The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 119

119. Debut Game? (6)

As the first inning wore on, I began to understand why pitchers sometimes seemed a little unhinged.

Basically, society functions on rules.

Or, more accurately, it functions on the ‘belief’ that people will abide by those rules.

And these rules aren’t just the ones written in law books; many operate on trust. For example, you should ask before using someone else’s dipping sauce, you shouldn’t make a move on your best friend’s ex unless you’re serious about her, and everyone knows the capital of South Korea is Seoul – things like that.

Among these unspoken agreements, there’s a very simple one in baseball: ‘The pitcher throws the ball, and the batter tries to hit it.’

Without that fundamental understanding, batting wouldn’t make any sense.

Think about it: there’s a guy in the distance with a projectile weapon that could seriously injure me, and I’m standing here swinging a bat, confident that he’ll just throw it into his glove? That absurd act is possible because of mutual trust. Because we believe the other person will play their part.

But what if a seed of doubt creeps into your mind?

‘What if that guy is crazy enough to try and hit me with that thing?’

Your body, which had been confidently leaning into the plate, instinctively shrinks back. Even the bravest player can’t completely suppress that reaction. Once that possibility, which had been completely dismissed, even slightly registers, your muscles tense up, even if you know it’s unlikely to happen.

Thus, even a tiny hesitation, a mere 0.01-second of tension.

In batting, where you have to process everything in just 0.35 seconds, that’s a critical disadvantage. And I used that tension very effectively to strike out two batters.

Two outs, runner on first.

Elitz’s cleanup hitter, Ra Chan-myung, stepped into the batter’s box. He’s 35 years old this year.

If the Marines have Lee Gyu-man, Elitz has Ra Chan-myung. He’s a star player for Elitz, and he even spent three years in the Major Leagues a while back. Of course, his performance wasn’t stellar. A batter who averaged a wRC+ [weighted Runs Created Plus, a comprehensive offensive statistic] of 131 in Korea for nine years, even hitting a whopping 149 the year before he went overseas, only averaged 87 in the US for three years.

But after returning to Elitz, he proved he was still Ra Chan-myung, consistently recording a wRC+ in the high 120s to low 130s. Especially last year, fueled by what some call ‘FA-roid’ [a boost in performance after signing a lucrative free agency contract], he recorded a career-high of 153 at the age of 34, signing a four-year, 9 billion won contract [approximately 6.7 million USD].

A somewhat nonchalant batting stance.

Ra Chan-myung’s fielding and batting form both appear relaxed, almost lazy. I heard he caught a lot of criticism for it when he was younger. But after playing with that style for 16 years, it’s now just considered one of his quirks.

His eyes sharply scanned me.

Well, as the team’s veteran leader, he must be thinking he needs to spark a rally.

But…

– Clang!!!

A high foul ball sailed into the infield seats near first base.

Definitely a powerful hit. But I wasn’t nervous at all.

Ra Chan-myung is known for his relaxed batting form and fielding, but he’s even more famous for being an aggressive hitter who’ll swing at almost anything. His career batting average, excluding his MLB stint, is close to .320, but his on-base percentage is less than .370. That basically means he swings at pitches outside the strike zone, and because he has such strong wrists, he often manages to get hits.

Just now, it was a pitch way outside, but he muscled it into the stands.

But that’s as far as it goes.

Second pitch.

I didn’t focus too much on precise location. I just threw the ball hard, even harder than before, not caring if it was way outside.

156.9 km/h [approximately 97.5 mph].

It was the fastest pitch since the near-beanball I threw at Kang So-gu earlier.

But it was way outside. Even Ra Chan-myung would lay off that one, or so I thought.

– Clang!!!

Ra Chan-myung swung, and connected. Beautifully.

However, what was even more surprising was that even though it was such a wild pitch, the ball flew down the third base foul line and landed near the end of the visiting team’s bullpen. That meant if it had been just a little more inside, it could have been a fair ball.

And the third pitch.

Ra Chan-myung’s eyes burned with determination. He had seen the previous two batters struck out with slow curveballs, but he was confident he could hit one.

Actually, that’s not just overconfidence.

