Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 141

※ 141. Back in the Old Days

The last game of the series against the Sangsoo Tigers.

Trailing by two points in the top of the 9th, we managed to get runners to 2nd and 3rd with no outs.

I thought we could at least tie, or even pull off a comeback, but we only managed to score one run. A strikeout, a fly out to center, and a ground ball to second ended the game.

“Too bad.”

“Ah, we were so close….”

We were determined to increase our lead in the standings to six games, but instead, we somewhat helplessly lost the last game of the series, having poured everything into the previous two.

Well, it’s okay.

Clap clap clap—

“Alright, let’s go say hello.”

Still four games ahead. We can take solace in having increased our lead by one game compared to before the series started.

Two wins and one loss, a winning series. We deserve applause.

“Good work!”

I changed my clothes and thought about heading home. Since it’s Sunday, maybe I’ll have a cold beer. I got into my car.

While pondering what snacks would go well with beer, I stepped on the brake.

*Your love is a wildcard, Folding is the hard part—*

“Huh?”

Suddenly, an unexpected name appeared on the embedded navigation screen.

“Yes, Yoon-sung. What’s up?”

[Han-wool, are you off work?]

“No? I was just about to leave.”

[Do you have any plans today?]

“No.”

[Then can you come by for a bit?]

“Where? The scouting analysis room?”

[Yes, yes.]

Now?

“What’s going on?”

[Nothing’s really going on. I just have something I want you to take a look at.]

“Oh… okay.”

[Okay, okay, come slowly.]

“Okay, okay.”

Hung up the phone and turned off the car that had just started.

It was early June, and I re-entered the stadium, which I had just left, enjoying the still cool night air.

It had been a while since I visited the scouting analysis room. I reached for the doorknob without thinking.

“Ah.”

Feeling the emptiness in my hand, I headed to the vending machine next to me.

Clunk- clunk- clunk—

I grabbed three canned coffees; the full grip in my hand felt good.

Knock knock—

“Come in!”

A very low voice that echoed like a cave.

With permission granted, I opened the door and went inside. A space filled with all sorts of professional equipment and somewhat familiar screens.

“What’s going on, at this hour? Here, take this first.”

“Ah, thanks.”

As soon as I saw Yoon-sung’s chubby face, I handed him a canned coffee. Yoon-sung, who really liked coffee, opened the can with a *chick* sound as soon as he received it and downed it in one shot.

“Nothing’s really going on. I just thought it might motivate you a bit if you saw it.”

“Motivate me with what?”

“You know you’re doing well these days, right?”

“I… know.”

Thirty-seven strikeouts in 21 innings, zero walks, and an ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance] of 0. Only five hits allowed, and zero inherited runners scored.

It’s still before the halfway point of the first half of the season, so we need to watch a little more, but even so, it’s clear that I’m pitching like an absurd league ace.

“I was a little worried that you might be pushing yourself too hard these days, so I looked into it.”

“I’m not really overdoing it….”

“The person watching and the person doing it always think differently.”

Do I… seem like I’m overdoing it?

“You’ve gotten a lot better.”

“Yeah.”

“If you know when you started getting better, and what parts got better, and how you got better, wouldn’t you be able to predict what will happen next?”

Yoon-sung is saying the same thing I once said to Tae-woong.

“So, if I suddenly get worse, you’ll know right away what’s wrong?”

“That’s right.”

Yoon-sung, pleased with my answer, nodded his head vigorously.

“First, take a look here.”

My head turned, following Yoon-sung’s finger. There, I saw ‘me’ throwing the ball hard on two screens.

The right side has a pretty vivid screen, and the left side looks a little lower in quality, so…….

“When is this from?”

It looks like an old recording.

But Yoon-sung didn’t immediately answer my question.

“When does it *look* like it’s from?”

“I don’t know.”

“Aww, I’m disappointed.”

“…….”

Aww, don’t do that.

“June 2016. So… you from four years ago.”

“Ah.”

Question solved.

But Yoon-sung created another question.

“And as you might have guessed, this side is your pitching from yesterday. Can you see any differences?”

“What differences?”

“Try to figure it out.”

Hmm…….

Following the question, I quietly analyzed the two screens.

Facing home, my left foot goes back, and both hands go behind my head. After a slight recoil in the waist, my left foot rises to chest height.

The right leg, neither too stiff nor too loose, maintains the perfect angle for weight transfer.

The inverted W pitching form is completed the moment the left foot touches the ground with both elbows slightly higher than the shoulders.

The force from the ground creates a powerful braking as the left foot touches the ground, and the inertia makes the upper body lean forward.

The pelvis rotates powerfully, and the force that maintains this rotation travels through the shoulders, elbows, wrists, and every corner of the fingers, and ultimately,

Boom-!

Creates a powerful fastball.

“…I don’t know?”

In fact, although five years have passed, there is almost no difference in the pitching form. No, there is no difference at all. It’s just the same pitching form.

The only differences are the speed and the sound of the catch.

