Chapter 162 – Episode 160. Weakness? (3)

‘The game is frustrating.’

We scored 2 runs with my solo home run in the top of the 1st inning and Choi Jin-cheol’s solo home run in the top of the 6th inning, but UG Overlords was not an easy opponent like last year’s winning team. Against Bellingham, who is showing a good figure, they scored 2 points until the 6th inning, and the current score is 2:2.

It looked like it would be an easy game until we hit the home run, but the opponent’s mercenary pitcher was blocking our batting line well, as if his monthly MVP-level performance wasn’t a lie.

‘That bastard. Maybe it’s because he has good control, but Suho-senpai isn’t young today.’

Somehow, Yoon Seong-tae and Kim Joo-yeop succeeded in getting on base and became 1 out 1st and 2nd base in the top of the 7th inning, but Kim Su-ho struck out and now became 2 out 1st and 2nd base.

‘Well, I can do it.’

My opponent’s record with him was 2 at-bats, 1 hit, 1 home run and 1 walk. If the rest of the bats that got out were the same as our team’s defense, there was a high probability of getting a hit, so his pitch wasn’t that scary. Should I just say that I like it?

Fair speed to hit with honest control. In this confrontation, I had enough confidence to throw it out of the wall unconditionally.

“Senior, how is the end of the ball?”

“It sure looks tired. It looks like it will pass if it hits you. Oh, and the slider doesn’t break very well, I don’t know if it’s because I’m a left-handed hitter.”

“OK.”

Are you low on stamina? Web, you followed. How can I cook this guy…. As I was about to enter the plate while imagining this and that, suddenly the pitching coach and interpreter in the dugout of UG received the ball from the referee and went up to the mound.

“Pitcher change. Yoon Joong-hwan!”

‘A pitcher change here? Does UG have a better thrower than Webb?’

‘It seems that he judged that his stamina was low.’

‘Still, you struck out Kim Soo-ho.’

‘Shit, those bastards went out as runners, wouldn’t you change them if you were the manager?’

At the tip of Rossby’s fingers were Yun Seong-tae and Kim Joo-yeop, who were running as runners. Well…. It was time for a pitcher change.

Yoon Seong-tae and Kim Joo-yeop weren’t bad hitters, but they weren’t hitters enough to hit Webb in a row, so it seemed like a good choice.

‘But why didn’t Kim Su-ho change it at bat, but change it at mine? Even Ki Sang-joo is a left-handed hitter, so I think I can just block it with a left-handed pitcher.’

‘Then how do you stop it?’

‘Well, that seems ambiguous. Uh? But what about Yoon Joong-hwan? Who is Joonghwan Yoon?’

Yoon Joong-hwan was the first name I had ever heard of. A name I hadn’t even heard of today’s pre-game analysis. I don’t think he’s a good pitcher in a 2:2 situation….

Phut! Phut!

The changed pitcher throws practice pitches on the mound.

“Oh, do you like the ball?”

Redemption is about mid 150? The movement was considerable, perhaps because it was a pitching form that was in the middle between the sidearm and the underhand.

‘Is the ball just two-seam?’

‘No, it’s four-seam.’

Rosby, who went to the mound to see the changed pitcher’s grip, answered my words.

Phut!

Contrary to the ball just thrown, a ball that does not bend

‘… Now the grip must be four-seam, right?’

‘… Okay.’

Even Rossby seemed embarrassed. Some of his balls were bent toward his body and thrown like two-seams, but some had four-seam trajectories.

‘Can you tell the difference?’

‘Well? The grip hasn’t changed in particular.’

‘Fuck, then what?’

The guy’s pitching practice was over before he knew it. And we didn’t notice the difference until the practice pitches were over.

‘Well, it’s not like I can’t hit it. Let’s assume it’s 155 and go in.’

Judging by the fact that he doesn’t throw a breaking ball, it seems that he is not confident in his breaking ball. If he was confident even with his breaking ball, there was no way the power analysis team wouldn’t tell him which pitcher could throw such a ball.

‘It’s a little uncomfortable being underhanded.’

If you ask me what my most vulnerable pitching form is, of course it was underhand. Apparently, when Rossby played in the majors, there weren’t many underhand pitchers, so I lacked experience as well. A lot of my experiences were baseball memories shared with Rossby.

‘Let’s see, he’s a bullpen pitcher. Come and see!’

Still, if Rosby would tell me, he was an experience and all but meaningless. After all, I knew where the helmet would land.

‘A fastball in the middle.’

‘OK.’

It’s a fastball in the middle, so you’re trying to put me down with the pitch? Does UG not know that I also hit a home run against Ohtani?

‘You fell behind.’

I set the batting timing to a speed in the mid-150s and waited for him to throw the ball. No matter how 2nd runners are, I wanted to give them a true education by brazenly performing wind-ups even when there are runners on 1st and 2nd base.

And he threw the ball,

Whoo!

What? The ball believed to be in the middle suddenly disappeared from sight.

“Strike!”

Referee’s strike call. What is this kid?

‘Not in the middle at all? Where was it?’

‘It was quite high.’

‘Yes?’

I thought it disappeared from sight, but it was high, right? But to be able to deliver a ball like this even after being asked to play in the middle, he must have been nervous because he had just come from the 2nd team.

“Senior, the pitcher seems a bit nervous, how are you going to relax?”

“…….”

The catcher’s concept today is taciturn. From the first episode, he didn’t answer any of the questions I asked.

‘The last time we practiced, it seems like we talked a lot…. Isn’t that him?’

