice, Myungjin is doing well.”

“Ehet, hyung! Click!”

Click!

Even though I felt that my absurdity had disappeared, I performed a ceremony with Myungjin. This is of course,

“Eeeey, Jinhyeong! Jinhyeong, click!”

“Yeeee, click!”

Includes the center fielder who got the first out count.

“You don’t look too happy for someone who’s clicking and clicking?”

“…Can you see it?”

Hoon came over as I finished the ceremony and sat down in the dugout. The guy sitting next to me must be using some kind of mind-reading.

“It’s all written on your face.”

“Just. It’s nothing special. I just feel like the difficulty has suddenly increased.”

“What difficulty?”

“I thought we could win this year. Easily. Easier than last year.”

“I think so too?”

“Ah, it’s not like that thought has disappeared. I’m thinking about it….”

“But.”

Jung Seonghoon, who properly hit the outside ball that I thought would never reach. Chae Jihun, who tried to finish with a swing but managed to hit it.

“…The difficulty has increased.”

Even in Hanseong Winners, who have been in last place for several years in a row, such minor improvements are visible, so what about the top teams?

“Hey, let’s get more points, let’s get more!”

Unlike before, when he was watching the game comfortably, the team’s captain had to watch the game with one wish: the team’s development.