Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 332

#331. Playing on a Team Aiming for the Championship

“Alright, I’m ready.”

“Huh? Ready for what?”

“Ready to catch every single one of your pitches today and then get a watch from you as a gift.”

“Hmm.”

Progressive Field, the home stadium of the Cleveland Guardians.

Whenever I come to this place, which in my past life was the home of my second team and where I lifted the World Series trophy for the first and last time, I strangely feel calm.

Or rather, should I say heavy-hearted?

As if sensing my mood, Leonard Jones, who will be my battery mate today, cracked a ridiculous joke.

“Leonard, if you do something like a perfect game against your former team, you might get death threats, you know?”

“It’s okay. If I can go down in Major League history as a perfect game catcher even once, that wouldn’t be so bad.”

For a guy who’s on track to become the best catcher in the league, his dream is quite modest.

A perfect game,

Well, if he sticks around behind me for a few years, it’ll happen naturally…….

Hmm.

“I didn’t put any pressure on you, did I, Han?”

“Not at all.”

“Good, that’s a relief. Then let’s get ready.”

Considering this is his debut season in the Big Leagues, he’s absurdly relaxed.

Even though it’s my second debut season, I’ve already experienced everything, but this guy is really…….

Wait, could it be that he also……?

No, his skills are still too lacking to say that…….

While I was having useless thoughts, today’s starting lineup was posted on the locker room wall.

1. Center Fielder Derek Fleming

2. Pitcher Han Su-hyeok

3. Right Fielder Chuck Clark

4. Left Fielder Jim Brown

5. First Baseman Rafael Osuna

6. Third Baseman Liam Landman

7. Shortstop Josh Oliver

8. Catcher Leonard Jones

9. Second Baseman Lonnie Montaric

With me leaving the third base position, Tony, the designated hitter, also out, and to make matters worse, even Ty is excluded from the starting lineup for conditioning reasons, the lineup looks very weak.

If we don’t make a decisive move early on, I might have to pitch a bit longer.

* * *

The Seattle Mariners’ attack in the top of the first inning ended without a score due to a double play by Rafael Osuna, who was starting for the first time in a while, and then it was Cleveland’s turn to attack in the bottom of the first.

Left fielder Nelson Vias, who has been playing as the leadoff hitter in almost every game this season, stepped up to the plate.

“Leonard, how have you been?”

“I’ve been doing okay. How about you guys?”

“Damn, to be honest, it’s terrible. Look at the stands over there. It seems like there are more fans who came to catch home run balls than our fans today.”

“Well, still, being able to play every day is a good thing, right? Rather than starting once every four or five games like me.”

“Maybe… Damn it, I might as well just play baseball.”

“Okay. Let’s have dinner together today or tomorrow.”

“I’ll let the other guys know.”

The two, who had been quite close during their time in Cleveland, finished their conversation and refocused on the game.

Leonard Johnson thought.

It’s a bit heartbreaking because it’s against his former team, but anyway, the opponent is a clear weak team that is tanking [purposefully losing games to secure a better draft pick] and is being booed even by their home fans.

And on the mound is the league’s best pitcher, who is recording an ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance] in the 0s.

In this case, there’s no need to make it difficult.

Han Su-hyeok is a perfect pitcher who has not only speed and power but also control.

‘Low inside course, sinker [a type of pitch that drops sharply].’

Nod.

When they first formed a battery [pitcher-catcher duo], Han Su-hyeok unilaterally led the game, but at some point, he started yielding signs to Leonard.

Since Han Su-hyeok rarely acknowledged other players, it was a really proud thing for Leonard to accept that.

After the signs were exchanged, Han Su-hyeok’s first pitch flew in without a moment to breathe.

Whoosh

Crack!

“Strike!”

A 102-mile hard sinker that swept through the lowest part of the batter’s body.

Nelson Vias, who was at the plate, looked back at Leonard with a pathetic expression.

It was the kind of face that said, ‘How am I supposed to hit something like that?’

