The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 169

The Pitcher is Just Good at Hitting Home Runs – Episode 169 (169/404)

169. Momentum (3)

The Dolphins’ dugout remained silent.

Although the Dolphins had used pinch hitters in the 7th and 8th innings, they didn’t use one for Jang Jin-gyu, the 9th batter.

He was the kind of hitter that KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] dugouts favored: spirited, diligent, and reminiscent of their own playing days.

Despite his two previous strikeouts, Jang Jin-gyu’s stance at the plate didn’t change. He probably knew it well—no, he knew it better—that a batter shouldn’t be ashamed of failing seven times out of ten.

Indeed, being a batter was a profession where failing seven times could be considered a victory. Therefore, he didn’t dwell on the two strikeouts and held the bat short at the back of the batter’s box, watching me intently.

That old KBO style felt truly old-fashioned. But perhaps because my bat had been pushed back by a pitcher who seemed popular a decade ago in the previous at-bat, I felt uneasy.

No.

This was like the anxiety of a craftsman with only one stitch left. The image I needed to recall was the most splendid pose to strike on the mound after finishing the pitch.

I prepared the last first ball on the mound.

The choices were obvious. Just as that outdated hitter persisted in his style despite his previous failures, I had to do the same.

Like a batter standing deep in the box, enduring the fear of getting beaned [hit by a pitch in the head], the pitcher overcomes the fear of beaning the batter with the heart of a lion.

A high fastball on the inside corner.

A huge windup.

The taut bowstring was released in an instant.

And the outcome depended on the fingertips holding the ball.

The powerfully spun ball cut through the air resistance and flew.

It was the last batter.

I was definitely tired, but the ball, thrown with a body that had momentarily forgotten its fatigue, blazed through the zone.

– Bang!!!

“Strike!!”

159.8km/h

[First pitch fastball, strike! The batter didn’t even swing. Choi Soo-won! Bottom of the 9th, two outs. Even on his 118th pitch, the 159.8km/h fastball is still there!]

[Wow, it’s hard to believe this player was a high school student just a few months ago.]

Jang Jin-gyu didn’t back down from my pitch.

But in baseball, a batter must do more than just stand firm in the box; he has to swing the bat and send the ball flying.

So, the second pitch.

This time, Jang Jin-gyu swung.

– Clang!!!

But that was it.

Again, the wall of talent in reality isn’t something that can be overcome with mere guts, like in baseball manga.

His short bat and slow bat speed, combined with insufficient power, couldn’t send my 161.1km/h fastball far.

But still, Jang Jin-gyu ran.

Determined to turn an infield ground ball into an infield hit.

That might have been possible with the Marines before their rib feast, or with Kang Ra-on before his peak condition.

Clearly, Jang Jin-gyu’s bat was hopelessly inadequate against my fastball, resulting in a terribly slow batted ball.

Kang Ra-on moved.

A quick dash.

He didn’t even hold out his glove. As if performing a stunt, he caught the baseball with his bare right hand. Some might have thought he was showing off, even though he had plenty of time.

But the subsequent motion was a very stable throw that didn’t match the daring bare-handed catch. The ball landed safely in Lee Gyu-man’s mitt at first base, a perfect throw that barely required him to move his glove.

– Bang!!

“Out!!!”

A clean out, no room for argument, just one step away from first base.

Kang Ra-on raised his thumb.

“Aaaaaah!!!”

On the mound, I clenched both fists and roared at the sky.

I’d seen some crazy guy do that after a 9-inning shutout in the Division Series before, and it was selected as the most awesome moment of the month on ESPN. I practiced it in preparation for using it in the majors, and the posture became ingrained in my body, so it came out without me even thinking.

Jo Yu-jin threw off his catcher’s mask and jumped out faster than anyone else. Kang Ra-on, still raising his thumb, ran over with an “oops” expression. Lee Joo-hyuk, who had been running until the 9th inning, still had plenty of stamina and sprinted towards the mound with incredible speed.

Jung Ji-woon, who didn’t have any standout performance today but should still be grateful, and Lee Gyu-man, who had persevered, shouted and jumped onto the mound.

Noh Hyung-wook and Lee Jung-hoon, subtly helpful but overlooked because they were consistently good, and Seo Kyung-joon, strangely inconspicuous in today’s game, also cheered on the mound.

“Everyone, get out of the way!! Hahaha, a perfect game!! This little kid. Something that I, a 10-year pro, haven’t even done!”

And the players watching from the dugout…

In particular, Dilton Doiley ran like a tank and grabbed my torso.

Wow, a person weighing nearly 100kg can be lifted so easily.

It wasn’t even a post-season victory, but before I knew it, my body was lifted, and the other players started a celebratory toss.

“No, wait!! Wait a minute!! Ah, what’s with the celebratory toss!! No!!”

I was so embarrassed.

A perfect game is a great record, but a celebratory toss on the mound? You do that when you win a championship. We just had a sweep, guys.

[Rookie pitcher Choi Soo-won!! Achieves the first perfect game in KBO history!!]

