Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 136

※ 136. Going Bold

Would there really be a pitcher who throws right into the heart of the zone from the very start?

No, would there be a pitcher who *wants* to, and *does*, throw right into the heart of the zone from the very start?

“Ugh!”

*Thwack-!*

And after throwing like that, would there be a pitcher who *wants* to, and *does*, throw the next ball right into the heart of the zone as well?

Well, I thought it was possible enough, but it seems Park Yeon-ho didn’t think so.

“Strike, two!”

Usually, when a batter feels doubtful about a call or situation, they look at the umpire, not the catcher.

As the saying goes, the batter, having taken two strikes with his eyes wide open, finally took a proper batting stance.

Bending his knees a bit more, widening his stride a bit more, waggling his bat a bit more.

He’ll somehow hit the next ball; even if he can’t hit it out, he’ll somehow hold on.

Hold on?

“I wonder if you can hold on to this one, too.”

If so, let’s make him fall in an ugly manner the more he tries to hold on.

How?

“Ugh!”

With a ball that could deceive him as being almost similar to the ones thrown before.

*Whoosh-! Thud!*

“Swing, out!”

Yes, it’s a changeup. A ball that has the same spin as a fastball, so it can look the most like a fastball.

And at the same time, a ball that you can never time right if you’re only thinking about the fastball.

As I wanted, Park Yeon-ho showed an ugly swing that made him fall on the spot, and then quickly hid in his dugout.

First batter, Jo!! Hong!! Gyu!!

Next up is the first batter. To Jo Hong-gyu, who watched the previous batter’s duel from the closest spot,

“Ugh!”

I threw a curveball that fell to the low outside corner of the zone from the very first pitch.

Perhaps remembering how I got ahead in the count with fastballs against Park Yeon-ho, Jo Hong-gyu confidently swung from the first pitch.

*Crack-!*

“Foul, foul!”

But a 110km [approximately 68 mph] curveball, after expecting a fastball around 150km [approximately 93 mph], is too slow.

A swing that would have been a home run if he had watched it till the end and swung properly.

The batter is probably feeling the most regret right now. He’ll watch the next ball till the end, watch it till the end and hit it—that’s what he’ll be thinking.

“Heh!”

*Swoosh-!*

If that’s what you want.

Again, a 149km [approximately 92.5 mph] fastball. Jo Hong-gyu, in a way, offered another count with an even more clumsy swing than Park Yeon-ho.

Now, is the batter focusing on the timeline of the two strikes, or is he focusing on the fact that he’s taken two strikes itself?

This is a bit of a concern.

I checked Jo Hong-gyu’s movements while pretending to choose Kyu-hak’s sign.

A stance where he’s holding the bat shorter than the two knuckles he was holding before, and spreading his stride about one step further as if he’s not going to do a step or leg kick.

The latter.

I judged that he’s more concerned about what will happen in the future because of this count, rather than how the current count came to be.

“No…no…okay.”

If so, it’s not a matter of timing or location.

Trajectory. Or movement.

When the sign for a slider that flows to the outside came out, I nodded once.

“Hoo….”

A quest that’s not a simple quest like just get a strikeout, or don’t give up any runs, but a quest one step above that, where you can’t allow a ‘ball’ [an unfair pitch].

To meet this prerequisite, this ball required considerable concentration.

Even before going into the windup, and even after going into the windup, I took several deep breaths, and then,

“Got it!”

I threw the slider towards the very center of the zone. The ball, strongly scraped on the right side, bounced off to Jo Hong-gyu’s outside as if there was a sound effect of a ‘pop!’ at some point.

*Bang-!*

Jo Hong-gyu flinched his bat at the start, which seemed to be coming into the zone, but he quickly retracted his bat, judging that the end was a ball.

“Strike, out!”

Thankfully, indeed.

After seeing the umpire swing his fist with a cool voice, I turned my body back without any regrets.

Waiting for the infielders to round up while charging rosin,

“Oh…your ball is good.”

I caught the ball that Seong-hoon hyung [older brother/senior] threw to me…….

“Huh? Ah, yes.”

Why is he like that?

I tilted my head, seeing Seong-hoon hyung, who always has a confident personality and says everything he wants to say, hesitating.

And I was able to confirm the reason faster than I thought.

“It was outside!”

“I’m telling you it came in!”

“No, the mitt was here, how could it have come in!”

“It came in!”

Oh my.

Jo Hong-gyu, who received a called strikeout on a slider that caught the outside corner, was so pissed that he was yelling at the umpire, expressing his dissatisfaction.

Since the game was stopped, I stood behind the mound and watched the situation quietly…….

“What are you looking at? I’m telling you it was outside!”

“It came in! Are you the umpire?!”

This is a bit serious.

The situation was getting more and more heated.

Eventually, the umpire ordered Jo Hong-gyu to be ejected, and the opposing team’s manager, who disobeyed this, jumped out of his seat and started getting angry again, starting round 2.

“Hmm….”

This situation was quite familiar to the battery [pitcher-catcher duo] consisting of me, who has exceptionally good control, and Kyu-hak, who has exceptionally good framing [skill of making pitches appear to be strikes].

It feels like we’re being punished for something we didn’t do wrong.

If we look at it directly, the cause of this situation is me, the indirect cause is Kyu-hak. Also, the indirect victim is the umpire, and the direct victim is the batter.

Causing the problem?

The fact that I am the cause of creating this phenomenon is an undeniable fact. And the fact that this has caused victims is also a fact.

And sadly, I plan to continue producing victims.

Because that’s my job.

The umpire, who confirmed that the opposing team’s manager was being led away by the opposing team’s coaches, pointed his finger at me.

“Play!”