That guy actually hits pitches that bounce in front of the plate and sometimes gets them over the infield.

I remember it clearly. A year from now, when he’s thirty-six, he’ll hit a game-winning single off a bounced pitch and lead Elitz to their 10th consecutive postseason appearance. The team that suffered that hit was our team, and the pitcher cried about it later while drinking. He said it wasn’t fair, that there was no way you could hit a one-bounce ball over the infield.

Anyway, facing that intense confidence that he could hit a slow curve of around 120 km/h [approximately 75 mph], I prepared a curveball. Ah, of course, if you’re wondering if my intention was to completely shatter his pride by throwing the pitch he wanted and frustrating him, that’s not it.

Honestly, if I were standing there with a bat, that wouldn’t be a bad idea, but I have to be realistic. If I, with a bat, am a Hall of Fame-bound hitter, then I on the mound am still only at the Double-A level.

Well, being a nineteen-year-old rookie and skipping all the way from Low-A to Single-A to Double-A is already pretty extraordinary. But honestly, if a thirty-five-year-old veteran regresses for 17 years and is at this level, then I should just see it as not bad.

Anyway, the third pitch.

Curveball.

The baseball left my fingertips.

With a slightly different trajectory than the previous slow curves.

***

Ra Chan-myung stared at the ball.

Honestly, he wasn’t very good at pitch recognition. He couldn’t always get enough power into his swing, and his shoulders tended to open a little early in order to make contact.

But even so, he survived in the pros with that style. And as a top-class professional player.

This time was no different.

He stared at the incoming ball. Count 0-2.

Based on the pattern so far, it’s a curveball. But even if it’s not a curveball, it doesn’t matter. It just has to pass over the plate.

The ball leaves the pitcher’s hand and comes flying in.

Is the trajectory different? I don’t know.

Speed? Well? It’s a bit faster.

Then it probably isn’t a curveball. So I swing the bat.

‘Huh?’

And at that moment, when my body had already started moving.

Something felt off. The ball is coming slower than the two fastballs from before. And…

The ball starts to drop. Splitter? Forkball? I don’t know what it is. Anyway, it’s a dropping ball.

It’s too late to stop the bat completely.

His body twisted.

But this was familiar. He is the best bad-ball hitter in Korea. He is second to none when it comes to somehow getting the bat on the ball.

But it was dropping sharply.

The drop was too deep.

His body falters. The trajectory is off. Not yet. I swing the bat at the ball until the very end.

– Whoosh!!!

“Strike!”

The staggering knees touched the ground. The bat waved futilely in the air.

Strikeout swinging.

It was a strikeout swinging with two outs and a runner on first.

Normally, the inning should be over. Kang So-gu, the runner on first, started running. Also, Han Gyo-cheol, who took off his mask, hurriedly ran towards the passed ball.

Strikeout passed ball.

Ra Chan-myung also jumped up from his seat and ran towards first base.

The knee he had surgery on a few years ago throbbed a little. But he had to get to first base somehow. And in the meantime, Han Gyo-cheol, who had run out to retrieve the ball, finally picked it up.

Kang So-gu was originally a fast runner. If his thigh was normal, he would have arrived at third base a long time ago. But was it the effect of being hit in the thigh by a 158.7 km/h [approximately 98.6 mph] fastball earlier? His body was a little slow. Ra Chan-myung, who had slow feet, reached first base, but Kang So-gu had not yet reached third base.

Seeing that, Han Gyo-cheol quickly threw the ball towards third base. And almost at the same time, Kang So-gu executed a headfirst slide.

– Thud!!

The umpire’s hand went up.

“Safe!!”

A magical situation where a strikeout swinging with two outs and a runner on first base turned into two outs and runners on first and third.

Of course, Sajik Stadium was going wild.

“Damn!!!!”

“Han Gyo-cheol, are you crazy?”

“That catcher, is he throwing the game? His defense is completely insane.”

[Ah…]

The game is still in the top of the first inning.

From the first pitch, a hit-by-pitch at 158 km/h, to an American-style bench-clearing brawl where players were throwing punches. And even though the pitcher struck out three batters, there were still two outs and runners on first and third.

