The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 157

157. Forget About the Cherry Blossoms Now (4)

Team Manager Jeon Sang-ik sank deep into his chair, lost in thought.

Currently, both the Hawks and the Braves wanted Lee Ju-hyeok.

“Lee Ju-hyeok…”

He was the product of the previous manager, a second-round first pick six years ago. The first pick in the second round is undoubtedly the highest priority resource after all ten clubs have selected their players in the first round. However, it definitely doesn’t mean he’s the eleventh-best player overall.

Perhaps, in a full draft system like now, Lee Ju-hyeok would have been an overall 1st or 2nd pick, or at worst, a top 5 prospect.

But Lee Ju-hyeok is already 24 years old.

In the case of Han Myeong-hoon, whom the Braves specifically requested in a blockbuster trade with Lee Ju-hyeok, he was a 5th round pick, but his current value is actually higher than Lee Ju-hyeok. He’s playing as a long reliever now because he’s in the Marines, but he’s capable of handling a starting position on any team.

However, was it because both the Hawks and the Braves specifically requested Lee Ju-hyeok? Strangely, Lee Ju-hyeok was more concerning. Moreover, Lee Ju-hyeok’s recent performance gives the feeling that he is finally adapting little by little.

In fact, Lee Ju-hyeok is famous for his zigzag defense in the first team, but in training or minor league games, he rarely shows serious problems in judging fly balls. This means that such errors are likely due to psychological issues such as tension, and there is a possibility that they can be resolved through consistent first-team experience.

Of course, the errors during that resolution are expensive taxes, and if they are not resolved even then, they will return as a serious loss.

But the problem is timing.

The timing of when a player breaks out varies. Even if a player is destined to explode to 100 someday, it’s troublesome if he’s only at 20 when everyone else on the team is running.

In the case of the current Marines, there is a monster. The problem is that this monster has a clearly defined expiration date.

This year and next year.

Will Lee Ju-hyeok be able to unleash his potential?

His gaze turned to the field.

***

Lee Ju-hyeok ran again today.

How could so many fly balls be coming his way?

The moment it was hit, he thought it was going to the right. After running for a while, the anxiety that he might have misjudged something crept up. He slightly turned his head to find the fly ball.

You know it when you try it.

How difficult it is to find that small ball flying high, when you’re running with your back turned to where it seems to be falling, and then turn your head to check.

A very brief moment.

Sigh… It feels like the fly ball is a little to the left. He slightly changed direction and moved to the left. Yes, now the ball feels like it’s coming straight.

But the ball is a bit short?

He hurriedly ran forward and almost threw his body, diving catch!!

[Lee Ju-hyeok!! Catches it. 3rd base runner runs!!]

[In the 5th inning, with one out and a runner on 3rd, the Griffins finally manage to squeeze out a point.]

“That bastard is making highlight reel plays again.”

“I know, right? I mean, why does he run so far, then turn around and catch the ball when he could just run normally?”

“Whoa, whoa, don’t be too harsh. Still, it’s good that he came back and caught it. In the old days, he would have just waited there, right? Lee Ju-hyeok has improved a lot.”

Choi Soo-won on the mound waved his hand, indicating he was okay.

The score is still 1:3.

The Griffin’s cleanup hitter, Carlos Edwin, came to the plate.

***

Wow…

What should I say about this?

Honestly, Chae Chang-sik hit it really well. The ball’s speed was quite fast. If it were an outfielder with league-average skills, they would barely be able to catch it. I was sure that our center fielder, Lee Ju-hyeok, would miss it.

And Lee Ju-hyeok seemed to be living up to my expectations.

But what’s this?

He runs far beyond where an average outfielder would have to run to barely catch the ball, then turns 180 degrees and runs back to catch it.

Wow, it’s like a circus act. It’s amazing that his body can withstand such a sudden turn at that speed. No matter how you look at it, he should have been doing track and field, or at least soccer where you run like crazy. He’s not the kind of talent who should be playing baseball here.