The umpire is also a human, and since he’s a human, it’s difficult to easily erase excitement. It’s probably difficult to expect a machine-like call from the umpire right now.

The first pitch I was going to throw to Kim Seong-ju, who appeared as the third batter, was a fastball that caught the outside corner to continue the flow so far.

But looking at the expression the umpire is making now,

‘The AI umpire is me!’

It seems like I need to revise the plan a bit.

Location, movement, velocity.

Completely forgetting about the part about control among the three elements of a pitcher, I focused entirely on the movement and velocity of the ball.

“Ugh!”

*Whoosh-!*

“Swing-.”

The fastball, which I threw with all my might on my wrist, completely attaching my index and middle fingers, which I usually spread about 1cm apart, would have clearly produced much stronger spin and velocity.

I’m not a machine, so I don’t know the spin rate or vertical movement, but,

153km [approximately 95 mph]

The velocity displayed in red on the scoreboard became a clear fragment of my thoughts.

“Hoo-.”

I don’t know how the batter swung because I threw it with all my might, but,

“…I’m really going to hit 90 with my fastball today.”

Seeing Kyu-hak giving the fastball sign again, it seems like a very spectacular swing came out.

Power.

Kyu-hak seems to have found the reason why the batter made such an awkward and unsightly swing on my side.

“Ugh!”

*Whoosh―*

“Swing-.”

This powerful fastball right here.

After confirming the notification that 152km [approximately 94.4 mph] came out this time, I started thinking about how to finish this inning.

Throwing a changeup or slider here would definitely be a good choice, but,

One index finger. Elbow, glove, shoulder.

Wouldn’t maintaining the current flow be a much better idea than that?

“Hoo….”

I exhaled all the breath in my lungs to release the tension in my whole body.

Slowly, both hands that had gone over the back of my head brushed past my face and my left knee was pulled up.

All the strength in my body is released, but only a slight amount of strength is applied to the index and middle fingers of my right hand, which are the only ones touching each other.

Because if I throw it even slightly off angle as much as I’ve put them together, a really big accident could happen.

“…Ugh!”

I threw it so hard that my head turned to the side. Because of this, I can’t know where the ball went or how the batter reacted.

But,

*Thwack-!*

The sound of the mitt catching the ball, which is clearly audible, and,

“Swing, out!”

The umpire’s shout that the inning is over could be heard with my ears without having to look at that place.

*Ding-!*

[Boldness]

– Get a strikeout only to pitch a scoreless inning. (However, fouls and hits are recognized as strikes) (1/1)

– Reward – Four-seam fastball +2

Control – Top

Power – High

Stamina – Medium

Four-seam fastball – 89+2=91

Curve – 85

Slider – 82

Splitter – 83

Changeup – 83

Sinker – 84

Traits

Detachment – I don’t care about any batted balls or situations.

Uncomfortable – Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when they look at the pitcher on the plate.

Comfortable – Those who look at me feel comfortable.

Concentration – The number of objects you can concentrate on increases.

*Smack!*

“Yessss!”

I was so happy that I unknowingly hit the glove on my left hand and rejoiced.

“Oh, well done, well done!”

“Hyung-nim [term of respect for an older male], click!”

“Ah, click!”

The reaction of the team members waiting in the dugout on the way back to the dugout is much hotter than I thought.

“Hyung [older brother/friend], you’re so cool!!”

“Wow, I’m seeing this again.”

Moreover, the reaction of the players who were in charge of defense on the ground is also hot.

What is it?

I’m glad, but I feel a sense of bewilderment at the sight of the exaggerated behavior far exceeding normal levels.

As I returned to the dugout, took off my hat, and sat down, Ki-beom came over and nudged my shoulder.

“Yo, Han-wool is so cool.”

“I’m a bit handsome.”

“Ah, that’s a bit….”

This bastard.

“I thought, what is this, when you did it before, but you’re doing it again. Aren’t you the only one who’s recorded this twice?”

So what?

I was just staring blankly at Ki-beom, who was talking to himself. Perhaps my expression made him lose his energy, Ki-beom’s expression also became sullen.

“I thought it might be, but if you say you don’t know, you’re really stupid.”

“Sorry. I think I’ll have to be stupid.”

“I’m a little disappointed.”

“That’s a shame.”

After a simple back-and-forth, Ki-beom told me the truth.

“9 strikeouts in 1 inning, 3 strikeouts, uncle.”

“Ah…ah?”

After hearing Ki-beom’s words, I reviewed the contents of the appearance just now.

Looking fastball to Park Yeon-ho, looking fastball, changeup swing, strikeout.

Curve foul to Jo Hong-gyu, fastball swing, slider looking, strikeout.

Strikeout with three fastball swings to Kim Seong-ju.

“Ah…. Ah!”

“Stupid.”

Was I so stupid that I couldn’t even think of setting a tremendous record, and that the record was the second record in history!

“No. That means I was concentrating so much.”

No, rather than belittling myself in that way, I somehow packaged the situation well. And that’s also true.

“Bullshit.”

“It’s true.”

“But the first record was made during the All-Star game, so is that an official record?”

“I don’t think so? Well, whatever. It’s not like we’re counting career records, we’re discussing all-time records. It’s enough if the meaning gets through.”

“I guess. That’s right.”

Starting with Ki-beom like this, the team members took turns congratulating me on setting a great record.

Seok-min senior, Ji-ho, Seong-hyun, Kyu-hak, etc.

Then, Seung-jin came to congratulate me this time.

“Senior, you’re amazing.”

“Oh, no. I was very lucky.”

I accepted Seung-jin’s greeting with appropriate humility.

“No!”

“Huh?”

But it seems that somewhere in this humility, Seung-jin didn’t like it at all.

“It’s definitely not luck, I think that great record came out because of your great skills, senior.”

“…….”