Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 163

‘Damn it, what’s the point of that thing stuck on top of your torso? Do you even have a brain? Doing such stupid things out there? If you’re going to play like that, quit baseball right now and go back to your hometown to fix the ranch fence, you son of a bitch!’

I remember those words I hurled at the third baseman who made an error in a game I started during my last season in Seattle, when my life as a pitcher was slowly fading.

A lanky rookie with a pale face who came up to me as soon as I got called up to the big leagues, talking about how I was his idol or whatever.

That guy, who’s probably running around somewhere in America with a lollipop in his mouth, eventually couldn’t stand my harsh words and burst into tears.

Back then, I was just always angry.

I had lost all the important things in my life, and I didn’t like the fact that even baseball, the only thing left, wasn’t going my way, so I took out my anger on other people.

The fielders who made errors, the runners who blew scoring chances with boneheaded plays.

Numerous teammates were cursed at by me, and eventually, after some time, no one approached me anymore.

Anyway, even in that situation, I don’t think I ever got angry at my fellow pitchers.

The stupid middle relievers who blew my wins, the rookie pitchers who made me want to explode just watching them from shortstop, and so on.

That’s because I know the loneliness of being on that mound, the weight a pitcher has to bear.

The solitude of not being able to rely on anyone, the uncertainty of where the ball I throw will fly.

Among all positions, the only one with wins and losses attached to their stats is the pitcher.

In the end, it means that the pitcher is the one who determines the team’s victory or defeat.

“What are you staring at, senior?”

“Huh? Soo-hyuk. Oh, it seems like something noisy is going on over there in the broadcast booth.”

Commissioner Go Dong-shik, who is usually famous for his biased commentary towards me, came to see me before the game today.

He told me not to get caught up in the 인천 [Incheon, a major city in South Korea] bastards’ bullshit and to just play my own baseball, I think.

Anyway, there’s some commotion coming from the broadcast booth where that Commissioner Go Dong-shik is.

There’s still some time left before the game starts, are they fighting with someone or something?

“Young-joo, just relax, relax. Think about pitching to contact. Anyway, they’re just as nervous as you are. They were 10 games ahead and now they’re cornered like this, how can they maintain their composure? So just do what you can do. We’ll take care of the rest.”

“Senior…”

Lee Young-joo, who was starting in the first game of the three-game series that would determine the team’s final ranking, seemed out of his mind due to excessive pressure.

Extreme tension and responsibility were weighing heavily on his shoulders.

The good thing is that, unlike before, there are now veterans to comfort those juniors.

Lee Man-shik and Jo Sung-oh, two veterans who had returned from injuries, surrounded Lee Young-joo and began to ease his tension.

In fact, there was quite a bit of talk about the direction of this three-game series.

The manager and the general manager had slightly different ideas, and even Seong-hoon 형 [hyung, a Korean term for older brother or senior], the owner, had a slightly different view.

Give up first place in the regular season and go all-in on the fall baseball [post-season play].

No, let’s go all-out in the first game and if that doesn’t work out, then switch to the fall baseball system. What are you talking about? Let’s go all-out until the end.

When no conclusion could be reached no matter how much they talked, Seong-hoon 형 finally asked for my opinion.

As the owner of the team, and as the ace and cleanup hitter of this team, I answered like this.

‘Did I, no, did we just want to put the number 1 in front of the team name? I don’t think so.’

‘Soo-hyuk.’

‘We just have to do what we can do. We want the championship that comes as a result of that, what’s the point of a championship that’s forced?’

I’ve been playing baseball for over 15 years, but in all that time, I’ve never seen baseball go according to plan.

It’s always been like that. This sport of baseball plays with us like a living thing.

That’s why the only thing we can do is to go all-out and humbly accept the results.

Also, baseball must always be clean and fair.

The championship I want is one where we go all-out against the enemy and bring home the trophy as a result.

I don’t want a championship that involves complicated calculations.

Many people will be scratching their heads. And they’ll want to ask us.

Why are you taking such a reckless challenge when even losing a single game means the end, when the players’ stamina is exhausted?

Well, isn’t that why we play baseball in the first place?

Isn’t it reckless in the first place to try to hit a ball that’s over 150㎞/h [approximately 93 mph] with just a bat?

Anyway, the die has been cast.

I, no, we will use all the strength we have to take on 인천.

Only heaven knows what the result will be.

But I’m going to try to move that will of heaven a little bit in our direction.

* * *

“Is everything okay with 준영 형 [hyung]?”

“…”

Son Young-jin, the 인천 catcher who became acquainted with me after having a meal with 임준영 after the WBC [World Baseball Classic] break, closed his mouth tightly as if he hadn’t heard me.

Did he get threatened with being sent down to the minors if he talked to a player from the opposing team?

I don’t know much about this Hwang Byung-ho guy, since this is my first full season in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization].

But you don’t necessarily have to experience something directly to know about it.

I don’t have to go far, the guy who was my high school coach in my freshman year was called Hwang Byung-ho’s disciple.

The person who messed up my early high school playing career.

He tried to plant the baseball he learned from his teacher in our school as it was.

A centralized managerial baseball that was heavily influenced by Japanese baseball.

To be more specific, baseball by the manager, of the manager, for the manager.

I’m not saying that in a negative way at all. This is the most euphemistic way I can put it.

If I were to say it badly?

Hmm.

Baseball where anything is allowed for the sake of victory.

Baseball where pitchers’ shoulders are ground down, hitters who have just finished a game are made to do special hitting and fungo [a light, short-handled bat used for practice] for 3 hours, beanballs [a pitch deliberately aimed at the batter’s head] are thrown at the head to threaten opposing players, and rough actions are taken to engage in psychological warfare.

