The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 122

122. A Pitcher with Six Tools (3)

Manager Kim Dae-cheol agonized fiercely until the very end.

In terms of potential alone, Choi Min-hyuk was far greater. Of course, their top speeds were similar. But ultimately, a pitcher’s size was as important a talent as speed or control.

‘Too small…’

Of course, Baek Ha-min was also 179cm [approximately 5’10”], well above average. However, although the KBO’s [Korean Baseball Organization] average height for pitchers doesn’t exceed 192cm like in MLB [Major League Baseball], it still surpasses 185cm [approximately 6’1″].

Fortunately, despite being the type to not gain weight easily, he had managed to reach 81kg [approximately 179 lbs] thanks to Choi Jeong-sik’s efforts as a weight-gain enthusiast. But even so, Baek Ha-min’s size was still small.

Even compared to others of the same height and weight, Baek Ha-min appeared smaller. This was true even considering that muscle is heavier than fat. It was because his arms and legs were long and his chest narrow. To build the same thickness of muscle, he needed that many more muscle fibers.

But despite all this, Manager Kim Dae-cheol chose Baek Ha-min as the fourth starter to open the second series. This was because Baek Ha-min’s performance in the practice games had been worse.

Baek Ha-min took a light breath on the mound.

Jamsil Stadium.

Baek Ha-min was born and raised in Seoul.

The first stadium he had ever visited to watch baseball with his parents was this very Jamsil, and the strongest KBO team he remembered was the Jaguars, the team he was facing today.

Hawks, Unicorns, Dragons, Griffins, and Jaguars.

Of course, many would say that only the Hawks and Griffins were true dynasties, but anyway, among the teams that had consistently dominated the league for several years, the Jaguars were the last.

Despite taking a deep breath, his heart pounded heavily.

“Ha-min hyung, fighting!!” [“Hyung” is a Korean term used by younger males to address older males they are close to. “Fighting” is a Korean expression of encouragement, similar to “Go!”]

A faint voice from the dugout. It was Choi Su-won, leaning out over the dugout fence and waving his hand.

Suddenly, the conversation he had with Su-won yesterday flashed through Baek Ha-min’s mind.

“See, hyung? What did I tell you? I told you managers like that kind of thing.”

“I guess so…”

He was a strange guy.

Although he was clearly a year younger than Baek Ha-min, he sometimes seemed like a veteran with ten years of professional baseball experience when it came to baseball.

“Managers basically know all the players’ skills. Well, if you’re a player on the borderline between the first and second teams, you should risk your life and show your maximum skills in the practice games, but if you’re competing for a starting position, you don’t really need to do that.”

Normally, he was clumsy in his interactions with people, a typical nineteen-year-old kid, but at times like this, it really made you wonder, ‘Is this his second life?’

Anyway, as he said, the manager chose Baek Ha-min, not Min-hyuk, who had shown his best pitching with all his skills.

He said that he liked the guts of a sophomore entering his first full-time season, and that pitchers should be like that. He said that the mound is the highest place on the ground, and therefore lonely and scary.

In fact, when he heard that story, he thought it was unnecessary nagging for a pitcher who had been an ace in high school baseball and had recorded an ERA [Earned Run Average] of 4.14 in 41.1 innings as a bullpen pitcher in the pros.

But now.

Being a starting pitcher in the professional arena felt different.

His father and mother, who had taken Ha-min to the stadium when he was a child, would be watching him somewhere in that stadium. Just like they always had.

Baek Ha-min looked at the dugout once more.

Choi Su-won was still waving at him. He was taking a break from the game today because he had pitched two days ago. Yeah, that guy hit back-to-back home runs in his debut at-bat, and then shut out the opponent for 5.2 innings in his first appearance just the day before yesterday. He even hit two hits at the plate and earned the win himself.

“The KBO is stingy with giving the MVP [Most Valuable Player] to players who don’t make it to the postseason like the MLB, but if you want to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP in the Marines, you have to do this much.”

Damn it.

Suddenly, something bubbly started to boil inside him.

That’s right.

From childhood, Baek Ha-min’s goals had been grand.

To win the MVP in the KBO for three consecutive years, advance to the majors, win the Cy Young [award for best pitcher], and enter the Hall of Fame.

