The Pitcher Just Hits Home Runs Well [EN]: Chapter 340

340. Two-Way Player (4)

It’s that guy’s turn again.

Shohei Ohtani briefly took off his hat and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

New York.

Compared to Iwate Prefecture, where he was born and raised, it’s too hot and too cold. So, he’s thrown about 60 pitches so far?

A tailwind is blowing. It’s really like someone is pushing him from behind.

Ohtani looked at Choi Soo-won and thought for a moment.

Twenty years old.

Such a great age.

Come to think of it, what was I like when I was twenty?

Was the pitching Triple Crown season when I was twenty? Or was it the year I first succeeded as a two-way player? I’m confused. But, funnily enough, I’m confused about what I actually did, but I clearly remember what I was trying to do.

Yes, when I was twenty, I decided to get promoted to the major leagues and receive an annual salary of $13 million. They were truly absurd plans. But because I had big dreams, I was able to make some of those dreams a reality, and I was also able to bring some of them down to plans.

At 22, I didn’t even make it to the majors, let alone win the Cy Young Award [award given to the best pitcher in each league], but I simultaneously won the NPB [Nippon Professional Baseball] Pacific League MVP and the Japan Series championship. I still haven’t done the no-hitter I was going to do at 24, but instead, I accurately achieved the league MVP I was going to do at 27.

Winning the World Series at 26 was impossible.

Winning the second World Series at 32 was also impossible.

34 years old.

According to the schedule, I should be challenging for my third World Series championship by now.

If you dream big and work hard, someday your dreams will come to you as plans.

It wasn’t the third. But still, shouldn’t I be able to achieve at least the second championship?

Ohtani on the mound wound up.

***

Objectively speaking, I’m a really great hitter.
.
(Omitted)
.
Yeah, so the one who should be nervous isn’t me, it’s them.

Of course, it’s a monologue with a strange sense of déjà vu, but it’s okay to say important things twice. And frankly, the previous at-bat was a bit too anticlimactic.

-Sigh…

Bottom of the 7th.

One out.

[Ah, Choi Soo-won’s third at-bat!! It can’t be anything but a very tense moment. That’s because it’s already the bottom of the 7th with one out, and it’s only his third at-bat. Choi Soo-won’s average number of at-bats per game this season is… 4.45 times. So, that means he’s had five at-bats in about one out of every two games. But today, Shohei Ohtani is doing ‘that,’ isn’t he? This is a really dangerous situation.]

[That’s right. If Shohei Ohtani really throws a perfect game like this, our Choi Soo-won… this at-bat might be his last. Ah… I’m sorry. There’s usually an unwritten rule that you don’t say the words ‘perfect game’ during a game when a pitcher is throwing a perfect game, but I made a mistake because I was too nervous.]

[Ah, yes. That’s right. A mistake, a mistake.]

[Anyway, our Choi Soo-won. He always seems to do something when he needs to. I think this is exactly one of those moments.]

First pitch.

A deep inside fastball.

I was caught off guard by the fastball because I was only thinking about the sinker and sweeper. So, am I supposed to keep three different pitches in mind and try to hit them all? It’s difficult. Very difficult. Especially with a pitcher like Ohtani who has such good tunneling [pitching technique to make different pitches look the same out of the pitcher’s hand]. But what can I do? I have to do it, even if it’s difficult.

Sinker, sweeper, fastball.

-Clang!!!!

Ah, it’s slightly pushed.

A ball that hits the net in the left, third base infield stands.

It was a sinker.

‘Should I have just let it go?’

It was an ambiguous ball…

I shook my head for a moment.

It’s okay. I erase the past ball from my head.

Second.

I concentrated.

I concentrated so much that I forgot I was concentrating.

I forgot to breathe and just focused on the pitcher on the mound.

The ball leaves his hand.

0. 01 seconds.

And then another 0.01 seconds from there.

Fifteen more times like that, 0.15 seconds.

Those short, short moments, dividing one second into 100 parts, passed in an instant.

It was too short to recognize how far the ball flying from afar had come. It would be impossible to sense whether the ball was flying at 96 miles per hour or 88 miles per hour in this short amount of time.

So, this was just a feeling.

‘Slow.’

In our last conversation, Shohei Ohtani said this to me.

‘That feeling is the result of the comprehensive expression of your cognitive abilities. So, trust it.’

And looking at the ball thrown by Shohei Ohtani, I decided to trust that feeling of mine.

I didn’t move the bat.

-Whizz!!!

And that choice was right.

Splitter.

The umpire’s hand didn’t go up.

[Choi Soo-won!! Choi Soo-won has picked out the splitter. The count is 1-1.]

[Shohei Ohtani is using the splitter quite often today, so I wonder if Choi Soo-won has figured out a way to attack it. That’s the feeling I get. Of course, it would be impossible for an ordinary player to attack an ace pitcher’s finishing pitch after seeing it just a few times in one game, but our Choi Soo-won is no ordinary player, is he?]

[That’s right. Isn’t he the player that 50 million people of Korea are cheering for with one heart? I have no doubt that the hearts of the viewers who are watching this game are being fully conveyed to Choi Soo-won across the Pacific Ocean.]

I stood in the batter’s box as is.

I didn’t perform my routine. But it didn’t bother me at all. I just wanted to keep this concentration as it was. I could see Ohtani on the mound focusing with a slightly comical expression. My mind doesn’t waver.

Extreme concentration.

Did he sense something?

