On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 282

The other players didn’t disagree.

Now, the word ‘failure to win first place’ felt quite real.

A three-run homer, not by Kyung-soo In, not by the cleanup hitter, but by the number two hitter.

It was an unexpected dagger, making it all the more painful and stinging.

The top of the 7th inning was instantly deleted.

Even the renowned left-handed hitters Yoo Seon-ho and Kim In-hwan were no more than mice before a cat against the left-handed killer Kim Young-hoon.

The Phoenix’s attack in the bottom of the 7th.

Phoenix’s attack, starting with Kyung-soo In, ended with no score despite five batters getting on base.

No score for either team in the 8th inning.

The Goat’s attack in the top of the 9th.

The lead batter was Song Seok-hyun.

Kim Young-hoon and Song Seok-hyun stood facing each other.

Kim Young-hoon’s first pitch was a slider.

-Strike!

[Song Seok-hyun! Shows a tremendously big swing.]

[The swing got too big. Song Seok-hyun needs to restrain himself a bit.]

A hesitant swing at the falling ball.

Kim Young-hoon throws a curveball.

-Strike!

[Two consecutive missed swings. Song Seok-hyun can’t seem to get a feel for it at all.]

Kim Young-hoon received the ball thrown by the catcher.

Was he too impatient?

He was too different from the usual Song Seok-hyun.

The catcher calls for a slider as the third pitch.

If the batter can’t get a feel for breaking balls, throwing breaking balls consecutively is also a method.

Kim Young-hoon nodded and lifted his leg.

If it’s a slider that falls into the strike zone, Song Seok-hyun will be fooled again this time.

“Hmph.”

He takes a deep breath and throws the ball with all his might.

The feeling of the ball leaving his hand is good.

It had a proper spin.

The height it was flying was also knee-high.

If it just drops from there, the batter will helplessly swing and miss.

-Whoosh.

Song Seok-hyun also starts his swing.

As expected, he turns his body with all his might like a helicopter propeller, as if he’s about to fly away.

“……?!”

Kim Young-hoon’s eyes widen.

Behind Song Seok-hyun’s turned body, the bat whips like a whip, swinging as if gripping a golf club.

A golfer’s swing beyond an upper swing.

The back of his head tingled.

-Bang!!!

Song Seok-hyun’s helmet came off.

[Wow! It’s huge! It’s incredibly huge! It’s enormously huge! A super-duper home run! A super-sized home run explodes!]

[It looks like the longest home run in history. I can’t even measure it. It was a home run that cleared the fence as soon as it was hit.]

[3-3! 3-3 tie! With one solo home run from Song Seok-hyun, the game returns to square one! It goes back to square one!]

Kim Young-hoon pulled his hat down low.

Consecutive missed swings from the previous at-bat.

It was Song Seok-hyun’s plan.

By continuously swinging and missing, he gave the impression that he was weak against breaking balls.

No, with that kind of swing, he couldn’t help but be weak against breaking balls.

Normally, Song Seok-hyun is a flawless hitter with no weaknesses.

Song Seok-hyun deliberately created his own weakness.

He set the stage so that both the pitcher and catcher had no choice but to target his weakness.

Song Seok-hyun wasn’t aiming for a good ball from the start.

On the premise that the opponent wouldn’t give him a good ball, he was aiming for a slider from the beginning, especially a low slider.

It’s a possible strategy because Song Seok-hyun’s power, his swing, can clear the fence as much as he wants.

It’s a strategy that won’t work two or three times, but it’s a strategy that the opponent can’t help but be caught off guard if it’s just once.

“Ha, that punk. He’s a complete hustler.”

He was hit with a home run, but a laugh leaked out.

“Indeed… baseball is fun.”

Kim Young-hoon picked up the rosin bag again.

When Song Seok-hyun returned to the bench, it was truly a celebration.

“Song Seok-hyun! Song Seok-hyun! Song Seok-hyun!”

Not only the players but also the coaches applauded and cheered.

3-3.

It’s still a tie, but it’s important that Kim Young-hoon gave up a home run.

They can turn it around.

There is a possibility.

-Strike! Out!

-Strike! Out!

-Strike! Out!

The atmosphere froze as the cleanup hitters were all struck out, but Kim Jung-ryul blocked it without giving up a run in the bottom of the 9th, and the game went into extra innings.

At this time, the results of other team games were also reported.

Currently, Astro Boys is 1st, Bulls is 2nd, Goat is 3rd, Scorpion is 4th, and Phoenix is 5th.

If Goat wins today’s game, they will be 1st with the same number of games as Astro Boys, but with an advantage in head-to-head record and score difference. If they lose, they will be pushed down to 3rd.

Scorpion’s game was not over, but they were currently trailing Wales by one point.

If Phoenix wins and Scorpion loses, Phoenix will be 4th.

Extra inning 10 began with both teams on the edge of a cliff where they could not back down.

Good bye (10)

The score on the electronic scoreboard was still 3-3.

Kim Jung-ryul was on the mound for Goat, and Kim Young-hoon was on the mound for Phoenix.

The Goat’s attack in the top of the 12th.

[Lead hitter Song Seok-hyun comes out.]

