On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 115

“Usually, it ends an hour earlier at most.”

“Haha, what’s this? Did you always do this before?”

“Yes.”

“You trained like this?”

“I used to do a lot when I was working on my batting form, but usually, I keep it short like this.”

“Wow, is this even exercise?”

“It’s not exercise, it’s training….”

“You’re a strange one. Are you a genius? You’re saying you train with just this? Hitting thirty balls a day?”

“If I do free batting, I hit fifty or sixty.”

“Can a pro get by with fifty or sixty a day?”

“Shouldn’t a pro hit even less? My batting form is already complete, so doing more would just create bad habits….”

Song Seok-hyun shrank back as he spoke.

He was in front of Yoo Seon-ho, a senior player, but most of the second-string players watching him were also Song Seok-hyun’s seniors.

Wasn’t he showing off in front of his seniors?

“You’re not hiding anything, are you?”

“No. What would I hide?”

“Hehe, hehehe. Well, if you’re going to hit like that at your age, you need that much stubbornness. You’re not ordinary. Aren’t you anxious training like that?”

“I’m too busy playing games every day to even think about that.”

“Okay… I understand. Then continue what you were doing. We’ll do our own thing.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The players who watched Song Seok-hyun’s training scattered one by one.

Watching Song Seok-hyun slowly replay his swing made them feel frustrated.

As Song Seok-hyun said, it was more like gymnastics than a swing.

After finishing his routine, Song Seok-hyun started tee batting.

When Song Seok-hyun started batting, Yoo Seon-ho and Lee Ji-sung watched with interest.

Song Seok-hyun hit the ball with his usual full swing, pulling it.

Bang!

The sound echoed through the training ground.

Yoo Seon-ho’s eyes sharpened.

Bang!

Bang!

Unlike the careful warm-up that looked like gymnastics, his swing was powerful, like chopping wood with his whole body.

Thirty balls went by quickly.

Before long, Song Seok-hyun, who had finished training, greeted the two and then greeted the other players before leaving.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes.”

“I haven’t seen him play a game, so this is the first time I’ve seen him properly, and he’s quite unique. Among all the guys I’ve seen, his batting form is the most unique.”

“I’m jealous.”

“Of what?”

“That full swing. He even completely bends his wrist when he hits; he must have strong wrists.”

“Doesn’t seem like it would help you?”

“Well… would it?”

“I think it would help you the most.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. Just fix your wrist like that and hit. What would happen then?”

Lee Ji-sung rolled his eyes.

“Wouldn’t it be too weird? He hits with his right arm narrowed to almost 90 degrees or less.”

“Isn’t fixing your arm firmly to your body what you need most? It would reduce the strain on your wrist and be good.”

“If I can’t use my wrist, wouldn’t my already weak power become even weaker? The swing width is too short.”

“Don’t just think about the top; think about the bottom too. You learned weightlifting, right? Just fix your upper body and hit with your lower body. How about attaching your arm completely to your body like him? I think there’s something you can use.”

“Hmm….”

Lee Ji-sung thought about what Yoo Seon-ho said.

A batting style that extremely attaches the arm and hits only with the power of the lower body.

It looks strange, but it doesn’t seem to have any problems.

“If you don’t like it, forget it. There’s no point in me forcing you.”

“It’s what you said, senior, so I’ll think about it. If I can’t improve here, I’ll be out anyway.”

Yoo Seon-ho finished his conversation with Lee Ji-sung and stood with his arms crossed in one area of the training ground.

He thought Lee Ji-sung could use a lot from Song Seok-hyun’s batting form, but more than anything, he saw something that would help himself.

His own batting form, which he called the hurricane batting method and others called the rag-wringing batting method.

Unlike his image as a slugger, Song Seok-hyun had a low swing angle.

This means his hitting position is low.

Even though his swing angle is low, the fact that he hits outfield home runs in Jamsil [a baseball stadium in Seoul known for being difficult to hit home runs in] means he has good power.

Power is a combination of the hitter’s strength and the bat’s speed.

Song Seok-hyun’s bat speed wasn’t particularly faster.

Song Seok-hyun’s body isn’t more muscular or stronger than Kim In-hwan’s, but his distance is better than Kim In-hwan’s.

That means Song Seok-hyun’s power on the bat is better.

Until now, he had been putting all his effort into swinging at the hitting point to increase his instantaneous speed.

As he gets older, he feels his bat speed decreasing little by little.

Yoo Seon-ho’s recent concern was bat speed.

His batting form comes from bat speed, so what if his bat speed slows down?

Seeing Song Seok-hyun’s batting form gave him a clue.

If you fix the bat and body together and swing, you can put power on the bat even if you’re not a natural strongman like Kim In-hwan.

Swoosh, swoosh.

Lee Ji-sung and Yoo Seon-ho swung and thought repeatedly.

They stayed at the training ground even after everyone else had left.

Yoo Seon-ho belatedly looked at the empty training ground.

“When is the scrimmage?”

“I think Morenga said it’s three days from now.”

“Seok-hyun will be able to play then, right?”

“I don’t know about that. But he looked fine today, so wouldn’t he be able to play?”

“I want to see how he does in a game.”

Three days later.

Song Seok-hyun participated in the scrimmage as a designated hitter with the news that there was nothing wrong with him.

The first-team hitting coach even attended Song Seok-hyun’s appearance.

Song Seok-hyun’s condition is like Goth’s lifeline.

Amid expectations and worries, Song Seok-hyun entered the batter’s box from the first inning.

