Villain On The Mound [EN]: Chapter 82

Villain of the Mound – Episode 82

Joe Mauer is one of the best hitters in Major League Baseball.

Since high school, he possessed a natural talent for excelling not only in baseball but also in almost every ball sport, including American football, soccer, and basketball.

He particularly stood out in American football, the most popular sport in the United States, to the point where college teams were vying for his commitment.

But Mauer’s choice was baseball.

He joined his hometown team, the Minnesota Twins, and debuted in the Major League in the ’04 season.

Afterward, he played as the Twins’ starting catcher, and his potential exploded in the ’06 season.

‘There’s a reason he’s called the catcher crafted by God.’

The name Joe Mauer spread far and wide, even to Korea.

Mauer’s performance was that remarkable.

[Joe Mauer is batting .365 this season with an on-base percentage of .444. His slugging percentage is a whopping .587, and his OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging) is 1.031, with 28 home runs.]

[Ah… Just hearing the stats makes you think he’s a monster.]

[There’s a reason he’s called the catcher crafted by God. Joe Mauer is a powerful hitter representing Major League Baseball.]

[Jun Ha-sung versus Joe Mauer, their second match-up this season! Jun Ha-sung won their first encounter decisively!]

[That’s why it could be dangerous. A top-class hitter like Joe Mauer will definitely remember Jun Ha-sung’s pitches.]

[Also, recent media reports suggest that Jun Ha-sung is experiencing a slump in his condition, isn’t that right?]

[That’s correct. As a player who played a full game in his rookie season, he may have physical issues.]

Facing a strong hitter like Joe Mauer would be unsettling even in normal condition, but with a slump, the situation was even more precarious.

There were plenty of reasons to be anxious.

Instead of the confidence that they would win, which had been circulating in the stadium, a sense of unease began to creep in.

“Play ball!!”

Regardless of the atmosphere, the umpire made the call.

Ha-sung lowered his upper body and exchanged signs with Trevor.

‘Mauer is like a madman this season. Instead of trying to trick him with off-speed pitches, it’s better to go head-to-head.’

Trevor’s fingers moved quickly.

‘Outside, fastball.’

A direct confrontation.

Ha-sung nodded and went into his windup.

[Jun Ha-sung throws the first pitch!]

The ball, released from Ha-sung’s hand, sharply cut through the lowest part of the outside strike zone.

It was a perfect pitch, targeting the farthest point from Joe Mauer.

Whoosh-!

Almost simultaneously, Joe Mauer started his motion.

He brought his foot close to home plate, creating space to target the outside pitch.

And he held the bat back as he rotated his lower body, pelvis, and then his upper body.

When his upper body was halfway open, he swung the bat.

In an instant, power was released, accelerating the bat’s swing.

Whoosh!!

The sound of cutting through the air was heard sharply in his ears.

Crack!!

The ball in front of him disappeared.

Trevor was startled and stood up, taking off his mask to check the trajectory of the hit.

[A powerful hit on the first pitch!! This hit is huge!!]

The massive hit flew toward the outfield.

It was a hit that even the left fielder couldn’t move from his spot.

[Will it go over?!!]

If it went over, it would be the moment Ha-sung’s first blown save was recorded.

Then, the ball slightly grazed the foul pole and fell into the foul zone.

“Foul!!”

[Ah-! It’s a foul! A foul is called!!]

[Whew… That was a really close hit.]

[Ah-! He’s a really scary hitter. To hit a ball that came in on that course like that and almost send it over.]

[I thought his swing was really fierce.]

Joe Mauer’s near-homer foul was enough to send a chill through the stadium’s atmosphere.

[Jun Ha-sung needs to be careful.]

[That’s right.]

The confrontation between Ha-sung and Joe Mauer ignited from the very beginning.

‘He wasn’t originally this strong on outside pitches.’

Trevor recalled Mauer’s hitting zone data and pondered.