‘This time, it’s a fastball in the middle. Concentrate.’

‘OK.’

Another fastball in the middle. I was nervous before, so I’ll put it in properly this time. Again he winds up.

‘Come!’

Whoo!

What… ? My swing broke the wind again.

“Strike!”

‘Mr. Rossby?’

‘… This baby. The 9th is an idiot?’

‘Yes?’

‘I don’t even go near the zone.’

‘I beg your pardon?’

‘Tsk, I’ll only tell you the type of pitch, so you have to look at the location and hit it.’

‘… All right.’

It was difficult to match the trajectory, perhaps because of the weird pitching form between the sidearm and the underhand, but I had no choice but to try my best.

‘Another fastball. This guy seems to have only a fastball to throw?’

Fastball. The first two flew straight without bending. Is it time for a fastball that curves like this?

He winds up, and the runners on first and second base start running. What was the operation?

I was lost in my thoughts and couldn’t confirm the operation. What should I do? Eh, I don’t know!

Ta-evil!

The batted ball curves and flies to the side of the pole. Large foul. The feeling of hitting in the hand was not very heavy.

‘Write it, if you hit it, it will be at least a long hit? It’s because it’s hard to match.’

‘Fastball.’

There is no operation…. Okay, shall we pick one? The ball just hit the outside. Since I put in one strike, there was a high probability that it would be a ball in terms of timing. So what I’m filtering out is not running away, but a wise choice to watch the ball.

‘Tsk tsk, his tongue is long.’

‘Ah! I’m not running away!’

Then, the ball he threw came flying at me. So not to home plate, but to me.

“Ah!”

A pain radiates from his thigh. The speed limit recorded on the electronic board is 156 km/h. Shit, somehow it hurts like hell.

‘You couldn’t avoid it because of Mr. Rossby! I’m at the plate, so why suddenly talk to me… !’

‘You’re the one who couldn’t avoid it, so you’re blaming me for thathehe. The way he rolls at the plate is like an earthworm. It suits you well.’

‘Eh, I’m young, I’ll have to put up with it.’

“Hey, hey! It’s okay!”

“Yes, it is fine.”

“Hey, are you okay?”

The sound was so loud that even the UG’s first baseman ran to me. And UG’s first baseman was Jin-mo Koo, who had a bad relationship with me. Well, starting with the game where he hit a home run with the bat he borrowed that day, we got along well until we returned home, so is it worth worrying about?

“It’s okay.”

“Wow, I was afraid that this bastard would come running again.”

“Ah, senior. Do you think I’m not even a UFC fighter and come out to the ground to have a fight?”

“A bastard like that did a good job of killing the two older brothers.”

“Senior, be careful too. Because I’m aiming for it.”

“Baby, it’s okay to see you’re joking, right?”

The crowd around me seemed overly concerned about something, but I brushed myself off and got up.

“Are you really okay?”

“Yes.”

Even though I was walking to first base, Goo Jin-mo did not fall from my side. What’s wrong with this person?

‘Ha, it’s a pity that I couldn’t see the match.’

It was embarrassing though, but if I went to base with my thigh, did I get it cheap? It’s an advantage anyway. Tomorrow, in a no-count situation, we’ll have to fight properly.

‘Even so, I’ll have to ask for a video during analysis class tomorrow.’

It was very frustrating because there was no basic information about the pitcher.

‘By the way. Two outs are full.’

The 2nd runner with the bases loaded is the weatherman. UG changes the pitcher. The pitcher replaced was left-handed pitcher Kim Geun-woong. Ki Sang-joo was faithful to the baseball world’s adage of aiming for the first pitch of a changed pitcher.

Right!

Ki Sang-joo’s exciting swing created a light hitting sound.

“Run! Run!”

I sprinted from first base to home. If it was Jamsil, I would have run all the way to home, but this is literature. A situation that could be wiped out became 2nd, 1st and 3rd base.

‘Hmm, Choi Jin-cheol and Boer…. Senior Jin Cheol also gets 2 hits in 3 at-bats even if he hits a home run. If I do well, I’ll be able to enter too?’

As if mocking my thoughts.

“Base on Balls!”

Choi Jin-cheol and Choi Jin-cheol, who are being filtered out while dealing with difficult balls as if it were natural….

Widely!

“Second!”

“Nice!”

“It was good.”

Combining Boer’s amazing scoring position, which is showing a great sense of hitting while going 2 hits in 3 at-bats today, we had no choice but to be satisfied with the 2 RBIs of the weatherman.

‘Still, if it’s 2 points, I’ve got a win. Aww’

*

That day, the match between UG Overlords and AT Thunders was quite intense. In the end, UG scored 1 run at the end of the ninth inning, but AT Thunders closer Park Jin-hyeok was able to save for the first time in a long time without allowing the score to be tied.

“Today’s game was disappointing, but there was definitely an income, right?”

“As expected, the bat cut through the air as the team leader said. It felt like I couldn’t cope at all until I got hit.”

“I guess you have to be careful though. Looking at the foul ball, I think it will go right over if hit.”

“Well, if any pitcher gets caught by Ji Maeng-ho, it would be natural for him to get over it. It must have gone over even the ball on the web.”

Despite the disappointing loss of 4:3, the expressions of the UG coaches were not bad. It was because I started to see clues to attack Ji Maeng-ho, who seemed impregnable.

“Now. Then let’s think about Gyeonggi-do tomorrow. You know tomorrow’s starting matchup is Kim Seong-gyeol vs. Park Jun-hyung, right? Let’s catch the game tomorrow.”

“All right!”

“Yes!”