On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 252

At least 10 km/h or faster. The faster the ball, the more the perceived speed increases, so even just over 140 km/h would look like a fastball of over 150 km/h.

If that kind of ball has good corner work, it’s a disaster for hitters.

“Hoo-ah.”

Song Seok-hyun got into position properly.

If his deception is good, react as if you’re hitting a 150 km/h fastball.

Kim Young-hoon’s third pitch.

Whack!

It was a curveball.

“Strike. Out! Looking strikeout.”

Yu Seon-ho got up and patted Song Seok-hyun’s butt.

“What are you doing? Why are you spacing out?”

“Ah… nothing.”

Song Seok-hyun gave a hollow laugh and bowed to Kim Young-hoon.

“Senior, can I try one more time?”

“You want to? Okay, let’s do it.”

The players watching Song Seok-hyun’s looking strikeout were shaking their heads.

Kim In-hwan, in particular, let out a dumbfounded laugh.

“That curveball, is that even possible? The angle is insane.”

“I thought it was a high fastball.”

“How can the ball curve like that?”

Kyung Su-in said.

“That’s Gear 1. If Young-hoon really tries, there’s no answer.”

“That’s Gear 1?”

“Yeah. That’s just the beginning.”

Kim Young-hoon threw the first pitch.

Curveball.

Song Seok-hyun watched one ball.

“Strike!”

The curveball is truly brutal.

Some major league foreign players use power curveballs.

Kim Young-hoon’s curveball is top-notch in terms of angle and drop, as good as those players’ finishing pitches.

But watching two balls, he got a feel for the timing.

He won’t miss the third.

Kim Young-hoon’s second pitch was also a curveball.

Song Seok-hyun swung his bat.

Whoosh!

The ball fooled Song Seok-hyun, slipping under his bat.

“Strike. Two.”

With consecutive strikes, even the watching players closed their mouths.

Something’s not right.

Kim Young-hoon threw the third pitch right away.

The third pitch was also a curveball.

Song Seok-hyun gritted his teeth and swung.

Whoosh!

“Strike. Out.”

Bounce ball.

He swung and missed at a bounce ball.

Two consecutive swings and misses by Song Seok-hyun, who is evaluated as being better than most contact hitters in the league.

The watching players were surprised, but Song Seok-hyun himself looked even more bewildered.

“What is that curveball?”

“I couldn’t hit it even if you told me what it was.”

Kyung Su-in shrugged.

“Still, Young-hoon threw it properly. He went straight to Gear 3.”

Six pitches, two strikeouts.

Song Seok-hyun stood there with a blank look on his face.

“Want to do it one more time?”

At Kim Young-hoon’s suggestion, Song Seok-hyun slowly nodded.

“Yes. Just one more time.”

Kim Young-hoon threw the first pitch as another curveball, as if to show off.

Song Seok-hyun made contact, but it was a foul.

The second pitch, another curveball, was also a foul.

The third pitch was a curveball that dropped sharply from the hitter’s head height.

Clang!

Song Seok-hyun scooped up the ball that bounced.

A hit that completely pierced the left-center field.

Kim Young-hoon smiled broadly and applauded.

“That was refreshing. Nice hit!”

“…Thank you.”

Although he got a hit, Song Seok-hyun’s expression was not bright.

He was openly thrown only curveballs to hit, and now he only has one hit.

Even though he knew the curveball was coming, he couldn’t adjust to the angle of the curve.

This is Kim Young-hoon…

It’s a different kind of tension than when facing league aces like Jo Jin-hee or Kim Seong-hoon.

Jo Jin-hee and Kim Seong-hoon mix high-speed sliders and fastballs, making it difficult to distinguish between fastballs and breaking balls, which is tricky.

Kim Young-hoon’s curveball is clearly distinguishable from his fastball, but it’s impossible to hit.

“Should we stop here for today? I haven’t pitched in a real game in a while, and my fingers are starting to hurt.”

“Ah, yes. I understand. Thank you for your hard work.”

After the practice, Kim Young-hoon approached Song Seok-hyun.

“Wow, Seok-hyun, you’re no joke. I gripped the ball so hard that my fingers are about to cramp.”

“No, it’s nothing. I think I just got lucky with one ball.”