In a total collection of truly chaotic events, the commentator was momentarily lost for words.

[The third game of the opening series in Sajik. This is… a series of rare scenes are unfolding in a row.]

[Was that just now a strikeout passed ball?]

[Yes, that’s right. So, it’s what happens when a batter swings and misses on strike three, but the catcher fails to catch the ball cleanly. It’s a rule that applies when first base is empty, or even when first base is occupied, as it is now, in a two-out situation. In this case, the batter has the right to run to first base, and if the ball bounces far away like now, they can sometimes be safe.]

[Today, Choi Soo-won is experiencing a lot in his debut game as a pitcher. Catcher Han Gyo-cheol must be very sorry. Both of these players need to refocus.]

[Today, Choi Soo-won threw a hit-by-pitch with his first pitch, but since then, he has been showing good pitching with a lot of guts, but this has become difficult. There are runners in scoring position, and in fact, if the catcher had caught the ball properly, the inning would have ended, so his mentality is bound to be shaken.]

Choi Soo-won on the mound took a deep breath.

Han Gyo-cheol, whose face was red under his catcher’s mask, was walking towards the mound, but Choi Soo-won held out his palm to stop him.

“It’s okay. Let’s get back to the game.”

He bent down and patted the rosin bag twice.

The moment the catcher was about to hand the newly received ball to the pitcher, Choi Soo-won gestured towards third base. Even though it didn’t result in an out, it was still a strikeout. From third base to shortstop, from shortstop to second baseman, and then through first baseman Lee Gyu-man back to Choi Soo-won.

The ball returned to him in the same routine as when he got a strikeout.

[Still, there are currently two outs. You can’t score with a sacrifice fly, can you? If Choi Soo-won calmly gets the next out, it’ll be fine.]

Lee Joo-hyung, the commentator for today’s game, also knew that what he was saying was wishful thinking. Even a 10-year veteran would be rattled in a situation like this, but how can a hot-tempered rookie who suddenly threw a near-beanball at the leadoff batter because he was hit by a beanball two days ago calm down in this situation?

Choi Soo-won on the mound wound up powerfully.

Annoyance? Anger?

Of course, he was seething. And Choi Soo-won threw the ball with the intention of blasting Han Gyo-cheol’s mitt with pure fury.

– Thud!!

“Strike!!!”

As of 2027, the standard for a fastball in the KBO [Korea Baseball Organization] was still 150 km/h [approximately 93.2 mph].

In MLB, pitchers who throw 100 miles per hour and even have a seasonal average speed of over 100 mph are becoming more common, but the highest official speed ever recorded by a domestic pitcher in the KBO is 159.6 km/h [approximately 99.2 mph] by Brave’s closer Son Young-jin.

And now.

At this completely unexpected moment, that record was broken.

160.1 km/h [approximately 99.5 mph].

Even though it clearly passed through the center of the strike zone, slightly high, the batter didn’t react in time.

People couldn’t hide their surprise at the number that suddenly flashed on the scoreboard. Of course, Choi Soo-won was a promising pitcher who was known for throwing 157 km/h [approximately 97.5 mph] in high school. But suddenly throwing 160 km/h in a real game in early April is something else entirely.

But whether people reacted that way or not, Choi Soo-won continued his furious pitching.

– Whoosh!!!

“Strike!!!”

A fastball of 159.4 km/h [approximately 99 mph] that was well outside the zone.

Count 0-2.

The pattern so far here was to throw a curveball to get a ball. Elitz’s fifth batter stood in the batter’s box, expecting that in his heart.

And the third pitch.

– Thud!!!

“Strike! Out!!!”

159.3 km/h [approximately 99 mph].

This time, a fastball passing through the center of the zone.

Choi Soo-won finished the inning by striking out his fourth batter in the top of the first.

[Monster!! Just a monster!! Choi Soo-won, the hitter with 2 home runs in his debut game, breaks 160km/h in his pitching debut!! 5.2 innings, 11 strikeouts, no runs allowed!!]

[Ra Chan-myung MoM Interview ‘The birth of a truly scary rookie. The Marines will not be easy to deal with this season.’]

[Marines lose 3rd game 5:3. Disappointing losing series]