[Monster!! Just a monster!!! A fastball with a maximum speed of 162.9km/h!! Overwhelming pitching that turns the batter’s bat away!!]

[Marines sweep against the Dolphins for the first time in 4 years and 1 month!!]

[Perfect in both pitching and hitting!! Monster rookie Choi Soo-won in his first year as a pro!!]

“I guess we can’t get an interview, right?”

“No, it seems difficult during the season.”

“But we can at least do a phone interview, right?”

“That’s already scheduled for a video interview with a news channel at 8 AM tomorrow…”

“What? A news channel? Hey. We’re MBS Evening News, a public broadcasting station. And we lost to a news channel?”

“No, it’s just that Choi Soo-won has been close to the Korea Daily News since before…”

“Still, contact Choi Soo-won again right away. No, wait. He’s just a rookie. The Marines’ PR team is in charge, right? Tell the sports desk to talk to their team leader. We’ll give them a whole segment.”

“Senior, that’s…”

“Ah, what.”

“I already contacted the PR team. Choi Soo-won’s agency already exists separately…”

“What?”

***

“We’re getting a lot of offers for entertainment shows and various programs after the season, and the same goes for advertisements.”

“Please put everything on hold for now. Oh, as I mentioned before, if you’re using game footage or existing images for advertisements, please send them to me separately, and I’ll review them. The same goes for deepfakes.”

“Even if we put aside entertainment shows and broadcasts, the amount of money involved in advertisements is significant. Wouldn’t it be okay to do a schedule that uses one day of rest? The amount you used this time wasn’t small either.”

“No, I don’t have time to worry about that right now. I want to focus on the season as much as possible. Anyway, I don’t lack money now, and making money by filming commercials now is nothing compared to making great achievements and going to the United States.”

“I see.”

“Oh, is it more beneficial for you, lawyer, if I earn more money while I’m in Korea?”

Kim Tae-geun’s expression slightly hardened, and he shook his head.

“No, not at all. And that last statement was a bit rude. As I said before, I’m a capable lawyer. If I only thought about money, I’d rather focus on my work than worry about this.”

“Ah, I’m sorry. I was a bit sensitive after finishing the game, so I didn’t realize it.”

“No, it’s great.”

“Yes? What is?”

“That you apologize right away. It’s more important than you think, and it’s really hard to do it right. If you just keep doing that, it will really help you in your career as a player.”

“Is that so?”

Am I too young?

Kim Tae-geun apologized to me right away, as if he realized something from my question.

“I’m sorry. I crossed the line this time.”

“No, it’s okay. Perhaps because you showed me an example, the advice you gave me seems to be firmly engraved in my mind.”

After finishing the game in Suwon on Sunday, the team bus headed straight to Busan.

However, the manager gave me a special day off, a privilege that rookies rarely receive.

Of course, since it was a Sunday appearance, there was no training on Monday, but it was customary for junior players to come to the stadium anyway.

“You’ve come all this way, so see your father, say hello, and come back.”

Perhaps this was a reward for the perfect game I recorded.

And of course, I didn’t refuse that reward. I had a lot of things to take care of since I had a perfect game anyway.

“What about what I asked you for?”

“Ah, fortunately, I knew someone in that area, so it was easily resolved. The condition is that you always wear the watch we provide when you appear in the media while playing in the KBO.”

“It seems like you pulled some strings?”

“I just used some tricks because their conditions were too poor.”

Popular models of luxury watches are hard to get, even if you have money.

Of course, you could get models that don’t have good value for money at any time, but that was a bit difficult with my current financial situation.

So I casually asked my lawyer, and he brought me the results in less than a day.

“Fortunately, the items that came in yesterday hadn’t been distributed to each store, so I was able to take them out. Oh, I allowed the advertisement using the game photos as you mentioned in advance.”

Actually, there was no need to go this far.

Originally, it was a tradition to give the catcher a luxury watch when you pitched a perfect game. But this game would have been absolutely impossible without Jo Yu-jin, Lee Joo-hyuk, and Kang Ra-on.

Nine watches.

One is a sponsored item that I always have to wear when doing interviews, according to the contract. Another is the same product, which I’m giving to Jo Yu-jin as a gift. And the remaining seven are popular models made of the same brand’s steel material, a bit cheaper, but so popular that it was hard to get them unless you were a VIP who bought hundreds of millions of dollars worth of gold watches.

I got a bit of a discount on the condition that I become an advertising model, but it was still ridiculously expensive, so about 20% of my contract money disappeared to buy these eight watches. But I didn’t regret it at all.

The first perfect game in KBO history.

It definitely had that much value.

***

“Soo-won, what is this? Huh? A gold watch? Ah, that perfect game… I appreciate it, but… A gold watch is a bit much for my age… If you were going to buy me one, I’d rather have an Apple Watch Pro Max… Huh? But what? The seniors’ ones are prettier?”

Ha…

I wish someone would explain luxury to Jo Yu-jin.