Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 79

79. Analysis Room

Would Kim Han-ul be effective in a league higher than the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization]?

As the 2017 season ended and the 2018 season was about to begin, a new debate arose among baseball fans.

Even if a grand success was unlikely, wouldn’t it be possible to expect a decent level of performance?

“Decent? He’d get cut right away at training camp over there,” someone countered.

Two sharply opposed opinions. There were two possible paths to explore.

Directly advancing to an overseas league, or participating in a similar international tournament.

Considering his age, advancing now is virtually impossible, so the former is a non-starter.

What has a very high probability in reality is the latter.

The timing was good. After the end of the 2019 season, which was about to begin, there was an international tournament to soothe the disappointment of the season’s end.

That was the Premier12 [an international baseball tournament].

Naturally, people gradually looked forward to Kim Han-ul after the season ended, whether in a good way or a bad way.

Hoping he would perform spectacularly, or hoping he would be branded as only good domestically.

Inertia.

The inertia of being the league’s best relief pitcher for two consecutive years was obvious to everyone.

Of course, no one doubted that the 2019 season would be much different from the previous ones.

Thwack!

An ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of pitching performance] of 25.3 in 5.1 innings.

This shocking record was whittled down to the point of being in the low to mid-10s.

Still, it’s severe.

No matter how much better it was than the very beginning, an ERA of 13.9 meant ‘a pitcher who gets hit every time he comes out,’ nothing more, nothing less.

The number of people who acknowledged the Wonha Challengers as a team that could aim for the semifinals decreased quite a bit.

They consoled themselves that it was a stamina distribution issue for the later part of the season, or the stage immediately after the season ended.

I’m going crazy.

But reality is reality.

Making it to the post-season or anything, it’s a stage you can only get to if you put up at least the minimum performance right now. You have to win.

I have been reduced to a player who is of no help to the victory at all.

My status within the team plummeted at once. The captain’s patch embedded in the front of the uniform couldn’t feel heavier.

“Strike!”

Top of the 9th, leading by a large margin of 8 to 2. Yeah, in the end, I’m a pitcher who has to gobble up garbage innings [innings pitched when the game’s outcome is already decided].

I started by giving up a clean double to the lead batter.

It’s okay, the feeling isn’t bad today.

“Strike, two!”

I threw a fastball inside to Jo Sang-wook to get the first out and got another count with a slow curve.

Before throwing the third pitch, I made eye contact with Myung Seung-joo, who was glaring at me from second base.

“Ball!”

I kept my head facing second base as much as possible. Just before throwing, just before my left foot touched the ground, my head turned towards home.

Should I have turned around sooner? The failure to handle the line of sight was rewarded with a ball that went far outside.

Let him hit it. Let him hit it instead.

With a big score difference and not many innings left, dragging it out won’t do any good for me or the team. It’s okay to give up a run. Let’s end the game quickly.

Thwack!

“Out!”

I just threw a fastball high inside, telling him to hit it.

It was a well-hit ball, but it went straight into Sung-hoon hyung’s [hyung is a Korean term for older brother or older male friend] glove, putting out one urgent fire.

“Good, nice ball.”

The expression of the person who slowly approached and handed me the ball seemed full of discomfort.

Inevitably, in terms of timing, this mess happened as soon as the two letters of captain were passed on to me.

It’s not Sung-hoon’s fault at all, and I don’t even think about blaming anyone else.

After my performance crashed, I became somewhat awkward with Sung-hoon senior.

The next batter I met was Park Sung-min, a pinch hitter. The unfamiliar name and youthful face clearly showed that he was a rookie who hadn’t been in this brutal baseball scene for long.

No matter how badly I’m doing, I can’t get hit by a guy like this.

Whether he’s weak on the inside or weak on the outside.

Whether he’s weak high or weak low.

Whether he’s strong against fastballs or strong against breaking balls.

A rookie-level hitter with no particular information.

Feeling.

Let’s trust my gut.

I held up two fingers and pointed to my hat, then pointed to my glove. Gyu-hak nodded and blinked his fingers. After three blinks, I glared at Myung Seung-joo at second base again.