‘Since he’s strong against fastballs, let’s go with a breaking ball here.’

It was a kind of escape.

The judgment was that since his timing was set for fastballs, his reaction to breaking balls would be delayed.

It wasn’t a bad decision.

But Ha-sung shook his head.

‘I’m going with a fastball.’

‘What? It was dangerous on the first pitch. Let’s go with a breaking ball.’

He asked for a breaking ball again, but Ha-sung shook his head again.

And he gave the sign himself.

‘I’m going with a fastball.’

Then he went into his pitching stance.

Seeing that, Trevor fell into thought again.

‘Ah, damn it! Nothing I can do.’

Although he was a rookie, Ha-sung was the team’s most important pitcher.

There was no need to crush such a pitcher’s pride.

Trevor held out his mitt.

‘Throw the ball you want.’

Ha-sung nodded in satisfaction and threw the second pitch with his windup.

Whoosh-!!

The ball, released from his hand, targeted Mauer’s body.

‘I got him!’

Mauer was waiting for it.

Given Ha-sung’s personality, he didn’t think he would avoid it after giving up such a hit on the first pitch.

He already knew he had a competitive spirit.

Whoosh!!

He stepped outward with his lead foot, widening the hitting zone.

And he rotated his upper body, keeping his arm as close to his body as possible while swinging the bat.

The bat once again connected with the ball.

Crack-!!

[He hit it!! A high fly ball to the right!! This one is huge too!!]

[This is a foul!]

As the commentator said, the ball flew further to the right and landed outside the pole.

“Foul!!”

[It’s a foul! Two consecutive near-homer fouls!]

[Mauer’s power is really amazing.]

[The timing was perfect too. The first pitch was 99 miles, and the second pitch was 101 miles. The bat didn’t get pushed back!]

[It’s a crisis, Jun Ha-sung!]

The caster’s excited voice was broadcast nationwide via TV.

Naturally, the internet started to go wild.

-Isn’t this dangerous?

-Mauer is awesome

-Ha-sung’s first blown save lol

-2 consecutive near-homer fouls ㅋㅋ

-Finally, Ha-sung is falling.

-Looks like he met the right opponent.

-Jun Ha-sung was overrated all along.

-Saying he’s overrated to someone who achieved a Major League record.

-That was a coincidence.

-You get 65 saves by coincidence?!

-The anti-fans are excited again.

-Near-homer foul or whatever, it’s still a foul, right?

-Yeah. Homerun on the next pitch lol

No matter how popular someone is, there are always haters.

It was no different for Ha-sung.

People hiding behind the mask of anonymity were pouring effort into tearing others down.

Whatever happened on the internet, Ha-sung himself didn’t show much agitation.

Tap tap!

He tapped the rosin bag as usual, applying enough rosin to his hand.

In Ha-sung’s view, Mauer was taking a step back from the plate and looking at his bat.

‘Strange, isn’t it? You definitely thought you hit it cleanly, but it became a foul.’

There was no problem with Mauer’s swing. Rather, it was a perfect swing.

‘I’m glad you’re such a great hitter. That you have your own swing.’

It was also an accurate swing.

It was so accurate that the wobble of the ball caused the clean hit to be slightly off.

“Hoo…….”

Ha-sung exhaled and stepped on the pitcher’s plate.

Then he lowered his upper body and exchanged signs with Trevor.

‘What are you going with this time? Fastball?’

Ha-sung nodded at Trevor’s sign.

‘I’m going crazy.’

Trevor was anxious.

Two consecutive near-homer fouls had occurred, and he was going to throw the same ball again.

‘He must have something he believes in.’

Ha-sung, whom he had seen so far, wasn’t the type to stubbornly insist without reason.

He always had a reason when throwing a ball.

That’s why he believed this time too.

‘Okay, throw it!’

Ha-sung nodded satisfactorily and went into his windup.

[He throws the 3rd pitch!!]

Whoosh-!!

This time it was a high-course ball.

