On The Rise As A Catcher [EN]: Chapter 86

“So, what should Gote do moving forward?”

“Either reduce our reliance on the KS trio or reactivate it. Even if just one of Kim In-hwan or Song Seok-hyun underperforms, the KS trio’s synergy drops significantly.”

“Neither is an easy task.”

Unlike yesterday’s cheers, Gote fans quickly left Jamsil Stadium.

Song Seok-hyun also packed his bags and left Jamsil.

His performance today consisted of one strikeout and three walks.

He got on base three times but didn’t score at all.

It wasn’t a terrible performance, but Gote’s situation wasn’t easy.

Kim In-hwan’s slump led to Song Seok-hyun’s silence, and Song Seok-hyun’s silence was equivalent to the annihilation of Gote’s batting lineup.

Just five days.

In just five days, Song Seok-hyun had become the key man determining Gote’s victory.

That evening.

Kim In-hwan didn’t go home.

He requested extra batting practice.

Song Seok-hyun also joined Kim In-hwan for extra batting practice.

When Kim In-hwan and Song Seok-hyun started extra batting practice, Seol Jin-il also requested it.

With the voluntary extra batting practice of the three core hitters, all of Gote’s hitters started extra batting practice without exception.

Ham Seong-hoon stopped on his way home and watched the hitters who came out for extra batting practice.

“The landscape has certainly changed, hasn’t it?”

Operations Team Leader Kim Hak-in stood next to Ham Seong-hoon before he knew it.

“Yes, it has. This is the first time we’ve had truly voluntary extra batting practice.”

“Before, it was only voluntary in name.”

“……”

Ham Seong-hoon was careful about what he said about the former manager. Even though their opinions differed, the former manager was his father’s disciple and the manager who had recruited him.

“Honestly, even though our performance has been good recently, you know that the club’s executives don’t have high expectations for this season, right?”

“Is that so?”

“With so many key players leaving, the prevailing attitude is that we just need to avoid embarrassment. But seeing this, it feels like a blessing in disguise. With so many second-string players stepping up, it’s admirable to see the players banding together and trying to improve voluntarily.”

“I was most worried about factional infighting, but with Nak-gyun and Moon-gyu gone, the atmosphere has actually been refreshed.”

“Both of them are good players, but they’re experts at disrupting the atmosphere. Even though baseball is, in some ways, an individual sport, if two starters are slacking off, it affects the whole team. Our team needs other veterans to hold the center, but there weren’t enough players who could do that, so it was even worse.”

Song Seok-hyun was talking with Kim In-hwan.

Seol Jin-il and other hitters were also gathered nearby, joining the conversation.

“Would it be difficult to get a hitter as a bonus in the trade for Il-hyeok?”

The operations team leader smiled wryly at the manager’s question.

“You have to choose one of the two. You know that, right?”

“Sorry. I guess I was being greedy.”

“We’re in contact behind the scenes. A decision will be made within the next week.”

“Is the situation favorable?”

“They’re pretending to be expensive, but they’ll have to show their hand soon.”

“Then I’ll leave it in your capable hands.”

As Ham Seong-hoon was about to leave, the operations team leader asked.

“Aren’t you going to watch the players?”

“If I go, they’ll just be more conscious of me. Voluntary training should be left voluntary.”

Ham Seong-hoon left the baseball field as he was.

The operations team leader put his hands in his pants pockets and watched the players.

“But… why is everyone listening to Song Seok-hyun?”

A fresh-faced rookie in his twenties should be saying ‘Yes, yes’ to his seniors, but now the situation was the opposite.

Older seniors were nodding their heads at Song Seok-hyun’s words.

Ace Closer

The Owner of Jamsil (7)

“So that’s why you’re narrowing your stride.”

“Yes, because reaction time is crucial in modern baseball.”

Song Seok-hyun was surrounded by his seniors while practicing extra batting with Kim In-hwan.

Seol Jin-il, as well as second baseman Jung Dong-gyu, third baseman Choi Jae-wan, and shortstop Jung Young-soo, were all involved.

“Then why can’t In-hwan hit the ball these days? According to you, In-hwan’s form has no flaws right now?”

It was Jung Young-soo’s question.

“The grand slam is the problem.”

“The home run?”

“Yes, after In-hwan hit a grand slam last time, his stride became longer again, and his hitting position also became higher. His shoulder also opens up too quickly. He needs to make his swing more compact again.”

“How?”

“There are many ways. But the most plausible thing I’ve seen in recent training is to hit with an extremely closed stance. Fix the front foot and hit with no step, gradually opening the front foot.”

“How did you know that? Does it just come up when you search online?”

“I didn’t find this through searching. I have a friend named Young-seok who’s kind of an otaku [a person with obsessive interests, often in anime or manga]. He searches the internet every day and tells me about new things. There aren’t many baseball-related books in Korea, after all…”

“Is he a baseball player?”