He takes the interval as long as possible.

13 seconds.

His body moved.

Outside low course.

-Whizz!!!

A ball that pretends to be a strike.

It was a sweeper.

Ball count 2-1.

Ohtani Shohei’s interval was still slow.

The thought that I wish he would move a little faster crosses my mind. But even this thought is probably part of what he intended.

Fourth.

Center.

A mistake?

My body moved with all its might. Considering Shohei Ohtani’s form and luck today, it’s a chance that’s hard to come by again. I’ll hit it with all my might and send it over the fence.

And 0.05 seconds more passed.

No, no.

There were no signs.

But for some reason, I had the feeling that this ball was going to go outside.

-Whizz!!!

The umpire’s hand didn’t go up.

It was a sweeper.

The Dodgers’ catcher jumped up from his seat and asked the first base umpire if it was a swing. I didn’t step out of the batter’s box to reorganize. It was because I wanted to keep this feeling a little longer. I just grabbed the bat again and looked at the mound.

“Strike!!!”

I definitely stopped it.

But I didn’t bother protesting. There’s nothing that will change even if I protest here. It’s more important to keep this concentration going a little longer now.

The expression on Shohei Ohtani’s face on the mound looked quite troubled.

He threw the ball, and he wasn’t in a position to see whether my bat turned or not, and he didn’t really have the 余裕 [room to spare/composure], but even so, I felt that Ohtani knew that my bat hadn’t turned.

No, maybe that expression is an expression of how he’s thinking of me as difficult right now.

Ball count 2-2

It’s not difficult.

I can do it.

A strange sense of elation and confidence filled my whole body.

Fifth.

Inside high course.

It’s a splitter.

Now, a strong conviction beyond a vague feeling flashed through my mind.

But it’s a splitter that hangs on the border line. It’s very tricky. If the count wasn’t already two strikes, it would be a very tricky ball that would be right to just let go. Can I pull it? Well, it’s ambiguous unless it’s on the outside.

-Clang!!!!!

A ball that goes over the foul line and hits the infield net.

I managed to get it out of the way for now.

The count is still 2-2

Ohtani on the mound wound up.

The ball comes flying.

Slightly inside. But closer to the center.

Sweeper?

Ah, this time it wasn’t just a feeling. For some reason, I thought that Ohtani would throw the best sweeper he could throw here to draw out my bat.

Because a ball that pretends to be a strike in a two-strike situation is always right.

I watched the ball flying with about 20% more weight on the sweeper in my mind.

Anyway, in a two-strike situation, you have to hit the ball if it comes near the zone.

I moved the bat quickly.

The ball really goes out like a picture.

My prediction was correct.

Borderline.

Or a ball that goes out a little further from the border line.

But right now, if it’s me!!!

Before the ball going out gets any further away.

Instead of trying to just get the bat on the ball somehow, being conscious of the consecutive hits earlier, at that point far ahead much faster than the ball arrives!!

-Bang!!!!!!!

I forcibly pulled the escaping ball.

The forward energy and rotational energy were completely concentrated at the end of the bat. So, I overcome the slightly misaligned hitting point with that power.

The batted ball stretched out towards the left fence.

Shohei Ohtani on the mound turned his back and looked at the batted ball.

I also watched the batted ball for a very short time while standing in the batter’s box.

[He hit it!! A huge hit that he pulled off properly!!]

[Left!! Ah!! Just a little to the right!! Ah!!!!]

10cm from the pole?

A huge foul home run that narrowly missed.

It was a batted ball that would have gone over if only the wind had blown a little.

The thought that I should go do some volunteer work with Anthony Volpe after this season crossed my mind.

But it was okay.

The tension was still tight.

It was Shohei Ohtani on the mound who seemed to have his tension released.

It’s a face that shows that something that had been tightly pulled while throwing a perfect game until now was released in an instant.

But he soon reorganized himself.

The count is still 2-2

His seventh ball…

-Whizz!!!!

3-2 full count.

Yeah, he must be tired.

I let one go that went far outside.

Now there’s only one thing left.

Perfect.

And 77 consecutive games with a hit.

Only one ball remains where one of the two must be broken.

Of course, I had no intention of being broken here at all.

A hitter who gets a hit 3 out of 10 times is a good hitter. And this year, I’m a hitter who gets a hit a whopping 4 out of 10 times. That means I’m an absurdly good hitter. I’ve already paid taxes twice, so statistically, it’s definitely the timing to hit now. That’s what math proves. I’m not a science major, but anyway, that’s what it is mathematically.

Winding up.

And the ball comes flying.

Ah…

Come to think of it, there’s one thing I didn’t think about.

Perfect.

And 77 consecutive games with a hit.

The game right now wasn’t a game where only one of the two had to be broken.

So…

-Whizz!!!

[Ah!!!!!!]

-Oooooo!!!!!!!!

This game was a game where both could be broken.

Shohei Ohtani on the mound took off his hat and bowed to me with a troubled expression.

It was the moment when my consecutive game hit streak ended at 76 games… no, no. Now that the perfect game has been broken, there are plenty of chances to hit even in the bottom of the 9th. Yes, that’s definitely right.

-Clang!!!!

And a clean double play.

The fourth chance didn’t come back to me.

[Two great records that ended with one walk!!]

[Choi Soo-won. The journey of that great 76 games!!]

[Shohei Ohtani. The first no-hit, no-run of his career. But what to do with this bitter aftertaste.]