On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 207

Whether it works or not, showing a variety of pitch speeds makes it easier to set up the next pitch.

If you throw a fastball after a changeup, it will seem faster, and even a curveball will be harder to time after a slower pitch.

‘Outside. Changeup.’

Suarez understood Shin Min-ho’s intention perfectly.

Suarez’s velocity isn’t high enough to simply overpower hitters with fastballs.

A fastball in the low 140s [kilometers per hour, roughly 87-89 mph].

Suarez relies on heavy movement and precise control, but he wasn’t confident he could blow away the cleanup hitter with just fastballs.

“Hoo.”

Suarez glanced at Seol Jin-il on first base and then slightly lifted his leg to deliver the pitch.

A changeup that tails away to the outside corner, losing velocity as it goes.

It was a changeup considered high-level even in Triple-A [the highest level of minor league baseball].

Swoosh.

Song Seok-hyun’s waist rotated.

Not a big turn, not a hard turn, and not a fast turn.

A swing that seemed to push the ball towards the right-field fence, almost like a practice swing.

Thwack!

The ball, caught near the end of the bat, shot high into the night sky.

“……What the…….”

Suarez watched the white ball arc through the night.

It looked like a weak hit, just lofted high into the air.

It was clearly a ball the right fielder should catch easily, but the ball showed no sign of descending.

Every time he mentally urged it to fall, the ball traveled further and further.

Thud.

“Home run! Song Seok-hyun with a two-run shot! Song Seok-hyun takes Suarez deep for a two-run homer!”

“Wow, that was a beautiful arc. He really got under that one. It was a textbook example of lifting the ball. These days, everyone focuses on hitting it hard and fast, but back in the day, home run hitters would intentionally put a lot of backspin on the ball to create that high fly ball. It reminds me of the old days.”

“Song Seok-hyun’s two-run homer puts them up 3-0. Goth is taking the lead again today.”

“Suarez’s pitches weren’t bad, but Goth’s top of the order is definitely strong. Good for them.”

Song Seok-hyun didn’t celebrate excessively as he returned to home plate.

It wasn’t intentional, but the opposing team had a player seriously injured yesterday.

There was no need to provoke the Wolves players and escalate tensions.

The Goth bench also refrained from wild cheering, congratulating Song Seok-hyun’s home run with polite applause.

“……”

Suarez looked at his hand and bit his lip.

It was a perfectly executed changeup.

The batter’s timing was impeccable.

He lifted the changeup as if he had been waiting for it all along.

Could he have a tell [an unconscious habit that reveals what pitch is coming]?

It wasn’t a mistake.

“Suarez.”

Suarez looked at catcher Shin Min-ho, who had come to the mound.

Seeing that Suarez seemed shaken, the catcher came out to talk to him in the first inning.

“Your stuff is great. I called the wrong signs. Your fastball is good, but I was overthinking it. My bad. Now, let’s trust your pitches and take it easy, okay?”

The catcher apologized immediately.

Suarez chuckled.

“Okay. Let’s make it more interesting this time.”

Suarez’s personality is erratic and his performance inconsistent, but he was still a pitcher.

A pitcher also appreciates someone who understands the loneliness of standing on the mound.

The next batter after Song Seok-hyun was Yoo Seon-ho.

He was a batter on a hot streak recently, but it wouldn’t be easy to rattle Suarez, who was already running up his pitch count in the first inning.

-Strike!

-Strike!

Two consecutive strikeouts.

Suarez extinguished the threat and finished the first inning.

Bottom of the 1st, the Wolves’ at-bat.

Lee Chang-hoon took the mound.

The Wolves batters stood close to the plate.

Since Lee Chang-hoon, whose stuff had lost some of its zip, had been pitching mainly to the outside recently, their intention was to concede the inside and focus on hitting pitches on the outer half of the plate.

It was a strategy that hadn’t worked against McKenzy in yesterday’s game, but it could be effective against Lee Chang-hoon.

The pitching coach even suggested he should avoid throwing inside pitches, so Lee Chang-hoon was entering the game with a self-imposed handicap from the start.

‘To the right.’

Goth didn’t just stand idly by.

They openly shifted their fielders to the right side of the infield.

“It looks like Lee Chang-hoon is telegraphing that he will be targeting the outside corner.”

“Lee Chang-hoon has been pitching like that recently. The team is also adjusting the fielders’ positions to match Lee Chang-hoon’s tendencies.”

“Isn’t this disadvantageous for Lee Chang-hoon?”

“But there’s no choice. Lee Chang-hoon’s stuff has declined, so what else can you do? It’s a desperate measure.”

The Wolves’ leadoff hitter was Kim Ha-gyun.

A batter with excellent contact skills, he shortened his bat and narrowed his stance.

A batting stance focused on making contact by shifting his weight onto his front leg.

