Chapter 753 – Episode 740. A Confucian Boy From the Country of Courtesy in the East. (1)

[Soto’s hit! Cut left and center! Ji Maeng-ho’s home! Jersey goes home too! Finish! Finish! The Yankees’ second shutout of the season comes from Soto! Score 7:6! The New York Yankees are making a comeback! This is our 6th consecutive win!]

[Hey, the Yankees have won 3 times in 4 games against the Kansas City Royals. If this happens, tomorrow’s game will be very important, right?]

[Yes. Will the Yankees be able to sweep all four games? …]

*

“Today’s starter for Kansas City is Kyle Wright, who is the best-performing starter among Kansas City’s starters this season. He has appeared in 6 games and has 5 wins and an earned run average of 3.03. His earned run average is not that high, but the reason he has five wins is that he has a lot of run support, and the reason is that his fast pitching tempo keeps the fielders focused…”

The video continues with the batting coach’s words. Of course, the pitcher in the video was a pitcher I had never seen before, but it was nice to see that he was a right-handed pitcher after a long time.

No, actually, I wasn’t very happy about it. Because left-handed pitchers were easier to hit than right-handed pitchers.

‘Tsk, but why did they put left-handed pitchers three times in a row? Is it because it’s really tanking season?’

If it was a tanking season, I was thinking of adding a left-handed pitcher to improve the existing pitchers, but seeing as the guy who started today got 5 wins, he seemed like a pretty promising guy. Of course, I don’t know who it is because it’s my first time seeing it.

A right-handed three-quarterer who throws a 93-4 mph fastball, a sinker with similar velocity, and a slider, changeup, and curveball. As a player who throws the ball in three quarters, there was a bit of tailing on the fastball, but it didn’t seem that threatening.

“… And as you all know, in 2022, we won the National League with 21 wins…”

“Wow, this is my first time seeing you. Did you win multiple wins? But I don’t think it’s the ball that can win 20 games. Anyway, in the major leagues, the best guys win 20 games.”

A pitcher like that who doesn’t seem to be throwing a very good pitch has a record of multiple wins. I thought there were a lot of bubbles in the Major League as well,

“That guy was amazing before his injury. He said he threw it close to 100 miles.”

There was an immediate rebuttal to my words. I definitely thought that a ball like that would be quite threatening if it reached about 100 mph, but that was in the past. What matters now is what kind of ball you threw in the past. At first glance, he seemed like a starting pitcher who would fit perfectly into a tanking team.

“I heard it was incredible. In 2022, there was a feeling that if he came out on the mound, we wouldn’t lose. “If you look at the fact that we have already won 5 games this season, we need to be careful.”

Anyway, I don’t think it’s too bad, but I feel like I’m cringing because of old memories. In times like this, I had to step in.

“Is it so? “It just looks like shit right now, right?”

“Haha, it’s Ji as expected. “I heard you have great confidence.”

“Okay, let’s win today too.”

The players respond to my comment that they look like shit. Perhaps because they were on a 6-game winning streak at home, the atmosphere looked good. In particular, it seemed great that we won the game yesterday. There was an atmosphere that it didn’t feel like we were going to lose again like at the beginning of the season.

In yesterday’s game, Buehler collapsed after giving up 6 runs in 3 innings, but considering that he didn’t feel like he was going to lose throughout the game, it definitely feels like he’s on track?

In such a situation, it was natural that the home fans’ support was strong, and it was quite fun to see the fans who had booed him to death when he returned from his away trip now bringing him gifts every time he went to work.

‘Well, it would have been better if I had finished it yesterday too.’

Perhaps because we were on a winning streak, a packed crowd of over 47,000 people came to Yankee Stadium yesterday. I wondered what it would be like to hit the walk-off in front of such a crowd and receive such cheers, so I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t hit the walk-off yesterday.

There were many times when I hit the finish line in Korea, but at most it was in front of about 23,000 to 4,000 spectators, so even if I roughly calculate it, I would feel about twice as much pleasure here.

‘Well, there are plenty of opportunities left over the next four years to hit the finish line.’

I headed to training, envisioning a day when nearly 50,000 spectators were watching and cheering me on.

*

C/Ohapi

: 31G 17R 19RBI 22H 3HR 0.200/0.295/0.318/0.613

C/Torrance

: 6G 1R 2RBI 1H 0HR 0.100/0.182/0.100/0.282

“Ohapi would be better as a catcher, right?”

“Torrance is also uneasy with his batting. He may not be able to work well with Rodon.”

“Under… After all, Ohapi has no choice but to come up. “You can’t send a player with an annual salary of $10 million down to the minors.”

“There was a period of poor performance last year, but in the end, it was Ohape who hit 32 home runs, so I have no choice but to trust in them.”

“Umm… “Are there no good catchers on the farm?”

“Haha, Donny. If there was such a player, he would have been traded already. “It would be better not to expect a farm as we gather players to run with Ji.”

“Under… Okay, so the catcher goes to Ohapee today. Because there is no slump in defense.”

“Yes.”

The Yankees’ meeting room ahead of Game 4 against Kansas City. Although the Yankees were on a 6-game winning streak, their coaches were selecting their starting lineup more intensely in order to sweep the series.

“Okay, now let’s move on to the infield.”

This is the power analysis paper that selected and looked at the catchers for today’s game. Mattingly’s head was pounding at the grim numbers.

