The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 29

29. Development (5)

“Hey, over there.”

“Yes?”

“No, at 9 o’clock. The center seat behind the catcher. Don’t stare too obviously; it’s embarrassing. Just angle the camera slightly.”

“Oh!? An old foreign man? His face looks familiar…”

*Tsk.*

Kang Byeong-gu, a scout in his 13th year, clicked his tongue. *These kids these days.*

“Someone working in this field can’t *not* know Jimmy Palmer.”

“Jimmy Palmer…! Ah!! The MLB Scout of the Year Award’s most frequent winner!!”

Ordinary people, or even those who know a bit about baseball, might not know him well. But Jimmy Palmer has been working in baseball for 40 years and once ran an independent league. He’s a legendary figure in this field.

Especially during his career peak in the mid-2000s, he won the Scout of the Year Award three years in a row. More recently, he was known for his report on Shohei Ohtani. It was almost the only report among those written by MLB scouts when Ohtani had just entered NPB [Nippon Professional Baseball, Japan’s highest level of baseball] that positively considered the possibility of a two-way player.

“He must be here to see Choi Su-won, right? Could he be considering the two-way potential?”

“Who knows? That guy did see some success with the Ohtani report… Besides, Choi Su-won recently threw up to 156 km/h [approximately 97 mph], so it’s not entirely impossible. A 156 km/h fastball at his age—if he builds his body properly—there’s a chance he could throw even faster. These days, the MLB standard isn’t like the old days where a 156 km/h fastball would get an 80-point score, but still, a 156 km/h fastball would get at least 70 points.”

“But Choi Su-won is a bit lacking outside of his velocity. It seems like his control, which wasn’t great to begin with, has gotten even worse since he focused on increasing his speed. Oh, and come to think of it, Ahn Byeong-yeong is a bit like that today too.”

I hadn’t paid much attention because his velocity was so low, but his speed, which used to be around 130 km/h [approximately 81 mph], is now around 133 km/h [approximately 83 mph]. Today’s top speed is a whopping 134.8 km/h [approximately 84 mph]. It’s still far below the KBO [Korea Baseball Organization] average of 141.3 km/h [approximately 88 mph] last year, but the fact that his average speed has increased so much overnight means something is definitely up.

“How’s Ahn Byeong-yeong’s control today?”

“Well… If you look at Ahn Byeong-yeong’s record, there aren’t many impressive stats, but he hasn’t given up many walks in the past two years. Considering that, his control definitely feels a lot more messed up today.”

“Do you have any data other than the record sheet?”

“No, we decided to drop him after his growth completely stopped after his first year of high school.”

Increased velocity. Decreased control. And the same team.

Could this be a simple coincidence? No way.

“Start checking up on Ahn Byeong-yeong from today.”

“What? But our team’s draft strategy for this season is pretty much set. That guy…”

“Idiot. Who said we’re going to take Ahn Byeong-yeong? I’m saying check him out because his style suddenly changed. For reference.”

“Ugh, you know I’m already busy enough with the draft coming up, barely able to leave work.”

He grumbles, but his hands move busily. It means he understood what I meant. It might be good data to infer Choi Su-won’s recent pitching record, which is almost nonexistent. Of course, it’s more likely that it won’t be. But that’s how this industry is. Above all, the higher-ups are in a frenzy trying to find data to promote Choi Su-won, so a hint of a two-way player would be a perfect fit.

Baek Ha-min on the mound threw the ball.

***

One, two, three, four.

-*Bang!!*

A slider that slightly misses the zone.

Baek Ha-min frowned slightly. It must mean that he thought the umpire should have called it a strike.

And the second.

One, two, three, fou…

-*Bang!!*

“Strike!!”

So, the timing of the fastball and high-speed slider is roughly like this? I sat in the dugout and watched Baek Ha-min’s pitching for quite a while. He’s definitely a talented pitcher. To have completed a pitch he didn’t even know how to use just three months ago to this extent.

But it wasn’t enough. It’s a matter of experience. Cheonnam High School was a prestigious school, but it seems they lacked the capacity to guide players in such detail.

The third.

Baek Ha-min wound up big.

It’s a high-speed slider.

I knew in advance what kind of ball was coming, I was familiar with the trajectory of the ball, and I perfectly grasped the timing.

-*Clang!!*

The perfectly pulled hit went over the fence again.

Certainly, Baek Ha-min was an easy pitcher for me to face right now. He keeps coming at me head-on with pitches that are just right to hit. What I like most is his tenacity.

His eyes are still alive, glaring at me. They’re a little moist, as if he’s holding back tears, but in my experience, guys who have such resentful feelings to the point of tears often grow bigger the more often they have those feelings.

I lightly circled the ground and returned to the dugout.

The score is now 2:2.

So, like back then, Baek Ha-min completely tied up our hitters today, and the only points were the two home runs I made. Mung-gae was a little better than before, but that was only thanks to the defense’s hard work, not Mung-gae’s skill. It was a situation where we could lose by a cold game [a game ended early due to one team having a significant lead] again at any moment.

“Sunbae [an honorific term for a senior or mentor], gather the hitters for a moment.”

“Huh? Why?”

“I found something out.”

“Found something out?”

And in that sense, now that I’ve confirmed what I’ve found out, it’s time to share it with the team.

***

Top of the 4th inning, one out, no runners.

Jo Gyu-hyeok’s at-bat came around.

The numbers on the scoreboard were 2:3.

