Peaceful Bullpen Life [EN]: Chapter 97

Okay, what to do from now on.

I stood slightly behind the plate, fiddling with the rosin bag, until the batter appeared on the left side of my vision.

*Only* breaking balls, and *only* strikeouts—no ground balls or fly balls.

The first thought that came to mind with such difficult conditions was,

“Strike!”

This is going to be fun.

It’s true that I’ve been subtly trying to transform into a power pitcher, taking advantage of my recently improved fastball and velocity.

But strictly speaking, my essence is much closer to that of a finesse pitcher.

A pitcher who disguises slow velocity with top-notch control and a variety of breaking balls.

What is the most important prerequisite for becoming a finesse pitcher?

The ability to throw one type of breaking ball with different variations?

Command to throw accurately within centimeters [fractions of an inch] of the desired location?

The audacity to throw even knowing you might get hit hard?

No,

“Swing—.”

A mind for outsmarting.

0-2. After an inside sinker and an outside curve, what breaking ball should I throw to get a strikeout?

Not an outside changeup, not a dropping splitter, not an outside sinker.

Since the desired sign didn’t come, I had to send the sign myself. I spread my index and middle fingers and ran them down from my elbow to my wrist.

Gyu-hak glanced at the batter and blinked the two fingers farthest away.

Nodding, Gyuhak moved to position himself closer to the batter. He held his white mitt low and inside.

I bowed my head and took a step back with my left foot. After a slight sway of my hips, a groan escaped from my lips.

“Kuh… heuk!”

In a situation where I couldn’t throw a fastball, I threw a ball with the same arm action as a fastball, accurately towards the batter’s body.

Thud-!

“Not, not!”

Just until right before.

The slider, which changed direction beyond recognition, was enough to get the batter to swing and miss.

Perhaps the change was too drastic, as Gyuhak almost dove to block the bounce.

He quickly picked up the ball that fell in front of him, tagged the batter, and said,

“Out—.”

Ding-!

[Pitcher throws breaking balls! Breaking balls in action!]

– Strike out 3 batters by throwing only breaking balls during 1 inning without giving up any runs (1/3)

– Reward – Breaking Ball + 5

I threw the ball towards Gi-sung only after I was sure I got the out call.

While the batters were rounding the bases, I went behind the plate, picked up the rosin bag, and kneaded it. I vigorously shook off my spikes on the cleat cleaner and picked up the ball after the rounding was over.

I checked the condition of the returned ball and saw some loose threads, so I showed the ball to the umpire, and he took a new ball from his pocket and threw it to me.

I tossed the old ball to the ball boy and stood on the plate again.

Fourth batter, Lee Won-woong. A batter who stands out for accurate gap hitting [hitting the ball into the spaces between fielders] rather than home runs, despite his prominent leg kick.

The batting I studied to survive, and the information about the batters, clearly becomes valuable information and sufficient justification.

The center.

If I could disrupt the lower body mechanics necessary for a leg kick that goes slightly over the waist, wouldn’t I have a good chance of winning?

If the previous batter had one strike and two consecutive balls and then swung and missed, wouldn’t he be looking to swing hard from the first pitch?

Then I should take that away.

I suggested the opposite of what Gyuhak, who kept asking for pitches in the strike zone, wanted. One pinky finger would be enough to convey it.

“Eup!”

When you put the ball between your fingers and throw it hard, the tips of your index and middle fingers inevitably point towards the ground.

Yes, if I hit the ground with my fingernails as if scooping up dirt,

Thud-!

“Swing, swing!”

Splitter complete, passing between Gyuhak’s legs. But now with a swing and a miss.

Since there were no runners and it wasn’t a dropped third strike situation, I didn’t care and showed my glove to the umpire.

I wiped the received ball clean and smoothed my hat with my white fingers. With my refreshed head, I was ready to receive the signs.

After getting a swing and miss with a bouncing splitter on the first pitch, I strongly felt like throwing a fastball high.

