The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 278

278. The Dignity of a Starter (1)

The three-game series against the Boston Red Sox went smoothly.

Well, someone once said:

Baseball is a game where you fight three times, win once, lose once, and the remaining game determines the victory or defeat.

In that sense, the Yankees versus Boston Red Sox game was indeed ‘baseball.’

If the first game was a pitching duel between two aces, the second game was a slugfest where hitters battered ace-level pitchers. Yes, in the second game, we swung our bats with serious power.

Was Gerrit Cole’s pitching bad?

No. This 37-year-old man, standing at 6’4″ and weighing 242 lbs, used his unique, rugged form to deliver a fastball averaging 94 mph, topping out at 97 mph, and skillfully mixed four different pitches to face the Boston hitters.

But the Boston hitters were just good.

And it wasn’t like Boston’s second starter, Tanner Houck, didn’t pitch well either.

Just three years ago, he was known as the right-handed Chris Sale on days when his control was sharp, and unreliable on days when it wasn’t.

But that’s all in the past. Since regaining his control starting two years ago, he’s considered a solid third starter for a contender team, and a pitcher who could reliably perform as a second starter on most teams.

-Clang!!!

[Hit! Jose Trevino! A fast hit! To left-center! It’s a hit!]

[The Yankees hitters are in great form overall today. They’re perfectly demonstrating what a ‘fiery bat’ is against Tanner Houck, a pitcher with a 3.71 ERA last year.]

[Now, runners on 1st and 3rd. Anthony Volpe at the plate! Anthony Volpe steps up.]

But our team’s hitters were just as formidable.

Yesterday, Juan Montero, a league ace-level pitcher, was in top condition, so we didn’t show very impressive performance, but in reality, our batting lineup was also in pretty good shape.

If we gave up 1 run, we’d get 2 back, and if we gave up 2 runs, we’d get 3 back. It was a thrilling game for the spectators watching live.

11:8.

That’s how the bottom of the 9th inning never came in the second game.

[Choi Su-won, 3 hits in 5 at-bats (1 double)! Overwhelming hitting ability!]

[Brian Cashman: ‘I’ve been saying it since before the season, Swan doesn’t need proof or adaptation. He’s already the hitter with the most home runs in the world, and all he needs is the opportunity to swing his bat freely.’ ]

[Choi Su-won to miss the 3rd game! Is it an injury?]

[Anthony Volpe responds to the smear campaign in public opinion via SNS [Social Networking Service]. ‘Nonsense! Swan is very healthy.’ ]

“Manager! There are rumors about Choi Su-won’s absence today, suggesting it might be due to an injury. What are your thoughts on this?”

“First of all, it’s definitely not an injury. He’s not feeling unwell either. It’s just that he’s still a rookie player and has a lot to prepare, so we’re giving him a day off.”

“He has a batting average of over .500 for two consecutive games and is hitting a long ball every game. Is it really necessary to give him a day off right now when his hitting is on fire?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Ah, is that related to Choi Su-won’s two-way player aspirations? Is he scheduled to pitch in the bullpen today?”

“Well, we’re always open to the possibility.”

[Two-way player finally starting? Choi Su-won to appear in the bullpen in the 3rd game?]

[Why put a two-way prospect who throws 101 mph at the age of 20 in the bullpen? Especially someone who has already proven his skills by playing a full season as a starter in Korea? Unintelligible remarks from manager Jeff Clark!]

[What are the chances of Choi Su-won starting in the 4th game?]

[Choi Su-won has already proven himself as a hitter! Now, all that’s left is to prove himself as a pitcher!]

In the case of the third game, my name was excluded from the starting lineup. And this went beyond a tempest in a teapot, becoming a really hot topic everywhere. Of course, Korea was no exception. The main news on portal sites was plastered with it, and various communities, even those not focused on baseball, were buzzing with related topics. This was thanks to my outstanding performance in the previous two games.

Well, thanks to that, Jeff Clark also got the title of ‘fool,’ a title that every manager gets at least once.

But what I could really feel was the noise from the New York media. Unlike Korean media companies, which have only about ten correspondents, here there were paparazzi and a truly enormous scale.

“It’s because you beat up Boston so badly. If you went to Boston right now and went out alone at night, you might even get shot.”

“They’d go that far to help the Yankees win?”