“Then how about looking at it this way? Do you *feel* any difference?”

Next, Yoon-sung showed me a scene where the pitching form of 2016 and this year’s pitching form were overlapped.

Raising my legs the same way, stretching my legs the same way, throwing the ball the same way…….

“Ah.”

Then I found one thing.

“It goes further?”

The position of the left foot.

“You can see it right away when you look at it like this, right?”

“Yeah….”

About half a foot.

This year’s pitching form had a stride that was about half a foot longer than the 2016 pitching form.

“If you get an InBody test [body composition analysis], have there been any major changes in the last few years?”

“No? My muscle mass and body fat are all maintained as usual.”

“That’s why I’m curious. The stride is getting further and further, but how is that form maintained?”

“Ah….”

The longer the stride, the better. That’s right. It’s close to an absolute truth.

But most people don’t know that there’s a flaw in this logic.

“Stride is like that; it’s not always good if it’s long.”

“Of course. Only if your form doesn’t collapse.”

Approximately 85% to 105% of your height. This range corresponds to the ideal stride.

If it’s narrower than this, the proportion of the upper body becomes excessively dominant, and if it’s wider than this, it just doesn’t become anything at all [becomes ineffective].

“Do you know how many cm your stride is now?”

“I don’t know because I haven’t measured it. Did you measure it?”

“We didn’t measure it with a ruler either, so it’s not accurate, but the estimate is about 2m. The error is about 2cm up and down.”

“…I’m not good at math, but how much is that?”

“106%? But if you calculate the spikes or shoes, or even the position of the plate, you can see it as exactly 105%.”

The margin of the ideal stride.

“…Oh.”

“In the past, the estimate was about 185cm. So… it’s increased by about 15cm.”

“15cm is….”

I estimated 15cm with my hand. It’s not an absolutely long number when viewed as an absolute number.

But,

“…That’s huge?”

In a situation where the head turns sharply, gritting teeth, and the center of the whole body is pouring in one direction, 15cm is never small.

No, it’s an absurdly huge number.

“You know better than anyone else, but there are a lot of effects derived from this.”

“Well… the release point would have gone forward. So, the perceived velocity would have increased. So, it would be hard for the batter to distinguish the breaking ball.”

“In addition, the speed has increased a lot. Even if the stride is like that, the effects you get from it are really ridiculous.”

The speed has increased by more than 20km [kilometers per hour] over about five years.

If I were a pitcher in my early 20s, I could easily take it for granted. If five years have passed since then, it’s because the pitching skills and physical abilities have reached their peak at the same time.

But,

“But what we need to pay attention to here is that this is currently in progress.”

The number of revolutions of the ball, extension, effective rotation, deception, waist rotation speed, etc.

Entering the age of 32, these indicators are not falling but rather getting better. Yoon-sung seems to find that very strange.

“Are you really taking some kind of medicine?”

“What kind of nonsense is that….”

“I can’t explain it otherwise, really.”

Well, from the perspective of someone who doesn’t know about the existence of this system, it’s natural to be curious.

“What I’ve been talking about since earlier, what I said I was worried about, is not just vaguely saying that the form has gotten better; it’s gotten stronger.”

“Why?”

“That’s right. Why, why did it get so good? It may be good right now. No, of course, it’s good right now. You’re getting results right now.”

“Hmm… I think Yoon-sung is going to say the same thing as the doctor.”

“I don’t know what that doctor said, but…”

Yoon-sung’s face, pointing at my shoulder with his index finger, was quite firm.

“You know it can go away tomorrow, right?”

“…….”

Words full of worry.

I stared blankly at Yoon-sung’s face and answered with a smile.

“But what can I do? It’s not like I’m going to quit baseball.”

“That’s right. You have to pitch again the day after tomorrow. I wish you could complete all 126 games [the full season schedule].”

“You’re crossing the line.”

A man in his early 30s and a man in his mid-30s laughed.

“You know it’s nonsense even if you say it, right?”

“I know. I also know that Won-ha is doing well right now. I know, but that’s just it. I’m just thinking that I want the team I support to be the best.”

I know. I can’t not know.

There was one thing I could say to such an enthusiastic fan.

“The team is like this, the other team members are like that. And so the season record is like this, and my record is like that in a small way. I can’t guarantee that far.”

The face that was laughing was still the same. I spoke with that face.

“Me. I’m like this for now. The speed, breaking ball, and power I’m throwing now. It will all get better than it is now. I feel like there is definitely room for improvement.”

A very touching thing to say to a fan.

But the fan retorted lukewarmly.

“What about control?”

“No, it’s good enough; what more do you want?”

“You have to get better to the point where you can control 25 pitches.”

“You’re overdoing it.”

The scouting analysis room was once again filled with the laughter of the two men at the absurd sound.

“Do you have any goals this year? Not the team, but your personal goals.”

“I don’t have anything other than just doing well….”

“Then shall I make one for you?”

“Don’t set up any strange flags [jinxes].”

“No, no. I think it’s possible with your pace right now.”