But every time he voiced those goals, people laughed at him. Angered by that, he fought, cried, fought, and cried every day, and his mentor told him this.

“Small-minded people laugh at those who take on challenges. But even if it’s a great life, a life that most people laugh at is too painful. So, Ha-min, let’s start with what’s visible. Let’s gradually show them things that even small-minded people can say, ‘Wow, that’s amazing,’ rather than laughing at.”

Since then, Baek Ha-min had never told anyone about his grand goals. That was the same moment when Choi Su-won casually spoke about his goals.

If Baek Ha-min himself had told Choi Su-won about his ambitions at that moment, would Choi Su-won have laughed at him?

Baek Ha-min shook his head.

The Jaguars’ leadoff hitter, Jeong Chang-soo, stepped up to the plate. He was twenty-nine this year, a hitter in his prime. His stats from last year were 0.257/0.367/0.346 [batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage].

He has a good eye.

He lacks some long-hit power, but caution is still necessary. He has the power to hit about 5 home runs a year.

First pitch.

A 144km/h [approximately 89 mph] high-speed slider.

-Thwack!!!

“Strike!!!”

Jeong Chang-soo, who watched the ball, tilted his head and stepped away from the plate for a moment.

A gesture on the ambiguous boundary of whether it was an appeal to the referee or not.

Baek Ha-min on the mound prepared the second ball.

The ball flew quickly after the windup.

A similar course to the previous one. But was it because the previous gesture had an effect? It was pushed in a little more towards the inside.

Jeong Chang-soo quickly swung his bat.

-Clang!!!

But he mis-hit it.

The high fly ball didn’t leave the infield.

“Out!!”

He tilted his head as he returned to the dugout and said to his teammate in the waiting batter’s box.

“Whether it’s a cutter or a slider, it’s super fast. But the angle seems less sharp than it looks. And it seems like the umpire is being generous with the outside corner today? He’s giving strike calls on slightly ambiguous courses.”

“Really?”

The second at-bat followed.

The batter watched the ball.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!!!”

As Jeong Chang-soo said, a strike call came on a slightly ambiguous course. If the pitcher is actively using sliders, it will be quite difficult for right-handed hitters.

He stood a little closer to home plate.

Second.

Baek Ha-min, looking at the batter standing close to home plate, gritted his teeth.

It’s a little dangerous, but this is still a battle of guts. Why, even Choi Su-won, who shut out the opponent for 5.1 innings, started his first pitch with a hit-by-pitch.

If I hit him, I can’t help it, he thought, filling the inside course.

-Thwack!!

A precarious high inside course.

The batter’s bat didn’t come out this time either.

“Strike!!!”

The umpire’s hand went up.

It’s not just the outside that’s wide today. The inside is also wide. It seemed that the umpire was going to give a wide range on both the left and right.

Baek Ha-min quickly threw the third ball.

The batter’s bat followed.

-Clang!!

A weak hit.

Lee Gyu-man, who was playing first base today, quickly ran to pick up the ball and threw it to Baek Ha-min.

“Out!!”

Two outs with five balls.

Baek Ha-min’s gaze turned to Choi Su-won.

Pride and joy were evident on Choi Su-won’s face.

He was a younger brother who had helped him in many ways since they became friends at the international competition. Their personalities also matched quite well. He wasn’t a younger brother he saw often, but he could be considered closer than the teammates he had worked with for the past year.

But why?

That pride and joy weren’t just welcome.

Baek Ha-min took a light breath and adjusted his cap. Just in time, a cool breeze blew, scattering his curly hair. Unknowingly, screams erupted from the female fans watching the game. It was a visual that seemed like flower petals should be scattered as a special effect on the screen.

The Jaguars’ third batter entered the plate.

He was a man with a very different visual from Baek Ha-min, who had been caught on camera a little while ago.

Park Dong-seok, the captain of the Jaguars. The strongest right-handed hitter in Jaguars history. Since his first full season in his third year, excluding the three seasons he missed due to injury, he had been maintaining a .300 batting average, .400 on-base percentage, and .500 slugging percentage for 13 years.

‘It’s really him.’

Baek Ha-min’s idol from childhood.

Perhaps if he went home now, Park Dong-seok would be marked on his old Jaguars uniform. Along with a signature that was hard to recognize.

