Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 231

#230. What Is That Guy?

‘Don’t try to throw too perfectly. Relax. Pitchers grow by getting hit. Think of giving up about three runs by the 6th, or even the 5th. Understand?’

That’s what countless coaches and managers who guided me in my past life said.

Relax, they said. Baseball players can never be perfect. You can learn more from failure. Even the coaches here in America, the land of opportunity and challenge, were saying the same thing, which nearly made me explode.

To cut to the chase, I often argued with those coaches.

That wasn’t the baseball I believed in.

How could I possibly play a game while assuming failure in my head? What kind of ridiculous notion was that?

I always tried to envision success, not failure, before throwing a ball.

Even when starting and throwing over 100 pitches from the 1st to the 9th inning, I tried to believe that my pitches would absolutely succeed every moment.

Of course, I didn’t succeed in the end.

Looking back now, I was too young, lacked experience, and was just a greedy kid.

As I wandered between my ideals and reality, the misfortune of injury struck, and I had to come down from the mound without reaching any conclusion.

But,

Whoosh

Boom

Pow!

“Strike!”

The 106th pitch induced a swing and a miss from the batter.

Today, I’m throwing each pitch with the mindset of building a tower, block by block, from the 1st to the 9th inning.

A precarious tower of blocks that could collapse with the slightest touch.

It’s a moment that would make any decent pitcher, even myself if I didn’t have the experience of regression [referring to his past life], tremble with anxiety.

But right now, I’m maintaining an astonishing level of calm.

Whoosh

Tick

“Foul!”

The 107th pitch goes foul, leaving me just one strike away from ending the game.

“…Holy shit!”

“Fuck……!”

The jeers of the Yankees fans that filled the stadium suddenly vanished as if washed away.

Instead, an unbearable tension, and the deep sighs and quiet curses of the players on the field, took their place.

As a pitcher, a batter, and a fielder, I’ve experienced several near-perfect games.

That’s why I know better than anyone what my teammates and the opposing batter are thinking at this moment.

107 blocks, stacked one by one over more than two hours.

The Seattle players trying to protect that tower of blocks until the end of the game, and the Yankees batters gripping their bats with the determination to tear it down.

“Play!”

I want to ask the coaches who taught me to learn baseball from failure rather than success.

What mindset should I have as I throw the final pitch at this moment?

Smirk

Yeah, all of this is meaningless, just my own fantasy that I can’t share with anyone in this world.

That’s not what’s important.

The important thing is that it’s time to end this game.

Swish

The Yankees batter at the plate is filled with tension and resentment towards someone.

Probably resentment towards the manager who sent him out as a pinch hitter in this terrible situation.

The batter couldn’t even react properly to the previous two fastballs.

Right now, his mind is probably torn between the thought that it’s time for a breaking ball and the thought that another fastball is coming.

That’s why there’s only one thing the batter can do at this moment.

Time his swing to either the fastball or the breaking ball,

Swing the bat,

And pray to God.

That’s all the batter can do.

Thud

Towards that batter, I prepared the final pitch to end today’s game.

The 108th pitch, the same as the number of stitches on a baseball, and the same as the number of worldly desires in Buddhism.

Whoosh

The moment the ball left my fingertips, I saw the batter’s swing begin.

In a 50-50 chance, the batter’s intuition pointed in the right direction.

But,

Boom!

“Swing! Out!”

“Wooaaah!”

“This is insane! Perfect! It’s a perfect game?”

“We won! We won! Goddamn it! It’s a perfect game!”

“Han! Hey! Han Su-hyeok! Damn it! Uwaaa!”

The ball, flying at 102 miles per hour, suddenly dropped to the ground, and the batter’s bat swung through the air.

At that moment, my teammates on the field, and those pacing in front of the dugout, rushed towards me.

The youngsters, who had looked pale due to the recent four-game losing streak, were calling my name with faces as if they had the whole world.

The Yankees fans, who had been booing me all day, were getting up from their seats with blank expressions or angry faces and leaving the stadium.

Among them, a few Yankees fans, a handful of Korean expats, and Min Ye-rin, who I can now spot anywhere, were sending me crazy applause.

I’m enjoying this.

I’m able to make plays that I only imagined in my past life, and I don’t have to have those pathetic thoughts like ‘If only I hadn’t been injured,’ or ‘If only I had a little more experience.’

I’m really enjoying this moment.

* * *

Tick

“Ah! Captain! Just a little more……!”

“No, we need to start training soon too. Okay, everyone, get off your butts. Gather on the field in 10 minutes!”

The Warriors players, who had been watching Han Su-hyeok’s game in front of the large TV installed on one side of the Jamsil Baseball Stadium locker room, which had recently undergone another remodeling, got up from their seats with disappointed expressions.

They wanted to watch Han Su-hyeok’s interview and the game highlights after the broadcast, but

That wouldn’t do. They had to play their own game in a few hours.

“Jun-yeong, senior…….”

“Shh, Maru. Just come on.”

“Yes? Ah, yes, I understand.”

Locker room where all the players had left.

When Choi Maru tried to call Lim Jun-yeong, who was the last one left, someone immediately stopped him.

It was Jo Seong-oh.

He quietly pushed Choi Maru’s back and led him out of there.

Lim Jun-yeong, who was scheduled to start in today’s Jamsil rivalry game against the Magicians, was now lost in an unknown sensation.