Success as a Catcher

Crisis is Opportunity (2)

Joo Pan-seok stood on the mound.

A right-handed fireballer.

A typical bullpen pitcher who mainly uses fastballs and sliders.

Depending on the team’s circumstances, he alternated between starting and relieving in the second team.

When starting, he throws curves or changeups, but they aren’t very good.

Joo Pan-seok took a breath as Song Seok-hyun stood in the batter’s box.

He is no longer a twenty-year-old young hitter or a catcher in the rehab group.

A large slugger who is bombing [performing exceptionally well] in the first team.

Song Seok-hyun is the best player to check whether his pitches work in the first team.

Then the first pitch is a fastball.

A fastball that sticks to the outside.

Whack!

-Strike!

Although it was a scrimmage, there were also umpires.

Umpires also participated in their own scrimmages to get a feel for the game after the All-Star Game.

“His pitch is good.”

Unlike Song Seok-hyun’s Blue Team, Yoo Seon-ho and Lee Ji-sung, who were assigned to the White Team, applauded Joo Pan-seok’s pitch.

“Seok-hyun is raising his pitch as soon as he comes.”

“He doesn’t want to lose.”

“If he only throws pitches like that, he’s first-team material, right?”

“If he keeps throwing those pitches, he’ll go to the first team. But there are more than one or two guys like that.”

Joo Pan-seok smiled when the first pitch was a strike.

His control is pretty good today.

His control is usually erratic, but for some reason, his concentration increases when Song Seok-hyun stands in the batter’s box.

A desire to win once burns his body.

‘One more time.’

The catcher gave the same sign.

Outside fastball.

If it goes in well, there is no better pitch than a fast ball that sticks to the outside.

Joo Pan-seok threw a fastball for his second pitch.

Whack!

-Strike!

It curled in a little, but it was a strike.

Song Seok-hyun nodded and adjusted his bat.

“He’s good.”

“Good, good. Throw it like that.”

The White Team players also cheered for Joo Pan-seok.

Joo Pan-seok is doing well against a player who has conquered the first team.

The players empathized and became absorbed.

-Slider.

Slider after two outside pitches.

It’s textbook.

If you don’t swing, that’s it, and if you swing, that’s the best.

Whack!

It was a well-executed slider, but Song Seok-hyun stopped himself from swinging.

Joo Pan-seok clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“Oh, he’s holding back?”

“As expected. There’s a reason.”

The White Team and Blue Team players whispered.

Joo Pan-seok’s control is the problem, but his pitch itself is good enough to be considered first-team material.

In most cases, if three consecutive pitches are controlled well, a strikeout results.

Was it because his own decisive pitch didn’t work?

Joo Pan-seok’s control wavered, and he walked [issued a walk to] Song Seok-hyun.

Song Seok-hyun walked to first base without swinging his bat once.

“I need to see how he swings. It’s a shame.”

Yoo Seon-ho clicked his tongue.

The Blue Team failed to score, and the inning changed.

Lee Ji-sung hit the first pitch from Blue Team pitcher Jeon Jang-il and went to first base.

He immediately stole second base from first base.

He was so fast that neither the pitcher nor the catcher dared to throw the ball.

“His legs are definitely still good.”

Second-Team Manager Gu Chang-hyun clicked his tongue.

He swallowed the unspoken words, ‘It would have been nice if he had been able to hit.’

If he had been good at hitting, Scorpion would have held him and died [would have kept him on the team at all costs].

When Lee Ji-sung went to second base, the second batter flew out to third base, and the third batter was out on a line drive to shortstop.

When the fourth batter, Yoo Seon-ho, came out, the pitcher swallowed hard.

A great hitter he had never faced before.

He is older now and has had surgery, but his presence in the batter’s box is still unique.

Jeon Jang-il safely threw an outside fastball for his first pitch.

Thwack!

Yoo Seon-ho aimed for the first pitch, but it was a foul.

Yoo Seon-ho tilted his head.

“I still shouldn’t be doing this.”

Pitcher Jeon Jang-il is a pitcher who hasn’t yet shed his second-team status.

The fact that he aimed for the first pitch but it was a foul is proof that his condition hasn’t fully recovered.

Thwack!

The curve that came in for the second pitch was Yoo Seon-ho’s prey.

Yoo Seon-ho scored a run with a large double that pierced the left-center field.

It was literally a hurricane, a fast swing that belied his thirty-three years.

Clap clap clap.

There was applause from the bench.

People said, ‘As expected, it’s Yoo Seon-ho.’

He hadn’t been able to play a proper game for quite some time, but the speed at which he was recovering his form was amazing.

The days when he played properly in the first team were long gone.

If you think about last year, he hadn’t played a proper game in the first team for well over a year.

Manager Gu Chang-hyun sighed.

There is still a gap between the Yoo Seon-ho he knows.

He can’t tell whether his condition hasn’t improved yet or whether this is his current skill.

Lee Ji-sung and Yoo Seon-ho are still unknown quantities.

He knows what Manager Ham Seong-hoon’s intentions are, but he’s uneasy about receiving two unknown quantities in the middle of the season, not at the beginning of the season.

“Okay, okay. Let’s fight, let’s fight!”

Manager Gu Chang-hyun clapped his hands and encouraged the players.

In contrast, the coaches pretended not to notice and watched the game half-heartedly.

Gu Chang-hyun pretended not to see this and focused only on the game.

“Pan-seok. Throw with confidence, with confidence.”