Baek Ha-min prepared for the first pitch.

Now thirty-four years old. He was a top-notch hitter who was past his prime as a hitter. There was no room for carelessness.

First pitch, a slider that barely crossed the boundary.

-Clang!!

Unlike the previous two batters, Park Dong-seok’s bat hit the ball. The ball that stretched far fell deep into the first base infield seats.

Park Dong-seok smiled bitterly.

It would be nice if the pitcher on the mound right now was just lucky.

It’s okay if it just came out a little faster than before. But if he was aiming for it and took it out a little more? If a 145km/h [approximately 90 mph] slider moves in units of half a ball, there’s nothing more scary than that.

Park Dong-seok’s thoughts were only half right.

Both luck and skill were mixed together. It was true that he was trying to take it out more. And it was a bit of luck that it came out with a half-ball difference. He couldn’t throw the same ball against a hitter like Park Dong-seok as he had against the hitters in the previous at-bats.

Second.

Baek Ha-min shook his head twice and sent a sign.

Han Gyo-cheol nodded.

A ball that was not much different from before.

Park Dong-seok stopped his bat.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!!”

Huh?

He turned his head and looked at the umpire. A strong appeal that this was a real strike. It was an appeal that couldn’t be ignored because he was a hitter with a career like Park Dong-seok.

He stepped away from the plate for a moment, tightened his gloves, and tapped his helmet.

And third.

This time, a similar course.

He was a pitcher who stubbornly aimed for an outside match. Well, it’s okay. If I cut it appropriately, a bad pitch will come out someday. No matter how great a pitcher is, he can’t throw all the balls like this. If he throws about six, one bad pitch is bound to come out.

-Clang!!

Park Dong-seok’s bat hit the flying ball.

‘Huh?’

The feeling transmitted to his hand was strange.

The timing, direction, everything was subtly, but clearly, different.

The hit ball soared.

The pitcher, standing in a slightly higher place than others on the ground, moved three steps and caught the hit ball.

“Out!!”

Three out change.

Park Dong-seok smiled.

“He’s kind of fun.”

Whether it was a cutter or a slider. In fact, the name didn’t matter.

What was important was that he had one more ball besides the one he had shown in the practice game. A ball that goes out to the outside.

Even with almost the same form.

***

Game 1. Ha-min hyung has already shut them out for 3 innings.

It’s a bit of a shame that the Marines’ terrible infield didn’t handle the ball that they should have handled, so there was one hit, but it was still a great pitch.

Many people thought that Ha-min hyung only threw high-speed sliders in the practice game. But the ball that Ha-min hyung threw all the time in the practice game was not a high-speed slider but a cutter.

In fact, high-speed sliders and cutters are distinguished by the pitcher saying, ‘The ball I’m throwing is a cutter,’ or ‘The ball I’m throwing is a high-speed slider.’ If you look at the change in the ball itself, they are almost similar.

From the hitters’ point of view, they are both as fast as fastballs, and if the same arm pitcher throws them, they go out, and if a different arm pitcher throws them, they come in.

But from the throwing point of view, the grip itself is completely different.

The high-speed slider that Ha-min hyung originally threw was basically a slider grip, but he threw it while gripping the ball tightly. Because this hyung’s fingers are so long, even if he only did that, the change was much less than a normal slider, but the speed was not much different from a fastball, so a ball like a cutter came out.

So, when I practiced the cutter a little, a ball came out that was a little faster but had a bland angle.

Well, even if I mixed it with a fastball, it seemed like it would be much better to throw a high-speed slider. But I gave ‘small advice’ that this would be a really annoying ball for hitters if it was mixed with the previous high-speed slider.

Hamin hyung actively accepted my opinion, and as a result, the Jaguars lineup was greatly screwed.

But for some reason, Hamin hyung’s expression, who screwed the Jaguars lineup like that, was not very good. Was it because the pitcher who started the game was a little sensitive? Hamin hyung, who had been smiling brightly until before the game, was sitting with a rather serious expression, wearing a pitcher’s jumper.

-Clang!!!

Ah, his expression wasn’t good because he didn’t need to wear that jumper.

Bottom of the 3rd inning.

The score was still 0:0

The Marines lineup cleanly retreated with three up, three down.

‘I should appeal for a pinch hitter again…’

The game continued.