Chapter 802 – Episode 789. 2027 Major League All-Star Game. (4)

Patrick Cooper was famous in the major leagues for throwing a knuckleball, so I had heard that name too.

I don’t know the details about him, but when I go to the Internet site to look at his records, his name appears occasionally, so I knew that his grades were pretty good, and that he was around 25 years old and that he was a promising prospect who was being cherished by the Dodgers.

And if we got to the World Series, the opponent would most likely be the Dodgers or Atlanta. Among them, the Dodgers, who won the World Series twice in a row, had a higher probability.

But do you see Cooper’s performance here? That was quite meaningful. Moreover, there was no data at all for the knuckleball, so it was even worse.

In middle school and high school, baseball team members threw knuckleballs as a joke, but this guy was the first to throw a knuckleball at a real professional level.

What kind of ball will fly? My heart is pounding.

‘Let’s get a feel for it first.’

Since it was my first time seeing a ball, I decided to watch the first pitch and wait for him to catch it. And the ball, which left the guy’s hand, traced a trajectory that seemed to be going outward, then suddenly showed a movement toward digging into the body, and then swung outward again.

“Strike!”

“And…”

As I was standing at the plate, I could only admire the guy’s pitch. I glanced at his mitt, and as expected, the position of the mitt was on the outside, as expected at the last time I checked. Did you succeed in following it with your eyes?

‘The speed is about 80 miles (128.7 km/h)…’

However, considering his velocity and my bat speed, the timing I could hit was when it went toward the body. If I had swung the bat at that time, I would have missed the bat or made a ground ball as the ball bent outward again.

Of course, there was no way his ball would always break like this. Although knuckleball changes vary depending on the pitch, it usually gives the feeling of a sudden drop.

‘Then, if the knuckleball comes again, shall I swing it once?’

Honestly, when dealing with a knuckleball, it was a loss to think for a long time. It makes no sense for a batter to predict a ball that the pitcher does not know where it will go. When dealing with a knuckleball, the only way was to hit a certain spot and swing the bat, hoping the ball would come there.

‘It’s a knuckleball.’

‘Okay.’

Anyway, the speed is around 125~135 km/h. Still, I had time to see his ball to some extent, and if the same ball as before didn’t come in, I could hit the final position with that much.

“Swing~! Strike!”

“Fuck, does this make sense…? .”

… Of course, it wasn’t a one-shot success. The ball, which seemed to be high on the outside, suddenly gained momentum and fell like a 12-6 curve, causing the bat to miss. If there was a lot of horizontal change before, does this game feel like a big vertical change?

“Did you throw this with intention? “It’s so different from the first ball and the second ball, isn’t it?”

I thought that if I intentionally controlled these completely different changes, I would never be able to hit this guy’s pitches for the rest of my life, so I asked Smith, the Dodgers’ catcher wearing a catcher’s mask.

“Don’t talk to me. “If I want to catch it, I have to concentrate.”

But looking at the reaction, it didn’t seem like there was any specific intention. There was a strong sincerity in his urgent answer.

I felt like I had only received it a few times in my own team.

Knuckleball pitchers have a dedicated catcher, and the dedicated catcher practices catching knuckleballs. The starting catcher inevitably did not have enough time to practice, so I did not confirm, but it was clear that Smith was not that guy’s dedicated catcher. .

So talking to the catcher to find out something is a waste of time.

‘Knuckleball.’

‘He only throws knuckleballs… Actually, if I knew how to throw a ball like this, I would probably want to keep throwing balls like this.’

Later, I thought about practicing my knuckleball and becoming a pitcher like Ohtani for a moment, but since I saw the ball and swung it once, I decided to wait even if it meant striking out this time and watched him pitch.

“Ball.”

And as the guy’s ball flew out as if dancing and went out of the zone, the ball was declared. It felt like a ball that could have been called a strike, but it seemed like the catcher was too busy catching the ball to frame it.

‘Hmm… If I throw a knuckleball again, this time it’s time for it to fall… It’s not like you’re controlling it. Mr. Rossby, the grip hasn’t changed, right? Holding the stitches differently or something like that.’

‘If there was such a thing, I would have told you.’

Considering what Mr. Rossby said and the angle of the guy’s arm that I saw, it was clear that he wasn’t distinguishing and throwing.

Then, hitting his ball is a matter of luck.

‘I think a fastball would be good…’

‘It’s a knuckleball.’

At this point, I thought it would be good to mix in a fastball, but since it was an All-Star game, he didn’t seem to have any intention of throwing a fastball.

‘Fuck, I don’t know.’

Just thinking about his speed, I decided to swing the bat at the place where the strike zone and the bat overlap the most as the hitting point. Anyway, when it comes to luck, it’s better to have a wide target.

And once again, the guy’s ball was thrown. This time, it felt like he was coming to the middle of the zone, so I watched his ball to the limit and swung the bat toward the hitting point I had set.

Perfect!

‘Write… !’

It felt like I had missed a bit, but I didn’t give up and continued the swing with my arms, turning my torso more vigorously than usual.

However, despite this, the batted ball showed a fairly high launch angle and flew toward right-center.

