Chapter 294 – Episode 292. Revenge After 21 Years. (1)
-[Jun PO] Overpowering Kangho ‘Hancheol’! AT Thunders dream of revenge after 21 years.
… AT Thunders won the semi-playoffs and earned a ticket to Daegu where Hyunseong Madcats were waiting. In Game 4, where the fates of both teams were divided, the Hancheol Grizzlies deployed all of their starting resources, including Na Seung-yoon, Park Hee-min, and Patrick, but could not stop AT’s on-fire batting lineup. AT Thunders’ number 4 hitter Ji Maeng-ho proved why he is the best hitter this season by hitting 6 home runs with 8 hits in 13 at-bats and a batting average of 0.615…
ㄴㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ
ㄴJust baseball is Ji Maeng-ho haha
ㄴ I was so scared when Woo Kwan-hyung was out, but how did he win? Damn, let’s go to Kosi!!!
What happens to Woo Kwan-hyung?
They say it’s a hamstring rupture? ㅅㅂ
-[Jun PO] The fighting spirit of the most senior member of the team, who overcame adversity, awakened AT’s batting lineup.
… In the top of the second inning, while he was being dragged away, a scream rang out on the ground and Woo Gwan-hyung, who was sprinting, fell down. At a time when everyone felt sad, AT players actually focused more on the game. Ji Maeng-ho, who was selected as the semi-playoff MVP that day, said, ‘After senior Woo Kwan-hyung’s injury, the players began to focus,’ and AT’s batting line also began to show the same performance as the season. … Meanwhile, Woo Kwan-hyeong injured his hamstring and although the results of a thorough examination will be confirmed, it was ruled that he would not be able to return to the post-season.
ㄴAh fuck, is it my brother?
ㄴI have no luck in my later years. I waited 20 years, but I’m out due to injury.
ㄴWinning without Woo Kwan-hyung is meaningless.
ㄴㄴㄹ ㄴ Winning is winning, you motherfucker
ㄴDon’t get old, hyung…
Hmm… But is it because of the feeling that the batting line explodes as soon as that dark energy is out? As expected, the culprit is…
ㄴㄴㅋㅋㅋ Missy is strange…
ㄴㄴㅇㄱㄹㅇㅋㅋ As soon as my hyung leaves, he gets hit hard.
These bastards are laughing even though the team legend is injured. They are not idiots
ㄴㄴThen you won but are you crying?
ㄴㅅㅂ See you in recovery next year, Kwan-hyung.
-[PO] ‘AT’, a spear that pierces anything VS ‘Hyeonseong’, a shield that blocks anything, who is the winner of that battle?
… Hyunsung and AT’s record against each other this season is 6 wins and 10 losses, with Hyunsung taking the lead. The secret is thanks to Hyunseong’s solid pitching team. If the AT Thunders’ batters, who showed off their fearsome hitting ability in the semi-playoffs, can break through Hyun-seong’s shield, AT’s chances of winning are…
Hmm… But Hyunseong’s pitchers were anxious at the end of the season, but AT’s momentum is good, so it looks like they can win
ㄴStill, Hyunseong can’t win haha. Even if they finished 5th last season, the Hyeonseong dynasty looks like shit.
Oh, I’m so anxious. We’ve used all of our pitchers, so how can Hyunsung win? ㅅㅂ
If you just block Ji Mengho, you can win. Koshi Kazua again!!
*
“What is Gwan’s condition? “The results came out, right?”
“It’s a hamstring tear. It takes at least 8 weeks and up to 6 months.”
“Ha… “Why did something like this happen to Kwan-hyung?”
AT Thunders coach Lee Soo-hyun sighed deeply after hearing the head coach’s words. Aside from being a coach and a player, I can’t believe that my beloved younger brother, Woo Kwan-hyung, is going through something like this on what may be the last opportunity in his life…
Even going back to the relationship between player and coach, Woo Kwan-hyung was an essential player on the team. Woo Kwan-hyung’s performance this season is 0.309/0.380/0.442/0.821.
He showed consistent performance with an OPS exceeding 0.8, and was a hitter who called home runners that Choi Jin-cheol could not call home in every important situation in the 6th batting order. He couldn’t use a player like that in the post season. His head was pounding.
“Can you come back next year?”
“Well, you’ll know after seeing the progress of the rehabilitation training, but you’re older…” . Even if I come back, I don’t think I will be able to show the same performance as I did this year.”
Lee Soo-hyun also knew that fact. It was difficult for 41-year-old South Korean Woo Kwan-hyung to repeat the performance he showed all season, and it will be even harder for him after suffering a major injury.
“Was there only one home run and two stolen bases left until 400-400? “I thought I could achieve it right before I retired.”
“But isn’t it Woo Gwan-hyung? Called the embodiment of self-management. I’m sure he’ll come back healthy next season. Because he’s Woo Gwan-hyung.”
“I should hope so. For Gwanhyeong’s sake and for AT’s sake.”
