Pitcher’S End, Batter’S Start [EN]: Chapter 25

Pitcher Over, Batter Up – 24

The game began.

Lee Jungwoo, at his shortstop position, chuckled.

It was as if Sung Youngjoon had just noticed him.

Sung Youngjoon, who had been chatting with his teammates in the opposing team’s dugout, was now speechless.

‘Did you just realize it now? After all that talk about being a two-way player, I thought you mistook me for a designated hitter. And the catcher doesn’t even check the opposing team’s lineup properly…’

ABL [Australian Baseball League] uses a designated hitter system.

That seemed to be what Sung Youngjoon was thinking.

It was amusing.

That the catcher, who should have the most comprehensive and up-to-date information on the team,

was so careless.

Lee Jungwoo was amazed he was a professional.

‘To think he’s called a top-tier catcher while being like that… truly amazing.’

Lee Jungwoo, superimposing his current young face onto his past self as a top-tier catcher, shifted his gaze to another player.

From the moment he’d checked the lineup,

there was one face he particularly wanted to see.

‘Where is he? Where is he?’

Mostly familiar faces.

Among them, Lee Jungwoo’s eyes were drawn to one player in particular.

To put it mildly,

a player with such youthful looks that you could see his peach fuzz even from a distance.

The corners of Lee Jungwoo’s lips curved into a smile as he looked at him.

‘Kim Hee-chang.’

Even among the familiar faces,

he was a figure of a different caliber than the other players, who were mostly league average or rotation-level.

If the future Sung Youngjoon was a top-class catcher, then Kim Hee-chang at that time was simply the best.

‘Just the best. The number one that no one else can aspire to.’

Excellent control.

A fastball averaging in the early 150 km/h range (93 mph), with a top speed of 155 km/h (96 mph).

A three-pitch mix headlined by a plus (60 grade) high-speed slider in the 140 km/h range (87 mph) and an above-average (55 grade) knuckle curve.

An iron arm that had less than a month of injuries during his 11 years of playing.

Based on his ability to handle crises without wavering even when runners were on base.

Even as an active player, he ranked 6th all-time in strikeouts and 10th in wins in Korean professional baseball history.

The left-handed pitcher, who recorded a career ERA [Earned Run Average] of only 2.92, was literally in a different class.

‘Even before the regression, he was still going strong, so he could have played for at least three more years.’

Teams from the MLB [Major League Baseball] and NPB [Nippon Professional Baseball] were drooling over him.

And as soon as he met the posting requirements [system by which NPB players can move to MLB], most teams sent offers.

Yet, he stayed in Korea and dominated the league, leading some fans to call him a coward and a homebody, but…

That didn’t diminish his skills.

No matter what anyone said, he swept and dominated the league,

like a violent tyrant.

‘If my memory is correct, he’ll be debuting this time. He had 14 wins, with 142 strikeouts to boot.’

Lee Jungwoo knew him well.

Because the anti-fan knows better than the fan.

‘I really hated him, even though he didn’t do anything to me specifically. Looking back, it’s funny.’

Seeing him, who was born with a strong shoulder,

not aiming for the big leagues and becoming a legend in Korea,

he was madly jealous, wishing he had that kind of shoulder.

So he rattled off his stats,

because he wanted to find something to criticize.

After realizing that the more he did that, the more miserable he became, he simply admired him like other players.

‘I’m sorry, Youngjoon, but right now, I only have eyes for that guy.’

His heart was pounding.

It was the first time since coming to Australia.

An opponent he genuinely wanted to defeat with all his might.

Although he wasn’t a pitcher like when he admired him.

He wanted to defeat the monster he couldn’t dare to challenge as a batter.

‘Of course, the current Kim Hee-chang is very different from the Kim Hee-chang I know, but…’

Unlike Lee Jungwoo himself, whom no one wanted,

he wanted to beat the pitcher whom all teams, all managers, and all fans craved and respected, at least once.

Then it would be enough consolation for his past frustrated self.

It wasn’t a regret.

It was just a goal.

“Play ball!”

Turning his gaze at the umpire’s booming voice, Lee Jungwoo focused on the game with a more serious expression than usual.

####

There are no TV channels in Korea that broadcast ABL games.

In the past, MBS Sports had acquired the broadcasting rights when Geelong Korea was founded, but…

Due to Geelong Korea’s poor performance, they had virtually given up broadcasting.

But it’s not like there’s no broadcast at all.

In order to utilize the broadcasting rights they had obtained, they had partnered with portal sites as a last resort to stream the games.

[Geelong Kkorea enters]

[Kkorea to 3rd place]

[3rd out of 4 teams, right? Always last place except for last year, right? This is the reality of Korean baseball, right?]

[Is Sung Youngjoon playing today?]

[Yes, he’s in the starting lineup, batting 7th]

[Youngjoon, let’s get a hit today, you son of a bitch!]

