Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 7

One run allowed, one hit in two innings. Not bad.

He pitched through the 7th and 8th innings. After being down 2-0, the team rallied after his 8th-inning appearance, ultimately making him the winning pitcher.

Even though it was just a spring training game, for a pitcher not often associated with wins, he should have been happy, but…

“Why the long face?”

“Mind your own business…”

The problem was that one hit: a solo home run from Park Hae-jin.

“Sigh…”

He rubbed his temples. Could he even say he ‘won but lost’ in this situation?

He still remembered the pitch.

*Try hitting this,* he’d thought, perfectly placing a fastball high and inside. But Hae-jin swung without hesitation, sending the ball just past the left foul pole.

The sound of that hit… even a day later, he couldn’t forget it. It was the cleanest hit he’d ever surrendered.

Some of the more vocal fans were already saying, *’Figures, why did they put him in again? Aren’t they going to cut him?’* He heard it all clearly. Annoyed, he cleanly retired the next six batters.

The louder the stadium roared with each out, the quieter his detractors became.

Somewhere in that ambiguous space, his mood gradually soured to what it was now.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s always like that.”

“Noooo!”

Initiating activated [referring to Han-wool’s unique personality quirk].

“No, why isn’t that jerk in the majors? Don’t the Yankees have scouts? Ugh, I wish he’d just disappear, seriously! Waaah!”

“Do you even know how many years he’s been in the league?”

“Five years, damn it!”

He exchanged pointless, half-joking banter with Han Gyu-jin, a senior pitcher one year ahead of him.

He was just afraid of that punk’s free agency. Seriously.

“When I face him, I just think, ‘Please, just give me a single.'”

“Hyung [older brother/term of respect for older male], were you always this weak?”

“It’s better than giving up a home run, right?”

True.

But he couldn’t help feeling awful. It was just…awful.

Ugh, frustrating.

“No… still. There’s such a thing as respect, you know.”

“Respect for what?”

“You know, this season, how my pitches have changed.”

“I know.”

“…But he didn’t even look at it and just went for it from the first pitch…”

“Are you sulking?”

Heh heh, is this guy secretly a fan? Han-wool is such a tsundere [a person who is initially cold and even hostile towards someone before gradually showing a warmer side], skip the nonsense.

“Han-wool, get ready.”

“Yessir…”

As they exchanged silly jokes, the order to head to the bullpen came down. He checked the scoreboard and saw the score was tied 5-5 in the top of the 8th. Time to unleash his role.

* * *

Spring training, with eight games per team. The Wonha Challengers finished with a decent record of 4 wins and 4 losses.

Meanwhile, he had a solid performance with 1 win, 1 hold, and 1 save… which was still puzzling. Naturally, a few articles about him surfaced.

Whether it was spring training or the regular season, he, who had been constantly getting shelled, finished the mini-season with a decent ERA in the 2s [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance], even though the sample size was small.

A former legendary pitcher and current baseball analyst even posted an analysis of him.

What made Kim Han-wool a special setup man?

Putting aside the slightly embarrassing and cringe-worthy title, the content was interesting.

Based on his data from previous spring training and regular seasons, it detailed what had changed in this year’s spring training.

Based on Trackman data [a system that tracks and analyzes baseball data], not only had his fastball velocity increased, but his extension had also improved, and the spin rate of the ball was better.

In fact, the numbers themselves weren’t that impressive, but he had produced results with those tiny improvements.

Image is truly scary.

An aura, a presence. When *that* pitcher is on the mound, when *that* batter is in the box.

No, even before that, when *that* pitcher is in the bullpen, when *that* batter is in the on-deck circle.

Whether it’s good or bad, once an image is set, it’s hard to shake off. The small discrepancy created within that habitual image leads to a bigger difference in results than expected.

Therefore, the comments on the article were full of remarks like, *’It’s still less than 140km [kilometers per hour, a measure of speed], he’ll get figured out once the season starts, and he’ll get shelled again as always when his stamina drops.’*

Still, there were more comments supporting him, saying that his stats had improved, so his performance had improved, and this year would be different, so he didn’t feel too bad.

The results will be known once the season starts. No, you won’t know even after the season starts?

Ding!

[Opening Day Victory]

– Lead the team to victory on opening day. (0/1)

– Reward: Four-seam fastball +1, Slider +1

I’m going to keep changing.

