Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 115

The first Japanese batter I faced was the number two hitter, Takayama Masayoshi.

He usually plays as the lead-off hitter for his team, and he looked exactly like the typical ‘Japanese table setter’ [a player whose primary role is to get on base and set up scoring opportunities for the hitters behind them].

Skinny build, left-handed, and eyes that screamed determination.

I studied the batter’s stance, finished my calculations for this at-bat, and signaled to Heoncheol. First pitch, a fastball deep inside.

“Hoo….”

Feeling a pleasant tension, I wound up, and then,

“Keuk!”

Bang-!

“Strike!”

A fastball landed right where it should, inside on the batter. After throwing, I thought it went in pretty well, so I glanced behind me,

151km.

The speed of my fastball was displayed in red.

I wanted to pat myself on the head, but I resisted, and caught the ball Heoncheol tossed back.

Then, back to sign shopping.

A typical table setter probably wouldn’t swing until two strikes unless it was a really bad pitch.

And if the count gets against them, they’ll hold on and hold on, trying to give information to the next batter.

“Heup!”

In other words, they’ll swing at anything that looks like a mistake.

Tak-!

But I can’t actually let him hit it,

“Short! Short!”

“Short, dash!!”

So the infielders can handle it. I spread my fingers a little more on the sinker to increase the drop.

“Right to first!”

“Running!”

Choi Yonghwan, after dashing to grab the ground ball from the typical fast left-handed hitter, successfully threw to first base with a near-running throw.

Bang!

Clang!

The sound of Park Haejin’s first base mitt and the sound of the batter stepping on the base almost happened at the same time.

Park Haejin, who stretched his left leg forward to receive the throw as quickly as possible, stood up comfortably and waited for the first base umpire’s call.

“…Out!”

Park Haejin nodded at the umpire’s decisive call, then pointed his mitt at Choi Yonghwan, who made the great play, and threw the ball to him.

Let’s take a moment to assess this play.

From a broad perspective, Choi Yonghwan’s amazing dash and running throw would be the clear highlight, but,

“Wow, do you do yoga or something?”

“Did I look flexible?”

Park Haejin’s stretch to receive the throw even 0.01 seconds faster also played a big role.

“Would you like to join me, senior?”

“Ugh!”

I shook off his invitation and stepped back onto the plate. Next up, another left-handed batter.

“Wow… what am I gonna do with this guy.”

It felt like if Korea has Park Haejin, Japan has Imanaka Shingo [a famous Japanese baseball player].

He’s putting up similar numbers to Park Haejin while facing Japanese pitchers who are generally considered one or two levels above those in Korea.

At least I’ve faced Park Haejin, so I have some sense of what to expect, but this guy…….

All I know about this player is that he has tremendous power, so even a glancing blow can be fatal. And on top of that, he’s incredibly fast.

“What is this guy?”

His only weakness is that he struggles with low pitches.

I threw the data sheet, which didn’t even qualify as a weakness, into the trash and took the initiative.

They probably don’t know much about me either, so I’ll just go with my strengths.

“Eup!”

Bang-!

“Strike!”

The batter watched the fastball that barely caught the outside corner, twirling his bat and never taking his eyes off me.

But the meaning in his gaze was something like,

‘You’re dead meat.’

That’s roughly how it felt.

“Whatever.”

Fueled by the defiance that arose from seeing his face, I threw the next pitch. A fastball that barely cleared the zone, with all my might.

Bang-!

“Ball!”

It was called a ball, but his bat twitched. Heoncheol immediately stood up and pointed at the third base umpire.

Oooooh-!

Waaaaah-!!

The Japanese fans cheered as the third base umpire signaled with both arms instead of one. I wasn’t expecting much, so I just prepared for the next pitch.

I touched my index finger to my forearm, and Heoncheol nodded and positioned himself outside.

I can afford to give up another ball here. If it doesn’t work out, I can just intentionally walk him and face the next batter, which isn’t a bad option either.

“…Eup!”

To see how much they’ve figured me out, I threw a changeup that drifted away from the outside corner.

Whooosh-!!

“Swing-!”

Watching him swing with all his might, his helmet flying off, sent a chill down my spine.

If I hadn’t taken it away,

“…Whew.”

It would’ve been gone.

But it’s amazing how he swings like that and still has so few strikeouts on his record.

I glared at the batter, wiping the ball clean. After calculating the next pitch to some extent, I turned to look behind me instead of at the catcher.

The fielders must also know about the opposing batter, because they were all backing up a little.

“Giyoon hyung!”

I just gave him a look, but second baseman Kim Giyoon understood perfectly and signaled that he got it.

