The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 133

Successful Pitcher (3)

[Homerun! It’s a homerun!! Choi Su-won!! He takes Lim Gwang-hyung’s fifth pitch and sends it over the fence.]

[Fifth consecutive homerun!! Following the four consecutive homeruns in the last game, he hits his fifth consecutive homerun!! Unbelievable!! The first in KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] history!! This has only happened once in NPB [Nippon Professional Baseball] and never in MLB [Major League Baseball]!!]

[Actually, commentator Park Dong-sik was quite restless even before Choi Su-won’s at-bat.]

[That’s right. There’s a superstition that talking about a record before it happens brings bad luck… Anyway, it’s truly amazing. ‘Amazing’ isn’t even enough to describe it. Moreover, today’s starting pitcher, Lim Gwang-hyung, was a starting pitcher in the major leagues until just two years ago. Last year, at the not-so-young age of thirty-five, he decided to undergo elbow surgery and rehabilitation, and in the last two games this season, he showed an absurd record of 27 strikeouts and 4 runs allowed, with no earned runs. He hit a homerun against such a pitcher, and with a changeup at that!!]

[Haha, it seems our commentator Park Dong-sik is a little excited.]

[No, it’s hard not to get excited when you see this. Look. The decisive pitch that drew 16 of the 27 strikeouts was that changeup. Lim Gwang-hyung’s changeup was well-known even in the major leagues. If you look back at his peak season in 2023, Lim Gwang-hyung’s changeup didn’t allow a single homerun all season. And that was in the major leagues. Amazing. Choi Su-won. Truly amazing.]

“That bastard Dongsik. During the exhibition game, he said homerun records are nothing. He was sure I’d fail miserably in the regular season. Look at him changing his tune now.”

“Hey, Dongsik was a Marines fanboy who turned bitter. Honestly, seeing Choi Su-won play like this, it’s time for him to come back. Five consecutive homeruns. It’s truly awe-inspiring. Especially against a major league-level pitcher.”

“Eh, Lim Gwang-hyung isn’t really a major league-level pitcher anymore. He completely flopped at the end of his career.”

“He flopped because of his elbow. Didn’t you see him from the opening game to the last game? He was like a strikeout machine. His K/9 [strikeouts per nine innings] was 16.2. Does that even make sense?”

“Well, that’s true.”

On the mound, Lim Gwang-hyung chuckled to himself without realizing it.

In the past two games, he had given up a total of 4 runs, but all of them were unearned. It was all thanks to the Phoenix’s defense, which was putting on a happy fielding display. But this homerun was different.

‘He was waiting for the changeup.’

There are indeed hitters who specifically wait for a pitcher’s decisive pitch.

Madmen with confidence, or illusions, in their skills. The way to distinguish them is simple. If they hit it, it’s confidence; if they don’t, it’s an illusion.

“Interesting.”

A thirty-six-year-old veteran who had firmly proven his skills even in the majors. The epitome of pitchability, combining various breaking balls to outsmart opponents rather than relying on fastball. When ordinary people think of him, they imagine a laid-back baseball master, a Taoist hermit who has attained enlightenment. But the reality is never like that. If he had such a personality, he wouldn’t have chosen surgery and rehabilitation at the age of thirty-five. Even if his velocity had dropped by nearly 2 mph, he could have easily succeeded in the KBO without surgery.

He was the embodiment of burning competitiveness, a man who wanted to prove to the people of his home country that Lim Gwang-hyung was the best pitcher of all time, more than the tens of millions of dollars he could have earned by staying in the majors.

Choi Su-won, who had rounded the ground and stepped on home plate, clenched his fist. He didn’t like the rookie’s cocky ceremony, but fine. He’ll allow it. If he hit a homerun against Lim Gwang-hyung himself, he deserved that much celebration.

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Noh Hyung-wook was struck out.

On the mound, Lim Gwang-hyung didn’t clench his fist.

***

Today, our team’s starter was our fifth starter, Choi Min-hyuk.

The Phoenix used the off-day last Monday to move up their starting pitchers by one day each, but our manager didn’t make that choice. It was a decision I liked.