[Isn’t the guy we picked in the draft starting today too?]

[Your number 1 pick will probably suck. I’m betting on a 3-inning, 6-run meltdown.]

[It’s because they have money to burn, right? The Hawks donate 1.5 billion won every year? It’ll be used in a good place again this time.]

The main viewership consisted of professional baseball fans who had nothing to do in the offseason.

They would watch the prospects sent from their teams and endure until the exhibition games.

Since its founding, the team had consistently performed poorly.

Still, they hoped that their team’s prospects would show good performances.

Viewers who were watching with a relaxed posture, leaning back in their chairs, with other windows open on one side of the screen, had a player catch their attention.

[The opposing team’s shortstop is Asian?]

[Japanese? They sometimes play in the winter league.]

[No, I saw earlier, he’s Korean. His name was Lee Jung something.]

[Why is a Korean playing there instead of Kkorea?]

[Probably a minor league player. They send a lot of them to Australia from the minors.]

[Wait, isn’t that him? The pitcher who went to the US for $2.5 million? I remember because we were going to nominate him first.]

[He’s a shortstop, you idiot!]

The shortstop on the opposing team’s infield

was definitely Asian.

And they realized he was Korean from the comments of viewers who had seen the starting lineup from the beginning.

It was quite strange to see a Korean on a team other than Geelong, so the viewers were interested.

And some fans of Seoul-based teams looked at him with dubious faces.

[Why is the shortstop so big? He’ll be clumsy and won’t be able to field.]

[Asians can’t play shortstop. Their athletic ability is terrible.]

[He’ll probably make 3 errors in the first inning and get replaced.]

[You motherfuckers are wishing bad luck on the same Korean!]

Showing various reactions,

the viewers who saw the shortstop, Lee Jungwoo, generally didn’t have a good reaction.

The unfamiliarity of seeing a large shortstop and having no information created a sense of rejection.

But soon after, they were shocked by the stats that appeared under Lee Jungwoo on the screen.

[12 consecutive games with a hit, 6 home runs, hitting a home run every 2 games… is that even human?]

[The level of Australia is obvious. Being completely dominated by a minor leaguer, it seems like they’re also playing with amateurs here.]

[A power-hitting shortstop is real? You can’t go up to the majors anyway, just give up and come to our team. We’ll wait two years for the draft.]

The unbelievable number of home runs

and the just-as-impressive number of hits,

even the monstrous OPS [On-Base Plus Slugging] and RBIs [Runs Batted In],

left the viewers who had ignored him speechless. The overwhelming stats made it hard to dismiss it as just Australia.

The reaction was explosive, despite the low number of streaming viewers.

Some even thought that he should come to their team through the overseas draft.

[Isn’t that the Korean who had a cycle [hitting a single, double, triple, and home run in the same game] in the minors last year?]

[Yeah, that’s him. I looked up the article, it’s him. If he had a cycle, he must be fast too. I really want him!]

[He might be good at hitting, but we don’t know about his fielding. He can’t field with that body. I bet my left nut that he’ll be at first or third base next time we see him.]

[He’s just a keyboard warrior, a minor league scrub venting his anger on kangaroo amateurs. He’ll be released within 3 years and come back to Korea.]

[There hasn’t been a single guy who ran away to the US in high school and succeeded since Choo Shin-soo [successful Korean MLB player]. He’ll probably run back to Korea later too.]

Nevertheless,

there were still many who showed malicious reactions.

And some just seemed to want to swear.

But soon after, most of them shut their mouths.

Because a play that they couldn’t criticize, even if they wanted to, had just happened.

After the leadoff hitter walked,

the ball hit by the following second batter flew between third and shortstop.

It was a ball that would have been a comfortable hit, but the shortstop, who was said to be clumsy because of his large build, ran quickly.

He ran in an instant, jumped powerfully, and caught the bouncing ball with a diving catch.

Without even taking the ball out, he tossed the ball slightly with his glove to the second baseman, and the second baseman also threw it to first base.

The play that cleanly erased the runner and the batter had no room for criticism, even if they wanted to.

The face of Lee Jungwoo, who was indifferent as if it was nothing, put the finishing touch on it.

[???? How did he do that?]

[He caught that? Is he crazy?]

[Where’s the guy who bet his balls? Give me your address, I’m going to cut them off!]

[Please get released! We’ll take you! Please get released! We’ll take you!]

[Damn, even the minors are doing that much. Kanghoon is worse than the minors!]

[This is ‘baseball’ and this is ‘defense’! Let the losers watch and learn from the advanced civilization of the US!]

[ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋWhere did the traitors who were criticizing so hard go? What? Asians can’t do it? Their athletic ability is lacking? Yeah~ You guys are idiots~ Don’t drag innocent people in~]

The trolls, whose momentum had been suppressed, stopped typing and stepped back, lowering the window.

