Pitcher’S End, Batter’S Start [EN]: Chapter 57

End of Pitching, Beginning of Hitting – 56

His second at-bat came in the 4th inning.

After giving up a run in the 1st inning, the pitcher seemed to have regained his composure, not allowing any further scores.

Lee Jung-woo, getting another chance in the bottom of the 4th, tried to relax as much as possible.

‘I swung too hastily in the 1st inning. Let’s stay calm this time.’

Relaxing his nerves,

Lee Jung-woo stepped up to the plate calmly and slowly got into position.

He tried to watch the ball calmly as he had resolved before coming up, but he slightly frowned at the ball that came flying.

‘Another changeup. Does he think I’m a joke? Or is this some high-level mind game?’

He only got an out thanks to the right fielder’s super play, even after getting thoroughly hit.

The pitcher threw another changeup as the first pitch.

This time, he intentionally held back his swing, so without any interference, the changeup, passing slightly low and grazing the strike zone, softly landed in the catcher’s mitt, and the umpire called a strike.

After glancing at the catcher’s mitt for a moment,

Lee Jung-woo, readjusting his stance, watched the ball a bit more, and when the 4th pitch came in, Lee Jung-woo had roughly figured things out.

‘The two-seamer is slow, but the movement is better than I thought. If I don’t make solid contact, I’ll end up with a weak hit. The changeup is average, or even below average? But I have to admit he’s good at timing.’

The pitcher had made it to a two-and-two count with just the two-seamer and changeup, without showing his curve or splitter, but Lee Jung-woo didn’t think he was at a disadvantage.

He had a sense of the timing for the pitches he had seen, and if the pitcher threw a curve or splitter, he would gladly take it.

With confident eyes, Lee Jung-woo looked at the pitcher, and his eyes sparkled at the ball that came flying next.

‘Two-seamer, slightly high.’

A pitch he could definitely hit.

Lee Jung-woo didn’t hold back his swing this time either.

Hitting the high ball squarely, Lee Jung-woo threw down his bat and ran towards first base.

The pitcher glared at him, biting his lip as he ran fiercely, but he didn’t stop because of such a look.

Lee Jung-woo rushed past first base and slid into second, but right fielder Tipper Jones’ judgment of the ball was also good.

He had come out a bit further than his basic position and cut off the ball short.

[The ball drops in front of the right fielder! He catches it late – ah, he throws it straight away!]

Just as he was about to touch second base, the ball passed before his eyes in slow motion.

The right fielder’s laser throw landed right inside the second baseman’s glove, and Lee Jung-woo saw it too.

When the second baseman leaned forward and stretched out his glove to tag him out, preventing the slide, Lee Jung-woo racked his brain.

How could he survive?

A myriad of thoughts flashed through his mind in a brief moment, and then a scene from an American football game he had watched on TV before falling asleep came to mind.

He had been surprised even while half-asleep, but he felt like he could do it too.

‘Let’s give it a try.’

Lee Jung-woo soon readied his body and focused his strength in his legs, but then a thought struck him.

‘But… I could get injured.’

At that moment, as if someone had hit the brakes, Lee Jung-woo’s body came to a halt.

If he collided with the second baseman or if any part of his body got twisted, contrary to his expectations, it could be a repeat of his pre-regression days.

Knowing the fear of injury better than anyone and feeling the importance of his body to the bone, he didn’t want to take the risk.

“Out.”

The second baseman gently tagged the stopped Lee Jung-woo.

Exclamations of disappointment erupted from the stands, where they had been sure it was a hit.

It would have been the right decision under normal circumstances, but it resulted in an overrun.

[Ah… tagged out. It’s a shame, right fielder Tipper Jones’ judgment of the ball was good.]

[The right fielder threw it perfectly. It’s a bit of a pity, but it can’t be helped.]

The MBS [Major Broadcasting System, a Korean TV network] commentators, who couldn’t help but be biased towards the Korean players, were disappointed as if it were their own doing, and seeing the lamenting crowd, Lee Jung-woo also felt a bit regretful.

‘Should I have just gone for it?’

After glancing at second base for a moment, Lee Jung-woo trudged off the field.

####

‘Forget the at-bat. Let’s calm down and catch my breath.’

As if trying to forcibly forget the lingering regrets, Lee Jung-woo shook his head vigorously and focused on defense, taking a moment to catch his breath for the next at-bat.

Thwack-

Scratch that.

He couldn’t catch his breath.

Thanks to starting pitcher Brian Halsey, who was constantly sending balls to the center line (center fielder, shortstop, second baseman, catcher) as if he was trying to control the direction of the hits while getting hammered, Lee Jung-woo couldn’t catch his breath and had to pant laboriously.

And this time was no different.

Brian Halsey got hit by the D-backs’ number 3 hitter, Babe Wilson, and sent the ball to an ambiguous spot again.

If it had been a bit longer, the center fielder would have caught it easily, but the ball was a bit short, as if it had been mis-hit.

