Chapter 351 – Episode 343. Korea’s Best Pitcher. (2)

“Hello.”

“Are you here? “It’s been a while?”

“Hey, I saw it in the exhibition game too. But, the sage of the world won’t skip it because he’s afraid of me, right?”

“You’re not so scared that you don’t even bring out the bat, are you?”

“What are you worried about?”

In the top of the second inning, the first at-bat with the score at 0:0. Just listening to Lee Yong-gi’s words, it seemed like he would fight head-on, but I could have bet all my money that Lee Yong-gi wasn’t the type of person to do that.

‘Well, I’ll fight by gently scratching the outside like I always do.’

‘It’s a fastball.’

‘First pitch fastball? Okay.’

Seonghyun’s first pitch was a fastball. First, I wait for Seonghyun’s first pitch with the mindset of watching one ball. And Seonghyun’s first pitch was thrown.

“Ball.”

Seonghyun’s first pitch lands where about a ball has missed from the outside. The speed recorded on the electronic display board was 142 km/h. Seeing Seonghyun, who used to throw 150 pitches in his prime, throw a pitch at this speed makes me feel the passage of time.

‘Even a pitcher as good as Seonghyun has no business in time. Well, if you throw a ball like this, it must have been returned to the major league.’

In fact, during my school days, I didn’t fall asleep for a day or two while imagining hitting Seonghyeon’s ball before falling asleep. Imagine debuting in the major league and facing off against Seong-Hyeon, the best Korean pitcher of his time. Of course, I was always the winner in that fantasy, and now was the time to make that fantasy a reality. Even though the stage was Korea.

‘You must have had quite a few delusions.’

‘Kid! It’s not just a crazy delusion, everyone my age goes to sleep dreaming about that!’

‘I guess so.’

‘It’s real!’

“I gave you one to hit, but are you too scared to even bring out the bat?”

“No!”

“What? “Why are you screaming all of a sudden?”

“… “I’m sorry.”

Fuck, I ended up screaming without even realizing it because of Rossby. Since I am a person who knows manners, I handed Lee Yong-gi an apology and focused on my at-bat again.

‘Tell me the next ball.’

‘It’s a cutter.’

‘Cutter here? Then, are you going to stab a ball from the outside to the inside?’

Considering Seonghyeon’s pitch control, there was a high possibility that he would throw a cutter that would stick in the zone, even though it was the same course as before. It was obvious that most pitchers in Korea would not have that kind of control, but Seonghyun was a pitcher who could do it.

‘But would Lee Yong-gi take such an obvious lead? Will Seonghyun accept such an obvious lead?’

However, such a question sprouts in a corner of my mind.

‘Okay. Let’s watch for now. Because the count is advantageous anyway.’

After Seonghyun tapped his foot and prepared to throw the second ball, he threw the second ball.

“Strike!”

The result was a strike that hit the outer borderline. It was a ball that hit the spot I had been thinking about just a moment ago.

‘Fuck, my prediction was right.’

I was thinking too much. Before going to bat, I thought I should let my teammates know that Seonghyun was just one of those pitchers, but it seemed like I was too conscious of the value of the name Seonghyun when I was at bat.

‘Fool, fool. It wasn’t a ball I couldn’t hit. No, on the contrary, the ball control was so good that it was difficult to hit it to the outside. If you’re going to hit a home run, it’s right to skip it.’

After quickly controlling my mind, I tried to focus on the at-bat again.

“I was scared as expected.”

“Hey, Mr. “It’s not.”

If it weren’t for Lee Yong-gi’s check.

‘This guy talks dirty. If this goes on, I can’t stand it either.’

“I was just watching. Because it’s obvious.”

“Is it obvious?”

“It was boring because it was so obvious. Even though I am Seonghyun, I must be scared, right? “I see you keep spinning the ball outward.”

“Okay, I’ll stick one into your body. Are you good at hitting changeups? “Hyun, did you try the changeup too?”

“Yes? A real changeup?”

I was planning to pick out Lee Yong-gi after hearing the pitch from Rossby, but Lee Yong-gi first tells me what kind of pitch he will throw this time.

‘Why?’

Why on earth do you know that throwing a changeup at me is suicidal?

‘It’s a circle change-up.’

And Rossby’s confirmed kill was heard. The real Yonggi Lee chose Seonghyun’s secret weapon, the circle changeup, for this ball. Unlike me, who thought he would at most throw a changeup and throw another pitch, Lee Yong-gi asked for a real changeup.

‘Now it’s a bit fun. ‘Let’s stick together, right?’

Seonghyeon’s circle changeup. It was a ball I was familiar with. It was a ball that no one who plays baseball in Korea would know. As the article revealed that even in the major leagues, there are not many balls with a higher pitch value than Sung Hyun’s circle change up, anyone who likes baseball knew that Sung Hyun’s circle change up was a great pitch.

But still, I was confident. Anyway, the change-up is a ball designed to deceive the batter’s timing. It was a pitch that could not be fooled as long as you knew that the pitcher was throwing a changeup.

‘Anyway, I will eat well.’

Hiding my laughter, I wait for Seonghyeon’s third ball. And Seonghyun’s circle changeup was thrown. I swung the bat while carefully watching Seonghyeon’s pitch.