Carlos came to the plate again.

It’s already his third at-bat today.

In his first at-bat, he flied out.

In his second at-bat, he struck out swinging at a curveball that dropped sharply. There was a foul homerun that passed within 10cm of the foul pole, which made my heart race. By the way, the ball he hit at that time was a fastball that was completely out of the zone.

Anyway, two outs and no runners.

There was no reason to throw good pitches to a monster who swings wildly at pitches completely out of the zone.

First pitch.

A fastball completely out of the zone.

-Whack!!

‘Huh?’

But the broken fan that had been mindlessly swinging the bat until the second at-bat stopped rotating? What’s this? Did he hear something from the dugout? Or did he come up with a strategy after thinking about it himself?

Carlos, who got a walk, smiled again.

Why does he keep smiling? Is it because his physique resembles Diltun? Somehow, the smile that was threatening at first now feels kind of friendly.

Second.

Jjoyu demanded a pitch that was completely out of the zone without any compromise.

I had a bit of internal conflict.

Before, I didn’t mind his attitude of telling me to keep throwing pitches out of the zone against such an ignorant guy. But now that he’s telling me to keep running away for three consecutive at-bats, I feel a bit strange.

What should I say? It feels like he’s saying that I’m no match for that monster anyway.

In the last game I pitched.

I realized that I needed to have more confidence after seeing Hakpok Jo Chang-hyeok’s pitching. And when I did, lo and behold. I recorded a no-hitter.

So today, I especially took my mind control towards the gutsy side from the morning. And the results so far have been very good. But to keep avoiding the match here?

Of course, my pitching experience so far whispered that Jjoyu’s choice was right.

But the ego of the mind control I’ve had all day shouted that when you’re scared, you have to go out with more guts.

Yeah, my ball is damn good.

After all, I got a strikeout swinging in the previous at-bat, didn’t I?

Once I came to that conclusion, I could think of a list of reasons why I should face him head-on now.

Honestly, as I can see from my previous experience, his eye for the ball is very poor. He’s just not swinging the bat because I keep avoiding the match without thinking.

The answer may be to throw a confusing ball at him here. No, it is the answer.

A whopping 17 years plus alpha of professional experience.

Of course, my pitching experience is only in the plus alpha part, but anyway, let’s go.

High inside course.

The fastest fastball.

I pulled my body up with all my might.

The most perfect form that I’ve hammered into my body.

The power that started from the lower body was concentrated at the fingertips through the core.

With the force of firing a cannonball – Bang!!!

A 100-mile fastball flew.

Slightly lower than I wanted, but a full inside course.

Clearly, Carlos’ strength is the low outside course. If it’s this course, which is the opposite, it will work. Besides, this is a ball that almost no one can hit, even if it’s not Carlos.

-Clang!!!

Yeah, almost no one…

The ball flew high.

Lee Ju-hyeok, who was running quickly, put his hand on his waist.

An average center fielder would have realized it the moment they heard the sound of the hit, the angle, and the speed, but as expected, it’s Lee Ju-hyeok, so he only realizes it after running for a while.

Carlos smiled.

The friendly smile suddenly felt threatening again.

2:3.

Well, it can’t be helped.

Jo Chang-hyeok was also a guy who could easily be a 4th or 5th starter by major league standards, but he met the ‘I’ cheat and had his soul 털렸다 [lost his soul/was completely defeated].

Like that, my ‘good ball’ is helpless against a fully doped monster. Let’s just think of this as a good lesson in life and move on. And as if to prove my thoughts, the number written on the scoreboard was a whopping 161.1km/h.

Yeah, there’s nothing I can do if a 100-mile fastball goes into a good course and gets hit. Let’s just be satisfied with the lesson that it’s better to avoid such monsters than to be gutsy in the future.

That’s how we grow step by step.

-Bang!!

“Strike!!!”

A 160.3km/h fastball pierced the center. Looking at the face of the opposing batter watching it with an absurd expression, my confidence was immediately fully charged again.

