Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 37

“Hmm……”

The doctor was carefully examining the MRI scans on the computer. “Here? Hmm, that’s good, and… this part is a bit…” He muttered to himself for a few minutes.

“It’s fortunate that it’s not too severe.”

“How much……”

“Here, this is where you had surgery before, right?”

“Ah… yes.”

My right shoulder. When was that? My second or third year after joining the team? It was the reason I was sidelined with severe pain at the end of the season.

For a pitcher, the shoulder is like life itself. Pain or injury is almost like a death sentence.

Other fielders also need to throw, so it’s equally critical for them, but for a pitcher, whose entire job is throwing, it’s literally life.

I had that shoulder surgery once. The probability of recovering to the same level of performance as before is about 10%. It’s a high probability if you think it’s high, and a low probability if you think it’s low.

Anyway, I had that surgery back then, and with a monstrous recovery, I rejoined the team around the early to mid-point of the very next season.

But there’s a catch. Even if you succeed in making a comeback with a 10% chance, your old skills aren’t exactly… well… yeah. That’s how it was.

Around the end of April, I suddenly heard cracking sounds in my shoulder and felt slight pain. I had a naturally gifted shoulder in most aspects except for power, so it felt quite unexpected.

So, I visited the team’s designated hospital with the pitching coach.

“It’s not a SLAP [Superior Labrum Anterior Posterior] tear recurrence, so that’s really fortunate. Hanwool has been pitching a lot lately.”

“Well……”

I glanced at the pitching coach.

“The team has its circumstances, after all.”

“Coach, Choi Eungu seems to be improving, but what about Shin Gyeongseok?”

Senior Choi Eungu was gradually regaining his form after ‘that day.’ I don’t know why, but it seemed that trying to solve everything himself had led to negative results.

He’s a player who came in with a FA [Free Agent] contract. A closer.

The pressure to show something, the pressure to handle everything myself.

These pressures unconsciously led to unnatural movements.

His natural power is maxed out, so his velocity is still there, but the rushing caused by the pressure naturally ruined his balance, resulting in terrible control.

When such a pitcher takes the mound, the only thing he can show is the typical image of a pitcher with fastballs but no control.

The result is obvious. Loading the bases. Usually two runners, or filling them completely. Sometimes adding a strikeout or two in between.

Anyway, thinking that I couldn’t let him go out there anymore, a pitcher who used to throw 155km was just weakly throwing 145km pitches right into the middle of the strike zone.

As long as professionals are competing against each other, there are two ways to win. Either I’m better than him, or he’s worse than me.

A pitcher who throws 155km blazing fastballs is better than me, but a pitcher who weakly throws a sloppy 145km pitch is worse than me.

Bang!

Like that, a clean hit. Two runners on, and if it’s a long hit, all three runners come home, resulting in 2 or 3 runs in an instant. The typical image of a pitcher with no control.

After overcoming the first crisis with a sudden 5-4 double play, Senior Choi Eungu seemed to have put down the burden in his heart.

In the next 5 games, he pitched 4.1 innings, allowing only 3 walks and striking out 8, with only 1 run allowed. He became a completely different person compared to before.

But that timing was too late. The result of mortgaging the stamina of a pitcher who could be expected to perform in the late season, or even the post-season, from the beginning of the season appeared faster than expected.

Injury.

Due to slight pain in his shoulder, he ended up visiting the hospital in this manner, and the result was,

“It’s not a problem with cartilage or joints. It’s just muscle fatigue. Considering how much you’ve been pitching lately, you got off easy.”

The balding doctor pointed at a spot on the computer monitor with a pen.

Grow, hair, grow.

“Hanwool has been pitching more than 50 innings every year for the past few years, right? Was it 60 innings?”

“Around that much.”

“Saying it’s 50 innings is one thing……. Anyway, the good news is, you’ll get better if you rest well.”

“How long will it take?”

Until now, it was a conversation between me and the doctor, but from here on, it was a conversation between the coach and the doctor.