Whoosh!

“Swing—”

A swing full of ambition or greed.

Seeing him swing as if he was drawn to the fastball formed in the high strike zone, I decided on the concept to catch him in this confrontation.

Let’s throw it a little higher.

Whoosh!

“Swing!”

Another absurdly following bat. I’m going to throw a splitter next, so Gyu-hak will block it well.

Thud!

“Ball.”

Ah.

It was a well-dropped splitter. He just flinched once and didn’t swing. He nervously received the ball with discomfort and dug into the plate.

Gyu-hak glanced at his left side and blinked his fingers again. The sign he asked for was another high fastball.

I doubted he would swing, but both hands were already gathered in one place. This time, I didn’t intentionally pay attention to the runner on second base and threw it.

Whoosh!

“Swing, out!”

A strikeout is a strikeout, and a runner is a runner.

Because I aimed for the reverse of the reverse of the reverse and threw it without checking the runner, I checked the runner’s situation immediately after the pitch.

This was a natural action ordered by my heart, not my head.

Fortunately, aiming for the reverse of the reverse of the reverse was successful. I faced the 9th batter with Myung Seung-joo still on second base.

Kim Seok-ho, who hit a home run against me in last year’s playoffs.

Whether his confidence in me has increased since that home run, or whether he looks down on me because I’m getting hit a lot these days.

“Ball!”

He maintained a posture that showed no discomfort and picked out the changeup flowing to the outside.

The way he’s shaking his bat as if telling me to do more is quite annoying.

Trait, aren’t you working?

Bang!

“Strike!”

Let’s put it in this time.

A fastball that filled the outside. The expression on his face, as if saying, ‘That went in?’ seemed to be evidence that the trait was working again.

Next is a changeup that arrives a little more inside than the first pitch.

I checked the runner on second base and threw the ball,

Tick!

It made a strange noise and rolled towards the first baseman.

Gi-beom easily grabbed it and stepped on first base himself, ending the top of the 9th, and the game as a bonus.

Ding!

[Restoration of Honor]

– Pitch 1 inning without giving up a run. (1/1)

– Reward ― Sinker +2

Control ― Top

Power ― Medium

Stamina ― Medium

Four-seam ― 62

Curve ― 55

Slider ― 43

Splitter ― 44

Changeup ― 51

Sinker ― 49+2=51

Trait

Detachment ― I don’t care about any batted balls or situations.

Discomfort ― Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when looking at the pitcher in the batter’s box.

Comfort ― Those who look at me feel comfortable.

I recorded a scoreless outing for the 14th appearance of the season.

Wow, I’m happy! Wow, I’m back!

I wanted to shout “Syaaaaa!!” as usual, share energetic high-fives, and there were so many ceremonies I wanted to do, but my head felt rather calm.

Bowing my head towards the first base side of the stands with a heavy expression completes the essential routine of the day.

“Hey, want to go for a drink?”

“You guys go. I have somewhere else to go.”

“Where are you going? To meet a girl?”

“No. The analysis room.”

“Ah.”

Seung-joo, who had offered me a drink after the game, nodded when he heard where I was going. He tapped his chest with his fist and smiled mischievously.

“Dude. Try to pitch well. How long are you going to be like that?”

If another guy showed this kind of behavior, my fist would have gone out unconsciously, but it didn’t feel bad at all when Seung-joo did it.

“Don’t be ridiculous, you stop striking out so much.”

“Wow, harsh.”

As I promised a friendly tomorrow and told Seung-joo, I arrived at the analysis room located somewhere in the stadium. I took out two canned coffees from the vending machine in front and held them in one hand.

Knock knock—

“Yes! Come in!”

I received permission with a thick voice and opened the door. The first thing I saw was all kinds of documents or papers.

There were about four monitors peeking out from there.

All four screens were playing videos of me pitching, but they were all videos taken from different angles.

“Yoon-sung.”

“Ah, you’re here.”

“Have one of these.”

“Oh, thank you.”

The person who was working in an environment that made my head hurt just by looking at it was a man with a huge physique that was more than just chubby.

