The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 136

Mr. Marines (2)

Lee Gyu-man.

He boasted the most impressive career of any hitter in KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] history. While his attempts to play overseas were repeatedly stymied, that didn’t diminish his accomplishments.

But a career is a career, and form is form.

The .207/.258/.207 batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage he was currently posting wasn’t just a slump. He was 42 this year. Last year’s .222/.296/.418 wasn’t much better. It was reasonable to assume he was simply declining with age.

“Is it possible?”

“Suwon.”

“Yes?”

“Well, there’s a saying, isn’t there? ‘Form is temporary, class is permanent.'”

Uh… um…

Yeah, well, there is such a saying.

“You’re not even twenty yet, so you won’t understand. But when a person gets older, it’s really difficult. Even when you’re over thirty, your body, which used to be fine even if you played all night, feels stiff even if you go to bed at 12 and wake up.”

I know it well.

When you get older, inconsistency hits first. There’s not much difference on good days, but sometimes you just feel awful. Reactions slow, and eyesight weakens. Before I went back in time, I had about twenty of those days out of 162 games when I was thirty-four. So, what about that forty-two-year-old veteran?

Half the year. Or maybe more. Baseball is a game of routine. So, a broken cycle like that ruins the whole season.

“Anyway, that senior is a really great player, even if he looks like that right now. He’s getting old and his reaction speed is a bit slow, but his experience is invaluable. Besides, what kind of ball is he trying to distinguish now? Isn’t it a changeup [a slow pitch designed to look like a fastball]?”

“Ah… a slow ball.”

“Yeah, if you can recognize the form, isn’t a 120 km/h [approximately 75 mph] ball perfect for batting practice?”

It was definitely persuasive.

Provided that Lee Gyu-man could distinguish Im Gwang-hyung’s form.

People who like to talk said:

Everyone has a reason. Whether Lee Gyu-man didn’t go overseas or couldn’t go, we don’t know. So, what’s important is the result. He only played in the KBO and wasn’t tested in the major leagues. So, he’s bound to be a step below those hitters who have had meaningful results in MLB [Major League Baseball].

To be honest, I agree with this to some extent.

Lee Gyu-man was the strongest hitter in the KBO League? Yeah, I admit it.

But I, who was considered a decent first baseman in the KBO, was judged to be unfit for first base when I went to the big leagues. On the other hand, a shortstop who was said to be good at hitting but not so good at fielding in the KBO was even nominated as a finalist for the Gold Glove, which is awarded to the best fielders in the big leagues.

Thus, good performance in a lower league only proves ‘qualification’ to challenge a higher league. In fact, there are many cases where a player who dominates the minors fails miserably in the majors, and a player who barely makes it through the minors stays in the big leagues for more than 10 years.

And Im Gwang-hyung, who is now on the mound, was clearly a ‘big league level’ pitcher. Could Lee Gyu-man really see through Im Gwang-hyung’s deception?

“Senior, can’t you recognize it?”

“Hmm…”

Lee Gyu-man frowned at Noh Hyung-wook’s question.

And instead of answering Noh Hyung-wook, he looked at me and asked.

“So, Suwon, you noticed this?”

“Yes.”

“Well, now that I hear you say it, it seems like it… You noticed this just by seeing Jung-hoon swing and miss in the waiting batter’s box…”

“Ah, can you distinguish it?”

“Well… I can see it well here. I’ll have to go to the plate to know. Ah, it’s a changeup.”

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Lee Jung-hoon didn’t betray expectations and struck out swinging.

Change of offense and defense.

Bottom of the 6th inning.

Choi Min-hyuk went up to the mound again.

***

Defensive inning.

In the dugout, only a handful of players remained, the ones who hadn’t started today’s game.

Yeah, a handful.

Just 4 or 5 years ago, I felt really frustrated when I was left in the dugout like this. I felt more comfortable and my batting was much better when I was out on the field, constantly in the game.

But in my late thirties, and over forty again, just last year… On that day when I was in terrible condition, Lee Gyu-man felt relieved to be left in the dugout like this instead of going out to first base.

And at that moment, I realized. Ah, I have to retire now.

That’s right. The reason he decided to retire wasn’t simply because his FA [Free Agent] contract period was until this year. How can a baseball player be relieved not to go out on the field?

Sometimes there are gossips on the internet who belittle baseball as leisure. Compared to basketball and soccer, it’s not even a sport. How can a fat athlete be called an athlete?

But they don’t know the harshness of 6 days a week, 144 games a year.

They don’t know that a sport that requires you to give your all every three or four days is different from a sport that requires you to be consistently good six days a week. They don’t know the heart of a player who has to retire because he can no longer play six days a week.

The old hitter clenched his fist.

The score on the scoreboard is 2:5

The team’s youngest player, who created the number 2, was standing in the place where he should have been. The youth and talent he exuded were so dazzling that it was truly blinding.

Changeup.

Yeah, let’s give it a try.

“Come on!!! Fighting!! Marines!! Let’s block them cleanly and go for a comeback!!”

The Marines players’ eyes widened at the unfamiliar sight of the captain leaning on the dugout fence and shouting loudly.

***

-Bang!!!

Choi Min-hyuk’s ball went outside.

Ball count 2-3.

He took the ball thrown by the catcher and clenched and unclenched his right hand several times.

