Chapters 555 – 547. Opened Eyes? (1)
-August MVP, Ji Maeng-ho again?
… Ji Maeng-ho, who gave the monthly MVP to Seonghyun last July, is aiming for the monthly MVP again this month. Ji Maeng-ho played in 27 games during the month of August, recording a batting average of .306 and 8 league runs, an on-base percentage of .509, a slugging percentage of 1.044 and an OPS of 1.635, along with 12 home runs, 10 stolen bases and 35 RBIs. He still boasted of his hitting skills.
… Ji Maeng-ho, who had a cycling hit against NV last time out, currently has 59 home runs and 160 RBIs and is expected to break his season record for most home runs and RBIs during his remaining games…
┗Didn’t Fierce Protector’s sense of striking decrease? How far is the record? ㅅㅂ
┗┗That’s how much it fell haha
┗Wow, 59 home runs already? Aren’t we going to beat Bonds’ record this time?
┗┗AT There are 27 games remaining, so if you hit 15, you can pass. Is that possible?
┗┗No matter how fierce you are, I think this will be a bit difficult haha
┗┗Could it is possible if there were no injuries?
┗But your on-base percentage is still at 60%. Are you crazy? LOL
-August 31 professional baseball rankings
1st place AT Thunders 80 wins, 35 losses, 2 draws, 0.696 0
2nd place: Hwasan Falcons 70 wins, 45 losses, 1 draw, 0.609 10
3rd place Hyunseong Mad Cats 62 wins, 53 losses, 1 draw, 0.539 18
4th place Shilla Triggers 63 wins, 54 losses, 2 draws, 0.538 18
5th place Future Buffaloes 60 wins, 55 losses, 1 draw, 0.522 20
6th place Charlotte Blue Mariners 59 wins, 57 losses, 1 draw, 0.509 21.5
7th place UG Overlords 48 wins, 68 losses, 2 draws, 0.414 32.5
8th place JT Gold Eyes 46 wins, 67 losses, 3 draws, 0.407 33
9th place NV Rex 44 wins, 70 losses, 2 draws, 0.386 35.5
10th place Hancheol Grizzlies 43 wins, 71 losses, 2 draws, 0.377 36.5
*
“… Then, what do you think of the league’s situation for the remaining period?”
“Hmm… There is little chance that 1st and 2nd place will change. The AT Thunders, who have a winning percentage close to .700%, and the Hwasan Falcons, who would have been fighting for first place if it had been a normal season with a winning percentage in the low 600% range. “The positions of these two teams can be seen as solid.”
“Okay. Instead, the battle for 3rd place and the 5th and 6th places fighting for fall baseball tickets are really fierce, right?”
“You’re right. As Jia said, 3rd place Hyunseong Mad Cats and 4th place Shilla Triggers are continuing their battle for 3rd place. Last season, Hyunseong Mad Cats, who had suffered through unfortunate incidents such as match-fixing, are still showing a strong side as they reorganize their team, and Shilla Triggers, ranked 4th, is united around ace player Kim Won-ho and is taking the games they need to catch. I can see it.”
“But, the fight for 5th and 6th place is more interesting than the fight for 3rd place, right? When you think of the two most popular teams in Korea, the two teams that come to mind! Mirae and Charlotte’s battle for 5th and 6th place is going really well, isn’t it?”
“You’re right. The Future Buffaloes, ranked 5th, are building an impeccable starting lineup comparable to the Hwasan Falcons with Jang Woo-joo, who throws 100 mph, and Trey, the best left-handed pitcher in the league, forming a one-two punch, and a healthy Lee Jin-hong is leading the lineup. And Charlotte, as expected, has not given up hope for fall baseball as the team is united around pinch hitter Kang Han-beom. The difference between the two teams is 1.5 games, and it is a game gap that can catch up at any time.”
“In your view, the future and Charlotte. Which of the two teams do you think is more likely to advance to 5th place?”
“They are the future Buffaloes who have a powerful one-two punch. The advantage of the future Buffaloes… In particular, the Future Buffaloes have 4 games remaining against the 1st place team, the AT Thunders, and the record between the Future Buffaloes and the AT Thunders this season is 6 wins and 6 losses, with the AT Thunders having the upper hand against all teams. The only team to tie against is the Future Buffaloes.”
“Ah… “What is Charlotte’s record against?”
“Honestly, the two games remaining at 10 wins and 4 losses are not easy. The match between Mirae and Charlotte is important, but what will be really important is how Mirae plays out the remaining four games against AT.”
“If we recorded that kind of record against AT, which is clearly the best team in the league, we could see that our future peak is higher, right?”
“High point…, High point. Haha. Well, you could look at it that way. First, it can be said that the one-two punch of Jang Woo-joo and Trey is no match for the one-two punch of Seonghyeon and Tinie. If you think about it that way, I think this Tuesday’s game will be really fun. “Trey, Woo-joo Jang, and the one-two punch will be the starters against AT.”
“Finally, tomorrow! I’m going to Jamsil to watch such an important match between AT and Mirae! “Please come as many fans as possible!”
*
15 home runs. It was a home run I hit in just over 30 games without Mr. Rossby’s help. In addition, he had a batting average in the mid to high .300 range. Since I achieved this level of performance without Mr. Rossby’s help, I could say that I was quite satisfied with the results, but honestly, I felt that I was still a little lacking.