[He hit a fantastic tying home run in the 9th as the lead hitter, right? Both teams will have to be nervous this at-bat.]

Song Seok-hyun stood at the plate.

The autumn breeze sweeps his cheeks.

Kim Young-hoon’s first pitch is an outside fastball.

He knows it every time, but he can’t hit it every time.

-Strike!

[155km/h (96 mph). The speed has decreased a bit.]

[He’s practically pitching a complete game right now. It’s like pitching a complete game yesterday and pitching a complete game today.]

[Still 155km/h… Kim Young-hoon is indeed Kim Young-hoon.]

Song Seok-hyun takes a breath.

A fluke is enough for once.

Now he has to hit with skill.

He thinks with his head, sees with his eyes, and reacts with his body.

According to the data he has accumulated so far, after an outside fastball, more than 70% are outside courses.

After an outside fastball, more than 60% of the balls that come into the outside course are fastballs, and 40% are sliders, curves, and changeups.

In reality, most of them are sliders.

Statistically, the ball he should be aiming for now is an outside fastball.

The moment he takes a breath, a fastball flies to the outside.

A ball that is out of the strike zone.

In the moment he pauses, the ball suddenly bends and enters the zone.

-Strike!

[Backdoor slider. Song Seok-hyun is helpless.]

[That’s something you can’t help but fall for even if you know it. Unless it’s a full count, you can’t hit that ball.]

[With this, it’s 0-2. Two consecutive strikes.]

[Song Seok-hyun takes a step back for a moment. Yes, that’s good. If you feel like you’re being led by the opponent, it’s good to break the flow.]

It’s not that he didn’t think about the backdoor slider.

Even though the frequency is low, a backdoor slider always comes out in a game.

He knows it, but he excluded it from the choices because the frequency is low.

“Haa.”

A sigh comes out involuntarily.

Everyone knows that 80% of left-handed pitcher Kim Young-hoon’s pitches are fastballs and sliders.

The hitters’ focus is on fastballs and sliders.

It is statistically correct to give up the remaining 20% ​​courageously, but when you get hit in the back of the head like this, you feel like an idiot.

Backdoor slider, curve, changeup, sinker, cutter, splitter.

When you lose count with unexpected balls, the afterimage in your head becomes deeper.

The next ball is highly likely to be a fastball or a slider, but what if it’s a curve here? A circle changeup? A splitter?

“Hitter, come in now.”

“Yes, sorry.”

His thoughts were cut off by the umpire’s urging.

Song Seok-hyun shook his head.

He empties his mind.

He sees and hits.

As he has been doing so far.

[Pitcher, the third pitch.]

Kim Young-hoon’s third pitch is an outside fastball.

Song Seok-hyun swung his bat.

Clang!

[Right fence~ It went over. Foul, foul.]

[That was a ball that was out, but he touched it.]

[It seems like he couldn’t help it because the count was unfavorable.]

Song Seok-hyun shook his hand.

He knows it, but he can’t help but swing the bat.

A fastball coming into the outside high course.

It’s out of the zone, but his body reacts first.

Song Seok-hyun looked at Kim Young-hoon.

A man standing indifferently on the mound.

It’s like a statue has been erected on the mound.

It feels like he has to lift his head for a long time to look at it.

Kim Young-hoon, who doesn’t let his guard down… is not his opponent.

The 4th pitch is a slider.

Foul.

The 5th pitch is a fastball to the body.

Foul.

The 6th pitch is an outside fastball.

Ball.

The 7th pitch is an outside curve.

Ball.

Song Seok-hyun managed to hold back his swing even as his knees faltered.

[2-2. The match is getting longer.]

[Song Seok-hyun is cutting the ball well.]

[Isn’t the match between the Asian Games battery really exciting?]

[It’s a battle between the best hitter and pitcher in Korean professional baseball, so the level is really high. The mind games are fierce and the development is thrilling.]

Song Seok-hyun licked his dry lips.

The back of his spine was soaked with sweat.

He doesn’t even know how to hit and choose the ball.

The ball is not visible, and it is fast and unpredictable.

In the meantime, the glove became loose.

“Just a moment. Time.”

Song Seok-hyun stepped away from the plate and adjusted his glove.

As he caught his breath, Kim Young-hoon on the mound looked bigger and bigger.

“If you think of it as a wall, it feels more like a wall.”

Suddenly, Kim In-hwan’s words came to mind.

Wall.

A wall is an obstacle that blocks the way forward.

When you think about it, there were always obstacles in the way when you lived.

He didn’t know because insignificant obstacles didn’t even remain in his mind.

How much do you have to win and lose in one at-bat, one ball, to win and lose one game?

Someone has to lose, and someone has to win, that’s baseball.

There is no such thing as me unconditionally winning and the opponent losing.

Man proposes, Heaven disposes [human plans are subject to a higher power].

Luck is not everything, but luck is what determines the end.

Song Seok-hyun gripped his bat tightly.

It doesn’t matter if luck doesn’t follow, it doesn’t matter if it does.

Thinking about it at the plate is not his style.

He thinks outside the plate.

At the plate, he only reacts.

Even if he strikes out, he leaves his heart and thoughts to his body.

“That punk is giving me a hard time.”