He crouched down, showing his determination to track the ball until the last possible moment.

-Fastball. Outside.

The pitch Lee Chang-hoon will throw is practically predetermined.

No need to overthink it.

Just throw the ball and let them hit it.

It will be a success if the opponent doesn’t hit the ball to the left.

It would be a great success if he didn’t give up an extra-base hit.

Since he was the leadoff hitter, I thought he would take a few pitches, but Kim Ha-gyun aggressively attacked the first pitch.

Thwack!

-Out!

“It’s an out! The ball went directly to the right fielder.”

“Kim Ha-gyun made good contact, but it’s not easy to get the ball past that tight defensive alignment. To break through that defense, you have to hit it further or pull it, but that’s not easy either. This is Jamsil Stadium [a large stadium in Seoul]. It’s not that easy to push the ball and get it over the fence. With Kang Je-gwan also injured, there aren’t many players on the Wolves who can push the ball and hit it out of the park.”

“Then is Goth’s strategy working?”

“Of course, you could say that, but if you think about it a little more, it’s not that simple. If Lee Chang-hoon’s pitches are even slightly off and the ball starts drifting to the left, it could lead to a lot of runs. The pitcher has to throw the ball without making any mistakes… That’s difficult. You have to maintain your concentration until the end and keep pushing forward, but is that easy?”

“You could say that the outcome of today’s game hinges on Lee Chang-hoon’s control.”

The second batter was Jung Soo-young.

He is a league A-class [high-ranking] second baseman and hitter.

Lee Chang-hoon threw another outside fastball as his first pitch.

Thwack!

Foul!

“The Wolves batters are swinging aggressively.”

“They’re down by 3 points from the first inning, so they have to try to catch up quickly. There’s no need to wait for Lee Chang-hoon’s pitches. It’s clear that his stuff has declined in the second half of the season. If it looks like it’s in the strike zone, you have to swing. Lee Chang-hoon also has to use this aggressiveness to induce ground balls rather than trying to nibble at the corners.”

Lee Chang-hoon’s second pitch was also a fastball.

Jung Soo-young fouled it off again.

Jung Soo-young tilted his head.

The ball that should have been a hit kept tailing outside.

That meant he either didn’t time it right or he was being overpowered by the pitch.

Since it was well known that Lee Chang-hoon’s stuff had declined in the second half, he concluded that he hadn’t timed it correctly.

If you can’t time the fastball, another approach is to move your hitting point further forward and swing down faster and harder.

Lee Chang-hoon threw the ball without delay.

This time, the ball came into the outside part of the strike zone.

Jung Soo-young swung.

Whoosh!

As soon as Jung Soo-young swung, the ball curved outward as if it had been waiting.

Slider.

Jung Soo-young’s head snapped around.

-Strike! Out!

“Swinging strikeout! Lee Chang-hoon strikes out Jung Soo-young with three pitches.”

“The slider is working well today. Lee Chang-hoon’s slider doesn’t have a huge break or drop, but it breaks in a very textbook way. Two outside fastballs and then a slider that looks like the same fastball. It’s a very classic combination, but that’s why it’s used so often, isn’t it?”

One eyebrow of Wolves manager Jang Tae-seop twitched.

Kim Ha-gyun and Jung Soo-young are both league A-class hitters with career batting averages around .300.

They may not have a lot of power, but their contact skills are top-notch, yet they can’t get on base today.

Compared to Goth’s table setters [leadoff hitters], he was furious.

Compared to the washed-up Lee Ji-sung and the late-blooming Seol Jin-il, how could their salaries and career records even be compared?

What calmed manager Jang Tae-seop’s burning anger was Jung In-ha’s double as the third batter.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

A hit that slipped through the tight infield shift.

He is a player who always does his part, even though his name recognition is lower than other teams’ first basemen.

“The Wolves aren’t giving up easily either. Jung In-ha hits a double and immediately creates a scoring opportunity. One hit and it’s a run. Fourth batter Baek Hyun-sung is at the plate. Baek Hyun-sung continues to bat cleanup.”

“Even though his batting average is low, he’s a hitter with good timing and power. A precise third batter followed by a powerful guess hitter. It’s a traditional combination.”

“It’s a nail-biting game from the first inning. This is why they call it the Jamsil rivalry. The level of both teams’ pitchers and hitters is really high.”

Lee Chang-hoon chose a fastball as his first pitch.

Baek Hyun-sung swung aggressively at the first pitch, resulting in a foul ball.

Baek Hyun-sung glanced at his bat and then widened his stance and raised his hands slightly.

Lee Chang-hoon’s second pitch was also in the same location.

Baek Hyun-sung’s bat sliced through the air.

-Strike!

“Lee Chang-hoon’s recent go-to pitch. The changeup dropped nicely.”

