The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 155

Now, Forget the Cherry Blossoms (2)

Ah, but after spitting, I realized.

Since it was just a hit, the no-hitter was already broken anyway. Maybe because my last appearance was a no-hitter until one batter got on base, I naturally thought about a no-hitter even after getting hit.

I shook my head briefly in embarrassment.

It’s okay. No one knows why I spat anyway.

Jo Yu-jin smiled from afar.

A dubious smile.

The second batter entered the plate.

Even though the first pitch was hit by chance, there was no reason to become a coward. Trust me. My pitches are unbelievably good.

I glanced at first base.

Slide step from the set position.

It didn’t have as much power as taking a proper step from the windup position.

But instead, the timing was about half a step faster.

‘Ah…’

But that half-step timing sacrificed quite a few things. Even if we ignore the velocity, the location was terrible.

Quick motion, or rather, the slide step, ultimately reduces the time to gather power as the time to pull and extend the left leg decreases. It feels like throwing the ball more with upper body strength? But more importantly, the timing of the movement connecting the lower body to the upper body is disrupted, causing the balance to be somewhat disturbed.

Should I say it affects command more than velocity or quality of the pitch?

A fastball of 157.1km/h [approximately 97.6 mph] that was concentrated in the middle.

-Whoosh!!!

However, the batter’s bat missed that ball.

Confidence surges again.

Yeah, my pitches are amazing after all.

Second.

Closer to boldness than caution.

Closer to arrogance than humility.

The rhythm was slightly off.

Both the set position and the slide step need to be refined a bit more.

Ah, of course, nowadays, there are many opinions that the slide step is useless, even if we consider the set position. But well… From the batter’s perspective, this slide step is quite troublesome.

If we consider that hitting is timing, and pitching is a technique to steal timing, the usefulness of the slide step is clear.

If I can learn it, I should. Preferably before going to the majors.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!!!”

But perhaps that mismatched rhythm was even better.

Two consecutive swing and miss strikes.

Jjo Yu asked for a curveball that drops slightly.

But well… I felt good for some reason right now.

The batter isn’t adapting to my pitches at all.

So, I’ll go with three consecutive fastballs.

Certainly, Jjo Yu was a good catcher. In simple terms, he knows how to match the mood of a pitcher who is on a roll. He nodded with a pleasant expression.

Third.

This time, the balance was pretty good.

A fastball that fills the outside low course perfectly.

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!! Out!!!”

A clean three-pitch strikeout.

Ah, but honestly, that last pitch was so good that if it had been hit, it would have been a double play, but there’s this problem when the pitch is too good.

Now, the third batter, Chae Chang-sik, came to the plate.

A left-handed batter. Not corrected, just naturally left-handed.

The reason I know that is because among the many conversations we had at first base yesterday, I heard twice that his salary would have been 1.5 times higher if he had been right-handed. He lamented how his biggest disadvantage was that he couldn’t play outfield because he was slow, and he couldn’t play any infield positions other than first base because he was a left-handed thrower….

He said that if he had just been corrected to throw right-handed, he would be playing second base well enough, but well, considering his fielding ability, it’s not a very convincing story. In fact, among left-handers, many fielders are corrected to throw right-handed from a young age to eliminate defensive restrictions.

Anyway, since he wasn’t corrected from being right-handed to a left-handed batter, his punching power is considerable.

Of course, regardless of that, what I had to do was the same.

The feeling of the last pitch is still too much in my hand.

Based on a right-handed batter, it’s an outside low course.

So, based on the left-handed batter Chae Chang-sik, it’s a fastball that sticks closely to the inside low course. If this goes in properly, unless an average batter is aiming for that course from the start, they absolutely can’t hit it.

Jo Yu-jin moved slightly closer to Chae Chang-sik.

This time too, set position.

Slide step.

‘Ah…’

Objectively, my control isn’t bad even in the slide step.

Basically, the fact that the ball enters the strike zone itself is proof of control, and if I had just aimed for that, it would have been a ball that entered the zone sufficiently.

The problem is that the place I’m aiming for right now is a low ball deep inside.

