Genius Pitcher Hides 170Km [EN]: Chapter 361

#360. The Miracle He Created

My past life was like shattered fragments.

Though abandoned by my father, I had a relatively happy childhood with my mother. Then, her sudden death left me alone, clinging to Seong-hoon hyung [older brother figure], barely surviving day by day through my adolescence.

I severed all ties, burning fiercely to become the best in my reckless twenties. And in my thirties, I barely held onto my crumbling body, heading towards the end.

Even that was complex enough, but through someone’s prank or blessing, I regressed and am now living a second life in my twenties.

“Play!”

Until recently, I didn’t know what to do to piece together this shattered life.

But now I know.

The answer was already determined.

By being true to this moment, being honest with the precious people around me, and living each day, I realized that my life as Han Su-hyeok could become a single narrative.

“Oppa [term of endearment for an older brother or male friend]! I’m here! Cheer up!”

Thanks to Yerim, who bravely shouts my name from the best seat in Yankee Stadium.

A precious person who showed me what a human life is.

What I need to do now is to make sure that after today’s game, there are no tears on her face, or on the faces of the fans who have waited 53 years to see this game.

To end the game decisively and perfectly.

Fortunately, that’s what I’m best at.

Thwack!

“Strike!”

– 109 miles! 109 miles! Unbelievable! Han Su-hyeok, who set a new major league record with 109 miles in the first game, is showing another 109-mile fastball against the first batter in today’s game, where the team’s first-ever World Series appearance is at stake! Amazing! Look at James Taylor. He’s biting his lip so hard that a little blood is showing!

– 175.4㎞/h… Viewers, can you believe it? Considering that the average KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] fastball speed is still only 142㎞/h. No, let’s leave KBO aside. Last year, the average major league fastball speed was 151㎞/h. There’s a difference of 24㎞/h between the ball Han Su-hyeok is throwing now! Ah… Look at Han Su-hyeok’s expression. Isn’t that the face of a winner who doesn’t even consider defeat? Korean fans supporting Seattle and Han Su-hyeok, you can watch the game with peace of mind. I guarantee it! Seattle is definitely going to the World Series today!

I recall the time when I led the Seattle Mariners to the World Series with my own hands, one of the most shining moments in my baseball life before regression.

It’s been a while, so the memory is fading a bit, but my fastball’s top speed back then was probably around 95 to 96 miles.

Barely exceeding the average major league fastball speed, and the movement was incomparable to the ball I’m throwing now.

To survive on the major league mound, I learned every existing breaking ball, and I was able to execute many of them quite plausibly.

Thinking about it, more than half of my abilities as a pitcher now might have been built up at that time.

Whoosh!

“Swing!”

The high-speed slider that I cherished next to the fastball,

But now I can throw that ball, which was hard to exceed 90 miles no matter how hard I threw, at a speed of 101 miles.

Smirk.

I can’t help but laugh.

I wonder if the reason I’ve lived a much harder life than others was for this moment.

Before the game started, I promised Yerim.

When we return to Seattle tomorrow, don’t do anything, just sit in front of the TV all day and watch the drama Yerim wanted to see together.

What do I need to do for that?

To end this series perfectly with my own hands.

Thwack!

“Strike! Out!”

* * *

“Fuck!”

“Justin, calm down and understand what I’m saying, okay? You can’t run away anymore. You have to compete. But keep it extremely low.”

“It’s not like I can catch that guy by throwing low.”

“I know. But what else can we do? There’s no other answer.”

“Seriously, where did that monster come from… Damn it.”

Yankees closer Justin Zavala forcibly held onto his crumbling mentality and began preparing to pitch.

Even if the catcher didn’t say it, he knows better than anyone that he has to compete with that monster here.

With Seattle leading 2-0 thanks to the two-run home run Han Su-hyeok hit, Seattle’s attack began in the top of the 8th inning.

Han Su-hyeok, who came out as the lead batter, looked at the pitcher with a relaxed expression.

The Yankees, who allowed Han Su-hyeok a two-run home run in the first at-bat, thoroughly avoided competing with him afterward. And they barely succeeded in blocking Seattle’s additional score by putting up four pitchers following Tyson Barsham.

But,

“Play!”

That too has reached its limit.

In the 8th inning, trailing by two points, they can’t afford to send out another runner with no outs.

The next batter, Ty Johnson, doesn’t have a hit today, but that’s even more unsettling. It’s about time one comes out.

In the end, the Yankees’ dugout chose a head-on match and put Justin Zavala, who has the best stuff on the team, on the mound.

If they lose today’s game anyway, everything is over. Now, positions don’t matter.

Justin Zavala unknowingly prayed to God.

‘Oh, God. Please give me the strength to catch that terrible guy…….’

Han Su-hyeok, who scored the team’s only point as a batter in today’s game, and showed a perfect pitch as a pitcher without giving up a single point.