‘Han Soo-hyuk, no matter how good you are at baseball, it doesn’t matter. I don’t need pawns who don’t move according to the board I’ve set up. I’m the manager and you’re just a player. Do you understand me?’

It was quite a long time ago, but I remember the face of that guy who sat me down, a mere freshman in high school, and rattled off his own baseball philosophy.

If that bastard hadn’t moved to another school midway through, it might have had a significant negative impact on my baseball career.

Anyway, if the disciple is that bad, there’s no need to bother checking how great the teacher is.

I don’t think anything that happens in this three-game series would be strange at all.

That’s why I’m not letting go of the tension for even a moment.

“Ball.”

Seo Hyung-joo and Ahn Chi-wook were both retired with ground balls to second base, leaving two outs and no runners on base. The opposing pitcher threw four ridiculous balls in a row, as if he had no intention of competing with me at all.

And one of them flew quite close to my face.

Of course, it was thrown without power, and it came in at a distance that was a little too far to hit me, but the umpire immediately issued a warning to the pitcher.

Jeers erupted from the home and away cheering sections for different reasons.

Four balls instead of an automatic intentional walk, and one threatening ball mixed in that was ambiguous as to whether it was a beanball or a mistake.

It was a stupid thing to do, but it was quite effective.

I was fine, but Jo Sung-oh 선배 [sunbae, a Korean term for senior or mentor] and Walter, who were in the on-deck circle, had contorted faces.

‘Stay calm.’

Jo Sung-oh 선배, who was at bat, glared at the pitcher with a look that suggested he was about to jump onto the mound.

After sending a signal to Jo Sung-oh to not get excited, I slowly started to take my lead.

“Safe!”

“Boo! Cut it out! What are you doing!”

Meaningless pickoff throws flew in succession.

It was a pickoff throw with a very obvious intention that anyone could see.

Every time the pitcher throws a pickoff throw, the runner has to repeat starting and returning.

It’s a deliberate act to drain my stamina, which is the core of the Warriors.

Of course, those kinds of pickoff throws drain the pitcher’s stamina and concentration as well as the runner’s.

The fact that they’re doing that from the first inning means that 인천 doesn’t intend to keep Michael Clark in the game for long today.

“Safe!”

Five more consecutive pickoff throws flew in again. Even though I hardly took a lead.

Pitchers who are trying to avoid competing with me, and continuous pickoff throws.

It would have been quite difficult in the past.

Back in those days when I didn’t have a reliable hitter behind me.

So much so that the first thing I thought of when this kind of situation came up was a straight steal of home.

But not anymore.

“Play!”

The umpire ordered the game to proceed quickly as the game continued to be delayed.

Only then did Michael, who finally looked like he was going to throw the ball, throw the first pitch to Jo Sung-oh.

And,

Thwack!

“Holy Shit…!”

The ball hit by an enraged Jo Sung-oh flew far, far away, easily clearing the right field fence of the 인천 baseball stadium.

* * *

“You fucking idiot… Get Kim Yong-jae up here right now!”

“Yes, manager.”

The coach, who received Hwang Byung-ho’s instructions, immediately sent a signal to the pitcher on the mound.

The foreign pitcher, who had suddenly been converted to closer and was starting again today, looked bewildered, then dropped his head as if he had given up on everything.

“Time!”

“What’s wrong?”

“The pitcher’s condition is strange. I’ll go take a look for a moment.”

The pitching coach, who requested a suspension of the game, quickly ran up to the mound.

“Mike, good job. Your shoulder hurts? Okay, then there’s nothing we can do.”

“What the fuck… Hooo.”

The foreign pitcher, who was about to say something, stopped talking when he remembered what the interpreter had told him before the game.

Isn’t money the only thing that matters to you anyway? You can only get an incentive if you do what the manager tells you to do and win the championship.

He didn’t like being used in a fake starter operation, but he tried to erase that thought and handed the ball over to the coach.

The coach, who received the ball, immediately requested a pitching change from the umpire.

“It seems like we’ll have to change the pitcher. He suddenly says his shoulder hurts.”

“Shoulder?”

“Yes, he can’t throw the ball at all… I’ll quickly get another pitcher ready and bring him up.”

“Hmm, that’s… Okay, I understand for now. Please hurry.”

It’s obvious to anyone that it’s a fake starter. But there are no regulations to punish it.

Baseball fans may curse, but Hwang Byung-ho was someone who didn’t care about that kind of public opinion in the first place.

[인천 [Incheon] Rangers Pitching Change, Mike Clark steps down and Kim Yong-jae comes up]

Kim Yong-jae, who clearly has a rotten look on his face and is definitely not happy with this situation, came to the mound.

The next ace of 인천, who had a bitter experience in the last WBC.

He almost rammed the manager as it was when 임준영 [Im Jun-young], whom he respected the most, was doing penalty pitching as a price for insubordination, but he was enduring day by day while hiding his true feelings.

임준영 said.

If you want to survive in this industry, you have to endure and overcome this much. If you’re really upset, get good results and get FA [Free Agency] quickly and get out of this team.

Under the current regulations, if a baseball player belonging to a professional team commits insubordination or acts against the will of the club, the ending is too obvious.

There is no way for the player to win anywhere. Until you get the right to FA, you have to live as the 을 [eul, meaning subordinate] among the 을, that’s what a professional baseball player is.

Kim Yong-jae, who had a face as if he had given up on everything in the world, faced Walter Smith as the first batter.

A pitcher trying to strike out, and a batter aiming for a big one.

After a close battle that went to 7 pitches, the pitcher, who struck out Walter, left the mound with a powerless face.

Kim Yong-jae’s eyes were bloodshot as if his capillaries had burst.