“At this rate, I’ll get beat up during the season. Usually, the pitcher has the advantage at first when competing against a hitter, right?”

“Yes… well….”

“Thanks for building me up today.”

Kim Young-hoon talked with the other players and then left to take a call.

Kim Young-hoon, who was on the phone with a serious expression, excused himself to Kyung Su-in and Yu Seon-ho and left first.

Song Seok-hyun saw Kim Young-hoon off with a dejected face.

“Okay. See you next time, Seok-hyun.”

* * *

After meeting Kim Young-hoon, Song Seok-hyun spent a lot of time thinking alone.

There were few pitchers in the league who threw curveballs at Kim Young-hoon’s level.

The curveball is a pitch with a completely different mechanism from the fastball, so even if a player is good at curveballs, the fastball and curveball could be distinguished right before the pitch.

Once you knew it was a curveball, there was no difficulty in attacking it, but Kim Young-hoon’s curveball was different.

It’s hard to notice, and even if you do notice, it’s even harder to hit.

Song Seok-hyun wasn’t the only one in trouble.

The news of Kim Young-hoon’s appearance spread like wildfire and soon led to articles.

The most surprised by Kim Young-hoon’s appearance was Ham Seong-hoon, who was enjoying a long-awaited vacation with his family.

“Ha. Even Phoenix….”

He’s already afraid of playing the 2014 season.

Success as a catcher

Spring Camp

Clang!

Clang!

Clang!

With a cheerful hitting sound, the ball went over the fence every time it was hit.

It went over the fence and stretched out even further.

“…Did something happen to Seok-hyun?”

On the first day of spring camp.

Ham Seong-hoon watched the flying ball and asked the hitting coach.

From free batting, Song Seok-hyun gritted his teeth and swung with all his might.

Song Seok-hyun is a player who usually focuses on physical management and adjusts the intensity of his training.

“I don’t know. Maybe he has a lot of energy left because he’s training after a long time?”

Ham Seong-hoon tilted his head at the hitting coach’s answer.

“Doesn’t the free batting atmosphere itself feel a bit different today? Something… um….”

“It’s serious and good. Everyone’s concentration is good too.”

“Usually, it’s hard to set the atmosphere on the first day of spring camp, but this time it’s so serious that there’s nothing to touch.”

“I thought the kids would loosen up a bit after winning the championship, but isn’t it a good thing? Haha.”

“It’s a good thing, but… I don’t know why they’re so serious.”

After free batting, during a short break.

Song Seok-hyun put his bat on his shoulder and caught his breath.

Other players were sitting and resting around him.

“No matter how I think about it.”

Kim In-hwan turned his head at Song Seok-hyun’s words.

“Huh? What?”

“No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem to work.”

“What?”

“Curveball.”

Kim In-hwan laughed as if he was dumbfounded.

“Are you still thinking about that?”

“Yeah. To hit that kind of curveball, it won’t catch the trajectory unless it’s a proper uppercut swing. But Senior Kim Young-hoon’s curveball has such a good angle that you have to hit it extremely uppercut to hit it properly. Then the swing trajectory doesn’t match the fastball or changeup trajectory at all.”

“Well… is that so?”

“In short, my conclusion is that you can’t hit all of Senior Kim Young-hoon’s balls with one swing. If you’re aiming for a fastball, aim only for the fastball, and if you’re aiming for a curveball, aim only for the curveball.”

“The answer is right there.”

Song Seok-hyun shook his head.

“No. This isn’t the answer. If you take a different swing, the hitter will lose his own mechanism. It’s already difficult to attack Senior Kim Young-hoon’s ball even with your own swing, so will you get good results by responding in an impromptu way?”

“Why are you worrying about that? As you said, you can just aim for one ball and hit it. Curveball or fastball. Isn’t it one of the two?”

“There’s also a changeup. Slider, fork, splitter, two-seam too. Senior Kim Young-hoon knows how to throw them all. And he can throw them all above average, no, A-class. You can’t just aim for one pitch. You can’t hit all the balls with one swing either.”

Kim Wook, who was listening quietly from a little distance away, said.

“Just think comfortably. Ah, I can’t hit it. Anyway, it’s just one person, one person. Why are you using your head so much because of one person?”

