Chapter 705 – Episode 692. Major League Spring Camp. (3)

‘Tsk, I can’t believe this body is called during team training.’

‘Ah, thanks to me, you got a taste of the women from your hometown for the first time in a long time. ‘Let’s work a little more.’

During team practice and spring training, I tended to do things without Mr. Rossby’s help, but today, there was only one reason I received Mr. Rossby’s help.

Immediately suppressing the momentum.

After receiving information from the club manager about the kids who arrived at spring camp today, we found that they were the second youngest among those who participated in this spring camp, so they needed to make an impact.

My age is twenty-three in American years. Even though I took a year off from high school and played in Korea for four years, I was still like a child here.

Moreover, I was the youngest among the hitters. Among the pitchers, there were Camacho, born in 2003, and Keller, born in 2005, who were born in the same year as me, but most of the hitters were older than me, so maybe they were looking at me like I was a child?

The best way to change that atmosphere is, of course, a home run.

And when Logan’s first pitch went straight behind the fence, I felt the eyes of the players who were looking at me like children change.

“Hey, Logan! How many more balls are possible? Let’s throw it back in the same situation as before.”

Mattingly also wants to see my swing a little more, so he asks the pitcher on the mound for another ball.

“… Of course, it is possible.”

And the pitcher, perhaps feeling hurt, nods his head.

‘Good, it helps to come first and steal pitches from guys who throw well.’

Honestly, if I had come a week early and not seen the pitches the pitchers were throwing, it would have been difficult to pass the first pitch, but thanks to that, I was able to create exactly the picture I wanted.

‘It’s a slider. The mitt is in the middle.’

‘Okay.’

The slider that Logan throws is a high-speed slider that can travel around 93 miles (149.6 km/h) when conditions are good. If it was a slow curve of about 80 mph, I could pass it by roughly looking at the trajectory, but if it was a fast slider, it took some time to get used to it, so I decided to watch at first and wait for the guy’s ball.

“Ball.”

‘Oh, the angle is definitely different, right?’

It was definitely different from the fake high-speed sliders seen in KBA, so the falling angle was large, and the force was felt.

“How many arrests were made?”

Since it was live betting, I felt comfortable asking about the redemption rate. The answer I received was 87.1 miles (140.1 km/h). Even though I don’t think I’m in full condition yet, the ball looked pretty good.

‘Well, if I threw that much, I would have scored 2 points in the egg part.’

Of course, that didn’t mean I couldn’t hit it. Because I had experience facing pitchers like these at the Olympics and WBC.

‘Next is the fastball. Outward and high.’

‘Okay.’

For the record, his fastball is around 95-6 mph. And the speed seen during the camp period was around 93 mph. First, I wanted to see the fastball of a major-leaguer I was playing against in person for the first time in a long time, so I decided to wait for this ball as well and watched him throw it.

“Strike!”

The result is a strike. Speed ​​is 93.7 miles (150.7 km/h). It was a speedy ball that we had seen a lot in Korea, but since he was close to 2 m tall and his arms were long, it felt like it was thrown further from the front, and it had more power, so it felt like it was floating slightly. I checked that his home run rate per 9 innings last season was about 0.5. As a starting pitcher with almost top-tier performance, his performance looked great.

I heard that when you were young, your weak spot was your pitch position, but if your pitch position is this good, is it enough to trust you on the mound?

And I felt like I wanted to collide head-on with that position.

‘Please, give me one more fastball.’

‘Yes, it’s a fastball. ‘Body side.’

And again, the ball that seemed to be thrown from in front flew toward my body.

Perfect!

‘Sweet, I guess it was the cheek?’

Perhaps the ball was slightly closer to the body, and the batted ball floated slightly and fell between the shortstop and left fielder. I was able to get to first base in the meantime and recorded a hit, but I felt something was off.

It was only a hit because Babib was good, and it wasn’t surprising if it was out.

And he kept looking at me, probably because he felt bad that the ball just didn’t turn out to be a fly. Is this an expression that shows the pride of a big leaguer?

‘Yes, this is how it’s fun.’

Logan’s WAR last season was third in the American League, following Trilling and McClanahan, who won Cy Young for two consecutive years. If the fastball wasn’t good, he would have been honestly disappointed.

‘Well, shall we just run with that?’

The training I’m currently doing is a simulated game where I play live pitching/batting assuming the situation. If I show my true self, I have to run in this situation.

Ohapi, who is wearing a catcher’s mask (by the way, his name is also Logan), had a base stealing percentage last season of 18.2%, which was not that high, so he decided to just run from the first pitch and run to second base from the first pitch.

“… Safe!”

And the result was a close save. It depends on the timing of the fastball, and if the timing is this close, I think I should refrain from running at the timing of the fastball even when playing with other catchers.

The batter standing at bat is team captain Aaron Judge.