But they couldn’t suppress their anger.

They retreated for now, outnumbered.

But they vowed to make fun of the stupid ones if they got the chance.

Sadly, they didn’t get the chance.

####

Without even knowing it,

Lee Jungwoo, who had made a first impression on a small number of Korean baseball fans, was more focused than ever.

Because the moment he had been waiting for had come.

‘My body feels normal. There’s nothing particularly sluggish. My head is clear, and my form is the same as usual. My condition isn’t bad.’

Slowly swinging the bat,

Lee Jungwoo, carefully checking his hitting mechanics, nodded.

The showdown he had been looking forward to since seeing the lineup was just around the corner.

His batting order was 3rd as always.

All he had to do was observe the pitcher’s pitches that the leadoff hitters would reveal.

He approached the at-bat calmly.

Kim Hee-chang relentlessly threw fastballs at the leadoff hitter.

The ball wasn’t as good as he remembered, but it was the most powerful of the balls he had seen in Australia.

‘The location is different. Well, of course. He’s probably taking instructions from the bench right now.’

Lee Jungwoo nodded.

The pitching strategy was ordinary.

Throwing fastballs in succession

or suddenly throwing a curveball as the first pitch to catch the batter off guard.

It wasn’t the image Lee Jungwoo remembered.

He was pitching exactly by the book.

A rookie picked in this year’s draft

was probably throwing according to the bench’s instructions without his own opinion.

Sung Youngjoon wasn’t a player who led on his own either.

‘Still, he’s easily handling the batters because his ball is good.’

The batter swung and missed at a 90 mph (144.8 km/h) high fastball.

Considering it was the offseason,

he would probably easily throw 150 km/h (93 mph) when the season started.

The 1st batter, who was struck out, retreated with a frustrated face.

Walking to the on-deck circle,

Lee Jungwoo swallowed hard.

‘He’s not fully bloomed yet, but his potential is different after all.’

There’s a reason why a rookie gets 14 wins in his debut season.

Even if he played in professional baseball right now, he would be an ace on a mid-tier team.

But that’s where the praise ends.

Lee Jungwoo rotated his wrist.

‘He’s good, but not unbeatable.’

A player he admired,

but not now.

He erased his past self.

He realized it in the past games.

Now, having grown by one step, or at least two steps,

the starting pitcher of Geelong Korea, named Kim Hee-chang, as seen through the eyes of batter Lee Jungwoo, was an opponent he could target.

“Ah~ that’s coming in.”

“Good job. I saw a lot thanks to you.”

“Lee, be careful, the slider is no joke. The fastball extends to the end.”

Lee Jungwoo, leaving behind the advice of the 2nd batter who had been struck out in succession,

slightly rotated his wrist.

‘I’ve grasped all the pitching strategy.’

Using fastballs and curveballs to get ahead in the count, and using the slider as a finishing pitch.

It’s textbook pitching.

“I never thought I’d see you as an opposing batter in the batter’s box, hyung [older brother or male friend]… it feels a bit strange.”

“I didn’t think I’d meet you as a catcher versus a batter either.”

Lee Jungwoo, who briefly replied to Sung Youngjoon, who was talking to him slyly, was filled with confidence in his heart, like the muscles in his arm because he was gripping the bat tightly.

Lee Jungwoo’s eyes, looking at the pitcher, were very serious.

“Even if he’s on the opposing team, don’t be too hard on your junior. Don’t intimidate the kid. I saw earlier that he’s good at fielding too. Is your stamina okay? It seems like it’ll be tough to do both pitcher and fielder.”

“Is that trash talk? You’ve really become a pro.”

When Sung Youngjoon made a sulky face at the joking words,

Lee Jungwoo, who had checked briefly, said with an indifferent expression.

“And there’s no problem with stamina. It’s not both; I’m just a shortstop. My shoulder is ruined. I’m not a pitcher anymore.”

“Ah…”

There were reasons he couldn’t say besides just the injury.

Sung Youngjoon closed his mouth tightly at Lee Jungwoo’s rough answer.

“But I just realized now.”

As he entered the batter’s box again,

the pitcher wound up powerfully again. This time, Lee Jungwoo didn’t miss the ball. Even if he wanted to miss it, his body moved on its own.

He saw it.

The ball of the pitcher he couldn’t even dare to look at in the eye.

He could see it so well.

“Huuup-”

Bang-

The bat hit the ball as if to burst it.

With a so-called golf swing,

he scooped up the curveball that was plunging low.

He pulled it as is, putting tremendous power into the batted ball.

After giving a proper impact with his wrist as well,

he pulled his arm back.

He didn’t even check the batted ball.

A light bat flip.

He spat out his feelings as he went to first base.

“I should have been a batter from the start.”