Park Haejin, who is on the same right side of the infield, probably got the message too.

“Yonghwan!”

Next is the shortstop. He nodded, seeing how I signaled to Kim Giyoon, and Ha Haejin, who was at third base, was also focused on me, so I didn’t need to call him separately.

As for the outfield…….

“Never mind.”

The outfielders are positioned just right.

I figured this was good enough and stepped back onto the plate.

The Japanese batter looked at me with a slightly surprised expression, as if he had never seen this before.

Not so much surprised by why I was doing this for him, but just surprised by the action itself.

Alright, watch this. I’ve been playing around on the outside, so I need to come inside at least once.

“Eup!”

The pitch, thrown with less of a grip than usual, flew so fast that it might as well have been a cutter.

Based on the rumors I’d heard about my control and what I felt when I faced the first pitch,

Tak-!

He’d have to react to a fastball that filled up the inside corner.

As soon as the ball rolled to my left, I gritted my teeth and ran towards first base. Once I gained some speed, I felt the need to check the infield situation.

The ball was fast, but the infielders had backed up slightly, so catching it wasn’t a problem.

Seeing the second baseman standing still and the first baseman lying on the ground,

“Aish!”

Haejin must have caught it.

However, the problem with the infielders playing back is that the fielders can’t tag the base themselves.

Park Haejin, who was lying down, raised only his upper body and checked my position. He raised his glove and prepared to throw to me with a snap throw.

“First!”

“Haejin, now!”

Kim Giyoon, who was watching the situation from right behind, shouted, and Park Haejin threw the ball with a flick.

Thwack!

Pak!

As soon as I snatched the ball that seemed to be hovering near first base with my glove, my right foot stepped on first base.

And at the same time, the batter’s left foot touched next to my right foot. I thought my foot was faster, so I showed my glove to the first base umpire, but,

“Safe!”

He made a completely unexpected call.

No way! My foot was faster! Really!

Filled with frustration, I turned towards our dugout. Without arguing with the umpire, I drew a square with both hands to request a video review.

Then, the manager immediately stormed out of the dugout and conveyed the same sentiment as me to the umpires.

“What is it.”

“It’s an out.”

“Yeah, don’t worry.”

Since the situation occurred on first base, the point of discussion with the two right infielders was near first base.

While I was glaring at the umpires wearing headsets in a corner of the stadium,

“Hey.”

A strange voice was heard. Not just me, but everyone turned their heads, wondering what it was.

“Uh….”

Perhaps he hadn’t anticipated drawing the attention of three people at once, as Imanaka Shingo looked slightly flustered.

“What?”

Since I didn’t know Japanese, I had to communicate with gestures and broken English.

It seemed the other guy was in the same boat, expressing his intentions with jerky, robot-like movements.

“Uh… you. Nice ball.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“No, no. Uh… nice ball. Nice.”

“…Thank you.”

What kind of conversation is this?

“You, you. Be careful, next batter!”

You, be careful, next batter.

Putting together everything this batter had said so far, it seemed he was saying, ‘I know your pitches are good, but be careful of the cleanup hitter [the fourth batter in the lineup, typically a strong hitter],’ right?

Of course, I had to be careful. He was the batter who hit a home run against Hyun-jin earlier.

“I know. Okay.”

“No, no, no.”

No?

With the mindset of ‘say everything you want to say,’ I waited for his gestures and broken English. He seemed to be struggling to find the right words, when suddenly,

Woo-o-o-o-!

The local Japanese fans started booing.

“Ah, that’s that.”

“It was obviously an out.”

“Are their eyes blind?”

As the call was overturned, the Koreans gathered near first base left a few brief comments.

After the situation ended, as I was about to return to the mound,

“He’s a bad guy!”

A voice, inaudible to the first base dugout but loud enough for me to hear.

Imanaka Shingo, who hadn’t yet returned to his own dugout, spoke at a moderate volume.

It’s natural that it’s hard to understand with only small fragments. It’s not like I have the ability to read people’s minds.

“Oh… okay.”

Nodding as if to say I understood, I turned back towards the mound, where the next batter was waiting for me in the right batter’s box.

He was looking at me with a rather youthful expression, but something was… off.

“What’s with this punk?”

In Japanese baseball, there’s quite a bit of admiration or reverence for the cleanup hitter. That’s why they don’t just put anyone in that position.

Some teams even have a separate memorial hall that lists all their past cleanup hitters in order.

I acknowledge it. He must be good to be batting cleanup. But even so…

The way he’s standing with his weight on one leg, the way he’s holding the bat with one hand instead of two, and most of all, those insolent eyes.

