Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 284

#283. Another Side

“Seong-oh, get ready to pinch hit.”

“Yes, Manager.”

The ninth game of the season between the Seoul Warriors and the Busan Titans was underway at Jamsil Baseball Stadium.

Following Manager Lee Dae-jun’s instruction, Jo Seong-oh rose from the bench and began to warm up.

Clang!

“Yes! He finally got a hit!”

“But next up is Seo Hyung-ju.”

“Ah… he’s been struggling lately.”

“Bring in a pinch hitter! Bring in a pinch hitter!”

With a tedious series of scoreless innings stretching until the bottom of the 8th, Choi Min-seok, the ninth batter, smacked a double with two outs and no runners on base.

However, Seo Hyung-ju, who was in the on-deck circle, wore a dark expression.

His batting average for the last seven games was only in the low .100s due to a sudden slump.

Manager Lee Dae-jun, seeing the lack of confidence on Seo Hyung-ju’s face, eventually called a timeout.

“Time! Pinch hitter, Jo Seong-oh!”

Eventually, the batter was replaced.

Seo Hyung-ju, head bowed, entered the dugout, and Jo Seong-oh, the team’s captain, walked towards the plate instead.

“Hyung-ju, you’ve worked hard. Go in and rest.”

“…Yes, Captain.”

Jo Seong-oh, who had been in the team’s cleanup hitter lineup until last season, was now contributing to the team as a designated hitter and pinch hitter, having given up his spot to younger players.

With Ahn Chi-wook’s defensive issues resolved, third base was naturally filled, and Min Ju-hyun, who was gradually aging, took over first base instead.

The Warriors, in their fourth season since Han Su-hyeok’s return, were undergoing a generational shift one step at a time.

“Play!”

Jo Seong-oh, stepping up to the plate, glared at the pitcher with a serious expression.

He was concerned about his junior, Seo Hyung-ju’s slump.

He roughly knew why the kid was acting like this.

Han Su-hyeok.

Nearly half a year had passed since he left, but some Warriors players still couldn’t escape Han Su-hyeok’s shadow.

Especially that kid,

Seo Hyung-ju, Han Su-hyeok’s classmate and friend who considered him his lifelong rival.

When his friend and rival, who had advanced to the major leagues, hit over 40 home runs in the first half of the season, Seo Hyung-ju’s swing grew bigger, leading to his slump.

Advising a player with ambition to let go of it is not easy. That’s why Jo Seong-oh and several other seniors were watching Seo Hyung-ju without saying much.

Hoping he would overcome this crisis on his own.

Whoosh

Clang!

“Strike!”

The problem with Seo Hyung-ju was for later.

Now was the time to focus on bringing in the runner on second base.

Considering the batting sense of the next batter, Yoo In-cheol, there was virtually no chance of getting a walk here.

They would go for the win.

If so, then hit it.

Whoosh

Clang!

“Ball.”

Now nearing forty,

His bat speed had noticeably slowed, and his wrist strength wasn’t what it used to be.

But Jo Seong-oh had the experience of saving the team in numerous crises.

That’s why Manager Lee Dae-jun chose Jo Seong-oh, and he repaid that faith.

Clang!

“Wowwwww!”

“Yes! Run! Choi Min-seok! Run!”

Choi Min-seok came home on a clean right-field hit that pierced between first and second base.

Jo Seong-oh, who scored the team’s first run, raised his hand high on first base.

The fans applauded the captain, who had been with the team for nearly 20 years and had scored a crucial RBI [Runs Batted In, a key offensive statistic].

Jo Seong-oh thought.

It wasn’t time to retire yet.

He would protect this team somehow until Han Su-hyeok returned.

* * *

The biggest role of an ace is to continue winning streaks and break losing streaks.

The Seattle Mariners had won two consecutive games against the San Francisco Giants thanks to Han Su-hyeok’s outstanding performance.

However, in the third game, Ryan Tibideau, their trusted first starter, was hit hard, failing to achieve a three-game winning streak.