-Thwack!!!

But the result wasn’t bad.

Chae Chang-sik is a player with very good reaction speed, even though he is slow. And a ball over 150 [km/h, approximately 93 mph] is too fast to get on base even if you get hit by it.

It was Jjo Yu who got hit by the ball.

He blocked the ball, which was formed too low, with his body. Thanks to that, the ball didn’t go behind and fell near home plate.

Seeing that, I made a decision.

I won’t make fun of Jjo Yu today even if he goes 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts. Ah, of course, if his batting is like that, I’ll definitely make him do extra batting practice. That’s a loving gesture for him.

Anyway, I expressed my feelings by slightly raising my thumb towards Jjo Yu.

Chae Chang-sik frowned slightly.

In fact, it wasn’t intentional, and I felt like we had gotten a little closer over the past two days, so I conveyed with my eyes that it wasn’t intentional.

I don’t know if my feelings were conveyed well or not, but anyway, Chae Chang-sik entered the plate.

I always feel that when you throw a strong fastball inside, it’s an inevitable instinct for the body to lean back slightly. Chae Chang-sik’s feet were still in the same place as before, but I had a feeling that his center of gravity had subtly shifted back.

Then, the target is the outside course. Jjo Yu also agreed with my thoughts.

I glanced at first base lightly and threw the ball to Lee Gyu-man.

-Thwack!!

“Safe!!”

How dare you take three and a half steps so presumptuously!!

Of course, the lead didn’t decrease dramatically with just one pickoff throw. But the runner’s center of gravity shifted slightly backward.

Ball count 1-0.

Second.

The fastest ball on the outside course.

But this time again, it was a bit concentrated.

-Clang!!!

Chae Chang-sik didn’t miss that ball and swung his bat.

But his center of gravity was also a bit back, and the timing was slightly off. The pushed hit flowed towards 2nd and 3rd base not very fast.

The first base runner charged towards second base.

If the hit speed had been faster, it would have been a clean double play, but because the hit speed was slow, it became slightly threatening. It was obvious that Chae Chang-sik, who is slow, would be out, but you never know about the first base runner.

And shortstop Kang Ra-on quickly ran forward.

A defense that doesn’t stay in place. He caught the ball with the momentum of running out, and tossed the ball to second base in a collapsing posture.

Certainly, when you see this, Kang Ra-on’s defense is very good. People talk a bit about the basics, but even just running out like that and tossing the ball to second base, whether his posture collapses or not, is excellent.

Of course, if the second baseman there was Kim Hoon or Jung Ji-woon, they might not have been able to catch it, but fortunately, our second baseman today was the defense fairy Saul Lopez.

“Out!!!”

A flawless double out.

The Griffins’ attack in the top of the first inning ended with just five pitches.

“Jjo Yu.”

“Huh?”

“Good.”

“Thanks. Oh, right. What you did earlier after getting hit, spitting…”

“No. Nothing like that.”

I answered preemptively, but Jjo Yu smiled slyly and kept talking.

“Right? You got hit, so the perfect game is broken, but the no-hitter is still there. You weren’t thinking something stupid like that, right?”

“If you don’t get a hit today, 1,000 extra batting practices.”

“Suwon…”

I was going to cut it off at around 800 because I was impressed that he didn’t drop the ball, but I guess not. If he has the energy to be so sly, he should swing his bat. Besides, the possibility of this guy starting tomorrow is infinitely close to 0.

Good defense leads to good offense.

It’s not always true, but this time it was a bit true.

-Clang!!!

Kim Sae-han.

A pitcher with a somewhat familiar name and impression frowned slightly.

Uh… What is it? It’s tickling my memory, but I don’t know. It feels like something important happened, or maybe it didn’t.

Looking at how he throws, it’s clear that he’s not a great pitcher….

The second batter, Lee Jung-hoon, went to the plate.

His batting sense has been slowly improving recently, so wouldn’t it be okay to have a little expectation?

-Clang!!!