‘Gary is late. Derek is a bit far too. I have to catch it.’

“Mine!”

Since he was a hitter with a high slugging percentage of over .500, the center fielder had guessed and gone deep into the outfield, but the ball flew to an ambiguous spot, shorter than that.

Having made his judgment, Lee Jung-woo called out loudly, stopped Derek who was about to start running, and chased after the ball, running all the way back, eventually catching it with his glove.

He stopped there, bent over for a moment, took a long breath, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

“Hoo…”

“What are you, a center fielder? Coming all the way here. How about it, want me to vacate my spot?”

Center fielder Gary Winters joked as he looked at Lee Jung-woo who had come so far, but his eyes were full of relief.

A hit could have happened due to his mis-positioning, but this young kid had stopped it instead.

If it had become a hit, some of the hardcore fans would have cursed him for being a veteran who couldn’t even position himself properly.

Fortunately, he caught it perfectly.

“Phew, thanks to you, I survived. Damn, I went too far back.”

“It was just a slight mis-hit. If he had hit it properly, Gary would have caught it standing still.”

Lee Jung-woo sincerely thought so, but Gary Winters seemed to take it as lip service, and awkwardly smiled, taking off his hat and drying his sweaty hair.

“A guy who’s good at baseball is good at socializing too. Now, go back and get a pat on the butt from the pitcher for doing well.”

“I’m not a kid…”

“You can’t even drink yet, so what else are you? Go back, kid.”

Thanks to Gary Winters, who waved his hand playfully, the absurd feeling faded a bit, and Lee Jung-woo smiled faintly and took his position again, but

Thwack-

He soon had to run again.

Lee Jung-woo ran behind Poppin, anticipating that he might miss the hard ground ball to the third baseman, and that judgment was correct.

The ball had barely grazed the end of Poppin’s glove.

[Ah, third baseman Poppin fails to catch it!]

“Damn it-”

Poppin swore roughly and turned around as if to check the ball, but Lee Jung-woo, who was running behind him, dove and caught the ball.

“I caught it!”

“Out!”

“Wow!”

The spectators, seeing the amazing defense, exclaimed in admiration, and Poppin breathed a sigh of relief, wiping his chest with a relieved expression.

He silently gave a thumbs up.

[Fortunately, Lee Jung-woo caught it! Out! The D-backs’ attack ends.]

[That was a very good cover play. If he had caught it late and thrown it, it would have definitely been safe.]

The commentator praised Lee Jung-woo’s defense enthusiastically, but he brushed off the dirt that was all over him from diving and rolling on the ground and took another breath.

His mind became clear. His worries disappeared.

‘Yeah, he’s already making risky plays on defense. What’s stopping him on the base path?’

Lee Jung-woo’s eyes sparkled like glass beads.

####

Bottom of the 8th, one out.

Lee Jung-woo, who struck out in his third at-bat, stepped up for his fourth.

Likely his last chance in today’s game.

‘With the score like this, there’s probably no bottom of the 9th. Even if they allow a tie or a comeback, my turn at bat is far off. This is it.’

Lee Jung-woo took a deep breath and scanned the pitcher.

The left-handed pitcher, who came on in the bottom of the 8th and got the previous batters out with ground balls, was a three-pitch pitcher.

He threw a fastball averaging 92 mph, topping out at 95 mph, a slightly slower two-seamer [a fastball with a slight horizontal movement], and a curveball with a big drop.

If his memory served him right, he used the curveball quite often.

‘It’ll be embarrassing if it ends like this. There are eyes watching, I have to swing no matter what.’

Coming up from the dugout,

Lee Jung-woo lightly tapped his cheeks and glared at the pitcher as always.

The score was 7-2. Unlike his slump, the game was already leaning towards a Braves sweep.

He himself was left out, while the other batters had all the fun.

But thanks to that, the pressure was less.

‘Make solid contact and follow through perfectly.’

Lee Jung-woo muttered to himself and looked at the pitcher. The pitcher looked down at him with an expression that said he wanted to end it right away.

‘If you don’t want to throw, just throw three right down the middle.’

As if sending telepathy,

Lee Jung-woo focused his gaze on the pitcher with that thought in mind.

But, of course, it wasn’t conveyed.

A fastball that was low and tight on the inside corner. The ball, which hit its max velocity of 95 mph, was sharp.

‘It really came alive until the very end.’

But the count favored Lee Jung-woo.

“Ball.”

Having earned a ball first, he either let the pitches go or calmly fouled them off, dragging out the at-bat.

‘Peterson 7 pitches, Poppin 4 pitches, me 9 pitches. Combined total of 20 pitches. It’s still too early to be tired.’

He had hoped, just in case,

But his eyes only became more fierce.

He didn’t seem uncomfortable.

‘He hasn’t shown the curveball yet… Is he saving it because I’m a rookie, or is he holding back because it’s risky? I can’t figure it out at all.’