“No, they might not know you’re Choi Su-won, but they might shoot you because you look like Choi Su-won and they’re in a bad mood.”

“Haha, that’s funny.”

Of course, it was a joke. From what I’ve experienced living here for nearly 10 years, even in America, Boston, Chicago, and California are relatively safe. Those guys don’t usually carry guns around.

“Yeah, well, anyway, make sure you go with a bodyguard.”

“······.”

A joke······. Right?

Anyway, the media was buzzing, but they all knew to some extent that I was taking a break because I was confirmed to start in the next game against Tampa Bay. Nevertheless, they were making such a fuss because such sensational issues are more helpful for their traffic than such ‘boring truths.’

3rd game.

Our third starter was Dylan Lee.

Based on last year, his ERA [Earned Run Average] was 3.98. Not an impressive score. But instead, he pitched a whopping 201.1 innings. There are times when Gerrit Cole, our second starter, has shaky games due to his age, and the bullpen is mobilized, but Dylan’s solid inning-eating covers that to some extent.

And Boston’s third starter was Chris Sale.

Yes, that Chris Sale.

Nearly 6’7″ tall and weighing in at the mid-180 pounds.

When I regressed, I was 6’2″ and 180 lbs, so I was completely skinny, but Chris Sale is even more so. Even that’s after forcing himself to eat a near-binge diet to get to that weight.

Anyway, as you can see from his physique, he’s quite injury-prone, but the fact that he can maintain his starting position in the big leagues until his 39th season is because he has the skills to do so.

Ah, of course, the fiery pitching he showed before his free agency re-signing in 2034 was the biggest factor. In his 35th season, he pitched like his prime, averaging 93 mph and recording a 2.99 ERA, so it’s no surprise that Boston gave a 35-year-old pitcher a 4-year, $130 million re-signing.

And for the past 3 years.

He was once again an ordinary third-starter-level pitcher. He wasn’t a bad pitcher, but he showed results that a pitcher earning over $30 million a year shouldn’t be showing. Moreover, he only pitched 380 innings in 3 years. An average of less than 130 innings per year.

Looking at this alone, our chances of winning the third game seemed naturally high.

Perhaps the manager was thinking about that and giving me a rest to experiment with various things.

But, you see.

-Bang!!

“Strike! Out!”

There were a total of five left-handed hitters in our lineup today.

And through the 5th inning, Chris Sale struck out all of those left-handed hitters. And it wasn’t like the right-handed hitters were hitting him hard either.

Ground balls, strikeouts, fly balls to the outfield. The occasional hit.

Yes. Chris Sale, the 39-year-old veteran, showed the awakened Chris Sale from 2034 in his first game of his final free agency year.

The average fastball speed was a whopping 92.7 mph. The maximum was 98 mph. His slider was the same as in his prime, and his changeup looked like he was pulling it back in the middle.

I guarantee that Chris Sale’s performance today was much better than what Juan Montero or Domingo Rodriguez showed in the game two days ago.

At the end of the top of the 6th inning, the score was 4:0.

The only hopeful point was that this attack was starting again with Anthony Volpe, the number 1 hitter, and that this was his third at-bat. In addition, the fact that the number 1 hitter, Anthony Volpe, and the number 2 hitter, Aaron Judge, were both right-handed hitters was also a very important factor.

“Swan, get ready.”

“Yes?”

“If there’s a chance this inning, you’ll go up as a pinch hitter. Warm up a bit.”

I nodded at the words of the head coach, Harold.

Well, even though they told me to rest, there’s no reason for me not to go out if the game is going like this. And I had a feeling that would happen, so I watched Chris Sale’s pitching very carefully.

Volpe persistently followed his pitching.

In Sale’s case, as a left-handed three-quarter pitcher, his four-seam fastball flows tremendously to the outside from a right-handed hitter’s perspective, and his slider naturally comes sharply inside. Of course, there is a weakness. Instead of insane horizontal movement······.

-Clang!!!

[Ah!! A slightly mis-hit ball!! First baseman Tristan Casas easily catches it and throws it to Chris Sale!!]

“Out!!”

Instead, his changeup has considerable vertical movement, making it very tricky.

[One out, no runners. Aaron Judge at the plate!! Aaron Judge steps up. A strikeout and a walk in previous at-bats. Still no hits.]