The power of his fastball wasn’t the same as usual, and his low pitches kept drifting to the center, allowing big hits.

Regarding Ryan’s slump that day, the Seattle coaching staff concluded that it was an inevitable result of admiration, rivalry, and competition with Han Su-hyeok.

Maximum 107 mph fastball, plus a hard sinker known as a ‘magic ball’ among hitters, and the control to place those pitches in every corner of the zone.

From the perspective of fans and coaches watching, he was simply an object of reverence, but the position of pitchers who inevitably had to be compared to him was a little different.

Seeing the incredible pitches he threw made their shoulders tense up without them even realizing it.

They wanted to throw as fast and accurately as he did.

But they shouldn’t.

Han Su-hyeok was a player who shouldn’t be imitated carelessly.

“You think Ryan is conscious of me?”

“Yes, Champion. I don’t know if it’s right to say this, but I was wondering if you might have a good idea.”

“Hmm.”

After finishing the three-game series against the Giants, Seattle moved south along the coastline again and arrived in San Diego.

A team that maintained a forced regional rivalry with Seattle for the sake of excitement.

If Seattle was the northernmost of the 30 Major League teams, San Diego was the southernmost, a city almost adjacent to Mexico.

Large population, ample economic power,

The problem was that the owner’s willingness to invest was quite weak, but anyway, the four-game interleague regional rivalry series against San Diego began.

And the first game’s starter was Han Su-hyeok.

“Manager.”

“Hmm?”

“Today, keep that guy Ryan on the bench so he can’t do anything else but watch the game.”

“On the bench?”

“Yes, I want to show him that it’s not all about throwing fast.”

* * *

There was no need for the manager to force him to sit on the bench.

It was the day after his starting appearance, so he could have gone back to the hotel to rest, but Ryan couldn’t move an inch, stuck to the bench.

‘Damn it…….’

With Ty Johnson feeling discomfort in his finger and Antonio Garcia entering first base instead, the offensive power weakened.

It was only natural that the San Diego pitchers gave Han Su-hyeok intentional walks with Ty Johnson out.

Nevertheless, Han Su-hyeok did not miss the one batting opportunity he had.

4 plate appearances, 3 walks, 1 at-bat, 1 hit, 2 RBIs.

But what Ryan was watching now was not batter Han Su-hyeok.

He was watching pitcher Han Su-hyeok, who had only allowed 1 run in 8 innings, throwing only 90 pitches.

It wasn’t surprising that he was pitching a shutout or a complete game.

Han Su-hyeok had already recorded two perfect games this season, and even allowing just one run would raise his ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance], a miraculous record.

What surprised Ryan was the content of Han Su-hyeok’s pitching today.

Usually, Han Su-hyeok was a textbook power pitcher who overwhelmed hitters with a maximum 107 mph fastball and a 105 mph hard sinker, racking up strikeouts.

But not today.

The highest speed of the fastball he threw today was only 100 mph.

It might not be appropriate to say ‘only,’ but anyway, it was a noticeably slower fastball than usual.

In addition, he used a changeup and splitter as his go-to pitches instead of the hard sinker.

Ryan could think of someone from that.

‘That’s me, isn’t it?’

That’s right. Today, Han Su-hyeok was showing a pitching pattern almost identical to Ryan himself.

Deceiving the hitter’s eyes with a fastball, and throwing a changeup at a crucial moment to get the bat out.

The San Diego hitters’ bats danced in the air at Han Su-hyeok’s pitching.

The 1 run allowed in the bottom of the 7th inning was also a run that wouldn’t have been given up if the first baseman was Ty Johnson instead of Tony.

In short, today Han Su-hyeok had tied up the San Diego hitters with a different ball distribution than usual, with his shoulders relaxed.

Just in case, he asked the coach.

Was there something wrong with Han Su-hyeok’s shoulder?

Of course not. He had been throwing 107 mph in the bullpen before the game.

‘Is he showing that he can throw in a different way too?’

If so, then there was only one answer.

An intention to show other teams that he can throw in this way too.