This Warriors ace, who was already heading towards his mid-thirties, had just gained a small realization from his junior Han Su-hyeok’s pitching.

The fact that he had achieved a perfect game in the big league called Major League, of course, was great and amazing, but that wasn’t the important thing.

Lim Jun-yeong, who had spent more than 15 years in the pros and had only just barely learned about baseball, was now pondering the reasons why Han Su-hyeok had achieved a perfect pitching today.

Was it because his pitches were fast, his breaking balls were powerful, and his control was good?

That was just obvious.

Han Su-hyeok’s pitches, which were the best in Korea, had evolved another step after moving to the United States.

But the secret to today’s perfect game that Lim Jun-yeong saw wasn’t the power of those pitches.

Forcing the batter’s bat timing to match the fastball, then throwing slow breaking balls and changeups in succession as if nothing had happened, messing up the batters’ condition,

Then throwing fastballs again to those batters whose minds were all messed up, tying up their hands and feet, and then putting modified fastballs into the zone to induce ground balls as if nothing had happened,

What would be a good way to describe this?

Yeah, that’s it.

‘Su-hyeok’s pitching today was so good that it could be included in a baseball textbook.’

Regardless of the simple speed of the ball, it was a great pitch that showed everything about what pitching really is and how a pitcher should throw the ball in one game.

It’s already been three years since he wore the Warriors uniform.

It’s obvious, but as he gets closer to his mid-thirties, his arm angle is dropping little by little, and accordingly, his speed, power, and everything else are gradually decreasing compared to his prime.

To cover up his gradually declining physical abilities with experience and brains, Lim Jun-yeong is not letting go of his thoughts on baseball for even a moment.

‘Hoo… that guy is really…….’

Lim Jun-yeong sighed deeply as he organized his thoughts for a long time.

If Han Su-hyeok was in front of him, he would want to ask.

How can you pitch like that at that age?

“Jun-yeong, the manager is looking for you.”

“Huh? Oh, okay, Sang-jin. I’ll be right out.”

When Lim Jun-yeong didn’t come out of the locker room for a while, the manager sent Cheon Sang-jin to find him.

Lim Jun-yeong, who forcibly shook off the last lingering feelings in his head, got up from his seat.

Looking at Lim Jun-yeong, Cheon Sang-jin said.

“You’re like that because of Su-hyeok, too, right?”

“Yeah, are you too?”

“Of course, I am. I’m a pitcher, too.”

“Sang-jin.”

“Yes, hyung [older brother or senior].”

“Stop calling me hyung now. Anyway, what the hell is Su-hyeok? What is he, really?”

“Hehe, I don’t know. I’m really curious, too.”

“Damn it, if I had known this would happen, should I have gone to the United States and played with Su-hyeok?”

“It’s not too late yet. You can go to the United States when this contract ends.”

“Really?”

Lim Jun-yeong tapped Cheon Sang-jin on the shoulder and came out to the ground along the hallway.

There, the manager, seniors, and juniors were waiting for him.

“Jun-yeong, are you ready now? Can I trust you today?”

“Senior! Can you take a look at this grip just once? Ah, seriously, why! Park Dong-seok, why are you keep poking my side?”

“You mindless… Ugh, forget it! Come here!”

I can feel the consideration for me in every word and action of my juniors.

Looking at that, the worldly thoughts that had been messing with my head until just now gradually faded away.

Lim Jun-yeong muttered to himself without realizing it.

“I want to see Su-hyeok. Is he coming to Korea after the season?”

The moment Han Su-hyeok achieved a perfect victory against the Yankees, Lim Jun-yeong in Korea began preparing to take the mound for the Warriors.

* * *

[Seattle Mariners’ Han Su-hyeok, batting second and starting pitcher, achieves the first-ever cycle-perfect game in Major League history]

[4 hits in 4 at-bats, 1 home run, 1 RBI at the plate, and a perfect pitch with 108 pitches, including 15 strikeouts, no hits, and no runs allowed on the mound, an unprecedented record]

[Baseball fans who watched Han Su-hyeok’s shocking game through ESPN’s national broadcast, “Who is that player? Why is he wearing a Seattle uniform?”]

[Han Su-hyeok’s posting negotiation process, which is being re-examined, Why did he reject offers from the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers and choose the Seattle Mariners?]

[When asked about his feelings about achieving the record, Han Su-hyeok said, “It was a fun game.” When asked if he had anything else to say, he said, “Isn’t it enough if baseball is fun?”]

[Seattle Mariners, who had been on a 4-game losing streak, jumped back to 3rd place in the division with a record of 7 wins and 5 losses thanks to Han Su-hyeok’s perfect game]

[Han Su-hyeok, who is leading the league in home runs (7) and wins (2), “Am I worried about the record? Of course, I am. I’m very worried about it. I came to the United States to see how far I can go.”]

[Han Su-hyeok, who has had both of his starts broadcast nationwide, is rapidly gaining recognition among baseball fans]

[Ty Johnson, who changed his uniform to the Mariners this season, “I’m working hard to pick up RBIs while playing behind Han Su-hyeok. I’m expecting to record the highest RBIs of all time.”]

[Major League pitchers are on high alert due to Seattle’s offensive power with the addition of Han Su-hyeok and Ty Johnson]

[Seattle, who broke their 4-game losing streak and seized another opportunity to rebound, announces ace Ryan Thibault for the third game against the Yankees]