The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 185

Pitcher hitting home runs – 185

185. Leading (8)

Wow…

Huge.

That was my first thought when I saw the batted ball.

And then I realized I had been too complacent.

I had some success against Chanmin hyung [older brother or close male friend in Korean] in the previous game with fastballs and changeups. His weakness was against pitchers with good fastballs and changeups.

But that’s only true when both the fastball and changeup are above a certain level. I don’t know what happened, but he read my changeup perfectly and was probably expecting it from the start.

Lee Juhyuk stopped running.

A massive home run that landed deep in the outfield.

[Jung Chanmin!! Home run!! It’s a home run!! A huge home run that clears the fence!! Top of the 1st. One out. The Braves score first.]

[That changeup was a bit flat. Choi Suwon’s usual pitching repertoire is mostly fastballs and curves, and he occasionally mixes in changeups or sliders for some variety. It usually works well, but he was a bit unlucky today.]

[Actually, even though it’s called a changeup, his changeup averages around 140km/h, which is like a fastball for most players. If it comes in flat, it’s an easy pitch to hit.]

[So, the Marines are off to a slightly shaky start in the top of the 1st, as they aim to reclaim the league lead for the first time in 15 years. But it’s too early to be disappointed. It’s only the top of the 1st. The Marines’ offense hasn’t even started yet.]

I lost some momentum.

My hopes for a perfect game, a no-hitter, and a shutout were all dashed in the top of the 1st. But there was still something important left.

Victory.

I fiddled with the ball that Joyou handed me.

Chanmin hyung, who slightly irritated me by leisurely circling the bases, returned to the dugout, and the Braves’ number 3 hitter stepped up to the plate.

His confident face was annoying.

First pitch.

Outside.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike!!”

My command faltered.

As a result, the ball drifted too much towards the center. It feels like the ball is generally drifting towards the right-handed batter’s box today. If that’s the case, I need to aim even further outside to get the ball outside…

Second pitch.

Ah…

For a moment, the ball slipped out of my hand as I tried to correct it at the last second.

A ridiculously wild pitch.

Is it a passed ball?

-Thwack!

Jo Yujin stretched out her arm and caught the ball. It was a truly amazing reflex.

I unconsciously gave her a thumbs up.

“Okay, okay, take a deep breath and stay calm, Suwon.”

And Jo Yujin is even giving me advice, what’s up with that?

Strangely, I felt reassured.

Third pitch.

Joyou called for a curveball that drops sharply.

‘No.’

She wants me to throw a curveball into the middle because my fastball command isn’t great right now, but I don’t want to. It feels like I’m running away.

I felt like I should be challenging them with fastballs in this situation.

Joyou sent me a new sign in response to my headshake.

‘High inside fastball.’

As expected, she’s perfect. She reads my mind perfectly.

I nodded once and immediately went into my pitching motion.

There was nothing wrong with my body.

There was nothing wrong with the balls I threw before the game.

So, the important thing now is belief.

Just a strong belief in the power of my pitches.

From the windup to the stride. And the smooth cocking that follows.

My fingertips gripped the ball tightly.

-Thwack!!!

The 160.1km/h fastball, aimed deep inside, grazed the outside edge of the zone perfectly.

“Strike!!”

Joyou catches this one well too.

[The ball came in on a very precise course. The count is 1-2. Choi Suwon doesn’t seem too shaken despite giving up a home run.]

[Choi Suwon often shows a level of composure that’s hard to believe for a rookie, and his response in this crisis is one example of that.]

Wow, this is a big problem.

Is it a conditioning issue? Or is something wrong with my pitching form?

The balls that were going in well during practice are suddenly a mess.

Fourth pitch.

Joyou called for another curveball. She signaled that it was okay if it bounced, as long as I threw a curveball that dropped as much as possible.

The count is 1-2.

I nodded.

Yeah, striking out with a breaking ball is the classic way to pitch.

This isn’t running away. This is for real.

-Whoosh!!!

“Strike!! Out!!”

Fortunately, the curveball went in relatively well, as I wanted it to.

***

“Did Hamin warm up today?”

“Yes, he was originally scheduled to start, so I thought it would be better to have him go through his routine as usual rather than have him rest completely. He went through a light version of his pre-start routine so that he wouldn’t have any problems pitching tomorrow.”

“So, he’s not stiff. Send him to the bullpen now.”

“Huh? But Hamin’s next game is…”

Manager Kim Daecheol cut off the head coach’s question.

“Even if he warms up a bit more in the bullpen, he can rest tomorrow since it’s Monday and there’s no game. And even if he goes to the mound today, Myeonghun was originally scheduled to pitch on Tuesday anyway. Do I really have to explain all this to you?”

“Ah, no, sir!!”

There’s always a big crisis before something big happens.

It’s perfectly possible for a pitcher who has been doing well consistently this season to suddenly lose control. Besides, the pitcher who was supposed to pitch yesterday had his routine disrupted by having an extra day to warm up. Even among veteran major league starters, there are cases where they perform worse when given an extra day of rest. Choi Suwon is only nineteen years old at best.

So, I wasn’t shaken.

The team gets stronger every time we overcome these crises.

Besides, the guy on the mound right now is actually more reliable when he’s holding a bat than when he’s wearing a glove on the mound.

