Chapter 601 – Episode 588. 2026 WBC. (3)
Perfect!
Choi Joo-tae’s batted ball flies slowly toward the outfield. Senior Joo-tae, who said that he would prepare a delicious meal for him, hits a fly to right field after a 7-pitch game and returns to the dugout. Seeing that he didn’t even make eye contact with me, he seemed a little embarrassed.
But there was no reason for Senior Joo Tae to be embarrassed.
‘… The ball is good.’
Chen Jianhao’s ball today looked good even when he was in the standby position. The guy’s swishing ball clearly showed why he was showing decent results as a starter in the major leagues.
In particular, the slider, which can be said to be his second pitch, looked particularly sharp today than in the video.
‘I guess today is the day the slider gets scratched. Confirm first.’
The velocity of the fastball he threw today was around 148-153, and the velocity of the slider was around 137-142, making it quite difficult for an average batter to hit with timing.
… For ordinary hitters.
‘Mr. Rossby, we rested until yesterday, so let’s do some work today.’
‘Tsk, I treated you yesterday even though you refused.’
‘Hmm… Anyway, thank you very much.’
After finishing my conversation with Mr. Rossby, I went to bat and Chen Jianhao started staring at me intently.
‘Why are that kid’s eyes like that?’
Those eyes, as if you had met your enemy… I tried to remember what I did wrong to him, but unfortunately I couldn’t find it. At most, I don’t even remember, but all we met was the Asian Games finals.
‘… I’m sure he’s still doing that because of what happened then, right? I don’t even remember.’
‘Get ready. It’s the first pitch forkball.’
‘Yes.’
Throwing a forkball from the first pitch means you have no intention of taking it easy! There was a high probability that it would be a ball, and I had to feel his ball directly at the plate to get the timing right, so I decided to watch his first pitch and waited for his first pitch.
“… Ball.”
And the guy’s ball definitely hit the bottom of the zone… It was a ball that would have been called a strike even if only half the ball had come in high.
‘This is not the area of control… Were you planning on sticking it right into John from the beginning? Well, there is a limit of 65 pitches, so you probably don’t want to throw a lot of balls at me.’
Seeing the slight regret on his face made me think my thoughts were almost certain. The team’s ace had to last as long an inning as possible under the 65-pitch limit. It wasn’t that easy to block our batting line unless you were a major-leaguer.
In that case, what I need to do is make the pitcher feel as impatient as possible!
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go in aiming for a home run, but it’s only 1 point anyway. However, it was clear that if he was taken down, scoring points after that would be easier than a piece of cake. Right now, it seemed more important to get as many balls out of him as possible as to score one point.
‘You bastard. In times like these, you need to hide your true feelings as much as possible. If you do that, I want to bother you.’
If the pitcher doesn’t like it, the batter has to persistently target the part he doesn’t like.
I held the bat slightly shorter. Of course, this would never have happened if it had been the regular season, but now it is the international stage. And I am the national representative.
It wasn’t an embarrassing thing to hold the bat briefly for one’s country.
‘It’s a fastball.’
‘Fastball? Good.’
His fastball is around 150. The trajectory of the breaking ball was different for each pitcher, so if you went in without checking, there was a high chance of a missed swing, but there was no problem with the fastball because it had a normal trajectory except for a few unusual ones.
Perfect!
And when the ball is hit with quick timing, it gets caught in the third base net and a foul is declared.
‘Fastball.’
‘Another fastball? Hmm… Dude, you think I have bad timing? Then it’s good for me.’
Perfect!
“Foul!”
Foul called once again. It was one ball, two strikes in just three balls, but I wasn’t nervous at all. If I held the end of the handle as usual, I could have missed the swing when a breaking ball whose trajectory I couldn’t confirm came, but I was holding the bat briefly right now.
The bat speed I feel is almost double. Since he was not in his usual batting form, it would be difficult to kick the breaking ball if the velocity was fast, but none of his breaking balls were around 150 km/h.
Even if it’s a breaking ball you’ve never seen before, it’s the kind of restraint that’s enough to clear it…
‘Slider.’
Perfect!
“Foul!”
‘Fastball.’
Perfect!
“Foul!”
‘Forkball.’
Four fouls after the first ball. Seeing him change direction with a forkball, it seemed like he was slowly realizing my intention.
‘However. So what can you do?’
The guy’s forkball fell badly, probably because he had a strong desire to cause a missed swing. I couldn’t swing the bat even for a ball like this, so I waited for that ball,
“Ball.”
The guy’s ball bounced on the ground in one bounce and was declared a ball.
‘It would be best if I walked like this, but it wouldn’t be easy, right?’
Of course, it was easy to walk, but getting on base was also difficult for me. I had already kicked his balls a few times, ruining my hitting timing, and the unlucky balls I had kicked could have ended up being ground balls.
But for my country, I just do what I have to do. Since we had plenty of stats against Laos and England anyway, there was no problem with sacrificing one at-bat.
‘It’s a change-up.’
‘Change-up? ‘I see you’ve made a big decision?’
Throw a changeup here… In my mind, I wanted to hold the bat long and fly it over the fence, but after holding the bat short and kicking the guy’s ball a few times, my sense was that there was a high probability that it would be an ambiguous fly, so my stance did not change.
I was a little scared of his changeup because it was the first time I saw it at bat, but no matter how good the changeup is, the velocity is around 120 to 130. If you only knew how to put the bat together… !
Perfect!
“Foul.”