“A week should be enough to regain your original form, but if you’re worried, about 10 days? Yes, it would be good to take about 10 days to recover. Rehabilitate for 10 days, or rather, it’s not even rehabilitation. You’ll get better if you rest. If you keep pushing yourself in this condition, then the SLAP tear will really recur. Got it?”

“Yes……”

“Coach must have a headache. Hanwool will be out of the bullpen for ten days.”

“Oh dear……”

“Get Shin Kyung-seok back to his senses quickly. And the other bullpen pitchers too, if possible. Even if Hanwool recovers, if he keeps pitching at this pace, he’ll be done for by this time next year at the latest, or even in the second half of this season.”

“Yes……”

I left the hospital at 1 PM, right as the hospital’s lunch break was starting.

“Hanwool.”

“Yes, Coach.”

“Let’s grab a bite to eat.”

“Ah, yes.”

Hospitals naturally have a lot of staff, patients, and visitors.

Because so many people pass through or visit, there are usually decent restaurants near big hospitals.

As it was the team’s designated hospital, the coach seemed quite familiar with the area and confidently led the way to a Korean sausage soup restaurant nearby. Sundae [Korean blood sausage] soup. Oh. Oh, sundae soup.

“Two sundae soups, please… Do you want a special [larger portion with more ingredients]?”

“Yes.”

“Two specials, please.”

The restaurant lady’s bright “Okay~ Two specials~” faintly echoed. It was quite bustling, probably because it was lunchtime.

“Coach, you must really have a headache.”

“You think just a headache……”

I provoked him with a sly smile, but the reaction wasn’t great, so I wisely stopped. I felt like I might actually get hit.

“Still, it’s a relief that Eun-gu has come to his senses.”

“What about Shin Kyung-seok?”

“He’ll have to find his own way.”

“Hmm……”

A pitcher who should be inducing ground balls is allowing line drives or fly balls. Of course, there could be many reasons…….

“First of all, the ball doesn’t curve. It doesn’t break.”

This part.

Let’s take a look at Shin Kyung-seok’s pitching ratios.

First, a fastball with a lot of tailing, curving into the right-handed batter. The speed is around the mid to late 130s km/h [kilometers per hour]. Then, a sinker that’s 5-10 km/h slower.

If the fastball weakly curves into the right-handed batter, the sinker also goes towards the right-handed batter, but with an added vertical change, giving it a diagonal drop.

And a curveball formed around 110 km/h. It’s not the submarine pitcher’s characteristic rising curve, but a curve that sharply cuts into the left-handed batter, with a very large horizontal change.

That’s all. There seems to be a slider that drops diagonally towards the left-handed batter, but he hardly throws it, so pass.

Only three? You might say, but three is enough. For a relief pitcher, a sidearm pitcher, and with pretty good control. If you add a mind that can play mind games, it’s the perfect combination.

Shin Kyung-seok in his prime was such a pitcher. A pitcher who was even stronger with runners on base.

Why? Because he could get a double play with a ground ball. But now, instead of ground balls, he’s getting fly balls and liners, so he’s getting hit hard.

“The curve has less break. The sinker is bland. The fastball is slow.”

The movement of the two breaking balls has weakened, and his strongest weapon is broken.

“What about his form?”

“No problem. I’ve watched the video thousands of times, and it’s the same.”

“Hmm……”

Just when I was thinking it was a mental issue, the sundae soup came out. I added seasoning paste to the milky broth, and a lot of salted shrimp and perilla seed powder.

I flipped the rice bowl lid and mixed the salted shrimp, perilla seed powder, seasoning paste, and minced chili. I picked up a sundae from the earthenware pot and dipped it in the homemade sauce. Ah… sundae soup, ah…….

Taking a bite of the radish kimchi, I finally remembered the topic of our conversation. This sundae soup was more dangerous than I thought.

“If his form is the same but his power has weakened… hmm……”

Difficult.

It doesn’t seem like a problem someone like me can easily tackle. What on earth did Young-jin see in me to try to promote me to pitching coach here in the future?