Thinking that he needs the power of God, not a human, to catch him,

The white ball containing his baseball life and faith soared from Justin Zavala’s fingertips.

But,

Thwack!

Han Su-hyeok’s condition was too good today to be caught with just such faith.

Han Su-hyeok’s determination to end today’s game somehow and fulfill the wishes of Seattle fans, and to take a complete rest with Min Yerim tomorrow, created another big hit.

A perfect hit that everyone realized was a home run the moment it was hit.

The moment they saw the hit soaring at an angle of over 40 degrees, drawing a huge parabola, everyone realized.

The moment Seattle had been waiting for, their first-ever World Series appearance, was just around the corner.

* * *

“Please, please, please!”

“It’s not over yet. James! Cheer up! Try anything!”

3-0, the New York Yankees’ last attack in the regular inning, trailing by three points.

James Taylor, the next-generation star of the major leagues bought from Tampa Bay with a lot of money, with the intention of giving a dog to luxury taxes [paying a penalty for exceeding the salary cap], entered the plate with a firm expression.

Seattle Mariners, aiming for their first-ever World Series appearance, now had only three outs left.

But the Yankees couldn’t back down like this either.

Although it’s not comparable to Seattle, it’s been a whopping 21 years since they’ve been on the World Series stage.

It’s been a long time. Yankees owner Steinbrenner, who gathered star players from all over, prepared for luxury taxes, and set out to conquer the World Series once again, closed his eyes tightly and was caught on the relay camera in frustration.

Of course, as the Yankees fans shouted, the game wasn’t over yet.

It’s common in baseball to give up 10 points without catching a single out.

It’s the bottom of the 9th inning, but it’s only a three-point difference, and the batting order is the best batting order of the Yankees, consisting of 1st James Taylor, 2nd Lucas Anderson, and 3rd Zack Haines.

If the lead batter James Taylor survives here, they might even expect a tie or a comeback.

“Play!”

Of course, all those assumptions were desperately denying one absolute fact.

That was the fact that the pitcher on the mound right now was Han Su-hyeok.

Han Su-hyeok, the best pitcher in the major leagues who didn’t give up a single point until the bottom of the 8th inning, tied up the Yankees’ core batting line with just 90 balls.

He nodded to the catcher and slowly began to wind up.

And from his fingertips, a 105-mile fastball that he couldn’t even think of hitting was fired, as if he wasn’t a pitcher who had thrown nearly 100 balls.

Thwack!

“Haa…….”

Along with James Taylor’s sigh, despair began to slowly rise on the faces of the Yankees fans.

The Yankees’ star, who had been playing at the league MVP level since joining the Yankees and formed the strongest table setter [players who bat at the top of the lineup] with Lucas Anderson, was shaking his head with an expression that he couldn’t do it.

Of course, the most desperate were not the fans but the players.

James sighed not only because of the speed of the ball.

He was fed up with the tremendous control that slightly brushed past the outermost part of the zone in a situation where it was certain that the grip of his hand had weakened after nearly 100 pitches.

He’s played baseball for quite a while and met all sorts of monsters.

But he can say for sure that he’s never even seen a human like Han Su-hyeok.

A young and talented batter who was expected to surpass Ty Johnson someday.

Han Su-hyeok’s ball flew towards him, who was barely holding on to his fading consciousness, making his last effort.

Whoosh!

“Swing!”

“…….”

This is really cheating.

A 75-mile super slow curve to a batter focused on a 105-mile fastball.

James Taylor’s head turned completely white.

I don’t know.

No matter how much I think about it, I can’t predict what the next ball will be at all.

Han Su-hyeok’s pitching data that I checked and checked until the tablet battery ran out before the game.

Yes, I know that Han Su-hyeok, who threw a fastball and a slow curve, is most likely to choose a fastball as the next ball.

The problem is that the probability of choosing a hard sinker, changeup, or curve is as high as the probability of choosing a fastball. And the difference in usage probability between these pitches was only a few percent.

In short, Han Su-hyeok’s pitching had almost no set pattern.

Predicting the pitching pattern that is determined according to the situation and the opponent batter was impossible from the beginning.

‘Okay, I’ll aim for just one.’

James Taylor, who had regained his composure, gripped the grip as short as possible and waited for the next ball.

If it were me, what would I throw here?

The answer I came to was a fastball.

The most destructive and powerful fastball in baseball history, symbolizing the pitcher Han Su-hyeok.

The ball was fired from Han Su-hyeok’s fingertips with a dynamic pitching motion that was always dynamic.

And James Taylor’s bat turned powerfully.

Whoosh!

“Swing! Out!”

In a situation where data is meaningless, the fight between the pitcher and the batter is ultimately like rock-paper-scissors.

The winner of this rock-paper-scissors was Han Su-hyeok.

A 74-mile slow curve.

The last deciding ball Han Su-hyeok threw was that ball.

[2nd batter, first baseman Lucas Anderson]

With the trusted leadoff James Taylor retiring with a strikeout, it was the turn of Yankees captain Lucas Anderson.