Of course, some people may think I’m just saying it out of luck, but in reality, it would be difficult to believe that I was hitting the ball with my own strength while at bat. Even if I did not receive help from Mr. Rossby, the ‘me’ that the pitchers were dealing with was the ‘me’ that was receiving help from Mr. Rossby.
In other words, I have been batting in a fairly comfortable state so far. Even if Mr. Rossby didn’t help, it was safe to say that there were almost no pitchers who could confidently throw pitches like curveballs or changeups to me. The longer a pitcher saw me, the greater the possibility of that happening.
In general, the pitches thrown by starters are sliders, curves, and changeups, excluding fastballs.
There were the occasional pitches that fell like forkballs, but most of them were the type of pitches that were thrown 2-3 of the pitches mentioned above, so I was hitting comfortably by hitting fastballs or sliders at the timing of the fastball.
If you get the timing right, it is quite easy to kick a slider whose velocity is not much different from the fastball timing.
But these days, pitchers have been throwing curveballs and changeups from time to time, probably because they’ve realized that I can’t distinguish between those pitches very well. And there were some pitchers who tried to mess up my timing by putting me in the zone.
In particular, foreign pitchers who had not seen me for a long time, that is, who were brought into the league for the first time this season, were more active in putting balls like curveballs and changeups into the zone.
“Swing strike!”
… Like now.
‘Oh, fuck. I was completely fooled. ‘This guy, the changeup sucks?’
And the best of them all is definitely this guy throwing the ball in front of me. I was pretty sure it was Trey. Of course, there was Seonghyeon, a change-up artist, but since he was a monster to begin with, it was natural to leave him out of the discussion.
The best left-handed mercenary pitcher in the league. If Seonghyun wasn’t there, Trey’s performance was so threatening that he could have been given the title of mercenary.
A four-seam and sinker in the low 140s, a slider in the low 130s, and a changeup in the low 130s. It was very difficult to get the timing right.
In particular, it was impossible to distinguish a changeup thrown from a position that was completely different from a fastball. There were some starters in the league whose subtle differences were visible after a few at-bats, but Trey, like a mercenary, had a different quality from those pitchers.
The good news is that there is no such bizarre trajectory as Seonghyun’s?
“Time!”
“Time!”
My mind suddenly became confused, so I called out time and started to organize my mind.
‘Under… If it’s a curve, you can still see it to some extent and hit it, but this is why guys who are good at throwing changeups are picky.’
Anyway, two strikes, two balls with this one. Judging from the fact that he didn’t throw a change-up as the final pitch, perhaps because he was scared, I still had a breakthrough. Because I won’t throw changeups twice in a row.
Among the pitches he can throw, after excluding the change-up, the remaining pitches are a four-seamer, a sinker, and a slider. There was one extra ball count, but it didn’t look like the guy who was bold enough to throw a change-up into the zone would get another one.
However, in a situation where he had two strikes, the fastball was too arrogant. So what’s left is the sinker and slider.
‘You’re going to put it in the zone, right? If it were a guy, he would put it in. After all, it’s still the second episode. Then, if it comes towards you, it’s a sinker, and if it comes to the outside, it’s a slider.’
Fortunately, the difference between his slider and sinker is at most around 5 km/h. It was a ball that could be hit if the timing was right.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes, it’s done.”
After the timer expired, I formed a hitting zone slightly lower than the fastball and waited for the guy’s ball. He also quickly assumed a pitching stance, probably having had enough time to talk while I called the time.
And the guy kicks his right leg and throws the ball. I was ready to hit his ball with all my concentration.
‘… Huh?’
At that time, I felt something strange… However, since I had to focus on hitting, I quickly erased that sense of discomfort from my memory and checked the trajectory of the flying ball.
The trajectory is outward!
As I had initially decided, I swung the bat vigorously, assuming a slider from the outside to the backdoor.
However, from the moment I swung the bat, it felt like time was frozen, and the ball was hovering in the air.
‘Fuck! ‘I got hit!’
The bat was already passing home plate, so it was too late to stop it, and his ball slowly curved out and only after my bat had passed did it enter the catcher’s mitt.
“Swing strike! Out!”
A changeup that flows from the outside to the outside. I was completely taken aback by the battery’s ball mix.
“Oh, fuck!”
I felt ashamed at the perfect strikeout, but there was something more bothering me right now. The feeling of discomfort I felt the moment he threw the last ball. Last year, when I went to bat without Mr. Rossby’s help, I felt like there was something about him, just like I heard from Suho.
‘But the form is exactly the same, what was it?’
The only person I can talk about like this with is senior Suho, who has the best eyes in the team. As soon as I entered the dugout, I went to see Senior Suho.
“Senior.”
“Huh?”
“Isn’t there something strange when that guy throws a changeup?”
“Why? Did you find anything else?”
“Senior, didn’t you feel it?”
“Well? There wasn’t much difference when I saw it…”
But it seemed that senior Suho couldn’t find the difference.
‘Then what is it? Am I just thinking too much and seeing nonsense?’
Even if I saw a ghost and couldn’t see it as something in vain, I felt too uncomfortable to ignore it like that. But there was no way Suho wouldn’t have noticed what I saw. Because Suho was a hitter who made a living from that.
‘Suho can’t see it, but I can see it… What? … Wait, Suho is a left-handed hitter, and I am a right-handed hitter… Is that really true?’
Left-handed pitcher, left-handed hitter, and right-handed hitter. That difference is something only I can see. And the feeling of discomfort I felt the moment he threw the ball…
‘Mr. Rossby!’
Feeling like I had a clue, I called Mr. Rossby to check it out.