Chapter 341 – Episode 333. Juji Daejeon. (2)

Perfect!

“Ah… ! Will it fall out?”

“Get out, get out.”

“Ah…”

“Kabi! Jeongjin! It was a waste!”

In the bottom of the first inning, which started with a 2-0 situation due to Joo Seung-cheol’s two-run home run, leadoff hitter Baek Jeong-jin hit Na Seung-yoon’s ball and the batted ball flew into the outfield, but was caught by the right fielder, increasing the red out count on the electronic display.

‘Na Seungyoon… I saw it at the Asian Games, and the ball is pretty good.’

The pitcher currently standing on Hancheol’s mound is Na Seung-yoon, who had a meal together in last year’s Asian Games. He was a traditional right-handed pitcher who used a fastball, slider, curve, changeup, and splitter with an average velocity in the low 140s. Starting last year, the status of his fastball improved significantly, and he was a pitcher who played the role of Hancheol’s domestic ace.

I remember dusting myself off on a rainy day in last year’s semi-playoffs, but looking at the video and records, I felt like I took a step-up this season.

‘Well, if you deal with it in person, you’ll understand,’

“Strike out!”

And as if my feeling was correct, Na Seung-yoon used a good splitter and struck out second batter Kim Su-ho, creating two outs.

“Sir, how was the ball?”

“The splitter has good angles and has a lot of speed. “Be careful of the splitter thrown after the high fastball.”

“I understand.”

A falling ball thrown following a high fastball. Although it was a classic combination, it was also one that worked well. And considering that Kim Su-ho was hit by such a classic combination, Na Seung-yoon’s condition looked quite good today.

‘It must be delicious. Let’s go. Mr. Rossby.’

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go out as the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the second inning, but if that happens, I feel like the game won’t be fun, so I have to wait at the standby plate for a few minutes, praying earnestly that Ki Ki-joo gets on base.

Perfect!

-Wow!!!

– Weather warning! Weather warning! Weather warning!

The batted ball passed through the second baseman’s side and rolled all the way to right field.

‘Oh, as expected, he’s a Sangju senior. It’s still the same.’

Na Seung-yoon’s condition is good these days, but his weather condition was not easy. Because he ranked second in the league in batting with a batting average of .387. Choi Jin-cheol’s condition was not very good, and he was under intensive control, so it was a little disappointing that he only hit 3 home runs, but the fact that he recorded such a batting average even under such control was proof of his meteoric class.

And that kind of weatherman looks at me as I walk out of the standby batter’s box.

‘Please. ‘It’s Meng Hao.’

I responded with a smile to the attention-seeking look and went to bat. The smell of batting that I haven’t felt in a long time. Although I adjusted my condition in the second-team game yesterday, the atmosphere of batting in the first-team league makes me excited.

It feels like the packed crowd that filled Jamsil for Children’s Day is all welcoming me. As I looked at the AT fans filling up first base, the fans seemed to sense that I was looking at them, and their cheers got louder.

-Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maengho!

Return game, Children’s Day, full crowd. I feel like my dick is going to stand on a stage that seems to have been prepared just for me.

‘Whew, let’s hold on. ‘Not yet.’

I bite my tongue to suppress the rising excitement, take off my helmet and say hello to the home fans.

-Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maengho!

-I missed you!

-Wow!!!!

With fans responding with cheers,

-Ji Maeng-ho~! Ji Maengho~! Oooooh! Thunders Ji Maeng-ho! Fly it to the sky!

My cheering song is heard soon after. Yesterday, when the 2nd team was playing, my fan club came and sang a cheering song, and hearing my cheering song in a packed Jamsil room was special. As I was enjoying the feeling of flying into the sky, I heard a voice pouring cold water.

“Under… Please do it quickly. I’m exhausted. “Shouldn’t this be a warning?”

He was a catcher all season long.

‘Fuck, you idiot is in a bad mood.’

“Why? Are you upset because there is no cheering song?”

“… “I have a cheerleader too, kid.”

“Sorry. Since I didn’t even know the name, I naturally thought there was no cheering song.”

“Wow, look at this kid speaking informally?”

“Then why do you speak informally?”

“Because I’m the senior, you bastard.”

“Fuck you, senior. They’re calling me a damn senior. “Don’t meet me on the street.”

“Both of you, stop it. “If you swear one more time, both of you will be kicked out.”

“Yes.”

“… Yes.”

The referee stopped us from swearing at each other, but that didn’t make me feel better. Since it was my comeback game, I wanted to be in a good mood and show the fans a great show, but this novice catcher ruined it all.

‘You fell behind. Mr. Rossby, what about the ball?’

‘It’s a fastball.’

As soon as I heard Rossby’s pitch, I started talking again.

“Surely you won’t throw a fastball that goes out of bounds from the first pitch?”

Normally, unless the catcher was very smart, he wouldn’t find out the type of pitch and attack me mentally, but I felt like I had to deal with this guy. Well, I sometimes teased this guy even if he had a taste for teasing, but now I really wanted to scratch this guy’s mentality.

“…”

And it seemed to have worked, as the catcher’s fluttering snout immediately stopped.

‘Here one more time.’

