Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 127

#126. Don’t Worry, Just Have a Drink…

Not everyone can comfortably sit on their living room sofa and watch the baseball game on TV or a large monitor.

Many baseball fans, stuck outside due to work, school, or other commitments, were consoling themselves by reading text broadcasts of the WBC [World Baseball Classic] finals on internet portals.

When he’s on the opposing team, he’s a pain in the ass… truly awful, but there’s no one more reliable to have on your side than Han Su-hyeok’s starting appearance.

Add to that the American lineup, featuring big league All-Stars like Zack Rogers, Luke Bell, and Aaron Decker.

The fans, trying to calm their racing hearts as they watched the text broadcast, began to sense something was off.

2027 WBC Final Round, Korea vs. USA

Korea’s starting pitcher: Han Su-hyeok

Top of the 1st, USA Attack

1st batter, Center Fielder Zack Rogers 0.350 / 0.469 / 0.505 / 25 Home Runs / 29 Stolen Bases

1st pitch: Strike

2nd pitch: Strike

3rd pitch: Strike

Out

2nd batter, 3rd Baseman Luke Bell 0.305 / 0.421 / 0.553 / 30 Home Runs

1st pitch: Strike

2nd pitch: Foul

3rd pitch: Strike

Out

3rd batter, 1st Baseman Aaron Decker 0.371 / 0.499 / 0.587 / 32 Home Runs

1st pitch: Strike

2nd pitch: Ball

3rd pitch: Strike

4th pitch: Swinging Strike

Out

Three outs, switch sides.

└ What’s this? Is this a bug? Why are they all strikeouts?

└ Ugh, it’s so frustrating not having video. Those bastards couldn’t get the broadcast rights?

└ That’s not the point, three consecutive strikeouts? Zack, Luke, and Aaron? All three of them?

└ This isn’t the 2000s, surely it’s not a text bug……?

└ So, you’re saying Han Su-hyeok really struck out those monsters?

└ Wait. Clips will be popping up on Twitter soon.

└ Here, I got one.

└ Holy crap… it’s real. Three consecutive strikeouts are real.

└ LOLOLOLOL He only threw 10 pitches against those three monsters.

└ OMG, I can’t believe my eyes.

└ I’m so hyped. Those guys, USA’s 1st, 2nd, and 3rd batters, were tearing it up in the league until last week, right?

└ Yeah, no excuses about being out of shape. They’re in top condition right now.

└ What’s the pitch limit for the finals? 100?

└ 95.

└ Damn, he’s on pace for a complete game shutout with 27 strikeouts and 90 pitches.

└ LOLOLOLOL Crazy.

└ …Hey, am I the only one getting a bad feeling?

└ What do you mean?

└ That bastard… he’s going to focus on pitching in the second half of the season, right? How are our shitty KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] players supposed to hit pitches that even major leaguers can’t hit?

└ Ugh… let’s think about that later… Oh, crap! This sucks. Why is a guy like that playing in the KBO!

* * *

“Su-hyeok…….”

“Shhh.”

Han Su-hyeok, having perfectly shut down the 1st inning, sat quietly with his eyes closed in the far corner of the bench.

Lim Jun-yeong tried to approach Han Su-hyeok to encourage him, but Jung Dae-han stopped him.

Han Su-hyeok was closing his eyes to calm the joy of pitching after a long time, the thrill of striking out hitters at the big league level.

But there was no way for others to know his inner thoughts.

It’s never good to disturb sensitive pitchers, especially the starting pitcher facing the USA in the WBC finals.

In the end, no one sat next to Han Su-hyeok, and the coach and staff didn’t say anything to him either.

Today’s starting lineup for the Korean team was:

1st batter, Center Fielder Lee Chan-ho (Seoul Fighters)

2nd batter, 2nd Baseman Lee Tae-woong (Daegu Buffaloes)

3rd batter, 1st Baseman Lee Su-yeong (Daegu Buffaloes)

4th batter, Left Fielder Kim Seong-su (Seoul Magicians)

5th batter, Pitcher Han Su-hyeok (Seoul Warriors)

6th batter, Right Fielder Kang Woo-chan (Incheon Rangers)

7th batter, Shortstop Ahn Tae-gyu (Suwon Commanders)

8th batter, Catcher Jung Dae-han (Suwon Commanders)

9th batter, 3rd Baseman Min Ju-hyeon (Incheon Rangers)

Han Su-hyeok, who was always in the 2nd or 3rd spot, moved to the 5th spot. It was a lineup with the manager’s intention to reduce the burden on him at the plate.

Ahn Tae-gyu from Suwon replaced Han Su-hyeok in the shortstop position.

And with pitcher Han Su-hyeok in the lineup, Go Cheol-hwan from the Magicians, who had been playing as a designated hitter, was out of the starting lineup.

The offensive power felt a bit weaker, but it couldn’t be helped. In the first place, it didn’t make sense to have a shortstop with the offensive power of Han Su-hyeok.

And so, the Korean team’s attack began.

And on the mound for the American team was Ryan Thibodeau, the ace of the Seattle Mariners and a strong candidate for this year’s American League Cy Young Award [award given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball].

A 6’5″ right-handed orthodox pitcher, armed with 100 mph fastballs and various breaking balls from his towering height, was twenty-seven years old this year.

The reason Seattle offered Han Su-hyeok a relatively large sum of $3.5 million, and the reason they ended their long tanking and started spending money in earnest, was because of this pitcher’s existence.

Seattle, having successfully signed a 10-year long-term contract with a genuine ace who had appeared after a long time, planned to challenge for the World Series somehow before Ryan turned 36.

Ryan also knew something about the rookie named Han Su-hyeok.

The scout from Seattle, Daniel, who first led him to the big leagues, praised the kid to the skies.