“No. He’s just a friend who likes baseball.”

“He’s an interesting friend.”

Song Seok-hyun picked up his bat.

“In my humble opinion, the trend in Major League Baseball will be to narrow the stride and raise the hitting position. When sinkers, two-seamers, cutters, and splitters become the norm, the time to see and judge becomes shorter. Then, you inevitably have to narrow your stride to increase your reaction speed, and if your stride narrows, your power becomes insufficient, so your hitting position has to be raised to compensate for this. Since there are many balls that fall downwards, the hitting position naturally rises as you have to swing upwards.”

Second baseman Jung Dong-gyu asked.

“But that’s not you. Your hand only goes up to shoulder height, right? It’s different from what you’re saying.”

“Yes, that’s right. If the hitting position goes up, the power increases, but the area where the ball and bat meet decreases, so the contact decreases. So, I matched the hitting position and hitting point angle to about 25 degrees to maximize the impact area.”

“Why does the ball fly so far even though it’s not an upper swing? Is it because you’re naturally strong?”

“No. I compensated for the weakened power by lowering the hitting position with a full swing and pulling the ball.”

Seol Jin-il asked.

“You also hit to the opposite field, right?”

“To be exact, I didn’t intentionally hit to the opposite field, but I was forced to hit there. Since the ball came to the outside, the ball was pushed out by the bat that was pulling it, but I didn’t intentionally hit it to the opposite field. Always a full swing. This is my way of combining contact and power. Of course, this is just my method. I also use a heavy bat to further compensate for the lack of power.”

Choi Jae-wan nodded.

“As expected, there’s a reason why good hitters are good. You didn’t learn that from anyone, but you thought about it yourself?”

“I didn’t think about it alone. While doing it, I talked to my friends if it didn’t work, took videos, analyzed it myself, read books, watched other videos, and searched the internet. While doing that, I found a swing that suits me.”

“You’re also diligent.”

Kim In-hwan put his bat on his shoulder.

“So, you’re saying that since my swing has gotten bigger, I should reduce my swing while hitting to the opposite field?”

“As I said earlier, you should close your lead foot and swing, reducing the swing width. Originally, if the swing gets bigger, you correct it by hitting to the opposite field.”

Choi Jae-wan asked.

“Then what about me?”

“You’re doing well in your own way. I’m not a doctor, so how would I know all that? I’m only saying this to In-hwan because he’s my friend and I’ve known him for a long time.”

“I’m dying behind you. But what am I doing well? What do you think my problem is?”

“It’s not a problem… In the end, hitters have to choose between power and contact, right? It’s good to do both. If you can’t do that, then contact comes first. You have to make contact to put power into it.”

“……Is my plate discipline the problem?”

“Externally, there’s a way to improve plate discipline by analyzing the pitcher, but internally, organizing your hitting form is also a method. You have a typical power hitter type with a big stride and a high hitting position, so your contact can’t be as good.”

Choi Jae-wan scratched his cheek.

“Suddenly, I feel like I have to show something since I’m standing behind you.”

“In my opinion, your swing was more compact in the second team [minor league]. The manager brought you up because of what you showed in the second team, but if you suddenly change your hitting form, it’ll be harder to adapt. The balls of the first team players are faster and the breaking balls are tougher, and you’ve changed your hitting form in the meantime, so it’s natural that the adaptation period is longer.”

“That’s what the coach meant when he told me to relax……”

Shortstop Jung Young-soo, the oldest member of the extra batting practice, laughed loudly.

“You’re a complete professor, professor. You’re giving a lecture.”

Song Seok-hyun lowered his head in embarrassment.

“I’m sorry. I was presumptuous.”

“No, no. That’s not what I mean. You’ve been tearing up the first team as soon as you came up from the second team, so there was a reason. You seem to have the most knowledge of hitting theory among the people I’ve seen.”

“No, no. I’m just talking to myself. It’s not verified either……”

“If you do well, it’s verified. You have a good eye for things. I also thought Jae-wan’s form was too big. If you don’t hit the ball, the first thing to do is to relax and hit to the opposite field, but I couldn’t say that to Jae-wan because I’m in the same boat.”

Choi Jae-wan smacked his lips.

“If even the seniors know, then the opposing team must know all my weaknesses.”

“Does knowing your weaknesses mean they can all be exploited? It’s a matter of dealing with it.”

Kim In-hwan said.

“Somehow, the conversation got long, but can we start training again?”

“Oh, that’s right. I was spacing out while listening to Seok-hyun. Okay, everyone, let’s train again. Let’s team up and help each other.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The extra batting practice didn’t take long.

They decided to save their energy for tomorrow’s game.

It was when they were finishing up the extra batting practice and cleaning up the training ground.