There was no pain. The surgery went very well and the rehabilitation was excellent. But his first season back was very different from what he had dreamed of while enduring that painful rehabilitation.

5th starter.

Even that, he was pushed out by younger players and became the 5th starter. He had been getting along well with them since spring training, and he thought he wasn’t showing it much on the outside, but honestly, his pride was hurt too much.

I wanted to show something.

But unlike his heart, the wall of the pro first team was too solid.

1. 05 billion won prospect.

-Bang!!!

It was the fourth walk of the game and the second of the inning.

Thus, with one out and runners on first and second.

The pitching coach went up to the mound.

“Good job, Min-hyuk.”

The 197cm [approximately 6’6″] giant on the mound couldn’t say anything and just lowered his head.

***

‘Myung-hoon, this is your chance. A chance to show something.’

Contract money 70 million won.

Last year’s salary 38 million won. And this year’s salary 53 million won.

11 career wins.

The total income that 23-year-old pitcher Han Myung-hoon has earned while playing professionally so far was 240 million won. It’s definitely a lot of money to have earned at the young age of twenty-three. In fact, he was among the highest earners among his peers, except for those who came in the first round and earned hundreds of millions of won in contract money.

But even so, it was not enough.

It wasn’t just a matter of money. In the pros, money is ultimately his value. He thought that the reason he couldn’t play as a starter, even though he was already in his third year in the pros and had the most wins among domestic players last year, was ultimately that problem.

2 billion won.

850 million won.

1. 05 billion won.

Those are really mind-blowing amounts.

In front of the 100 million, 200 million won talents who earned an amount close to the lifetime income of an ordinary small and medium-sized company employee with just their contract money at the young age of nineteen, 240 million is too shabby.

So, all he can do is prove that the current skills honed by the 70 million won pitcher at the age of 23 are more useful than the potential that the 1 billion, 2 billion won talents of 19, 20, and 21 years old have.

One ball with all my might.

-Clang!!

A fast ground ball.

Kang Ra-on, the team’s most reliable infielder, received the ball and passed it to Saul Lopez. And Saul Lopez passed it back to Choi Su-won at first base.

-Bang!!

“Out!!!”

The most winning pitcher, who finished the inning with one ball, suppressed his twitching lips as much as possible and came down from the mound with the most indifferent expression possible.

***

[Phoenix and Marines. Marines and Phoenix. Game 1 of the series. The game is already in the top of the 7th inning.]

[Has it been about 1 hour and 45 minutes since the game started? The tempo of today’s game is quite fast.]

[That’s because Phoenix’s starting pitcher, Im Gwang-hyung, is famous for his short intervals. Moreover, today is not the end of it, but the number of pitches so far is only 81. He has a whopping 11 strikeouts. He’s running at a pace of nearly 2 strikeouts per inning.]

[The leadoff hitter for the Marines who is facing him is Choi Su-won. He has hit two consecutive home runs against the pitcher with that terrifying pace mentioned earlier. He has recorded 6 consecutive home runs for the first time in the world.]

[Ha, he’s really a great player. Has there ever been a player like this in professional baseball history, or even in baseball history? He debuted as soon as he graduated from high school and hit two consecutive home runs in the opening game. And now he has home runs in Jamsil [a famous baseball stadium in Seoul]. Now he has 6 consecutive home runs. It’s his 15th game of the season and he already has nine home runs.]

[9 home runs in 15 games… Wow, roughly calculated, that’s an 86 home run pace.]

[Haha, of course, just because he’s running fast at the beginning of the season doesn’t mean that such an absurd number is possible, but what is certain is that the KBO’s all-time most home runs record, which has not been broken since 2003, is very likely to be broken.]

It’s definitely nice to have a record.

Not because of the record itself. Ah, of course, the record itself is good too. But what’s especially better in a situation like this is that the pitcher can’t avoid me.

Because there’s no justification.

Right now, even the umpire, who is the epitome of a *kkondae* [a Korean term for an older person who is condescending or authoritarian], is reluctant to call a looking strike based solely on his judgment. But to throw an intentional walk here? Even though there are no runners and the score is ahead by 3 points? There’s no way that’s possible.

And just by erasing the walk from the choices, a situation is created where I’m several steps ahead.

First ball.

An outside, full-count two-seam fastball.

It was a ball that had already gone beyond the fourth dimension, but it was still effective.

-Clang!!!

A huge foul home run that barely missed the first base pole.

Am I a pitcher these days? I can kind of guess what Im Gwang-hyung is feeling right now.

The changeup was hit for two home runs in a row.

The curve is noticed like a ghost.

He’s throwing a two-seamer that’s *geolchige* [a Korean term for barely touching or grazing] on the outside border line, and even that feels like it’s getting closer and closer to a home run.

If I were a pitcher right now, I’d clear my head and throw a high fastball right at the body!! But Im Gwang-hyung doesn’t have a fastball that comes out to 160 like me, so that won’t work either.

So, all he can do is…

-Clang!!!

He’ll have to risk getting hit by the ball and throw a slider that comes right into the middle of the zone, pretending to come in, but sticking right to the body.

I perfectly hit the ball with my armpits properly and firmly joined for the first time in a while.

The ball stretches out.

“Big Dipper complete.”

“Ah… shit… this is really a crazy bastard.”

Seven consecutive home runs.

Like wanting to be the North Star that shines the brightest in the highest place, my home run flew all the way to the high sky.