A foul ball narrowly avoided the glove and went over to the infield stands. Wow… That guy. Anyway, he always has a way of betraying expectations, and although he resolutely denies it, he’s a Marine Man [a term for someone who stubbornly sticks to their ways, often with negative consequences] to the core.

Second.

He chose a ball.

And he chose another one for the third time.

Yeah, Lee Jung-hoon.

Your strength is your eye for the ball.

Get on base. And let’s create a bases-loaded situation and get Noh Hyung-wook an RBI [Run Batted In].

Ah, now that I say it, I wonder why I wore shin guards and various protective gear. I’ll automatically get on base with a walk or intentional walk anyway.

Fourth.

Lee Jung-hoon abandoned his strength and swung his bat again.

-Clang!!!

But it wasn’t bad.

This time, he made a foul ball with a ground ball instead of a fly ball without being close.

Ball count 2-2.

Kim Sae-han frowned and tapped the rosin bag several times.

Ah!!!

At that moment, I remembered.

That guy is that guy.

The guy who talked about me to his teammates because I hit a home run in the exhibition game and raised my right hand a bit.

When Kang So-gu of the Jaguars picked a fight with me because of that, I remembered it well and threw a beanball [a pitch intentionally aimed at the batter] right into his thigh in my pitching debut. Ah, of course, I didn’t throw a beanball just because of that fight, but I had to throw one at the Jaguars guys anyway, and Kang So-gu happened to be the lead batter. Anyway, the tickling feeling that I might remember or not disappeared cleanly.

“Oh, but wait a minute.”

No. No matter how I think about it, the possibility is slim.

Today, I’m a pitcher. A starting pitcher at that.

And I clearly showed that in my pitching debut, I can retaliate with a 160 [km/h, approximately 99 mph] fastball against any team that dares to hit me with a ball.

In fact, even though I acted a bit cocky after that, no pitcher dared to throw a beanball at me. Of course, my performance was so overwhelming and newsworthy that there was a burdensome aspect as well.

But even if that’s the case, he already didn’t have good feelings towards me, and his friend got hit by my beanball and even paid a fine.

His animosity must be considerable.

Uh….

Then maybe, perhaps?

-Clang!!!

Lee Jung-hoon stubbornly gave up his strength and swung his bat again.

“Huh?”

But unexpectedly, that ball became a hit?

No outs, runners on 1st and 2nd base.

I grabbed my bat and walked out, shuffling.

And stood at the plate appropriately.

I didn’t send any provocative glances.

I just strongly conveyed the inner voice of ‘It’s going to be an intentional walk or a walk anyway. Let’s just do it quickly’ with dead fish-like eyes.

Kim Sae-han’s face turned red.

For now, the Griffins’ dugout didn’t give an intentional walk signal. It means they’ll throw the ball first instead of an automatic walk. Well, that’s what they did yesterday, and I ended up walking three times.

First pitch.

I didn’t stand close to the plate in case of an emergency. I prepared for a possible beanball from a considerable distance.

A slight sway.

I did my best to express the feeling of ‘It’s going to be a walk anyway, let’s just do it quickly’ through my actions.

First pitch.

-Thwack!!

I didn’t even swing my bat.

I lightly turned the bat with a snap of my wrist and put it back on my shoulder.

A feeling of really taking a break rather than a batting stance.

The ball came flying.

It’s not a beanball.

It’s just a ball that slightly overlaps the outside course strike zone as if trying to catch me off guard. Even if the dugout says something, the ball just slipped out of his hand. It was a ball that could be excused to that extent.

It would have been better if I had stood a little closer to the plate.

No, if I had, he wouldn’t have thrown this kind of ball either.

So, I didn’t think about the possibility.

I just swung hard.

-Clang!!!!

The end of the bat that was pulled out like lightning hit the ball. A pain rushing into the palm of my hand. For a moment, I thought, ‘Ah… should I have just walked?’

Between 2nd and 3rd base.

A ball that passed over the second baseman’s head.

The right fielder’s defensive position was quite far back.

A Texas Leaguer [a weak hit that falls between the infield and outfield].

Kang Ra-on stepped on home plate.