“That one person upset three teams in the postseason.”

“Yeah. I’m one of them too.”

“…I’m sorry.”

“Hey, just take it easy. You can’t hit it anyway~ He’s a guy who can make a living even if he goes to the majors. He’s a different size than us.”

“….”

“We have to hope that Phoenix gets knocked out in the postseason. Ugh, if Phoenix comes up again, hoo-ooo. I don’t even want to imagine it. It’s a relief to just get a hit off his ball.”

The short break ended and training started again.

That night.

After finishing his phone call with Kim Na-young, Song Seok-hyun walked around the baseball field alone.

Song Seok-hyun, who was looking up at the night sky, suddenly laughed loudly.

“If it’s just hitting singles, it’s possible, right?”

From the next day, Song Seok-hyun asked the coaches and pitchers to throw curveballs during live batting.

Song Seok-hyun held back his swing until the ball reached the plate and only hit line drives that pierced the 3-4 gap [the space between the third baseman and shortstop] and the 1-2 bases [the space between the pitcher and first baseman].

After live batting, Kim In-hwan asked Song Seok-hyun.

“What was that just now? You were hitting it almost like a ground ball?”

“I’m trying to get rid of my greed. If the opponent’s ball is good, I can’t hit a good hit either. Instead of taking a different swing every time, I thought it would be better to give up my desire for a home run and just focus on making contact.”

“Give up home runs?”

“To be exact, it’s protecting my swing. Everyone has compatibility, right? I’m just admitting that my swing isn’t effective against Senior Kim Young-hoon’s curveball. Instead, you’ll be better than me. You’ve been definitely switching to an uppercut recently. Then it’ll be more effective against falling balls than me.”

“It sounds like you’re saying my swing is better.”

“Where is good or bad? It’s just that what suits each person is different. Isn’t it that you’ve found a swing that suits you now?”

Kim In-hwan nodded.

“I think the changed form suits me for sure these days. I don’t have to try to watch the ball for a long time, and I don’t have to worry about what to do with my lower body.”

“I think it’s good. It looked so good when you practiced.”

“Still, I’m full of worries. I wonder if I should give up the form that was good last year.”

“The reason why your performance fluctuated last year was because your swing changed every time, right? It’s best to find a swing that suits you now and stick to it.”

“Is that so? Still, the anxiety doesn’t go away. What if my performance suddenly plummets again? I’m the head of the family now. You too, and Senior Seon-ho and Senior Kim Wook, good hitters have their own swing for sure. I’m still like this, so I wonder if I can even make it.”

“There’s no such thing as the same swing. The styles are different. It changes little by little every year.”

“You’re the same.”

“I’m changing it little by little too.”

“What are you changing? It looks the same to me.”

“After seeing Senior Kim Young-hoon’s ball last time, I thought that even if I couldn’t change my swing, it would be different if I increased my reaction speed. So I’m practicing to increase my swing speed. I’m strengthening my wrist and waist so that my form doesn’t go wrong even if my swing speed increases. Well, even if I don’t get results right away, I’m going to improve it little by little during this season.”

Kim In-hwan chuckled.

“You’re so determined. Are you going to win 8 crowns this season?”

“Whether it’s 8 crowns or anything, I hope we win this season.”

“Why can’t we? We did it last year, and it’s even more doable this year.”

“Well. Don’t you know that Phoenix is also a championship contender if we go to the short-term game [playoffs]?”

“If Phoenix makes it to the top 4, I mean. It’ll be harder for them than winning the championship.”

During the spring camp, a strange tension flowed between the players.

As Goat, who is the undisputed number one team in the league and even has national popularity, the media frequently came and went to cover them, which was a big burden for the players.

Naturally, the atmosphere was that it was possible to build a dynasty beyond winning the league two or three times in a row.

Looking at the lineup alone, Lee Ji-sung, Seol Jin-il, Kim In-hwan, Song Seok-hyun, Yu Seon-ho, and Kim Wook were all flawless, and the starting pitchers were also solid with the two foreign players who kept their places last year, Lee Chang-hoon, and Han Min-seok.

However, the atmosphere within the team was different.

Many players left through trades as two new teams were created, and few players came up from the minor leagues.

The best members were reinforced, but the backup members became weaker.