It was a little pitiful, but he couldn’t let go of the reins.

Now he is a Seattle player, not a Cleveland player.

What Leonard needed now was not compassion for his former team but the ambition to lead his current team to victory.

And that was what Leonard was most confident in.

Whoosh

Crack!

“Strike!”

This time, a splitter [another type of pitch] that grazed the lowest part of the center.

It’s such a good ball that even the person receiving it can’t help but exclaim. So the batter has no choice but to stare at it without even being able to swing.

What’s really scary about Han Su-hyeok as a pitcher is that he throws what other pitchers might throw once in a while, so-called ‘scratched’ pitches, almost every day like eating a meal.

After the introduction of the AI ball judgment system, the importance of control among the abilities required for a pitcher is increasing more and more.

From the batter’s point of view, a breaking ball that plunges to the ground is sometimes called a strike because it grazed the zone.

If you can throw such a ball, it’s easy to deceive batters who are familiar with the existing strike zone.

And Han Su-hyeok was currently the pitcher who did that best in the league.

Of course, he also had the title of being the pitcher who throws the fastest ball.

Whoosh

Whizz

“Swing! Out!”

“…That’s just too much.”

“Get in there before the fans get even more upset. I’ll call you after the game.”

“Damn it, don’t call me. Just get lost.”

* * *

Han Su-hyeok’s good pitching, which had been expected before the game, and conversely, the Cleveland starting pitcher’s unexpected great pitching led to a tight 0-0 game, and then the Seattle attack began in the top of the third inning.

Seattle’s leadoff Derek Fleming, who had struck out in his first at-bat, prepared to hit with a calm posture.

As you can see from the scorecards of the American League West’s first place and the Central Division’s fourth place, the game is one where the power difference is obvious in many ways.

But that team is also a clear Big League team. It means that you never know what might happen if you are careless.

In the last at-bat, he put too much strength into his shoulder and struck out.

He is about to hit 20 home runs, which is not enough for Han Su-hyeok, but his swing has become bigger without him knowing it.

He reminds himself once again in his mind.

‘I am the leadoff. I will be the best leadoff in this American League, no, the entire Major League.’

Derek, who muttered the words over and over as if casting a spell on himself, grabbed the bat shortly and glared at the pitcher.

Crack!

“Ball.”

He endured the bait ball that he might have swung at if he had been greedy.

Experts who have been watching Derek closely this season are evaluating that he has grown one step further by giving up his desire for long hits.

The proof was that all other batting indicators had increased compared to the previous year, although long hits had decreased somewhat.

It’s not enough to call him the best leadoff in Major League Baseball yet, but Derek’s bat, which has at least become able to take responsibility for the leadoff of the first-place team in one division, received the ball thrown by the pitcher wonderfully.

Thwack!

“I knew it, I wondered why he wasn’t getting hit. It’s starting now!”

“To come in and watch this kind of thing with my own money!”

“Damn it, give me a refund now! You damn bastards!”

The Cleveland fans, who filled about a third of the stadium, began to boo their own team’s players.

Knowing that they would lose anyway, knowing that the team had chosen tanking instead of winning,

Nevertheless, the Cleveland fans, who bought expensive tickets and came to the stadium, were swept up in an ominous feeling as they watched the appearance of the next batter.

[No. 2 Pitcher Han Su-hyeok]

The starting pitcher for today’s game, the best pitcher in the league at the moment, and a hitter.

A perfect baseball player who is showing a performance that far surpasses Shohei Ohtani, the originator of the two-way player, and who they may never see again in their lifetime.

Thump

He lifted one foot and powerfully slammed it down on the batter’s box.

A heavy footprint, reminiscent of a giant’s, was engraved on the plate.

The face of the Cleveland starting pitcher, who had been showing unexpected good pitching until the second inning, turned white, and the wave created by the butterfly net rippled in the outfield stands.

Signs were exchanged for a long time, and the pitcher, realizing that the moment had come to throw the ball, threw the first pitch with a pale face.