Lee Soo-hyun wanted to go to his younger brother, whom he had known for a long time, but he couldn’t. Because the playoffs are just around the corner. The good news is that the players’ perspectives have changed since Woo Kwan-hyung’s injury? The players were eager to present the championship ring to the injured Woo Kwan-hyung.
‘A player is injured, and you’re thinking like this…’ .’
Lee Soo-hyun felt disgusted with herself for finding positive aspects in this situation.
“Then the problem is the batting lineup. In a situation where Kwanhyeong is missing…”
At that time, hitting coach Lee Ki-cheol’s words quickly erased Lee Soo-hyun’s thoughts.
“Okay, first we have to focus on the batting lineup.”
The AT Thunders batting lineup, which is considered the best in the country this season, was in fact fixed. Kim Joo-yeop and Kim Su-ho’s table setters, and cleanup leading to Ki Ki-joo, Ji Maeng-ho, and Choi Jin-cheol. And the 6th hitter Woo Kwan-hyung, who has accurate hitting, and the 7th hitter Yoon Seong-tae, who has punching power. In addition, catcher Jeong Yun-cheol and right fielder Lee In-hyuk.
Here, only Lee In-hyuk plays, replacing Baek Jeong-jin or Han Sang-gyu depending on the time. However, since the designated hitter and number 6 hitter Woo Kwan-hyung was missing, it was natural that the batting order had to be reorganized. Because one person’s absence could break the harmony of the batting lineup.
‘Hmm…’
Coach Lee Soo-hyun looked at the hitters’ regular season performance, which was summarized briefly for viewing at a glance.
127G 0.320/0.396/0.401/0.797 141H 4HR 11SB CF (center fielder) Kim Joo-yeop (L)
140G 0.325/0.448/0.478/0.926 165H 15HR 4SB 3B (3rd baseman) Kim Su-ho (L)
(G=game, batting average/on-base percentage/slugging percentage/OPS, H=hits, HR=home run, SB=stealing base.)
‘There is no need to change the table setter. Joo-yeop and Su-ho are enough.’
140G 0.366/0.446/0.628/1.074 186H 30HR 2SB LF (left field) weather note (L)
115G 0.413/0.528/0.991/1.519 182H 60HR 58SB 2B (2nd baseman) Ji Maeng-ho (R)
129G 0.304/0.413/0.659/1.073 140H 44HR 0SB 1B (1st baseman) Choi Jin-cheol (R)
‘To support Ji Maeng-ho, there needs to be this many batters in the front and back. Additionally, there is no need to change the cleanup now that Meng Hao’s hitting ability is at its peak. Moreover, although our batting lineup is evaluated as the best, considering the remaining hitters, we cannot change the 1st to 5th hitters.’
Lee Soo-hyun quickly decided on the batting order from 1 to 5 and began to look at the performances of the remaining batters.
116G 0.265/0.341/0.433/0.775 107H 13HR 11SB SS (Shortstop) Seongtae Yoon (L)
110G 0.258/0.332/0.382/0.714 94H 10HR 0SB C (Catcher) Jeong Yun-cheol (R)
94G 0.303/0.374/0.384/0.759 93H 3HR 11SB OF (outfielder) Lee In-hyuk (L)
53G 0.281/0.333/0.461/0.794 50H 8HR 5SB OF (outfielder) Baek Jeong-jin (L)
63G 0.246/0.302/0.476/0.778 46H 10HR 2SB LF (left fielder) Han Sang-gyu (L)
64G 0.263/0.333/0.408/0.741 40H 3HR 0SB 1B, 3B (1st, 3rd base) Sangmin Kim (R)
76G 0.246/0.318/0.317/0.635 49H 3HR 1SB C (Catcher) Han Young-jin (R)
71G 0.262/0.333/0.330.0.663 27H 0HR 8SB SS (Shortstop) Kang Joo-hyun (L)
Compared to the top batting lineup, the results were shabby, but excluding Kang Joo-hyun, the infield center line defender, and the team’s second catcher Han Young-jin, the OPS was over 0.7, so it was not something to be overlooked.
‘We can’t remove Seongtae and Yuncheol because of their defense. ‘Suddenly removing the starting shortstop and catcher during the postseason is suicidal.’
“I guess it would be better to raise the status to number 6, right? He has punching power and has the best batting ability among the remaining hitters.”
“Ah, Seongtae is a shortstop, but in fall baseball, where the defensive burden is already high, you can’t put a player who has only played full-time at number 6. In fact, Seongtae’s defense is also unstable right now.”
“But considering Seongtae’s hitting ability, number 6 is correct. Who will replace Seongtae? Yun Cheol? Or Inhyuk? Director. When considering the batting order, Seongtae must be used.”
“No. Director. We need to stabilize the defense by appointing Seongtae as number 7, which is the batting order he is most familiar with.”