He thought.

As he confirmed once again in the previous at-bat, it was virtually meaningless to watch the ball for a long time or play mind games against Han Su-hyeok, who freely uses most of the existing pitches.

Thorough guess hitting.

He needed a hitting approach that involved putting one pitch in his head and aiming only for that one ball.

James Taylor was struck out by two slow curves earlier, but that was only a play close to a trick.

That’s why he’s aiming.

For the best fastball Han Su-hyeok will throw.

He will hit it unconditionally if it comes into a course that he can hit even if it’s a little out of the zone.

The batter who recorded the most destructive record this season, excluding Han Su-hyeok, entered the plate aiming for only one fastball.

But,

The pitcher on the mound right now was a veteran among veterans who had faced such batters thousands, no, tens of thousands of times.

Han Su-hyeok, who knew at a glance what Lucas was thinking.

He even smiled faintly and threw the first ball with all his might at the batter.

‘It’s here!’

The ball flying like a bullet towards the lowest course in the strike zone.

Lucas’s bat turned powerfully, sensing that his choice was correct.

Thwack!

“Ooh!”

Some of the Yankees fans, who had closed their eyes and held their hands together because they couldn’t bear to watch the team’s defeat, were startled by the sudden hitting sound and opened their eyes wide.

But there was no miracle.

Thud

“Out!”

The ball that was flying into the zone suddenly sank, and the hit that hit the bottom of the bat rolled helplessly and went into the first baseman’s glove.

Ty Johnson, who caught the ball lightly, took the first base, making it two outs,

Now there is only one out left.

Yankee Stadium fell silent.

[3rd batter, right fielder Zack Haines]

The veteran Zack Haines, who was the captain of this team before Lucas, and is now handing over his position to him and slowly entering the twilight of his career, entered the plate.

He thought.

The desperate thought that as long as the guy in front of him is there, it might be difficult for the Yankees to step on the World Series stage before he retires.

He tried to cheer up, but his heart was already dyed with despair.

Han Su-hyeok, who glanced at such Zack Haines, shouted loudly to his teammates on the ground.

“Are you ready to go to the next stage? Mariners?”

“Oh? Of course! Damn it, that’s obvious!”

“Why are you asking that! The best moment of my life is now!”

Han Su-hyeok, who heard his teammates’ replies, smiled and said.

“Okay, I’ll take you there. To the stage of dreams, the World Series.”

Han Su-hyeok, who never loses his composure on the mound unless a fight breaks out, encouraged his teammates inappropriately.

At that moment, Zack Haines realized.

That the Yankees’ autumn was over.

* * *

[Seattle Mariners, first World Series appearance in 53 years since its founding!]

[A boy becomes an old man, a Seattle fan shedding tears while recalling the founding of the Mariners, “To be honest, I never imagined I would see this before I died. Everything changed when Han Su-hyeok joined our team. May God’s blessing reach him.”]

[Han Su-hyeok, who recorded 9 innings, 1 hit, 1 walk, 17 strikeouts, and no runs allowed, and decided the team’s World Series appearance alone with 2 home runs and 3 RBIs, “I chose to be a two-way player for moments like this. I want to send my sincere congratulations to the old fans who have waited 53 years for today. But there’s no need to pop the champagne yet. The real World Series hasn’t even started yet.”]

[Seattle Mariners, the only team among the 30 major league teams that had no World Series experience, everything was turned upside down by one Asian player signed with the lowest salary, taking another look at the moment of signing Han Su-hyeok]

[Seattle Mariners General Manager Daniel Mitchell, “Three years ago, I gave Han Su-hyeok the nickname Mr. Baseball, and many people laughed at me. But think about it. What else should we call him other than Mr. Baseball, the best pitcher and hitter in history who led the team to its first World Series appearance on his own?”]

[New York Yankees, who were aiming for their first World Series appearance in 21 years, collapsed helplessly with 1 win and 4 losses and were eliminated from the fall baseball [playoffs]]

[James Taylor, who vowed to have a head-to-head match with Han Su-hyeok, “Now I really have no choice but to admit it. Han Su-hyeok is not my rival but my goal and final boss. I think I should spend the rest of my baseball life catching up with him.”]

[Seattle Mayor Edward Hoffman, “Some may say it’s a fuss, but I don’t think I’m qualified to be mayor if I don’t do anything after watching such a wonderful game. I have prepared a car parade for the players who will return to Seattle. It’s a bit small because I prepared it in a hurry, but I’ll postpone the bigger event until after winning the World Series. Once again, on behalf of the citizens of Seattle, I would like to thank the Mariners players.”]

[PHOTO: Car parade that started at the airport, Han Su-hyeok smiling brightly while holding up the Championship MVP trophy]

[Emergency poll conducted on major league fans, 37.5% chose Han Su-hyeok when asked who is the greatest baseball player of all time, for the first time in history, a player other than Babe Ruth took first place.]