The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 30

Jo Yoo-jin smirked at me from first base.

The way he mouthed seemed to say that what I told him was helpful.

Well, considering his ability to block balls that suddenly drop, his dynamic visual acuity and reflexes couldn’t be bad. It’s just that his bizarre batting stance, where he thinks about running to first base before swinging the bat, is a bit of a problem.

But whatever. It helped today.

Baek Ha-min on the mound looked a little confused. Yeah, even if it were me, being hit by a guy swinging with such an awkward batting form wouldn’t be very pleasant.

Even geniuses are just high schoolers.

It’s common in the pros. Like thinking you’re going to do something big today, but getting hammered from the first inning and coming down, or overcoming all the difficult moments but suddenly getting reversed by a random home run from the ninth batter. That’s possible because, anyway, coming to the pros means you were at least someone who did well in high school.

But the high school level is a bit different.

The level difference is truly huge. Baek Ha-min being hit by Jo Yoo-jin is, to put it a bit exaggeratedly, as big of a shock as me striking out swinging against Baek Ha-min.

Baek Ha-min bit his lower lip hard.

What choice will he, and Cheonnam High, make here?

A walk?

Or a showdown?

His gaze briefly looked at his team’s dugout.

And after nodding once, he glared at me. Wow, this is such a cliché from a shonen manga [Japanese manga/comics targeting young teen male audience] that it’s giving me goosebumps. But apart from that, you have to say that a prestigious school is a prestigious school. They know what’s really important.

Of course, if this game were a tournament like the King of Kings or a game to compete for entry into the King of Kings, then of course the important thing is winning or losing the game. But all that’s at stake in today’s game is just the titles that go to individual players.

The coach of Cheonnam High chose to let him ‘experience’ me.

Well, not bad. Considering the way he’s been showing up until now, it’s certain that he’s the type that gets stronger the more he gets hit. Just like before regression, when I got up like an O뚜기 [Ottogi, a brand of roly-poly toy, implying resilience] every time I got hit and threw the ball even harder, eventually breaking.

Jo Yoo-jin slowly widened his lead.

Baek Ha-min wound up big. Rather than taking a set position out of concern for the steal, his will to concentrate on the match with me came strongly.

Yeah, I know your will well.

The shoulder was a little deeper. It’s a high-speed slider.

The course is a line that barely grazes in the zone.

I stopped my bat.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!!”

The guy on the mound clenched his right fist as if he had struck out.

Yeah, he must be as happy as striking out an ordinary batter to get the first strike against me. I fully understand. Even if it’s clearly a ball that’s out of the zone.

If this were the big leagues and I were Choi Swan, the umpire would have doubted his own eyes and hesitated to call a strike on my bat that I didn’t swing. But well, this is Korea and I’m just an eighteen-year-old high school student. I didn’t bother looking at the umpire.

I lightly readjusted my helmet with my left hand and tapped my head twice. Then, I gripped the bat strongly twice with my right hand, tapped the home plate once, and straightened my posture.

Baek Ha-min’s body wound up greatly.

The left shoulder goes in even deeper. At that moment, Jo Yoo-jin, who was slowly widening his lead, quickly ran towards second base.

The high-speed slider thrown with all his might flew in.

It was definitely fast. So fast that the only ball I’ve faced since I regressed here that’s faster than this slider is the fastball Baek Ha-min threw.

So, this ball was at a speed that was perfect for me to hit, and because he did his best with the speed, the angle of change and the course were not as good as the previous ball. If I had to classify it, it was a hanging slider.

-Clang!!

I could tell without even looking at the result.

It was a perfect hit at almost perfect timing. 100% over. The point of curiosity is not whether it will go over the fence, but whether it can clear the net outside there.

The upper part of the net beyond the right fence.

Unfortunately, the batted ball did not clear the net. Certainly, with this body, it’s very difficult to hit an out-of-the-park home run no matter how well I hit a good ball.

Jo Yoo-jin, who stole second base with all his might, finally shook off his dirty uniform and awkwardly ran towards third base. Meaningless steal. No, in fact, the steal itself didn’t count because I hit the ball, but anyway, it wasn’t a bad play for him personally. Even though his batting is that way, it wouldn’t be bad to impress the scouts that he’s not just a catcher who can only defend, but also a catcher who can run the bases.

Baek Ha-min looked at me with those unnecessarily large eyes. His eyes looked moist, like he was about to cry. I felt like I was bullying a kid for no reason, so I quickly turned the base.

4:5.

The game is not over yet.

***

“Hmm…”

The old man stroked his stubbly chin.

Jimmy Palmer.

A scout who spent his heyday in the 90s, and until recently, when he raised his stock once again with the Otani report, the prevailing opinion was that he was past his prime. No, in fact, even now, the young guys from Ivy League who just like number crunching were belittling his senses, saying he was just lucky.

Like stupid guys.

More than that, it was a truly beautiful form.

There was a feeling that his head was shaking a little and that too much force was being applied to the pivot foot, but it was thought that it was unavoidable to create a batted ball of that size with a body that was not yet fully developed. In fact, Bryce Harper was not much different from that in middle and high school.