A bait ball that awkwardly straddles the outside low course.

At the same time, Han Su-hyeok’s bat moved forward powerfully.

Craaaaaaaaaack!

Home run number 69 of the season,

Only one step away from the 70 home run mark, which only Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire have reached in Major League history.

* * *

“Damn it, Leonard. If our team’s fans see me doing this with you, I might have to close my SNS [Social Networking Service] account.”

“It’s okay. I’ve always felt that this house has never seen a guest come in.”

“I can hear you, you bastards.”

“Ah, Master. Did you hear that? Haha.”

A small pub located in a block opposite downtown Cleveland, so old that it’s even shabby.

There, Leonard Jones, who worked perfectly with Han Su-hyeok today to lead the team to victory, and Nelson Vias, the starting left fielder for Cleveland, Julio Adames, the second starter, Jimmy McCowan, the closer, and several other players were clinking beer glasses.

The game that Han Su-hyeok started today ended in a complete victory for Seattle by a score of 10 to 2, making the tight atmosphere in the beginning pale.

Although it was a bit far from a perfect game, Han Su-hyeok recorded no runs in 5 innings and then immediately came down from the mound. There was no reason to make him pitch more when the team had scored seven points by the 5th inning while he was doing both pitching and hitting.

Han Su-hyeok, who maintained his 19 wins and an ERA of 0.59.

And Han Su-hyeok, the monster hitter who hit his 69th home run of the season and is only five away from the single-season home run record.

As a matter of course, the topic of conversation at the drinking party that day, where players from both teams gathered, was Han Su-hyeok.

“Leonard, tell me honestly. That guy isn’t human, is he? He’s like a state-of-the-art cyborg made with Korean semiconductor technology, right? That’s right, isn’t it?”

“That can’t be.”

“Damn it, that home run today really doesn’t make sense even if I watch it again. To hit that ball like that and send it that far?”

“Leaving aside the home run, how does it make sense that the hard sinker comes out at 105 miles? Is he throwing that for humans to hit?”

“The really messed up thing is that we’re talking about one person. It would be terrible even if the two of them were separate.”

“Holy shit…….”

Leonard, who burst into laughter at the complaints of his former Cleveland colleagues, emptied about half of the beer in his beer glass.

Bruce, the starting catcher, will be returning to the game tomorrow, but still, drinking more than one glass of beer during the away schedule is absolutely not allowed.

The Cleveland players, who glanced at Leonard, sighed deeply and emptied their glasses.

“Damn it, Master, give me another glass of this tasteless beer.”

“What? You drank it well and now you say it’s tasteless?”

“That’s why you don’t have any customers. Anyway, give it to me.”

Even if it’s a tanking team, drinking a lot of alcohol while playing a series is quite dangerous.

But right now, Cleveland doesn’t have any veterans with enough experience or motivation to point that out, or coaches who lead the team with a sense of responsibility.

Deliberately giving up the season to become the bottom is exactly this.

Getting used to defeat and gradually becoming stained with laziness.

Leonard, who was once a member of that team but now craves victory more than anything else in the world, looked at his old colleagues with a bitter expression.

“Drink moderately. You have a game tomorrow.”

“…Haa. Yeah, I have to. By the way, Leonard, how is it? How does it feel to play on a team aiming for the championship?”

“Can I be honest?”

“Of course.”

“It feels like I’ve been reborn. When I was playing in Cleveland, I was a rookie, so I was just happy to be playing in the game, but to be honest, there were many times when I didn’t know why I had to work hard.”

“Damn it, that’s an undeniable fact.”

“But here, well, in Seattle, everything is different. When I wake up in the morning, I have a lot of things to do that day, and things to achieve. Sometimes that work is very insignificant, and on days when I’m lucky enough to start, like today, it’s quite plausible. But the size of it doesn’t matter. What matters is that I’m a member of that team. That feeling of completing all the preparations safely and waiting to prepare for the game, yeah, that’s when I feel alive. I wish you guys could feel that way too.”