Some people might say that there isn’t much difference between resting one day more or less. But there is quite a bit. If you tell people who used to work five days a week to come to work on Sunday instead of resting on Saturday, it’s obvious that their work efficiency will decrease. Moreover, baseball players, especially pitchers, are nothing more than a collection of routines, and there is a routine for rest days. Therefore, if that is broken, their performance often collapses.

[He’s the eldest of the Marines’ three young guns, right? Choi Min-hyuk is on the mound.]

[Actually, the Marines’ performance has been very good so far. Of course, Choi Su-won’s explosive hitting has played a part in this, but what I want to focus on more is the surprisingly solid starting lineup.]

[That’s right. The foreign one-two punch. It’s understandable for the million-dollar foreign players, Dilton Doiley and Diego Rodriguez, who already proved themselves last year, but Choi Su-won and Baek Ha-min, the 3rd and 4th starters, are showing much better pitching than expected. Choi Su-won has 2 games, 11 innings, 3 runs allowed, and 2 earned runs. And Baek Ha-min has 2 games, 12 innings, and 3 earned runs.]

[In the case of the 5th starter, Choi Min-hyuk, he was very sluggish in his last appearance, allowing 6 runs in 3.2 innings, but he was quite good until the first out of the 3rd inning. As he is still a young player, it is inevitable that he will falter in a crisis, but if Choi Min-hyuk can overcome that part, the Marines can really be expected to do great things this season.]

[Yes, I agree with commentator Park Dong-sik. In fact, having all five starting pitchers properly in the KBO league is a really huge deal.]

Today, my position is first baseman, not designated hitter.

This, too, was a minor but important part of my routine. Complete rest after starting as a pitcher. And then playing as a first baseman for the next two games. And then designated hitter. After that, pitching and hitting. In the long run, it would be best to eliminate rest days, but it’s not too late to do that after I’ve adapted to the current routine.

On the mound, Choi Min-hyuk threw the ball a few times with a slightly nervous expression.

In the series against the Dolphins, Baek Ha-min and I both earned our first wins. As Choi Min-hyuk is grouped with us as the three young guns by the media and those around us, he must feel a considerable amount of pressure.

His ball cleanly split the home plate.

-Bang!!

“Strike!!”

153.4km/h [approximately 95 mph].

A powerful fastball befitting his 197cm [approximately 6’6″] and 110kg [approximately 243 lbs] frame.

And added to that, a 144km/h [approximately 89 mph] slider.

The 1.05 billion won [approximately $800,000 USD] prospect, Choi Min-hyuk, blocked the Phoenix’s lineup. His pitching was excellent, but the fact that Phoenix currently boasts the worst hitting among the 10 teams cannot be ignored.

One strikeout.

And two ground balls.

Choi Min-hyuk, who finished the inning cleanly without allowing a run, returned to the dugout with a determined look.

Again, it’s our offensive timing.

Lee Jung-hoon, who returned from the outfield, sneaked up to me and whispered.

“How did you hit it?”

“Excuse me?”

“No, Gwang-hyung’s changeup. How did you hit it like you were waiting for it?”

“Well, you showed me, senior. The changeup.”

“So, are you saying you only saw Gwang-hyung’s changeup once and hit it like you were waiting for it? Are you making me a fool? Man, you can’t even fool a ghost. From the beginning, the timing of your bat was exactly the timing for the changeup.”

Ha, this guy.

He watched very closely.

Yes, to be honest, I can distinguish Lim Gwang-hyung’s changeup.

Before I went back in time, in the history where Lim Gwang-hyung didn’t get elbow surgery and continued to play in the majors, it was a story that was even reported in the media. In fact, the reason why his major league career went awry in his final years was because some major league teams noticed this.

“Well, I just felt like it was a little different.”

“Felt?”

“Yes, like the arm angle was a little lower?”

Later, in an interview, Lim Gwang-hyung said that after his elbow pain worsened, his overall fastball velocity dropped a bit, but his changeup velocity didn’t drop much, and as a result, the gap in velocity narrowed, and his changeup started to get hit more often.

So, in the process of lowering his velocity, his elbow went down a bit, and in the beginning, people couldn’t distinguish it, so he had some fun again, but as it gradually worsened, the difference became so noticeable that even average players could roughly tell the difference, and he failed, and before he could fix it, his elbow completely gave out and he retired. That’s what the interview was about.