If I threw a fastball as fast as possible at the batter’s shoulder line, I would definitely get another swing and miss.

Ah… no.

Gyu-hak, who recognized the head shake to shake off the temptation as a motion to reject the sign, immediately gave the next sign.

Whether it was a coincidence or not, after shaking my head about twice, I got a sign that I liked.

Curveball.

It has the opposite characteristics of a fast fastball, but in some ways, it is the most similar pitch to a fastball.

This time, low and inside.

“Eup!”

The effect of throwing the slowest ball when the fastest ball is expected was clear.

At least from the starting point, it looks most similar to a fastball. The batter who started with that in mind will,

Whoosh—

Swing and miss.

“Swing—.”

Unlike a swing that might have connected, the ball returned with a slightly weak call.

134km [83 mph] splitter, 111km [69 mph] curve.

What is the batter aiming for between the ambiguous distribution?

Not a high fastball, not an inside fastball, not an outside slider.

The splitter and changeup thrown after rejecting three signs in a row were unfortunately called balls in succession.

My head hurts a bit.

I could feel that my discomfort was evident on my face as I wiped the ball clean. I kept staring at the batter, hoping that this discomfort would be conveyed to him.

The next ball Gyuhak requested was a sinker.

What about the sinker, which has the least drop and is the fastest among the balls I throw, excluding the fastball?

Sinker…….

What would the batter think when he saw my head nodding slowly due to uncertainty?

I felt the texture of the seams across my fingers. However, instead of gripping it deeply as when aiming for a ground ball, I gripped it shallowly to give a little more speed.

There’s no way the batter would know this…….

“Euk!”

…Man!

Thwack-!

As the batted ball hit the upper part of the bat and quickly left the ground, my neck also tensed up.

Gyu-hak quickly took off his mask and prepared for the falling ball, but the spin was weak, and it went straight over the backstop.

It would have stretched out and become a swing and miss if it was a fastball, I felt a sense of regret, but I also thought it was fortunate that it ended in a foul.

Since both the pitcher and catcher lost the ball, I received another ball from the umpire. I wiped the ball clean again, trying to hide my discomfort.

I thought it would be easy when I caught the first batter with three pitches, but it’s already getting blocked like this from the second batter.

I listed all the balls I had thrown against Lee Won-woong in this at-bat. Then I discovered one thing.

“Ah.”

The momentary realization made the three fingers on the thumb side point to the glove. Gyuhak also nodded immediately and sent a sign with a similar hand gesture.

Since all five balls thrown earlier only had differences in up and down, if I touched the left and right changes, wouldn’t he be fooled at least once?

“Eu… euk!”

The desire to make it curve sideways rather than dropping it down deviated slightly from the trick I learned from Hyun-jin.

Tick, bang!

As soon as the catcher caught the ball, I immediately got up from my seat and showed the inside of the catcher’s mitt to the umpire.

Ding-!

[Pitcher throws breaking balls! Breaking balls in action!]

– Strike out 3 batters by throwing only breaking balls during 1 inning without giving up any runs (2/3)

– Reward – Breaking Ball + 5

The umpire, who confirmed, rubbed his left arm with his right hand and called an out, and the batter looked at it with regret.

“…Oh.”

How the three people in front of me act is the most important information for a pitcher, but now there was one more important piece of information.

The slider I was throwing has a large angle but lacks sharpness and is slow.

The slider I learned from Hyun-jin has a small angle but breaks sharply and is fast.

“…How did I just do that?”

Hybrid.

But the slider I just threw showed a change that seemed to have taken only the advantages of the two sliders.

Not a small angle, but sharp, and the speed is not bad.

“Han-wool, what are you doing.”

“Yes? Ah….”

As I was staring blankly at my right hand with my head bowed, I heard a voice that broke my reverie.

When I looked at the person who made the voice, he was ready to throw the ball after the rounding was over.

As soon as I received the ball from Sung-hoon hyung [older brother/friend], I immediately took the ball out of my glove. I tried to awaken the feeling from just now by turning the seams this way and that.