What did he even do?

Why did every pitcher he faced hold back their curveball? They threw sliders just fine.

Even though he struggled a bit, or maybe a lot, in Double-A [the second-highest level of minor league baseball], he was still a rookie in the big leagues.

He felt a bit annoyed at the pitchers who were being so difficult.

‘Just throw one curveball. That’s enough. I’m not asking for much.’

As Lee Jung-woo repeated to himself as if negotiating, as if reading his mind,

The catcher suddenly spoke.

“I heard you like curveballs? Want one?”

“Me? That’s strange, I like fastballs. Especially two-seamers.”

“Everyone knows your batting average against curveballs in Double-A was amazing, why are you lying? Just admit it. I’ll give you a curveball.”

“Go to the hospital if you’re sick, don’t speak nonsense on sacred home plate.”

Lee Jung-woo snapped back and gripped his bat tightly,

The catcher glanced at him

And soon sent a sign [a signal to the pitcher indicating what type of pitch to throw].

“Here comes the curveball!”

Lee Jung-woo didn’t believe the catcher, who said one last word until the end.

Soon after, the pitcher wound up.

When the ball left his left hand, he widened his eyes.

‘He was more honest than I thought.’

The catcher told the truth.

The ball flying towards him was a curveball, just like his honest words.

Lee Jung-woo watched it clearly.

To thank the catcher who kept his word, he rotated his hips with all his might, matching the trajectory of the ball that flew straight and then dropped like a waterfall.

‘Ah, it’s a bit shallow. It’s not going over.’

Thwack-

Perhaps he was a little tired without realizing it, from cleaning up after the pitcher and other fielders on defense.

The power in his swing was a little less than he thought.

Lee Jung-woo threw down his bat and ran like crazy.

The first base coach was waving his arms like mad.

“Run! Run!”

[Ah! He lifted the curveball! He hit it well, is it going over? It looks like it’s going to barely hit the fence…]

[The ball hits the top of the fence and falls. But it’s not bad! Enough for second base-]

The commentator was optimistic because this time it really looked like a double was enough.

But something unexpected happened.

The ball that bounced off the fence rolled deep.

Soon, the right fielder who ran to get it also fumbled the ball twice, unlike the good defense he had shown in today’s game.

[He fumbled it! Tipper Jones fumbled the ball! At this rate, third base is possible!]

[The distance is plenty, but Lee Jung-woo has to keep the right fielder’s arm in mind! His throws have been good today, you know?]

Lee Jung-woo breathed heavily and charged through the bases like a bull.

He was about to slow down a bit safely in front of second base when the third base coach waved his arms like crazy at him.

‘Huh? More?’

“Come on! Come on!”

A confident face.

A gesture that seemed to shout to come in no matter what.

Lee Jung-woo, who still couldn’t get the timing right and wasn’t good at stealing, but was fast at base running, saw that and ran without stopping.

At the same time, he glanced at the outfield.

‘Now getting ready to throw… I can go further, right?’

A strange confidence was rising.

Lee Jung-woo passed the third base coach who was trying to stop him.

He rushed straight to home.

[Huh? Is he going further?]

[No, it’s an overrun. He has to stop at third base.]

“Huh? Huh? Is this possible? Is it?”

“No, absolutely not!

“Stop! Stop!”

“Come in! Come in because it’s possible!”

The spectators and players alike had dubious expressions.

They shouted different opinions to Lee Jung-woo, but it didn’t reach him.

When the distance to home plate narrowed, Lee Jung-woo felt deja vu.

This time, he clearly saw the throw being caught in the catcher’s glove.

Right fielder Tipper Jones threw a laser-like throw to get another assist.

The catcher narrowed the angle by lowering his upper body.

Because he was so big, it was almost like he was blocking the way.

‘This time the distance is enough.’

But he had a way.

And the scene that came to Lee Jung-woo’s mind earlier was replayed again.

This time, he made a proper decision.

‘Let’s do it.’

In front of the catcher, Lee Jung-woo’s strong legs kicked off the ground.

Enough momentum, natural athleticism, and flexibility honed through Pilates reproduced the scene he had seen.

Lee Jung-woo, who jumped up and passed leisurely over the slightly lowered catcher’s head, stepped on home plate as it was.

Lee Jung-woo looked at the umpire.

The umpire hesitated for a moment.

What was certain was that he wasn’t tagged.

And he didn’t go over too much, and there was no rule that a runner shouldn’t jump over the catcher.

So the call was simple.

“Safe!”

The umpire’s loud voice filled the silent stadium.

Soon, an explosive noise rang out from all directions.

[Wow…]

[This… this is possible-]

The players running out like crazy.

Only then did Lee Jung-woo realize what he had done.

“You crazy bastard!”

“What do you have to eat to have such guts!”

“Is the catcher a vaulting horse!”

Inside-the-park home run.

A super play with added uniqueness to a rare record in the league unfolded at Truist Park.