Even if we ignore the 3 in the back, the 2 in the front was an embarrassingly small number. It was even more so because he had experienced a similar situation in the first half of the season.

If Jo Gyu-hyeok himself had shown the appearance of a 4th batter in that game… If we had won that game… We would have been able to participate in the Wangjungwangjeon [a prestigious high school baseball tournament] in the first half, and we would have received a seed in the Wangjungwangjeon in the second half, making it a little easier to play the game.

Baek Ha-min was visible on the mound.

He’s really an amazing guy. It seems like there wasn’t much difference in Little League, but at some point, when I came to my senses, that guy was the ace of the prestigious Cheonnam High School, reserving a top pick in the first round of the draft, and Jo Gyu-hyeok himself was in a position where he might not even be able to be drafted.

‘Hoo…’

I took a light breath.

I recalled the story that Su-won told me after finishing his at-bat last inning.

“The slider is tricky, but he has a habit.”

“A habit?”

“Yes, maybe because he has a strong desire to throw it quickly, his upper body rotates more during the leg lifting stage right after the windup when throwing a slider than when throwing a fastball. So, if you look at it, if his left shoulder rotates a little deeper like that, it’s a slider. And if it’s normal, it’s a fastball. Well, something like that. Oh, and the timing of the ball coming is roughly ‘one, two, three and a half’ for the fastball. And ‘one, two, three, four’ for the slider.”

I thought it was a really great hint.

But Hyeon-cheol, the 3rd batter who is still quite good at hitting on the team, shook his head as he cleanly retreated with a ground ball to the infield.

“Hey, I can’t see anything.”

The first.

Baek Ha-min entered the windup.

I stared intently at his left shoulder.

It seemed deep.

I felt it.

It’s a slider that goes out of the full outside course zone!!

-*Bang!!*

“Strike!!!”

The umpire’s hand went up.

Ball count 0-1.

It wasn’t a slider, but a fastball on the full outside course.

‘Hoo…’

I briefly stepped out of the plate and recalled the image from just now.

So, if he turns his body this deeply, it means it’s a fastball. Then a slider means he turns a little more from here.

Okay.

The second.

This time, it was a similar course. But it was a ball that came in a little more inside. His left shoulder didn’t look much different from before. Then it’s a fastball.

I swung my bat with all my might at the timing that Su-won told me.

One, two, three…

-*Clang!!*

A timing that seemed at least half a beat faster. I hit the fastball, but the bat was pushed back. The first baseman ran quickly into the foul territory. But fortunately, the ball barely went over the infield stands on the first base side.

Ball count 0-2.

I predicted a fastball, but I couldn’t hit it properly.

He’s definitely a difficult pitcher. But still, I see potential. Like Su-won said, the depth of his body’s rotation is different.

And the third.

A course that wasn’t much different from the second. The form was also similar. Does that mean he doesn’t need to take out the slider against me?

I’ll make you regret it.

Half a beat faster than before.

Jo Gyu-hyeok swung his bat big.

– *Whoosh!!!*

“Strike!! Out!!!”

A clean three-pitch strikeout.

“…”

The timing was fast, and even the baseball flowed outward as if avoiding the bat.

High-speed slider.

I perfectly understood what Hyeon-cheol meant when he said he couldn’t see anything.

No, what about the left shoulder?

An overwhelming level of difference.

Is this what talent that goes to the pros is like?

Jo Gyu-hyeok shook his head.

That can’t be. Not all pros can be monsters like that. It’s just that Baek Ha-min is the owner of absurd talent, and Choi Su-won is a monster that can’t even be defined by that.

Jo Gyu-hyeok said to Park Gyeong-seok, who was entering the plate after him.

“Hey, I can’t see anything.”

Baek Ha-min perfectly cooked the hitters of Jungang High School.

***

I was hoping that at least one would come out, but I was a little disappointed. Personally, I thought that if Gyu-hyeok sunbae could just swing his bat well, matching the timing, even if he couldn’t distinguish the pitches, he could at least create a hit that would break through the infield, but he cleanly finished his second at-bat with a three-pitch strikeout.

Mung-gae’s words that it doesn’t matter if the pitcher’s ball is only fast and Timon’s words that no matter how amazing the changeup is, it’s not as good as throwing a 150 km/h [approximately 93 mph] ball seemed to be sincere.

Mung-gae steadily sent out hitters and steadily gave up runs. Still, the fact that he’s barely holding on is thanks to the fact that his curve is quite powerful.

After the end of the 5th inning, he gave up 5 runs. In terms of ERA [Earned Run Average, a measure of a pitcher’s effectiveness], it’s in the 9s, but I felt proud that he managed to hold on this much.

And the beginning of the 6th inning.

It was my turn again.

Ah, of course, there’s someone more in front of me, but it’s virtually nonexistent, so there’s no need to calculate it.

I stood in the on-deck circle and thought for a moment.

So, if I hit another solo home run here, it’ll be 3:5. The problem is that the next pitcher is Jin-woo sunbae. This sunbae is a really good person, but his skills aren’t very good. Maybe we’ll have another cold game today…

-*Clang!!*

Huh?

Top of the 6th inning.

Jo Yu-jin, who was so insignificant as a hitter that I counted him as a nonexistent hitter, recorded an infield hit.

No, I definitely expected at least one, but…

Jo Yu-jin, who I didn’t expect even an iota of hitting from, had this kind of sense?

6th inning, no outs, first base.

It’s still very meager, but finally, something that can be called a table has been set in front of me.