An intention to neutralize the existing data collected by the opponent.

Whoosh

Clang!

“Strike!”

Whatever the reason, Han Su-hyeok’s transformation today gave Ryan tremendous inspiration.

Han Su-hyeok’s pitching, freely manipulating his opponent with almost the same pitches and speeds as himself.

In fact, Ryan had a role model.

A legendary fastball pitcher in the major leagues who used his name as his surname.

Lynn Nolan Ryan Jr.

From 1966 to 1993, he played as an active player for 27 years, recording a total of 5,714 strikeouts, a representative power pitcher in the major leagues.

Until just before his retirement, that is, until he was 46 years old, he threw a ball close to 100 mph, and he was Ryan Tibideau’s idol and mentor.

That’s why Ryan Tibideau’s top priority was to become a fastball pitcher.

He put more effort and affection into the fastball than any other ball.

And he achieved some success.

Although not as much as his idol, he became a power pitcher who threw a fastball, changeup, and splitter that exceeded 100 mph, and based on this, he was able to stand tall as Seattle’s ace and captain.

But everything changed with the appearance of Han Su-hyeok.

A monster who throws 107 mph, exceeding the 100 mph that was almost the limit for himself.

A beast who can not only throw fast but also plant various pitches where he wants.

When he sees him, he can’t help but tense up his shoulders.

Even though he knows he shouldn’t, he ends up chasing his shadow.

But,

Whoosh

Clang!

“Out!”

Today, Ryan saw a completely different side of that shadow.

Click

He picked up the tablet and replayed Han Su-hyeok’s pitching scene from just now.

Han Su-hyeok, disrupting the hitter’s balance with a fastball that was half a ball off the zone, and inducing a ground ball with a changeup that went into the opposite low course.

The moment he saw that, he felt a chill all over his body.

He realized that he was forgetting something important.

His idol Nolan Ryan, Han Su-hyeok, who he thought was the best pitcher of the current era, and himself.

These three are all different pitchers. They are living beings with their own unique identities that cannot be imitated or should not be imitated.

‘I was being foolish.’

What Ryan learned today was not the pitches, courses, or mind games with the hitters that Han Su-hyeok threw.

Something a little more fundamental than that,

It was the answer to what a pitcher is and how a pitcher should throw.

Ryan’s gaze turned to Han Su-hyeok.

Whoosh

Clang!

“Out!”

Han Su-hyeok, who had caught the hitter with just one more ball, smiled at the dugout.

Suddenly, he had such a thought.

What the heck is that guy?

Where did a guy who is several years younger than him and lacks experience learn that?

The curiosity quickly disappeared and was replaced by a different emotion.

It was a slightly different feeling from the envy Ryan had until now.

The thought of wanting to follow in Han Su-hyeok’s footsteps, of wanting to learn baseball from him.

That’s how Ryan took his first step towards becoming a better pitcher.

* * *

[Seattle Mariners vs. San Diego Padres Game 1, Seattle wins a thrilling one-point victory 2-1]

[Han Su-hyeok, who led the team to victory with a 2-RBI game-winning hit and a 9-inning, 1-run complete game, “It was a fun game. Why did I reduce the speed? Well, I just wanted to try it once?”]

[A team’s power analyst who watched the game, “We need to completely revise the data on pitcher Han Su-hyeok. He is a player who can lead the game in a completely different way.”]

[Seattle Mariners captain Ryan Tibideau, “I was deeply inspired by Han Su-hyeok’s pitching today. Han Su-hyeok is the most amazing pitcher I’ve ever seen. I want to learn a lot from him in the future.”]

[Fastball, two-seam, splitter, cutter, hard sinker, changeup, slider, curve, and even a knuckleball, Han Su-hyeok, who can throw almost every existing pitch, Big League experts focus on Han Su-hyeok’s alma mater, “There may be a famous coach there.”]

[Han Su-hyeok on the question of the diversity of pitches, “I studied on my own by referring to YouTube. After throwing it a few times, I got a rough idea.”]
Genius pitcher hides 170km