“Han-wool, get ready.”

“Yes.”

The opening game was against the Dongseong Hornets, who finished second in the regular season last year and made it to the Korean Series [the championship series in Korean baseball] in the postseason, only to get crushed by the Sangsoo Tigers as always.

They were definitely a strong team, but maybe because they were so weak against the Sangsoo Tigers, he suddenly felt a baseless confidence that they were relatively manageable.

The score was 2-1, a one-run lead for the opponent in the top of the 9th. The batting order started from the 6th hitter. From a pitcher’s perspective, it wasn’t too bad, but not great either.

The batter stepped into the box, tapping the plate and starting his routine. Watching him wiggle the bat next to his left ear, he looked at Gyu-hak [the catcher] for the sign.

First pitch, a slider to catch the count, just off the outside corner.

“Strike!”

Watching and catching the first pitch, the next sign was a sinker breaking away from the same spot. It was okay if it was a ball, just barely.

Whoosh!

“Swing!”

Whatever he was aiming for, the bat swung hard, and the umpire called a swing. He made the count pretty easily, but the sound of the bat was so fierce that it could be heard all the way on the mound.

Scary.

Why is he so obsessed with the outside? After skipping through Gyu-hak’s signs a few times, he found one he liked.

Inside fastball.

He nodded and threw towards the spot, but it seemed to miss by half a ball?!

Bang!

“Striiike!”

The umpire declared the third strike with a booming call that was hard to understand. It was the moment Gyu-hak’s framing [the art of subtly influencing the umpire’s call by how the catcher presents the ball] shone.

The batter glared at the umpire for a moment, seemingly upset, but sighed and quietly returned to the dugout.

He gave a thumbs-up to mean ‘nice job’ and received the rounded ball again, waiting for the next batter with a relaxed attitude.

This time, a backdoor sinker that breaks into the outside corner for the right-handed batter. It’s okay if it’s a ball. No, a ball that misses by half a ball is even better.

Bang!

“Ball.”

Even though the ball entered a position that was relatively easy to frame, the call was a ball, as if he saw it missing. If it had gone in by just 1-2cm, Gyu-hak’s framing might have caught it.

This time, he threw a slider that broke away from the same spot. A course that looks like an outside fastball but eventually becomes a ball.

Seeing the batter’s bat come out and then stop, he sighed in relief, as if he felt he had barely survived. Gyu-hak pointed to the first base umpire.

Wowwww!!

The count was 1-1 due to the called strike. Naturally, the batter’s mood was bound to be sour. From an absolutely advantageous count of 2-0, it became an ambiguous count of 1-1.

Ah, is this the power of the ‘Inconvenience’ trait?

As the batter’s expression hardened, he sighed in relief. Only for a moment, though. Again, following Gyu-hak’s sign, he adjusted his grip and threw an inside fastball.

Tick―

“Foul!”

A foul ball that hit the bottom of the ball and flew over the umpire.

The umpire signaled the ball boy to bring him the ball and took a ball from his pocket and threw it directly to him. He nodded roughly in gratitude.

Thanks to the umpire receiving a few balls from the ball boy, he had some time to think.

“Play!”

The play was called again, and the sign was a slider that went into the batter’s body.

It was a sign that he would have normally rejected because of the danger, but Gyu-hak, having seen the batter’s reaction earlier, seemed to have come up with something, so he nodded and slightly twisted the ball from the fastball grip.

The ball, thrown with the same arm swing as a fastball but with a difference in grip and pressure, started to penetrate towards the batter’s body and then headed into the zone at some point.

If this was really an A-grade slider, it would have been a GIF-worthy pitch that would have made the batter flinch and strike out, but honestly, his pitch wasn’t that good.

The ball, which belatedly entered the zone and was unconsciously hit on the inside of the bat, rolled weakly in front of the third baseman. There was no way that Sung-hoon hyung [older brother/term of respect for older male], the defense fairy of our team, would miss this ball that an ordinary defensive third baseman could catch.

Sung-hoon easily caught it and threw it to first base, and conversely, it landed right in the chest of our Ki-sung, who was bad at defense, making it easy for him to catch. That made it 2 outs.

While the fielders were rounding, the 8th batter who came in was not the batter he had expected. Or rather, should he say it was as expected, a pinch hitter came out. Go Myung-hyun, who had been a solid 3rd hitter for the team last season.