“Then what about the curveball? How did you distinguish that?”

“That’s pretty obvious. The ball flies in with a ‘whoosh’.”

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Senior Gyu-man was struck out swinging at a curveball without even pulling out the changeup.

“So you’re saying that ball that flies in with a ‘whoosh’ is obvious?”

Lee Jung-hoon looked at me with a cold gaze.

“Yes.”

“Ah… This talented bastard. It’s not like you’re Bob Ross, saying ‘It’s easy, right?'”

The Marines’ hitters fell like leaves in front of Lim Gwang-hyung’s pitches.

KKK [strikeout sounds].

Wow, he was clearly a pitcher who induced ground balls in the big leagues, but is this the difference in level? I guess it’s not the difference in level between MLB and KBO, but the difference in level between MLB and the Marines. At least the Dolphins’ hitters would have hit him. Anyway, it was pitching worthy of a pitcher who had been a Cy Young finalist twice in his prime.

“Ah… I wouldn’t know if I saw the changeup a few times, but I can’t even get a feel for it after seeing it just once. Is it really his elbow?”

“I’m telling you, it is.”

“The way I see it, it’s a good thing you didn’t tell this to anyone else. I don’t know what you’re talking about after seeing it once, but if I worry about this, I’ll just fail even more.”

Very short rest.

And then our defensive inning again.

Choi Min-hyuk’s pitching continued.

The 4th hitter is Chae Gwang-min, the symbol of Phoenix.

He was born in the same year as our team’s Gyu-man, ’86, and was also a hitter who left a significant mark on the KBO. He was always seen as the second-best because he was overshadowed by Gyu-man, who was born in the same year, but he was a great hitter who held almost all of Phoenix’s hitting-related records.

-Clang!!!

A smooth hitting form that didn’t match his clumsy body.

The ball he pulled broke through the shortstop’s defense. His running speed was also very fast for a clumsy body.

A solid hit.

And Jung Byung-chul came to the plate.

He was big.

Jung Byung-chul was a player who always competed with me for the KBO MVP [Most Valuable Player] before I went back in time. At the time, his only weakness was that his team, the Marines, could never make it to the postseason. In that sense, he may be the player who benefited the most from my going back in time.

Ah, of course, if he went to Phoenix instead of the Marines, nothing might have changed…

Anyway, Jung Byung-chul originally played quite actively in the first team from his first year of debut. As he was from Kyungnam High School and was selected by the Marines as the first overall pick in the first round, it was only natural that he would be used in the first team. But he really exploded in 2029, his fourth year, the year I exploded and won the MVP with four batting titles.

But was the environment of the Marines toxic to him after all?

Now that history has changed, he has exploded his potential a whopping three years faster than originally.

-Clang!!!

The ball that stretched out coolly hit the left outfield fence.

Senior Jung-hoon ran hard, but it was no use. Unlike our Gyu-man, Chae Gwang-min was a hitter with even speed that didn’t match his large frame.

1:1 tie.

Choi Min-hyuk visibly faltered.

And that faltering soon led to results.

Two additional runs allowed.

The only reason he didn’t give up any more additional points was thanks to our center fielder Lee Joo-hyuk, who sometimes shows fine plays as much as errors, showing a fantastic defense.

1:3.

Lim Gwang-hyung was still throwing good pitches.

Superstitions that Lee Joo-hyuk is likely to show a good performance in the offense if he shows a good performance in the defense, etc. Showing that it is really just a superstition, a clean three-pitch strikeout.

Following him, Han Gyo-cheol proved that the catcher’s at-bat in the KBO is originally a break, with a clean ground ball.

And Seo Kyung-joon was gloriously struck out after a fight that went up to 6 pitches.

“Ah… Why doesn’t he throw a single changeup?”

The game continued.

In Lee Jung-hoon’s grumbling, the bottom of the 3rd inning passed uneventfully, and finally, at the beginning of the 4th inning, it was his turn to bat.

“So, the changeup arm angle is low, right? Are you sure?”

With quite suspicious information.