“Is it this… no, is it this….”

While I kept tilting my head, the fifth batter, Bae Jun-ho, appeared. Feeling sorry for the stupidly mumbling appearance, I made a sign of apology with my palm and stepped on the plate.

What I wanted to throw as the first pitch was the same slider as just now. Therefore, before Gyuhak’s sign came out, I moved my fingers first.

Exactly the same. Exactly the same as before.

I tried my best to make everything the same as before, from the grip, movement, arm action, to the follow-through.

“Ah.”

Son of a B[itch].

But the ambiguously released slider flew towards the center of the zone, begging to be hit.

Thwack-!

Well, there’s no choice but to get hit.

The price for awkwardly trying to do what I wanted to do, not what I had been doing or what I could do, was quite heartbreaking.

“Foul—.”

It was fortunate that it went past the foul pole, but if it had been a home run, I probably would have really lost my mind.

“Hoo….”

What I had been doing. What I can do.

As I sent the arrogance that had been briefly embedded in my body away with a sigh, my concentration returned. Inducing a foul ball by dropping it down and inside was a very good example.

As the situation progressed this far, Gyuhak also noticed something, and the proportion of fastballs in the signs he was giving gradually became close to 0.

One more time.

I’m going to throw a slider one more time. I won’t be reckless like before, but I’ll throw the slider that I’ve been throwing so far, which has brought good results.

“Kkeueup!”

The change created with a slight twist was completely different from the thoughtless appearance of throwing just before.

With a trajectory that perfectly matched the frugal and efficient appearance of the past,

Whoosh—

Bang!

“Swing, out!”

Once again, it brought me a strikeout.

Ding-!

[Pitcher throws breaking balls! Breaking balls in action!]

– Strike out 3 batters by throwing only breaking balls during 1 inning without giving up any runs (3/3)

– Reward – Breaking Ball + 5

Control – Top

Velocity – High

Stamina – Medium

Four-seam fastball – 71

Curveball – 64+5=69

Slider – 58+5=63

Splitter – 58+5=63

Changeup – 60+5=65

Sinker – 60+5=65

Traits

Detachment – I’m okay with any batted ball or situation.

Discomfort – Makes the opposing batter feel uncomfortable when looking at the pitcher on the plate.

Comfort – Those who look at me feel comfortable.

Concentration – The number of objects that can be concentrated on increases.

“Hoo!”

The sense of accomplishment that I had somehow accomplished something difficult and the satisfaction with the more splendid stats were sublimated into relief.

“Hey, nice ball—.”

“Na bol [Nice ball], na bol!”

“Let’s get some runs!”

After the tension and energy were released, I laughed hollowly and sat on the dugout bench.

“Hyung [Older brother/friend].”

One person who doesn’t like that look at all.

“Why.”

“Well, were you sick today?”

Gyu-hak sat down next to me and gave me a worried tone.

“No, I’m fine. Why would I be sick?”

“Or did something happen today?”

“Is it because of the breaking balls?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, that’s just….”

When I tried to answer, I couldn’t think of a suitable excuse. Instead, I spewed out random words that appeared in front of me in succession.

“Every time I pitch these days, I give myself a quest.”

“What quest?”

“I’m putting restrictions on myself. Let’s only throw breaking balls, if Ju-ho is the catcher, let’s throw according to Ju-ho’s signs, well… let’s definitely get three strikeouts. Something like that.”

The content I was blurting out as I thought of it felt surprisingly good, but,

“Why bother?”

From the perspective of someone who has to go through this quest with me, it wouldn’t be very welcome.

“To get stronger.”

“…What are you getting stronger at?”

“I think so. If we want to get stronger, we can’t just focus on winning right now. *Why* we won, *how* we won. That’s also important.”

“That’s right.”

“I’m analyzing myself. If I put these restrictions on myself, I wonder if I can know more clearly why I won and why I lost.”

“Ah….”

Why are you making that understanding face?

Whether the content I was blurting out at random felt plausible,

“Then I should try doing that too.”