He was the main 3rd hitter, but his start to this season was delayed due to a minor injury he suffered in camp.

His batting style was a typical middle-to-long distance hitter. If you only mention his punching power, he had the power to expect around 20 home runs in a season.

There was a point difference, and it was the inning. His contact was enough to be around .300, so a home run was dangerous here.

How should he deal with this guy?

As if reading his mind, Gyu-hak called a timeout and came up.

“What should we do?”

“Let’s go with fastball and changeup.”

“Okay. Mix in a sinker too.”

“Yes.”

Unlike the grand timeout, a short conversation took place, and as the conversation went, or rather, surprisingly, the sign for a changeup came out from the first pitch.

He was slightly surprised, but without showing it, he grabbed the fastball grip with his middle and ring fingers and threw.

Whoosh!

The swing that came out on the changeup that fell a couple of balls out of the zone was a much scarier swing than the 6th batter earlier. If the previous swing was fierce, this swing was brutal.

The batter, as if he hadn’t expected it, shook his head after swinging and missing, and then watched the second strike with an inside sinker.

The following sign was a changeup that bounced completely.

I thought he was going to set up with a fastball and then go, but he went straight to the changeup.

He grabbed the grip again and threw the ball quite anticlimactically, catching the out with a big bounce in front of the second baseman, and finished the inning. He walked off the mound and into the dugout.

Receiving encouragement from his teammates, he went to his seat and put his jacket over his shoulders. Seeing that there was no one in the bullpen, he wondered if he would have to go up again if they only scored one point in this attack.

I don’t want extra innings from the first game…

As he was thinking that, the bottom of the 9th began.

Crack―!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa―!!

“Huh?”

Ki-sung, who was the lead batter, got a hit and went out. Ki-sung, who was terribly slow, was naturally replaced by pinch runner Ki-beom, enjoying the cheers from the home stands. But Jin-hyung, the 4th batter, struck out, making it 1 out and 1st base.

“Uh…?”

And Seung-joo, the designated hitter who was the 5th batter. He started with a disadvantageous count of 0-2, but calmly picked out the balls and walked, making it 1 out, 1st and 2nd base, and then Sung-hoon, the 6th batter, got a hit.

Waaa―!!

It would be great if this was the cheers for the walk-off.

Because the outfielders were pulled in a bit, they couldn’t come home and restarted in a awkward bases-loaded situation.

The next batter, Sung-moon, attacked from the first pitch, but was somewhat anticlimactically retired with an infield fly ball, and then came our catcher, Gyu-hak.

“Gyu-hak… please…”

Our starting catcher, Moon Gyu-hak. In terms of defense, he is recognized as the best catcher in the league, but his hitting is…

Can’t the manager put in a pinch hitter?

Even if he looked at the manager with that expression, the manager continued with Gyu-hak for some reason.

All the bases were filled, but because it was 2 outs, the pressure on the pitcher was less. From the defense’s point of view, it was relatively easy because force outs were possible at all bases.

Moreover, the batter was Gyu-hak, whose batting average was around the Mendoza Line [a very low batting average] in the league.

The opposing team’s closer mercilessly slammed a ball in the low 90s inside. It wasn’t a full pitch, but Gyu-hak flinched and made a dodging motion.

Heh heh… it’s a quest…

Half giving up, he watched the second pitch. The bat came out without fail on the high fastball. The swing seemed to be two or three beats late, not just half a beat or one beat, and the sighs of our team’s fans seemed to be heard all the way to the dugout.

I can’t watch… With that in mind, he lowered his head as the opposing pitcher lifted his leg.

Tick!

Wow, waaaaaaaaaa―!!

“Huh?!”

But as if it wouldn’t end like this, the weakly hit ball slightly passed the infielder’s key.

Of course, 3rd base runner Ki-beom easily scored. And he could see Seung-joo, who was the 2nd base runner, running with his teeth clenched. But the outfielder’s direct throw seemed to be slightly faster.

But it’s a little off!

The sight of quickly bringing the slightly missed throw to home plate and tagging the runner was very slow, like a slow motion.

Thanks to that, he saw it properly. The runner’s hand touched the plate first, and then the catcher’s mitt touched the runner’s back.

Safe!!

“Uwoarwaal!!”

When he came to his senses, he was screaming something he didn’t even know what it was and running out onto the field.