It was very cautious pitching, as most pitchers do.

A different approach from Anthony Volpe, who stubbornly followed and then threw a changeup into the zone, thinking, ‘Oh well.’ It’s the textbook mindset of pitchers facing home run hitters.

Of course, just having that textbook mindset doesn’t necessarily lead to textbook-perfect results.

-Clang!!

The fourth one.

A pitch that seemed to be a mistake, right down the middle.

Aaron Judge’s bat caught the ball perfectly.

The ball stretched out.

Aaron Judge ran. He looks slow because of his large frame, but he’s subtly not slow. Past first base and onto second.

Masataka Yoshida caught the ball that fell in left-center and threw it strongly towards second base.

-Bang!!

But the throw was slightly high.

“Safe!!!”

The umpire’s hands stretched out.

One out, runner on 2nd.

Finally, a scoring opportunity.

But instead of using me here, the manager put Tyler Wade at the plate. Although he had struck out in two consecutive at-bats in today’s game, he was the hitter who had hit the second-best after me in the past two games, so it seemed like he was hoping for something.

But it was a wrong expectation.

-Whoosh!!

“Strike! Out!!”

[Chris Sale!! He’s really fierce. He’s truly invincible against left-handed hitters in today’s game.]

[Already 12 strikeouts so far. An average of over 2 strikeouts per inning.]

Two outs, runner on 2nd.

The next hitter is Jake Domingo. The team believes that he will grow into at least an All-Star-level player in the long term.

“Swan.”

But a long-term perspective is a long-term perspective.

Right now, he’s a hitter with a .250 average and an OPS [On-Base Plus Slugging] of just over .8, and he’s also a left-handed hitter, so he’s struck out in every at-bat in today’s game.

[Ah!! The Yankees dugout!! A pinch hitter!! It’s a pinch hitter. The hitter is?]

[Number 0!! Choi Su-won!! It’s Choi Su-won. Ah, he’s finally coming out. As I’ve said repeatedly, Jeff should have replaced Swan earlier. There’s no reason to leave five left-handed hitters in the lineup when Chris Sale is showing this kind of performance against left-handed hitters. Even with the hottest right-handed hitter currently in the dugout. If in today’s game······. No. I’ll stop here.]

[Haha, did you see that, everyone? Sterling seems to have finally learned ‘restraint’.]

How’s your condition?

Of course, it was good.

However, since it wasn’t a start today and I had only been doing the pitching routine in preparation for my starting debut in two days, I felt a bit out of sync.

But baseball is a game where you play 162 games a year, and this condition is nothing compared to when I sprained my ankle at the end of the season and still played.

Chris Sale on the mound glared at me.

A 39-year-old veteran.

But I already know that if a veteran of that age suddenly explodes in condition and shows his prime performance for one game, it’s even scarier.

The arm whips in like a whip.

It’s very effective because it’s long and thin.

It was a fastball on a tricky course.

A slider? A four-seam fastball?

The human eye can’t judge the difference of just 10 mph with speed. And if that speed is around 96 mph, you can’t even watch the ball until the end and swing. Moreover, Chris Sale’s slider was once rated 70 on the 20-80 scale [a common scouting scale for evaluating baseball players], so its tunneling section is also very long.

So, just swing thinking the first pitch is a four-seam fastball.

Anyway, the pitch that the pitcher throws the most is the four-seam fastball.

-Clang!!!

A really clean hit.

The ball I was aiming for came perfectly to the course I was aiming for. The pitcher’s thoughts and my thoughts coincided.

The ball stretched out.

This, well, there was nothing to see.

Season’s 2nd home run.

This time too, it was a 2-RBI [Runs Batted In] home run, and Aaron Judge was still in front of me. The only slight difference was that he started from 2nd base, so he didn’t block me.

[Choi Su-won!! 2 home runs in just 3 games!!]

[Choi Su-won’s clean home run dismisses health concerns!!]

[Appearing as a pinch hitter in the 6th inning and hitting the first pitch hard!! Choi Su-won records a two-run home run to chase the game!!]

[Yankees lose a close game 6:3!!]

[Jeff Clark’s mistake? 2 at-bats, 1 hit, 1 home run in the game. What would the result have been if he had been in the game from the start?]