1B/Hall

: 31G 19R 18RBI 32H 7HR 0.260/0.308/0.480/0.788

2B/Ji Maeng-ho

: 28G 52R 41RBI 48H 19HR 0.453/0.545/1.179/1.724

3B/Vientos

: 33G 18R 14RBI 29H 5HR 0.230/0.319/0.397/0.716

SS/Volpi

: 33G 21R 17RBI 30H 7HR 0.254/0.343/0.466/0.809

IF/Scantlebury

: 8G 0R 0RBI 2H 0HR 0.125/0.125/0.125/0.250

IF/SUJC

: 8G 3R 3RBI 3H 0HR 0.188/0.286/0.188/0.474

Except for Ji Maeng-ho, all of them have records that do not suit the Yankees. At least Volpi’s OPS exceeded 0.8, which saved his face, but since the first and third basemen, who were responsible for the team’s batting, were underperforming, he wanted to acquire good players through a trade right away.

“First of all, since Hall is showing physical strain, I think it would be better to hire Sujay or Scantlebury in his place.”

“Okay, what do you think?”

“Sujay is better in first base defense, and Scantlebury is better in batting. And when I think about the future, I think it would be better to give the younger Scantlebury some at-bat experience.”

“Hmm… Then, let’s go to Scantlebury for first base today.”

But while his head was pounding, his decision was quick. There was no alternative in a situation where the farm’s seeds had dried up, and Hall and Vientos were players who hit 30 home runs last year, so if you trust them, they will eventually do their part someday. So, as long as I took care of the physical aspect like this, there were no problems with the infield.

However, Mattingly’s real concern was with the outfield roster.

LF/Jersey

: 33G 32R 43RBI 48H 18HR 0.366/0.455/0.878/1.333

CF/Kelnick

: 33G 21R 15RBI 30H 5HR 0.250/0.324/0.442/0.766

RF/Soto

: 33G 29R 31RBI 34H 10HR 0.286/0.444/0.613/1.057

DH/Stanton

: 22G 10R 17RBI 15H 6HR 0.254/0.366/0.610/0.976

OF/Verdugo

: 22G 13R 12RBI 20H 3HR 0.278/0.280/0.444/0.724

First, the two outfield positions were clear to anyone. Jersey and Soto. Because there was no coach who could remove these two players from the lineup.

But the problem is the remaining two seats.

“As expected, Kelnick is the best in defense. “You can’t use just anyone in center field.”

“But wouldn’t it be better to use Verdugo rather than Kelnick, who has had a bad batting performance recently? Verdugo can also play center field.”

“It’s possible, but I’m not very good at it. “Because center field is a position where defense is so important.”

“Umm… Considering that this game is against a right-handed pitcher, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just move Judge to the designated hitter, place Verdugo in left field, and rest Stanton. Stanton is said to be performing well these days, but he mostly comes against left-handed pitchers.”

It all made sense.

In the last 10 games, he has hit .202, 5 ERA, 0 home runs, and 1 RBI, but his batting skills are down. However, center fielder Kelnick boasts the best outfield defense in the team, and Verdugo has a good batting average, but his batting productivity is close to 0. And even Stanton, who has been performing well recently but has question marks against right-handed pitchers.

“First of all, Judge and Soto are not that perfect defensive players, so Kelnick should be fixed as center fielder.”

The coaches gathered in the conference room nod their heads at Mattingly’s words. Because center field defense was a pretty important factor.

Now all that’s left is a designated hitter or left fielder.

“Hmm… Let’s go to Stanton.”

And Mattingly’s choice was Stanton.

“Stanton? Against right-handed pitchers, it’s hard to say that his OPS and other stats are better than Verdugo’s at .109. Rather, Verdugo, who has strengths against right-handed pitchers, should go…”

But of course, Mattingly’s choice was met with backlash. Even though Verdugo’s current performance was not good, it was true that he was performing better than Stanton against right-handed pitchers. Moreover, I also liked Verdugo’s performance during training.

“Well, you could look at it that way. But, for some reason, I’m drawn to Stanton. Moreover, aren’t they on a 6-game winning streak since adding Stanton to the starting lineup? “The team atmosphere is good, so there is no need to change the lineup.”

“Ah… Yes.”

“And, with players like Ohapina, Hall, Vientos, and Kelnick waiting, what’s not to like about Stanton? Hehe.”

Seeing Mattingly with his kind smile, most coaches thought, ‘This old man doesn’t even know how to look at numbers.’ But they couldn’t refute Mattingly anymore.

No matter what anyone says, Mattingly was the coach and a legend of the team.

‘Well, Verdugo and Stanton don’t really mean much. Our team’s attack is led by JJJ Po.’

In addition, the current Yankees’ batting lineup is led by JJJ Po, from Ji Maeng-ho to Judge and Soto. The fact that there was no difference in who was in the other seats also played a role in the coaches nodding their heads.

“Mitch, is this right? “Jean is the starter again today?”

“Jean is in good form these days.”

“No, but I’m the right-handed pitcher…”

“Alex. “It’s the director’s order.”

“Fuck you!”

However, that choice contributed to Verdugo, who was left out of the starting lineup for several games, complaining to the hitting coach.

‘A bastard who can’t play baseball is saying shit to the hitting coach…’

That sight was enough to make someone from the country of courtesy in the East frown.