Suwon Choi(OF)

Hitting: 55~70(?)

Power: 70(?)

Run: ??

Fielding: ??

Arm: ??

“Is it too generous?”

After pondering for a while, the old man drew a line through the number written as 55~70 and corrected it to 50~65. Whatever the case, it’s a very generous evaluation. It meant that he could even be a starting-caliber player if he went to the big leagues right away.

The key is defense.

If he can only be used as a designated hitter, his value will inevitably be greatly reduced. In that case, it might be better to find a playable position in the minors rather than bring him up to the big leagues right away.

Of course, if that Swan kid has the same talent as Otani, the story will be different.

The game continued.

***

Mungae ended up giving up the mound to Jinwoo senior in 5.1 innings with 6 runs and one out, runners on 1st and 3rd base. Again, Jinwoo senior is a really nice person. It’s just that the ball he throws isn’t very good…

-Clang!!

“My ball!!!”

But sometimes bad balls can work. Surprisingly, Jinwoo senior blocked the 6th inning with one out, runners on 1st and 2nd base, with a double play. He even caught one strikeout in the 7th inning and finished 1.2 innings with no runs.

6th inning, runners left on 1st and 3rd base.

7th inning, runners left on 1st and 2nd base.

It was truly a dynamic defensive inning.

And contrary to the fact that he spent such a dynamic defensive inning, our attacks in the 6th and 7th innings were exactly the same without anything special to say.

Baek Ha-min completely shut down the Joongang High batters, and as a result, the score widened by one more point to 4:6.

And finally, the 8th inning came.

“Ah, that’s too bad.”

“What is?”

“No, I thought Ha-min hyung’s [older brother/male friend] ball was starting to get figured out, so I thought I’d raise today’s batting average a lot, but the pitcher is being replaced.”

“You got an infield hit by fluke and you’re so full of yourself.”

“Fluke?! When my shoulder was a little less tense. Huh? I caught it and perfectly hit it with perfect timing.”

“If you’re going to use the word perfectly hit, shouldn’t you at least clear the infielder’s head? What’s perfect about a batted ball rolling in front of the third baseman…”

“Uh-huh, what’s the point of the promising players who will lead Joongang High’s batting lineup in the future arguing with each other.”

“Stop talking nonsense and prepare for your next turn.”

According to the regulations of high school baseball, a pitcher can throw up to 105 balls in one game. Of course, there are exceptions when achieving special records, but the record is already out of reach at the point where he has allowed 3 home runs to me.

Baek Ha-min, who reached 101 pitches, was unable to go to the mound in the 8th inning.

And finally, a little baseball-like baseball proceeded.

Timon, who came out as the 8th batter. So, Lim Ji-min, got on base with a surprise bunt, and Jo Yoo-jin got on base with an infield ground ball. And leading runner Timon is forced out.

-Thwack!!

In that situation, I was naturally given a walk, and a 2-RBI [runs batted in] double with 1 out and runners on 1st and 2nd base. And a clean double play.

Finally, 6:6 tie.

Bottom of the 8th inning. The coach looked at me.

“I’m ready.”

In fact, it was already decided that I would go to the mound if I had the opportunity. Recently, I’ve only thrown occasionally in practice games, but I haven’t pitched in the league even once.

It was unavoidable to fill the seniors’ college entrance records. But still, I needed real game experience in preparation for the King of Kings tournament in the week after next.

I quickly went to the mound during the inning change time and threw about fifteen practice pitches. I had warmed up sufficiently before the game started, but that was already an hour ago. While throwing the ball, the feeling slowly started to come back again.

Long time no see, real game mound.

Certainly, the feeling of standing on this mound, which is 25 centimeters higher than others, was special. My heart is pounding. This was the excitement I had forgotten while only playing as a batter for a long time.

Everyone in the audience was focused on me.

Of course, even when playing as a batter, I feel like I’m the protagonist at the moment I step into the batter’s box, but the feeling when standing on the mound is different again.

The 1st batter of Cheonnam High, who had recorded 4 at-bats and 2 hits in today’s game, stepped into the batter’s box. It was a 2nd grade batter, not the 3rd grade who hit 1st in the first half weekend league. Certainly, a prestigious school is a prestigious school. No matter how lacking our Mungae and Jinwoo senior are, they are still 3rd grade pitchers, but a 2nd grade who played in the lower batting order until recently is 4 at-bats and 2 hits.

First ball.

There was no hesitation.

Fast ball.

Command was a luxury. Again, if I have that now, that’s a major league starting pitcher.

Just control.

Rather than distinguishing the zone, I threw the ball with all my might with the determination to just get the ball inside the zone.

-Thwack!!

“Strike!!”

I like the expression of the batter standing in the batter’s box.

I also like the reaction of the audience, which started to buzz after a moment of silence.

Pretending to be indifferent, I lightly accepted the ball that Jo Yoo-jin handed back.

The camera filmed me non-stop.