‘Phew, if I had hit it a little faster, it would have been a grounder. Did you make 7 with this? I threw 7 to senior Joo Tae, so 14. I’ll just make 10 more light cuts and go.’
The limit number of pitches for the WBC preliminary round is 65. Since he has already thrown 14 balls, the number of innings he can throw is at most 3–4 innings. If I threw out more pitches, it was a number of pitches that could have been made in two innings depending on the condition of the batters behind.
‘Mr. Rossby! Next ball!’
And it was quite fun to see the guy dripping with juice just two batters after the game started, so I waited for his next pitch with great motivation.
‘Fastball.’
Perfect!
“Foul!”
“Tama more!”
After kicking the eighth ball, Chen Jianhao couldn’t hold back any longer and blurted out Chinese. I don’t know what he said, but he was probably swearing.
But the more I do this, the more I want to bother him.
‘Hehe, try swearing at me for a hundred days. Should I just leave?’
*
[Ji Meng-hao clears Chen Jianhao’s 13th ball! Foul again! The number of pitches increases to 20 in just two batters.]
[Hey, our hitters came up with a perfect strategy today, right? In fact, Taiwan doesn’t have many pitchers who can block the Korean batting lineup except for Chen Jianhao. However, if Chen Jianhao’s number of pitches increases like this, it will be a headache for Taiwan as well.]
[Foul again! The full count situation continues.]
[So far, I have thrown 14 pitches against Ji Maeng-ho, which is almost enough to throw in one inning. Sweat is pouring down from Chen Jianhao’s face. It would be really convenient for the team if Ji Maeng-ho, the best hitter on the team, was so dedicated, right?]
– Maengho hahathe pitcher is going to cry, do it in moderation haha
┗Wow, I think this is almost the first time I’ve seen a fierce defender holding a bat so short haha
┗If you bunt and get on base here, you’ll be mentally exhausted, but you’re a fierce defender, and you’re perfect at bunting.
┗ㅋㅋㅋ Looks like he’s throwing a pad into the pitcherㅋㅋㅋ
[Chen Jianhao’s fifteenth ball! Ji Maeng-ho touched the ball! The batted ball gets stuck in the infield! Ah! Third baseman! Fumble the ball! Meanwhile, Ji Maeng-ho is at first base! Safe!]
[This is it! If the game drags on, the fielders will lose concentration! Ji Maeng-ho’s sprint was also perfect!]
-Wow, if this is the case, isn’t the pitcher’s mentality broken? LOL How can he survive with his sanity? LOL
– Haha, playing with a fierce tiger is crazy haha. Also, he made an error and got on base haha
┗Today’s game is almost over haha It’s been bad since the first inning, how can I stop it haha
-ㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ
┗ㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ
┗ㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ
[Ah! Jianhao Chen, throwing down his glove and screaming. It shook a lot, right?]
[I know. If you send out Ji Maeng-ho, he won’t be able to stop the steal.]
The result at the end of a 15-pitch game was an error by the third baseman.
It is said that a poker face is essential for a pitcher, but if you have a 15-pitch match with one batter, even Buddha would be angry, and you end up getting on base due to an error? Chen Jianhao’s mentality began to shake.
“Ahh!”
And the shaken mentality started with the ball. Chen Jianhao’s first pitch missed wide and hit Joo Seung-cheol’s butt, and the situation suddenly became one out, first and second bases.
[Now it’s 1st and 2nd bases with 1 out, and the runners are Ji Maeng-ho and Joo Seung-cheol? Ji Maeng-ho has been a player who has consistently stolen more than 50 bases since his debut, and has only failed to steal twice on the professional stage, including the international stage. And Joo Seung-cheol has achieved 30-30 since his debut, stealing 20 bases every year and 33 in his major league debut season.]
Ji Maeng-ho and Joo Seung-cheol. Chen Jianhao also did not fall asleep during the power analysis session, so he was fully aware of the destructive power of the two players when they stepped on base, and tried to prevent them from stealing base.
However, you can only check twice. Those two times couldn’t stop two players with good athletic ability.
[Run! Three leaves at third base! Joo Seung-cheol also takes advantage of the opportunity to throw the ball to third base and runs to second base, giving him the opportunity to reach second and third base with one out.]
15-ball game, error, ball hitting the body, double steal. A situation where a pitcher would be upset if only one came out in an inning occurred in just one inning,
Ta – Aak!
Choi Si-woo, who appeared as Korea’s No. 4 hitter starting from this WBC, was a player who could sufficiently attack such pitchers. If it weren’t for Ji Maeng-ho, he could be considered the best hitter in the current KBA league.
[Choi Si-woo’s batted ball! It’s a clear-cut between right and center! Ji Maeng-ho easily gets home! Even longline trains don’t slow down! Joo Seung-cheol! Home~! Person! Team Korea scores first 2 points!]
[Choi Si-woo’s batting was very good, right? Also, the double steals that preceded it was good. Director Joo Hyung-jin executed the strategy properly. And before that, it was really important that Ji Maeng-ho led the team to a 15-pitch match. No matter how much a major league pitcher experiences a situation like this, his or her mentality is bound to be shaken.]
[… 7th batter Lee Yong-gi’s ball gets stuck in the infield, resulting in three outs. However, South Korea took the lead by 2 points. The game now goes to the bottom of the first inning.]
In this way, Chen Jianhao, a former major league player, blocked the Republic of Korea’s attack in the top of the first inning by throwing 34 pitches, almost half of the pitch limit, in one inning, but the game was already tilting towards Korea.