Seol Jin-il approached Song Seok-hyun.

“What do you think of me?”

“Yes? What about?”

“Is my hitting form okay?”

“If you keep asking me that……”

“It’s just you and me here. Tell me. Huh?”

“You’re so good. Good contact, good on-base percentage, and you have home run power. If you just manage your condition well, you’ll be a first-team regular, right?”

“Really? Really?”

“Well… you’re good. You’ll continue to do well in the future.”

“Then I can be on TV and do an interview, right?”

“If you just do well……”

Seol Jin-il laughed loudly.

“My daughter is making a fuss about asking me to say her name on TV. I need to become the Daily MVP quickly. She’s so noisy, just like her mother.”

“Oh? Are you married?”

“Of course. Our child will be going to elementary school soon.”

“No, aren’t you young?”

Seol Jin-il scratched the back of his head.

“I was a senior in high school, so contraception was clumsy……”

“Ah……”

“Well, I’m living well anyway. I was going to quit and start a business if it didn’t work out by this year, but I just got promoted to the first team.”

“You’re good, so you can win the MVP even tomorrow. I’ll cheer for you.”

“Thanks, even if it’s just words.”

After parting with Seol Jin-il, Song Seok-hyun returned home.

He recalled today’s game while reviewing it and thought of Seol Jin-il.

He thought he was a fourth-dimensional attention seeker, but now he understood him a little.

* * *

The third game against the Wolves the next day.

Gote conceded 6 runs in the third inning alone, with no reward for the extra batting practice.

Fifth starter Jeon Sang-heum collapsed from the start, allowing a long hit.

The next pitcher, Jo Jae-jin, was slow and his control was off, making the term finesse pitcher meaningless, and he also collapsed.

Once the momentum shifted, the batting lineup drooped like a waterlogged sponge.

Manager Ham Seong-hoon spared the bullpen, so he refrained from changing pitchers even as the score difference widened.

The final score was 9-2, a crushing defeat.

Gote fans, who had high expectations for the KS trio, began to leave the stadium from the 7th inning.

The excited Wolves fans sang that they were the owners of Jamsil.

The start of the three-game series was Gote’s laugh, but the end of the three-game series was the Wolves’ turn.

The owner of Jamsil had changed in two days.

That evening.

Manager Ham Seong-hoon had to suffer from malicious comments all day, even earning the nickname “Dol Seong-hoon” [Stone-headed Seong-hoon, implying stubbornness or incompetence] on Gote fan pages and baseball sites.

-Gote will live if Dol Seong-hoon steps down

└Did you see Dol Seong-hoon throwing today’s game? He gave up on the game as soon as the score difference widened

└My eyes rot from watching this game that I paid for

└Im Tal-gok is a problem because he doesn’t throw away what he shouldn’t, but Dol Seong-hoon throws away even a game that’s regrettable

└The only thing to rely on is Song Seok-hyun’s home run, an incompetent

└I should have given up on this season a long time ago, since the drinking scandal and the club gate broke out. I’m crazy, I believed in Gote. I’m crazy

└When will we ever be able to yell at the Wolves? We lose twice or three times after winning once

└I’ve always bought and used them, but all the things I bought with expensive money went into AS [after-sales service, implying wasted investment]. There’s no way the results will come out?

└Ha, we’re going to fall to 6th place like this. Wales won again today

└There’s no answer. There are 6 games left in the first half, and we’re 2 games behind 5th place.

└Im Tal-gok is gone and Dol Seong-hoon has come! We have no luck with managers ㅋㅋㅋ

6 games, 4 wins, 2 losses.

It was a good record, but the problem was that the two losses were against the Wolves.

1 win and 2 losses against the Wolves.

No one valued the 3 wins against the Phoenix.

Song Seok-hyun reviewed today’s game regardless of the team’s loss.

They say baseball is an individual sport, but baseball is also a team sport.

The batting lineup’s sense wasn’t bad, but the starting pitcher collapsed, lengthening the defensive time, which caused concentration to drop.

As the flow of hitting continued to break, the batting lineup quickly went out like a fire on wet tinder.

Song Seok-hyun summarized his impressions of today’s game in one line.

-Short defense, long offense.

“Ha, am I finally resting tomorrow?”

The week flew by like an arrow.

He didn’t even know how it passed.

It was when Song Seok-hyun was lying in bed and finishing his preparations to sleep.

He heard the text message sound again.

Song Seok-hyun hesitated for a moment and took out his phone.

-I sprained my ankle today. It’s my day off tomorrow ㅠㅠ

The sender was Yoon Romy.

Song Seok-hyun looked at Yoon Romy’s text for a long time and sighed.

“Ah, what is this? What should I do?”

For Song Seok-hyun, a text message without a purpose was no different from a complex math problem.