Judge looked a little surprised when I ran from the first pitch. When I met Judge earlier, he was a slightly burdensome guy who acted friendly and said he liked Korea, maybe because he was the team captain.

However, apart from being burdensome, he is a hitter whose skills are so solid that I have to look up videos of his swing. When he first signed with Mr. Rossby, he would watch videos of Judge and Stanton with Mr. Rossby to correct his batting form.

First, since I was physically superior, Mr. Rossby’s physical conditions did not match mine, and in order to hit a little more efficiently, I replaced the batting form that Mr. Rossby used during his lifetime with the batting form of Judge and Stanton, who were the best hitters at the time to hit home runs. I created the current form by referring to

Judge was that good of a hitter, so no matter how much I was, I had high expectations about what kind of batting Judge would show here.

“Strike!”

‘Are you the type to watch the first pitch?’

“Jitterbug! Strike!”

‘Hmm… He makes a bold move in one strike.’

“Swing strike! Out!”

‘… ?’

And Judge walked out to bat after striking out three pitches.

“Logan! Is the ball good? It will be something to look forward to this year as well.”

And even praise for the pitcher.

I wonder if he did it to revive the spirit of the pitcher who got hit by me…

However, when I saw Logan hit the next two batters in succession, it seemed like he really had struck out.

‘… Well, baseball is a sport where pitchers have an advantage.’

Moreover, it was the pitchers who started training first.

When the first situation was over, Logan, who had just thrown the ball, approached me.

“How did you hit the first pitch curve?”

“I just hit it because I saw it?”

“Hmm… “How was my fastball?”

“I heard you have a good position, right? Well, it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t play.”

“Okay, next time I’ll strike you out, so just look forward to it.”

‘… ‘We’re on the same team?’

Logan must have been upset that he hit me with a home run and a hit, so he said something ridiculous and then went back to his seat.

“Okay, next situation is the 8th inning, one out. 1st and 2nd base. The pitcher is Camacho. Runners are Josh and Scott. The batter is Stanton.”

And then the next situation. I put on my glove and went to second base, and Armando Camacho came on the mound.

Armando Camacho was a Venezuelan bullpen pitcher of the same age as me who debuted last year. Last year, he appeared in 27 games and had an ERA of 4.37 over 47.1 innings, so he’s a guy the team is looking forward to.

He debuted in the big leagues at a young age and as you can tell by his participation in spring training, he pitches pretty well, averaging around 96 mph and has a sharp splitter.

And Stanton at bat.

I referenced his batting form, and as he is said to have the best strength in the major leagues, I was wondering for a moment what kind of batting Stanton would do against Camacho.

Perfect!

Stanton hit Camacho’s ball from the first pitch, and the slightly pushed ball was headed towards me.

‘What kind of batting speed is this guy… !’

Obviously, since the right-handed hitter hit the ball to the right, it was bound to have a slower speed than a pulled hit, but Stanton’s hitting speed was faster than most left-handed hitters in the KBA League. Of course, as long as he catches it as fast as he is… !

“Out!”

“Out!”

The ball I threw to the shortstop flowed naturally toward first base, and I heard two outs at once.

“This…”

And then I heard Coach Mattingly sigh.

“Again! The runner is the same as before. The batter is Soto.”

The batter who came in this time was Soto. Last year, for the first time in his career, his on-base percentage fell below .400 and his OPS was 0.801, a mere 0.8. And since he boasts the third-highest salary in the team after me and Judge, he was a hitter who had to do something for the team.

And Camacho’s first pitch is thrown. The first pitch was a bold fastball to the body, as expected of a rookie.

Ta – Aak!

And Soto’s bat spun beautifully. When he turned his head to check behind him, Soto’s ball had disappeared over the fence.

“Fuck!”

“Wow.”

Along with Camacho’s swear words, exclamations of admiration can be heard from the side.

‘Is it because we performed poorly last year? ‘I think I’ve sharpened my teeth properly?’

Is this a swing that clearly shows that teeth have been ground?

After that, Camacho threw more balls to get two out counts, and the situation ended without giving up any more runs.

And most of the ensuing situations ended with the pitcher winning, and the first live betting came to an end.

“Okay, Ji. How do you feel about your first training?”

During the break after the first training, Judge came up to me and asked me my first impressions.

“… Honestly?”

“Okay. Honestly.”

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s anything special? Are hitters terrible at hitting like this?”

This was how he felt after completing his first training. What can I say? Are the hitters getting offended too easily? Even after the second incident, I and Soto were the only players who climbed over the fence during training, so I was wondering if I pulled myself up too quickly.

“Haha, man, you showed a bad side. That means our pitchers are good. “You can look forward to this season.”

But Judge, unaware of my feelings, just smiled and said kind words.

‘Fuck, you can trust this, right?’

That’s how the first training session in the major league ended with nothing but embarrassment.