-Clack!!!

[A fast ground ball!! But Kang Raon smoothly fields it and throws to 2nd!! At 2nd!!]

“Out!!!!”

[Out!! It’s an out!! Top of the 1st, 1:0. With 2 outs and a runner on 1st, the inning ends by catching the runner. The game continues with the Marines’ offense in the bottom of the 1st.]

***

“Suwon, your curveball is good today, so let’s focus on that.”

“Okay.”

Choi Suwon’s expression was a bit sulky.

Jo Yujin unconsciously raised the corners of her mouth. His personality is really like a little kid. To put it nicely, it means he’s honest and doesn’t hide his feelings. It was obvious. He doesn’t like the current situation.

People are enthusiastic about Choi Suwon’s absurd speed of throwing 160km/h, but Jo Yujin saw Choi Suwon’s real strength as his consistent control. The control to throw at least 8 or 9 out of 10 pitches into the zone is actually a very good level of control. Of course, there are some pitchers who use the zone itself differently, but it’s too much to ask a pitcher who throws 160 to do that.

And if you add the fact that there are almost no ups and downs, it can be seen as a fraudulent level beyond a good level.

‘No, strictly speaking, it wasn’t that there were no ups and downs. It was more fraudulent because there was only up and no down.’

He pitches even better on good days, but he puts 8 out of 10 pitches in the zone even on bad days? You have to ask if he’s human, beyond a fraudulent level. But fortunately, seeing what he’s doing today, it seems like he’s human.

Even pitchers with three or four pitches have some pitches that are good and some that are bad depending on the day. That’s why the pitching repertoire changes, and there are days when they’re on, and days when they fail.

So, today is just a day when he’s not on, like other pitchers. And it’s a day when he has to pitch mainly with curveballs.

Today, the Braves’ starting pitcher, Jo Changhyuk, walked onto the ground.

The arrogant appearance he shows on the mound and the honestly revealed expressions are strangely similar to Choi Suwon.

“Hey, Suwon. Don’t cry. Stop!! What are you going to do if you’re going to cry like that because you gave up 1 point? I’ll get all the points back, so wait here.”

“Ah, who’s crying? And Sunbae [senior/mentor in Korean] Jung Hoon, don’t talk to me when you go to the plate from now on.”

“Huh? What? Are you drawing a line with me now? Between us? This hyung [older brother or close male friend in Korean] is hurt?”

“No, it’s not that, but if you go quietly without saying anything, you sometimes hit, but if you go out with such grand words, you always strike out or hit into a double play. Honestly, isn’t this a routine by now?”

“Hey, a routine isn’t like that, uh? Anyway, it’s different. If you say such ominous superstitions, you’ll get bad luck, so quickly spit three times and watch carefully. I’ll completely smash your ridiculous ominous superstition this time.”

Lee Junghoon, who used to be a cheerful hyung who played well, has become a slightly handsome and slick neighborhood idiot hyung since he quit drinking, bickered with Choi Suwon for a while and took his bat to the plate.

‘If we win today’s game, we’ll regain the lead for the first time in 15 years.’

The Marines won the game two days ago, but the Dolphins also had an unexpected come-from-behind victory, so they didn’t take first place. And that heavy word ’15 years’ that Sunbae Gyuman said at the dinner party where Choi Suwon was absent after that day’s game had been heavily embedded in the hearts of the players from yesterday’s rain cancellation to today.

And they gave up the first run in the top of the 1st.

Everyone felt that Choi Suwon’s pitching, which had never been ‘greatly’ shaken throughout this season, was ‘greatly’ faltering. And that heaviness grew a little more.

But now, Jo Yujin was watching the conversation between the two and somehow felt that the heaviness that had grown was decreasing a little.

And the waiting batter’s box.

Kang Raon stared at the scoreboard, blocking out all the conversations.

Is he looking at the number 1:0, which is written largely on the scoreboard now?

No, it’s not.

Kang Raon was looking beyond that 1:0.

A home game.

The fans filling Sajik Stadium.

Regaining first place for the first time in 15 years.

The fireworks that will decorate the sky.

And someone’s come-from-behind home run that decided everything.

Good offense tends to follow good defense.

He saw that possibility in his eyes.

Lee Junghoon in the batter’s box waited for Jo Changhyuk’s first pitch.

The strongest among domestic pitchers.

No, honestly, the durability to consistently eat up more than 180 innings a year and the speed of 157.1km/h, which is the average speed for the season, is enough to compete for the strongest even among foreign pitchers.

There’s a reason why Major League teams are trying to take him.

But so what.

Choi Suwon, who throws an even faster ball than Jo Changhyuk, was hit for two hits in the 1st inning today, one of which was a home run, and is frowning like that.

First pitch.

A 156.9km/h fastball.

-Whoosh!!

A clean swing and a miss.

“I knew that sunbae would do that.”

Ah, never mind, what did I say? Forget it.

For sure, a 157km/h ball is something.

Lee Junghoon stepped away from the plate for a moment and took a deep breath.

But is it impossible to hit?

‘No way.’

Lee Junghoon, who is said to be the second most handsome man in the team, stood tall in the batter’s box again.

In a slightly smaller stance than before.