0-2 [no balls, two strikes].

Two strikes with two pitches.

Baek Hyun-sung narrowed his stance again and choked up on the bat a little.

Lee Chang-hoon’s finishing pitch was a curveball.

Whoosh!

-Strike! Out!

“Swinging strikeout! Baek Hyun-sung strikes out swinging. The Wolves had a scoring chance but didn’t score a single run.”

“Lee Chang-hoon’s pace is good today. He’s been showing some inconsistent performances recently and has been sluggish, but he’s found his ace form again. An ace is an ace. He’s showing a fresh look again in the second half of the season. Did he rejuvenate? I’m curious about the secret.”

Success as a catcher

A blessing in disguise

“A blessing in disguise.”

It was what pitching coach Yeon Woo-shik said.

Manager Ham Seong-hoon also nodded at Yeon Woo-shik’s words.

“We reluctantly set up a 6-man rotation, but I didn’t know that Chang-hoon would revive at the end of the season.”

“I didn’t think Chang-hoon would be able to contribute much this season, but he’s finally coming through.”

Beginning of the season.

Goth was struggling due to bullpen overuse.

Even when Ham Seong-hoon took over as acting manager, Goth’s bullpen was a house of cards ready to collapse at any moment.

When a team’s bullpen collapses, managers typically make one of two choices.

They either take a player who is performing well in the starting rotation and turn him into a workhorse reliever, or they call up a bunch of pitchers from the minor leagues who can throw strikes and go with a quantity-over-quality approach.

If you switch someone from the starting rotation to the bullpen, the starting rotation becomes weaker.

If the starting rotation becomes weaker, the bullpen workload increases.

The more the bullpen workload increases, the greater the role of the workhorse reliever becomes.

The end result of this vicious cycle is the workhorse’s overwork and potential injury.

That was why Kim Jung-ryul had three surgeries.

He was injured after pitching a lot of innings from a young age, having been hailed as Goth’s crown prince.

Before he could even complete his rehabilitation, managers in a hurry rushed Kim Jung-ryul back into action.

Ideally, after completing rehabilitation, he should have rebuilt his strength and stamina in the minor leagues and gradually increased his innings as a 5-man starter or long reliever in the major leagues.

This process takes at least a year, and at most two years.

Two years is often enough time for a professional baseball manager’s contract to expire.

Especially at Goth, it’s more likely to be shorter rather than longer.

There aren’t many baseball managers who would wait for a pitcher they couldn’t use within their tenure.

Kim Jung-ryul had to return to the mound before he could even finish his rehabilitation.

‘Isn’t throwing the ball during the game also a form of rehabilitation?’ That was the argument of the old-school managers.

Since he couldn’t handle long innings, Kim Jung-ryul’s role was changed to the bullpen, where he handled short innings multiple times.

The misfortune of a bullpen pitcher is that the better they perform, the more often they are called upon to pitch.

Kim Jung-ryul, who had been pitching before completing rehabilitation, was injured again due to overuse.

Injury, rehabilitation, rushed rehabilitation, workhorse.

No matter how talented a player is, if they go through this cycle three times, they’re unlikely to fully recover.

Switching a starting pitcher to the bullpen due to a lack of bullpen pitchers is like robbing Peter to pay Paul.

This is only a viable option when there is a pitcher who can be used as a workhorse.

If there aren’t even any usable pitchers, then they resort to calling up minor league pitchers.

They bring up minor league prospects who need further development to the major leagues under the guise of giving them experience and use them to put out fires.

They mainly consider minor league prospects with good fastballs.

Sometimes as a starter, sometimes as a long reliever, sometimes as a one-out specialist, if they’re used indiscriminately, the promising prospect becomes a source of frustration for the fans in a few years.

If they show a little promise, they get called up to the major leagues and overworked, and if they spend their time repeating rehabilitation and recovery in the minor leagues, the prospect’s minor league record suffers.

Even in the minor leagues, they need to gain experience by winning and losing in order to develop.

If they play games every day just to fill a roster spot because there aren’t enough pitchers, the minor league players become accustomed to losing as the losses pile up.

Since the minor league system is collapsing, there are no players to replace even if a player in the major leagues is underperforming.

By that point, the situation is dire.

To undergo a so-called rebuilding phase, you have to reorganize the minor leagues and sacrifice major league results for two or three years.

However, in this case, there is a solution, but no one follows it.

In Korea, rebuilding means that prospects must be nurtured and major league results must be achieved simultaneously.

Looking at the situation, Goth should be in the bottom ranks.

The reason why Goth, which was plagued by impatient managers, bullpen overuse, and a lack of pitching depth, didn’t collapse completely was because of money.

By signing free agents every year, the negative consequences of overworking players didn’t spread to the minor leagues.