Yeah, let me say it again, my ball is awesome.

So, in the 5th and 6th innings.

There were no additional runs.

***

“What should we do? It seems like he still has a lot of energy left.”

“What do you mean, what should we do? We have to do what we decided on.”

“But…”

“But what? It’s enough if the starter gives us 6 innings and 2 runs. He’s already thrown 97 pitches, it’s unreasonable to make him throw more here. Don’t forget. Choi Soo-won is still a rookie.”

Manager Kim Dae-cheol drew a firm line.

Of course, he also thought it would be nice if Choi Soo-won could throw even one more inning. It wasn’t just because of today’s victory. That guy is almost perfect as a hitter, so I don’t feel much, but as a pitcher, I can clearly feel that he’s growing little by little every time he plays a game.

Clearly, Choi Soo-won, Baek Ha-min, and Choi Min-hyeok were almost at the same level during spring camp, but now Choi Soo-won is clearly half a step higher.

Maybe if Choi Soo-won was a full-time pitcher, I would have used him for one more inning. But he’s a two-way player who needs more careful physical management than anyone else.

Even if we give him a day off for tomorrow’s game, it’s going to be difficult if he doesn’t come out as a hitter again from the day after tomorrow. As you can see from the Griffins’ reaction, hitter Choi Soo-won is untouchable itself. I wish hitter Choi Soo-won and pitcher Choi Soo-won were two separate people…

The game continued.

***

I was disappointed in many ways.

I felt like it was going to be perfect, but in the end, it was 6 innings and 2 runs.

But I didn’t feel like the mindset I had from the morning was wrong. Now that I think about it, it was quite a crazy mindset, so I’m a bit embarrassed, but originally, most starting pitchers are crazy. Even guys who are usually docile are crazy on the days they start, and I guess it’s a similar self-hypnosis to what I had today. Even Hamin-hyung seems to have a bit of middle school syndrome on the days he starts.

-Bang!!!

A pitch that falls out of the count 2-3.

Han Myeong-hoon cleverly walked Carlos.

“Anyway, this country is full of weak and cowardly bastards.”

Carlos muttered as he threw down his bat and walked to first base.

Let me say in advance that most of the KBO’s [Korean Baseball Organization] umpires are former players. Coaches are also former players. And the average education level of KBO players is high school graduate, but their academic achievement is extremely low, below middle school, or maybe even below that. It also means that few people speak English properly. What about Spanish? Of course, neither the first base umpire nor our first base coach can understand Carlos’ words.

“Don’t talk about cowards. That’s smart. Honestly, why would you give him a match when he’s just swinging the bat without looking at the ball properly? Right?”

“What is this bastard saying now? Wait a minute… You can speak our language?”

“I can speak it, so I’m responding to the nonsense you just said. You, you foreign worker, come to another country and denigrate the country. Are you out of your mind? Isn’t there a clause that you have to pay back the money if you cause problems with the contract and get kicked out? These days, foreign workers cause so many problems that they make sure to include that. Especially the Griffins, they’re not loose like us, and the manager and everyone are very knowledgeable. Aren’t they?”

Carlos’ face turned red.

The arms pumped up with drugs are quite threatening.

But it’s okay.

The distance between him and me is 3 steps.

I’m faster than him. So if he attacks, I can run to Diltun without looking back. Diltun will take care of the rest.

“I’m sorry… I think I got excited and made a mistake.”

“I accept your apology. Anyway, there will be seniors who understand Spanish besides me, so be careful what you say in the future. If you have any psychological problems, talk to the club. Korea has good medical insurance, so it’s good to get treatment for that. It’s also easy to get a ‘drug’ prescription. Okay?”

“…, I understand.”

[Choi Soo-won ends his 4-game losing streak with a 161.1km/h fastball!!]

[Choi Soo-won is already the best in the league as a hitter!! All that’s left is to become the best as a pitcher?]

[Marines-Braves Big Deal Imminent??]