He carefully analyzed the videos of the games the kid played in this tournament to start today’s game.

A hitter who was putting up unbelievable numbers while playing shortstop, the heart of the defense.

But he didn’t care much. After all, there were more than one or two monsters like Han Su-hyeok in the big leagues where he was playing. And those were just records against teams like Australia, Cuba, and Japan.

The big league teams Ryan had faced so far were full of monsters who sent batted balls over the fence even with broken bats. To exaggerate a little, there was even a crazy bastard who hit a home run with one hand.

You could think of that one player as being stuck between weak teams. After all, the rest of the Korean hitters were at best Triple-A level, and generously speaking, not even big league backup members.

‘Hmm.’

However, Ryan was greatly shocked in the top of the 1st inning of the American team’s attack.

Three of America’s best hitters, whom he himself acknowledged, were struck out in succession. And that too, in just 10 pitches.

As a pitcher, he knew.

The meaning contained in each and every one of the pitches Han Su-hyeok threw.

He stuns the hitter with a ball reaching a top speed of 105 mph, messes up their eye with the following changeup fastball, and plays with the hitter with two types of curves, 93 mph and 59 mph.

He’s crazy. He’s truly crazy.

Why the hell is a guy like that doing something like being a hitter?

He even put his name on the 5th batter spot as the starter for today’s game.

He remembered hearing it once from Daniel.

That the kid had made pitching and hitting as a condition for entering the United States.

He thought it was crazy. He himself was a player who reigned as the team’s ace and 4th batter in college.

Someone around him had once made such a suggestion. An absurd suggestion to try pitching and hitting.

He dismissed it at once, telling them not to talk nonsense.

Even Ohtani, who rarely played as a fielder and went back and forth between designated hitter and pitcher, eventually couldn’t avoid injuries and sadly ended his career.

Why would you do that dangerous thing?

For the team?

That’s bullshit. A player plays baseball for himself first. The team is next.

But right now, there’s a guy sitting in the opposing team’s dugout who’s doing such ridiculous things.

A foolish guy who goes back and forth between shortstop, hitter, and pitcher, trying to do the work of three players.

‘I’ll stop that nonsense.’

Even for that kid who might have joined Seattle and become his teammate, Ryan decided to thoroughly crush him today.

“Play!”

The umpire declared the start of the game.

And Ryan powerfully threw the first pitch to Lee Chan-ho, the leadoff hitter for the Korean national team.

* * *

Bottom of the 1st, Korean Team Attack

American Pitcher Ryan Thibodeau

1st batter, Center Fielder Lee Chan-ho

1st pitch: Strike

2nd pitch: Ball

3rd pitch: Strike

4th pitch: Swinging Strike

One Out

2nd batter, 2nd Baseman Lee Tae-woong

1st pitch: Strike

2nd pitch: Strike

3rd pitch: Ball

4th pitch: Ball

5th pitch: Swing

Ground ball out to 1st base

Two Outs

3rd batter, 1st Baseman Lee Su-yeong

1st pitch: Swing

2nd pitch: Swing

3rd pitch: Ball

4th pitch: Ball

5th pitch: Swinging Strike

Three Outs, switch sides.

└ LOLOLOL There was another Han Su-hyeok on that side.

└ Hey, you ignorant bastard. Don’t you know Ryan Thibodeau? He’s the #1 pick for the American League Cy Young this year.

└ I don’t know, damn it. I’m too busy watching the KBO, why should I have to watch the Yankees’ baseball too?

└ Still, you should at least know the name of the world’s best pitcher.

└ Get lost, you Yankee lovers. Han Su-hyeok had 3 strikeouts in 10 pitches against American hitters.

└ Ugh… today’s game sucks. Just look at the names of the USA’s 4th, 5th, and 6th batters LOL. It’s like climbing mountains.

└ Seriously, just looking at the names makes me choke.

└ I wonder what they’re thinking when they throw pitches against those guys.

└ If Han Su-hyeok collapses today, the game is over. I can’t even imagine scoring against that Ryan bastard.

* * *

With both teams’ attacks ending in three up, three down in the top and bottom of the 1st inning, the American attack began again in the top of the 2nd inning.

As someone said.

After facing the world’s best 1st, 2nd, and 3rd batters, there were even more hitters lined up behind them.

Lucas Anderson, the captain of the New York Yankees and the 4th batter for the American national team, Fred Avery, the starting catcher for Houston, and Patrick Mason, Detroit’s charge leader.

Looking at the names of the American hitters who would appear in the top of the 2nd inning made me choke.

Manager Jung Yoon-seok wondered for a moment if he was doing something wrong.

Was he putting too much of a burden on a rookie who was only twenty years old and only in his first year as a professional?

What if Han Su-hyeok got hit hard here?

What if a player who would become the center of Korean baseball in the future was ruined?

Should he have sent Yang Ji-ho, who had more experience, as the starter?

But there was no chance of winning that way.

Against that lineup, which should be called a Major League All-Star team rather than just the American national team, there was no solution no matter who he sent, whether it was Yang Ji-ho, or Ryu Han-gyeol, Lim Jun-yeong, or Gu Cheol-jung, who couldn’t play today.

‘Dae-jun…….’

Manager Jung Yoon-seok unknowingly raised his head and looked at the clouds floating above the baseball field.

The sun was setting and the sunset was settling down. The clouds flowing above reminded him of the face of his disciple, Lee Dae-jun.

‘Is this really okay? Huh?’

Lee Dae-jun’s face in the clouds smiled brightly and answered.

‘Don’t worry, just have a drink and trust Su-hyeok, coach.’

Jung Yoon-seok thought.

If Han Su-hyeok becomes the center of the Korean national team in the future, Lee Dae-jun might be the most suitable manager for the national team’s leadership.