“Ah, Yonggi wouldn’t have asked for something so obvious. “I’ll just stay back and watch.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped away from the plate and provoked the catcher. And Na Seung-yoon, who saw that I was missing, tried to force the ball he was trying to throw to the outside into the zone, and the ball hit the floor with a one-bound, making it difficult for the catcher to block.

“It looks good crawling on the ground.”

“You bitch…”

When I gave the catcher a scratch while signaling the weatherman to stop, the reaction was quite appetizing. He was also quite good at blocking while crawling on the ground.

‘This time it’s a curve.’

‘Curve? A season-old team is unlikely to throw a curveball into the zone, so it will definitely be hit low. Okay.’

“Are you really thinking of asking for a curve after a fastball and causing a missed swing? Against me? If you sign autographs now, you’ll quit baseball, right? It doesn’t seem like they’re even doing basic research. For your information, if you enter the zone, you are immediately thrown out of the fence?”

“… Shut up, you bastard.”

Looking at the response, it seemed like it was right to come up with the ball mixture myself.

‘Well, the manager or battery coach probably isn’t involved in ball mixing from the bottom of the first inning.’

Na Seung-yoon’s curve is a slow curve that is formed between 110 and 120. Once inside the zone, he waited for the guy’s curve, ready to blow,

“Ball.”

His second ball was also declared a ball.

‘In this case, since it’s a two-ball game, are you going to throw it to the outside and filter it out? Hmm… I don’t like it because it’s my comeback game.’

From a team perspective, getting on base was the top priority, so the walks weren’t bad, but since I’m also human, I wanted to show the fans a great performance right now. The best is a home run, but even if you can’t, hit a timely hit. To do that, it was necessary to attract as many catchers as possible.

‘Let’s just wait for this ball and swing if it strays too far.’

‘It’s a slider.’

‘Sliders? In this case, it would be better to miss the swing.’

If he threw a fastball, it meant that he intended to avoid me for sure, but if he threw a slider, it meant that he had the will to compete if the situation arose. If I was going to skip it, there was no need to throw a curveball.

To create that situation, I missed the guy’s slider that went to the outside.

Boo!

“Strike!”

“Hey, I guess you didn’t expect this? Huh? It looks good.”

‘To be happy.’

The catcher was happy, not even knowing that I had swung him on purpose. If it had been Lee Yong-gi, he would have been more suspicious and cautious, thinking it was strange that I was swinging at such a ball, but in one season, Lee Yong-gi was no longer there.

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘Okay, fastball.’

“Nothing to say? Are you feeling a bit embarrassed after taking one strike? “Why isn’t there anything to say?”

‘Baby, you’re so fucking happy.’

For some reason, I felt like I knew which ball he was asking for. It’s probably the body ball. Since he threw three missed balls in a row and got one strike, two balls, it was very clear that he wanted to win the game with a ball inside his body.

What Rossby always emphasized without telling me the location was to hit without predicting, and if he gave such an obvious lead, I had no choice but to guess hit.

‘If you throw it towards your body…’

And just as I expected, Na Seung-yoon’s ball flies towards the body.

‘… I’ll eat well!’

Ta-tak!

It’s been a long time since I’ve been on the first team stage, the feeling of my hands and bat resonating and the sound of the ball splitting. The batted ball flew quickly toward the left wall.

A home run that we don’t need to see anymore.

“It’s easy.”

I threw the bat lightly, said a few words to the catcher, and walked toward first base. And a deafening roar can be heard from the cheering section near first base.

-Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maengho! Ji Maengho!

‘Fuck, this is it!’

‘Hmm… It’s definitely increased a lot. ‘You guessed it perfectly and hit it just now, right?’

‘Yes. How did you know?’

‘I’ve been with you for so many years, but you don’t even know.’

‘Hehe, it’s definitely increased a lot, right? Now, you can just see that a catcher of that bastard’s size is thinking, right? Now I also ate some Jjambap.’

It’s been a year since I debuted as a professional. Unless you are Lee Yong-gi or a veteran who has been in the league for a long time, you can now clearly see what the catchers are thinking.

‘When you know the type of pitch, all you have to do is hit whether it is inside or outside, but it’s hard to show off.’

‘… You can just praise something if it’s amazing, but they always add hateful words.’

‘Shut up.’

I immediately changed the subject before Rossby could swear even harsher.

‘More than that, do you know why that bastard is like that? ‘Don’t you usually wait a little longer in cases like this?’

Actually, I was curious even when I was at bat. In my case, when I look at the at-bats of players like me who are playing their first game against their home team, I tend to wait for the catcher to say hello even if it takes a little while, but why couldn’t he wait that little bit and provoked me?

‘You really don’t know?’

‘Yes.’

‘That bastard. It’s that guy. The guy you said during the exhibition game that you don’t even remember his name.’

‘Ah! That’s why it is like that.’

The reaction was somehow strange. But that happened a month ago, and I still keep it in my mind and ruin the game. The level of professionalism was questionable.

‘Tsk. I can’t believe I don’t even remember that. ‘Stupid bastard.’

‘… Mr. Rossby, do you even know what that bastard’s name is?’

‘…’

Rossby did not answer my question until we got home, and our unpleasant silence continued until we entered the dugout and received congratulations from his teammates.