‘… ‘Huh?’

However, unlike the trajectory I expected, Seonghyun’s changeup moves further and further away from the bat. The ball that was entering the zone moves further and further outward, as if ignoring the laws of physics.

‘Fuck… !’

Tak!

And an ominous sound rings in my ears. I threw the bat and ran straight toward first base. The sound of Lee Yong-gi taking off his catcher’s mask and throwing it away can be heard from behind. And a white baseball passing in front of me.

“Foul!”

“Wow, I almost fucked up.”

A situation where swearing comes out of one’s voice. Fortunately, the ball I touched seemed to be a foul.

‘Is this Seonghyun’s changeup?’

A trajectory like a slider thrown by a right-handed hitter. It was Seonghyun’s changeup that I thought about countless times while watching the video, but seeing Seonghyun’s changeup at the plate was on a different level. A ball that immediately makes you feel why an ordinary Asian pitcher was once competing for the Cy Young Award.

“How is it? Kill me?”

As I trudge into the batter’s box, Lee Yong-gi smiles and welcomes me.

“It’s killing me. But.”

“But?”

“Can you handle it? “I couldn’t get an out with this.”

But a smile also came to my face when I saw such exploits. Because once I saw it, there was a way to attack it. It was my first time seeing Seonghyun’s changeup, so it was a strange hit, but I wasn’t worried. If I continued training with Rossby, it was only a matter of time before I adapted. Moreover, when I saw the speed, I thought I could just clear it and aim for another ball.

“The guy who came back from the dead only survived his mouth.”

“I came back from hell, but I can live with my mouth.”

Lee Yong-gi burst out laughing again at my words and sat down in his seat wearing a catcher’s mask.

‘Whoa, first, get rid of all the change-ups.’

Honestly, with my ability, I still couldn’t tell whether it was in the zone or not, so when I heard about a change-up, I decided to hold the bat short and kick it out and went to bat.

‘What about the next ball?’

‘It’s a fastball.’

The changeup fools the eye and is a fast ball. Since the user experience is at this point, is it going to be normal? I match the timing of hitting Seonghyeon’s fastball and wait for the ball. After a few seconds, Seonghyun lifted his right leg and swung his arm.

‘It’s coming!’

When you look at the trajectory, towards the body? I instinctively swung the bat according to the timing of Seonghyun’s fastball that I had just seen.

Whoa!

Bang!

Even though I could hear the sound of the ball hitting the mitt, it felt like my swing wasn’t over yet.

‘… ‘Huh?’

And the feeling of emptiness.

“Strike! Out!”

“What?”

The speed of this ball recorded on the electronic display board was 154 km/h. It was a speed that was on a different level from the speed I had seen before.

‘It’s only a 10 km/h car. ‘This much?’

“How is it? Was it fun?”

“…”

I wasn’t a hitter who didn’t strike out. Sometimes the trajectory of the pitcher’s throw is better than usual, so there are times when a ball is swung and misses, and there have been times when a ball that was expected to be a ball entered the zone and resulted in a strikeout.

However, the strikeout I had just now was more shocking than the strikeouts I had hitherto. A feeling of dejection, like the first time you hit a breaking ball.

‘The speed suddenly increases by 10 km/h? Is this a human?’

I knew it. Obviously, there was a scene where he threw 150 in the video against Joo Seung-cheol. But when I was watching that video, I thought I was just lucky…

‘Throwing the same pitch with the same form at a difference of about 10 km/h and hitting that ball when you want?’

It was absurd. Is this a major-leaguer? Honestly, I thought Seonghyun ran away from the major leagues. Using injury as an excuse. However, looking at the way he pitched today, I felt strongly that he would still be successful in the major leagues.

“Why on earth did you come back?”

“Hey, there’s the Olympics this year, and you said you wanted to win with your home team in your later years.”

Even though there was no subject as to who came back, the team members near me understood clearly and told me the reason why Seonghyeon came back.

“Where did you say that?”

“Don’t you read the articles? “I said it all during my return interview, so what?”

Under… Okay, this isn’t obsolete, right? I was looking at Seonghyeon too much. I thought he was just an outcast because of the injury, but I guess it wasn’t that bad.

Honestly, it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t play. I just couldn’t react because I was forgetting the 150 fastball from my mind. If he had been paying attention, he wouldn’t have been able to pass by and enter the dugout like this.

‘Well, it’s better that it happened now. It would have been terrible if it had been a scoring position. Seonghyeon, Yonggi Lee. You made a mistake. ‘Are you going to use that secret trick now?’

Among Seong-Hyun’s balls seen from the dugout and standby batting box, there are two balls to watch out for. Changeup and fastball. The changeup is cut, and the fastball is hit with easy choice. Then Seonghyeon is finished. In particular, considering the pitch of the fastball, if he was preparing for a fast fastball, it was worth touching a slow fastball.

‘Okay. He has to do this to be the best pitcher in Korean history. It’s fun. Mr. Rossby, let’s go right in, right? First, start with the changeup.’

‘I thought I was dragging my feet like an asshole, but it was organized faster than I thought.’

‘Hehe, I’m not even a rookie. Would I say that because I struck out once? And strikeouts are the fate of a home run hitter like me. Anyway, if I hit just once out of four times, I win.’