While coach Lee Soo-hyun was worrying, defense coach Bae Jeong-sik and hitting coach Ki-cheol Lee faced off. Lee Ki-cheol’s words about emphasizing batting and Bae Jeong-sik’s words about emphasizing defense both made sense, so coach Lee Soo-hyun couldn’t help but fall into deep trouble. And after some time, Lee Soo-hyun made a decision.
“We are not a team with strong defense, so I think we need to improve our performance.”
“That’s right!”
“Director!”
“Stop. The core of our batting lineup is Maeng Ho. Even when Choi Jin-cheol and Woo Gwan-hyung were behind him, he was subject to a lot of checks, but if it weren’t for Seong-tae, he would have been subject to even more checks. Seongtae is a guy with a lot of room, so we can look forward to it.”
“… I understand.”
The defense coach agreed with a disapproving expression, but he could not change what the coach had decided.
“It would be better to fix Yun Cheol at number 8, right? “He’s old and his batting record isn’t that good.”
“I think that will work.”
In this way, batters 1 to 6 and batter 8 were decided. There are two seats left. Although there is a designated hitter without Woo Kwan-hyeong and a starting pitcher named Lee In-hyuk, the right fielder occasionally rotates.
“Left, left, left, right, right, left. It seems like a right-handed hitter might have better balance…”
“It won’t be Youngjin, the catcher, then Sangmin? Sang-min replaced Kwan-hyeong as the designated hitter, but I think it would be better to use outfielders even if the left-right balance is broken. “Since when did we become a team that uses right-handed hitters?”
“Yes, of course. “In-hyuk, Jeong-jin, and Sang-gyu are all pretty good, but they do the basics.”
Considering the balance between the left and right sides of the batting lineup, the idea of using Kim Sang-min, a right-handed hitter, was immediately suggested. Kim Sang-min, a first and third baseman and right-handed hitter, sometimes came into the game instead of right-handed pitcher when facing left-handed pitchers, but his batting performance was not very good.
Although it is said that Kang Joo-hyun, who is a major player, can play all positions in the infield, the coach decided that it would be better to leave him in the dugout for emergencies.
“Then I guess I’ll have to choose two out of three. Lee In-hyuk, Baek Jeong-jin, Han Sang-gyu.”
As AT’s farm is constantly producing good outfielders, all that was left were the outfielders. Alternate hitter Lee In-hyuk, Baek Jeong-jin, who has balance, and Han Sang-gyu, who hit 10 home runs despite not making good contact.
“If you think about defense, Sang-gyu is suited to be a designated hitter. “I can play right field, but it’s not enough to play in big games.”
“Sang-gyu has one shot, so he’s a good fit for fall baseball. However, since there are a lot of double plays, I think Jeongjin is better. “He is capable of playing defense and has achieved good results regardless of whether he is left or right-handed.”
“In Coach Bae’s opinion, who is better at defense, Inhyuk or Jeongjin?”
“Inhyuk is better at range, and Jeongjin is better at shoulders.”
“But is the right fielder’s shoulder important when there is a man at second base? Right field is something that Kwan Hyeong also watches. As expected, I think Inhyuk is the right fielder.”
“Then let’s go with Inhyuk. Inhyuk was also the starter during the season. Director, how are you?”
“I think Inhyuk is right, too. “I will put him in the number 9 right field position as usual.”
Now all that remains is number 7, the designated hitter position. The competitors were Baek Jeong-jin and Han Sang-gyu. Baek Jeong-jin, who came over by trade this season and proved his potential by hitting 8 home runs with a batting average of .208, and Han Sang-gyu, who was AT’s starting outfielder until last season but hit 10 home runs despite losing his position due to weather conditions.
“Director. Still, since Jeongjin can play all outfield positions, wouldn’t it be better to leave him on the bench?”
“… “It is true.”
In the end, Lee Soo-hyun’s choice was Han Sang-gyu. From the one shot needed for fall baseball to the need for unexpected defense. Now that the most important batting lineup has been decided, all that remains is the question of pitcher management.
“The starters are Krongs, Bellingham, Jang Yoon, and Park Jun-hyung. This order would be good, right? Even though Crongs and Bellingham are right-handed pitchers, Jang Yoon is uneasy in a small stadium.”
“That’s right. Actually, the problem is the bullpen rather than the starters…”
Since AT’s starting lineup was complete, the remaining task was the bullpen. Kang Se-ho and Kim Yun-ho, who had improved their performance in the second half of the season and played the role of a sure-win team, appeared in all games in this semi-playoff and took responsibility for the team’s backdoor, but fatigue remained in their arms, so it was not surprising that they were hit hard at any time.
“Still, it’s fortunate that Junhoo and Chanyoung remain, so we can raise them at any time if the selection fails.”
“Let’s think about basic operations first. After all, no one knows what will happen once the game starts.”
“I understand.”
After a long meeting that lasted until late at night, the AT Thunders were able to complete their preparations for the playoffs.