“You’re not thinking of sending him down to the minors, are you?”

“Who would I bring up if I send Kyung-seok down? The guys below are in even worse shape.”

Aside from me since last year, and Senior Choi Eun-gu who’s been gradually improving recently, the only one with decent stats is Senior Shin Kyung-seok, who just gets hammered. Our team is a mess.

I finished eating the sundae [Korean sausage made with glass noodles and blood] first, then put rice in the soup and stirred it, continuing my thoughts.

What’s the solution? How can Senior Shin Kyung-seok regain his old form?

“Or, Coach.”

“Yeah?”

“How about moving Senior Shin Kyung-seok to closer?”

“Suddenly?”

“Isn’t it a timing issue?”

“Hmm……”

His eyes told me to keep talking. Even his moving spoon stopped.

“During the camp this year, the manager told me, ‘Kyung-seok and Eun-gu are here, but you’re still the best. Which spot do you want, middle relief or closer?’”

“You said you’d stay in middle relief?”

“Yes.”

“Why? Why didn’t you go to closer?”

“I’m more comfortable in middle relief. Anyway, what I was thinking back then was, if the starter loses steam and sends out one or two runners, Senior Shin Kyung-seok could come up and get a double play with a ground ball, then I’d pitch in the 8th and Senior Choi Eun-gu would close in the 9th. I thought that was the best scenario.”

“Yeah. That’s the best-case scenario.”

“But when you think about it, Senior Choi Eun-gu was originally a middle reliever, and Senior Shin Kyung-seok was a closer.”

“So?”

“If you go from middle relief to closer, you can warm up a little later… you can tell by the progress of the inning, ‘Ah, if I warm up around this time, I’ll be out in the 9th.’ But if you’re used to being a closer and then move to middle relief, it’s a bit… ambiguous when you’ll go up.”

This was also a story mixed with some personal experience.

“Hmm……”

But he seemed to think it made sense, as the spoon showed no sign of moving at all.

“There’s no change in his form, no change in his body. And I don’t think there’s a mental change either… just a feeling. So, isn’t it just a simple timing issue?”

“I’ll have to try it your way.”

With that, the first agreement was made to switch the positions of the two bullpen pitchers brought in through external recruitment.

* * *

[Exclusive] Wonha Challengers’ Kim Han-wool Confirmed to Miss 10 Days Due to Shoulder Muscle Damage.

Wonha Challengers, ranked 8th with a 5-game difference from 7th-place Hanseong Winners, has encountered an obstacle. Kim Han-wool, who had been the most reliable in the bullpen, suffered a shoulder injury.

The club stated in a press release that it was not a major injury, but rather mild pain caused by fatigue from frequent appearances and many innings since the beginning of the season.

The irony of remaining in 8th place despite a solid defense, cohesive lineup, and a starting lineup that is considered among the best in the league, lies in the bullpen’s arson [failure to prevent the other team from scoring].

The starting lineup would block runs with a solid defense, and the lineup would score where they needed to, seizing the momentum in the later innings, but the bullpen’s arson would blow the victory. This has been Wonha’s formula for defeat this season.

For Wonha, where Kim Han-wool, who had been showing more than his worth after signing a huge FA [Free Agent] contract before this season, was the only hope in the bullpen, Kim Han-wool’s injury in this situation is all the more painful.

The only silver lining is that Choi Eun-gu has been regaining his control lately, but this needs to be watched a little more, and the stability of the other bullpen pitchers is also urgent.

The club announced that Kim Han-wool will rest for 10 days. It is no exaggeration to say that Wonha’s fate this season depends on how they put out the fire during these 10 days.

―ewu****

└I knew this would happen when they kept running him from the beginning of the seasonㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Recommended 845 Not Recommended 17

―kjfh****

└How many years has Wonha’s bullpen been like this? Is the pitching coach not doing his job?

Recommended 746 Not Recommended 68

―qrny****

└Seriously, the most ridiculous team ever. With that starting lineup, that defense, and that lineup, they’re in last place in the leagueㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Recommended 465 Not Recommended 74