“Bad guy. Okay.”

I roughly understood why Imanaka Shingo told me to be careful of the next batter.

Enokida Hideki, who won Rookie of the Year as soon as he debuted last year, and this year, at 21 years old in Korean age, is simultaneously aiming for the home run title and batting title.

Maybe that’s why…

“Hmph!”

Bang-!

He’s so ill-mannered, it’s like he eats it with every meal.

“Strike!”

First pitch, a sinker deep inside, taking the first strike.

Even though he was caught looking at the first strike, the batter watched me with an expression full of generosity, like, ‘Oh, go ahead, do more.’

“…What is this guy doing?”

Recognizing the incomprehensible situation, I called for Hun-cheol’s sign. He saw the inside sinker, so I’ll throw an outside slider once…

“…….”

No.

Looking at the opposing batter’s expression, someone who pisses me off came to mind.

I sent the sign first, and Hun-cheol nodded before moving to a position outside the plate.

“Hmph!”

Wham-!

“Strike!”

Checking the speed of the fastball that went just outside, in a precarious location, it was 146km [approximately 91 mph].

And perhaps feeling more surprised by my command than my speed, the batter reduced his arrogance and stepped into the batter’s box.

He shortened his stride a bit, and the swaying of the bat is slightly less than before.

Too late, you punk.

“Hmph!”

Whoosh-!

“Swing, out-!”

The inning ended by inducing a swing and miss with a 152km [approximately 94 mph] high fastball inside, but I didn’t feel good.

What is this guy?

Ding-!

[Dae-han-min-guk!] (Great Korea)

– Pitch a scoreless inning (1/1)

– Reward – All pitches +1

Control – Top

Power – High

Stamina – Medium

Four-seam – 85+1=86

Curve – 81+1=82

Slider – 80+1=81

Splitter – 79+1=80

Changeup – 81+1=82

Sinker – 80+1=81

Traits

Detachment – Accepts any batted ball or situation with equanimity.

Discomfort – Makes opposing batters uncomfortable when they look at the pitcher from the plate.

Comfort – Those who watch him feel comfortable.

Focus – The number of objects one can focus on increases.

While returning to our dugout, I heard words that, even though I don’t know Japanese, I knew were insults.

“Hey, what’s with him?”

“He seems to be pretty famous.”

“Hmm….”

Thanks to holding them scoreless in the bottom of the 7th, we were maintaining a one-run lead.

“Let’s go, let’s go!”

“Aye!”

“Ah, good swing, good swing!”

One run.

The score difference that could be described as ‘just’ didn’t seem likely to be closed.

The top of the 8th ended with three batters, the bottom of the 8th was somehow managed by Lee Song-in, and the top of the 9th also ended with three batters.

“…Hmm….”

Perhaps because the opposing team was Japanese, I felt the pressure of their hitting even more as I returned to the dorm.

“…I’m sorry.”

As soon as I returned to the dorm, Hyun-jin suddenly bowed his head.

“Hey, hey, why are you like this? What are you sorry for all of a sudden?”

“I think we lost because of me. I have no face to show you, senior [a term of respect for someone older or more experienced].”

Losing with a score of 1 to 0.

Looking only at the fact that the only run allowed became the winning run, the responsibility of the pitcher who allowed that run is clearly great.

Especially if that run was due to a home run, which can be understood as the pitcher’s complete responsibility.

“Well… as a fellow pitcher, I hesitate to say this… but it’s not your fault. It’s more our fault for not scoring.”

However, the same logic places even greater responsibility on the batting lineup.

0 points.

The feeling that could be considered shameful is being felt more strongly by the batting lineup than by me or Hyun-jin.

“I will try harder.”

“No, you can do it moderately. You’re already doing well.”

“I’m still lacking a lot. I want to hear your teachings, senior…”

“Damn it!”

After comforting Hyun-jin, eating, and even showering, just as I was about to go to sleep… a text message arrived.

Ding—

[Han-wool, did you see this?]

[Link – ‘Korean Pitching Staff, Level is Too Low’]

“What is this?”

I quickly scanned the newspaper article that Min-young sent. It was an interview with that cleanup hitter, Enokida Hideki, after today’s game.

As the article title suggested, it was a provocative interview stating that the level of the Korean pitching staff was too low.

In the midst of that, when another reporter asked about the strikeout I got against him,

‘That’s because I showed some mercy; if we meet again in tomorrow’s final, I’ll hit a home run just like today’s Korean starting pitcher.’

He spouted nonsense like that.

…What is this guy?