The thick voice, which is not commonly heard, became slightly lighter with the free coffee.

“How is it going?”

First of all, there was no particular difference in the superficial parts. There is no big difference in speed, and the control is still the same.

But there was a very dramatic change in performance. Then, could the problem be in the invisible parts?

Detail.

What I turned my attention to were data that could only be obtained through professional measuring equipment.

The location of the extension, the height of the release point, the number of revolutions of the ball, etc.

“Ah… this.”

Yoon-sung tilted his head.

“First of all, according to the data, there is no big difference.”

“Saying there is no big difference doesn’t mean there is no difference.”

“I think you want to say that a very small difference leads to a big result, but that doesn’t work here.”

“Why?”

“If all the figures you requested have worsened, it makes sense. I also think that bad elements that have accumulated will eventually explode.”

That’s my job.

I opened the lid of the canned coffee I received and put it to my lips.

I only took one gulp.

“But there really is no significant difference. Rather, some things have gotten a little better than before.”

“Then… is there any part where my form is a little… weird without me knowing?”

“I’ve been watching Han-ul’s videos for two days now. There isn’t. Really.”

Then why the hell.

“I’ve been thinking about it, Han-ul. I have a few hypotheses.”

“…Please tell me.”

“First of all… you’ve become ordinary.”

“Ordinary?”

“I think there were definitely parts where Han-ul’s slow ball worked in the past. When you see 130, 135 [kilometers per hour] after seeing 145, 150 [kilometers per hour], it’s quite slow. Han-ul must have been aware of that too.”

“That’s true…….”

“But the average fastball is about 140 [kilometers per hour] these days. It’s just the average speed. The fastball’s quality isn’t outstanding compared to the speed, and you don’t have a breaking ball that’s good enough to make a living.”

He glanced at the trash can as if he regretted the coffee he had finished in one shot and continued.

“The first hypothesis is that you’ve become a pitcher whose only unique point other than outstanding control and various breaking balls has disappeared.”

That makes sense, but…….

“But not really. If this story is true, it doesn’t explain why Han-ul was so amazing at the end of last year.”

“Then… is there a chance that other teams have analyzed me a lot to get revenge for being defeated by me?”

“You sound ridiculous even after saying it, right?”

“I’m just spouting nonsense.”

Hmph.

“The second is ball distribution. Looking at Han-ul’s pitch ratio, about half are fastballs, and the remaining ratios are all breaking balls thrown at the same ratio. In the case of this type of pitcher, patterns are really important, but this has been read to some extent.”

“Pattern? Has my pattern unconsciously become fixed…….”

“But not really, I think the possibility is low. Looking at the pitch chart that Han-ul throws, there really is no pattern. Rather, I think the third hypothesis is the most likely.”

“What is it?”

“Luck, luck.”

“Luck?”

“Simply, you were unlucky. Really unlucky, that situation continued.”

Luck.

Even if you surprised them with a perfect ball combination, if that hitter dealt with that spot in the way you thought once out of ten times, that’s luck.

But if this is repeated and continues, can you still call it luck?

“It could be luck. But it’s a bit much to just pass it off like that…….”

Honestly, it hurts my pride.

It could be luck. No, it’s probably just a series of terrible bad luck.

At best, it’s just this year. The era of darkness won’t extend to next year at the longest.

But my unnecessary pride didn’t allow me to accept it as it is. Because the time, though not long, felt like it would be in vain.

Besides, I feel like I’ll just settle down here. If it’s just bad luck, then it’s not ‘my’ problem.

As a baseball player, I know that I still have a long way to go.

There are many things I need to do for myself and for the team I belong to. I have to improve.

“Thanks anyway. So there’s no problem with the mechanical parts.”

“Don’t worry too much. From a sabermetric [the empirical analysis of baseball] point of view, Han-ul’s batting average against is abnormally high right now.”

Would you like this too?

Oh, thank you.

I handed over the coffee I was holding because he kept looking at it with regret.

“Han-ul will be back to his old self soon. Don’t worry too much.”

The way he casually opened the can as if it wasn’t a big deal made me feel strangely relieved.