Mauer swung his bat this time too.

But the result was the same.

Crack!!

“Foul!!”

[The 3rd pitch also resulted in a huge hit, but it’s a foul! Why is this happening?]

[I think it’s subtly deviating from the center of the bat.]

[Is it a cutter or a sinker?]

[No. The change is too small to say that.]

Although the cutter has less movement than the slider, it still causes a visible change.

But the three balls that Ha-sung threw had little movement to the point that they were all marked as fastballs.

However, Mauer knew.

‘There was a change in the ball at the end.’

All four balls changed, deviating from the center of the bat.

The problem was that the ball was changing in front of home plate.

Mauer knew what kind of ball this was.

‘Moving fastball.’

Pitchers don’t throw the ball with a fixed grip.

Textbook grips are available on the internet or in textbooks, but those are just guidelines, and no pitcher throws it exactly like that.

Especially in Major League Baseball, it was common to throw every ball in their own style.

That’s why the trajectory of the ball is different even for the same pitch.

‘His fastball move is different from before.’

Ha-sung’s fastball was known to cause a rising change.

‘The data that the scouting team passed on definitely said that there was almost no horizontal movement and a lot of vertical movement.’

But the traces left on the bat all showed that horizontal movement had occurred, deviating from the center.

‘When I adjusted to that, this time the vertical movement increased.’

He judged that the horizontal movement had become severe up to the 2nd pitch, so he changed his swing to match it from the 3rd pitch.

Then, traces of hitting the top of the bat were left.

‘Damn it…….’

His head became complicated.

It was definitely the same fastball, but it was difficult to hit the center properly.

‘If it was a different pitcher’s ball, it would have been enough to send it over even if it wasn’t the center.’

All four balls that Ha-sung threw exceeded or approached 100 miles.

These balls don’t fly easily unless you make a clean hit.

‘My head is starting to hurt.’

He wanted to think more, but time was not on his side.

“It’s taking too long. Get into the batter’s box.”

At the umpire’s words, Mauer had no choice but to stand in the batter’s box.

And he bought as much time as possible by following his routine. Seeing Mauer’s appearance, Ha-sung smiled inwardly.

‘The movement changes every time I throw the ball, so your head is getting complicated, right?’

As Mauer thought, Ha-sung was slightly changing the grip of the fastball.

This wasn’t easy.

‘You’ll think it’s something I can’t do because I’m a rookie. But I’m sorry, I’m not a rookie.’

On the outside, he’s a rookie, but inside, he contains the soul that played in the KBO [Korean Baseball Organization] for over 10 years.

That experience hasn’t disappeared and is now shining.

‘Let’s end the game now.’

Ha-sung sent the sign himself.

Trevor nodded and held out his mitt after confirming it.

[4 consecutive fouls! What ball will Jun Ha-sung choose here, he throws the 5th pitch!!]

The ball, released from Ha-sung’s hand, pierced the outside course with a fierce speed.

Mauer took his swing from beginning to end this time too.

The moment the bat tried to connect with the ball.

This time, the ball curved further outward, completely eluding the bat.

‘Sinker……!’

Ha-sung chose a different pitch in 5 pitches.

Mauer’s swing, which was anticipating a fastball, couldn’t keep up with such a change in the ball.

Whoosh!!

Strike!!

“Swing! Out!!”

[It’s a strikeout!! Jun Ha-sung gets the strikeout in 5 pitches!! He finally catches Mauer!!]

[Ah-! It was a tough match! I watched with bated breath every time a near-homer hit came out, but in the end, he struck him out!]

[It was a wonderful match!!]

Those who watched saw it as a close match.

But Mauer himself saw it differently.

‘It’s a complete defeat.’

And this match became the highlight of today’s game.

Ha-sung cleanly retired three batters, achieving his first Division Series save of his career.

[The Athletics leave for Minnesota after winning both games at home!!]

Division Series.

Athletics VS Twins.

The score is 2 to 0.