‘Under… It’s really hard to hit.’

After blowing away his regret with a sigh, he slowly walks towards first base, watching Seungcheol chase the batted ball while running backwards. However, even when he almost reached first base, he had no intention of sinking the ball.

“No way…”

I took a moment to admire the batted ball, just in case, and Seungcheol stepped on the fence and jumped high toward the batted ball. However, the batted ball, which gradually began to sink, passed Seungcheol’s glove and fell out of the fence.

-Waaaaa!!!!!

And the resounding shouts.

A hit that even I had no expectations for quickly turned into a three-run home run that put the game ahead.

“It was a fantastic home run. Ji.”

After exchanging a quick high-five with the first base coach whom I met for the first time today, as I slowly ran to second base, I thought to myself that I could understand to some degree how to break a knuckleball.

‘Is it okay to just match the timing of the bet to the velocity and aim for the space that overlaps the swing trajectory the most? It seems like it’s not as big a deal as I thought.’

Honestly, I didn’t think I could hit him at all until I faced him, but after dealing with him once, I started to see a solution.

Of course, I may have been lucky this time, but hitting a home run means that my approach was somewhat similar.

I wanted to hang out with him one more time to make sure my approach was correct, but I was really disappointed that I couldn’t because it was the All-Star Game.

There was a way to relieve this disappointment by training with Mr. Rossby, but I couldn’t do that because I felt like my batting skills would be at an all-time low for a few days if I practiced hitting with a knuckleball.

‘Wow, that’s a shame. Well, we’ll meet the Dodgers in the second half of the year anyway, so we can check then.’

The first meeting with the knuckleballer, which started with half anticipation and half worry, ended with a three-run home run with some disappointment.

*

[Ji Maeng-ho’s hit! Uh, uh, uh! Uh! Let’s go! Ji Maeng-ho’s three-run home run that goes over the fence! The American League is 3 points ahead! Score 4:1!]

┗Who said you hit with Ji Maeng-ho’s technique? They just hand it over with force haha

┗┗ㄹㅇ I don’t think the timing was right, but they just pulled me back with force haha

┗┗LOL What kind of idiot says that? Honestly, if it had been another hitter, I wouldn’t have passed. ㅇㅈ?

┗┗ㅆㅇㅈ Look at this bastard’s launch angle. I think the only batsman who can pass with that launch angle is a fierce tiger or a strong god haha

┗Wow, I’m sick of it haha. Those bastards who kept it to themselves are disgusting!

┗┗ㄱㅊ! ㅅㅂ Since there is no fierce protector, look at the bastards who were put in 4th place haha

┗Look at the rotation of the torso haha. How does the waist bend like that?

┗┗You train a lot on a regular basis

┗┗What? Have you ever revealed your fierce defense training method?

┗┗Isn’t it strange if you have sex like that but don’t train your back haha

┗┗ㅇㅈ

[… Patrick Cooper to close out the inning. But with the American League ahead by 3 points… …, With the American League now ahead 8 to 5, the National League’s offense begins in the bottom of the 9th inning. On the mound is Minnesota’s closer Joan Duran, who went 1-0 with 25 saves while recording an ERA of 1.02. … Out! … Out! … Out! The All-Star Game ends with a three-way throw to end the inning.]

[At first, the game continued as a tight pitcher’s battle, and after Ji Maeng-ho’s three-run home run, Betts and Joo Seung-cheol hit home runs, leading to a batting battle. I wondered if the National League would follow suit with those home runs, but as expected, the American League’s The batters were tough, weren’t they?]

[… Now, there will be the long-awaited All-Star Game MVP award ceremony. After all, the player who performed the best today is that player, right?]

[Yes. In fact, there is probably only one player who shines the brightest today. Of course, he entertained the fans with a predicted home run.]

[The 2027 All-Star Game MVP is! The pride of Korea, recording 2 hits in 3 at-bats, 2 home runs, 1 walk, 1 stolen base, 2 runs, and 4 RBIs! This is Ji Maeng-ho!]

[He looks like he expected he would be MVP, right? It’s a confident expression.]

[Now, let’s listen to Ji Maeng-ho’s thoughts. He won MVP in his first All-Star Game. How does it feel? You are asking this question.]

*

“Well, it’s not that special. I’ve always received awards like this, so I just have more trophies to decorate my cabinet with. That’s how I feel.”

“Haha, you are full of confidence as a player who is achieving great results. “So you expected this to happen?”

“Of course.”

“So, the first home run was off Ohtani’s ball, and the second home run was off Cooper’s ball. What were your thoughts when you went to bat?”

“Do you absolutely want to become the MVP of the All-Star Game? So he was a little embarrassed when he hit a double play in his second at-bat.”

“Oh, I see. And I can’t help but talk about this, right? After telling Ohtani that he would hit a home run, he immediately hit a home run. Was he confident that he would hit a home run?”

“So that’s what you did, right? In fact, as everyone who knows me knows, my predicted home run hit rate is close to 100%. So, in the future, if I aim my bat toward the fence, I hope the pitchers will avoid me.”

“Even a bold declaration of war! As expected, this is an interview worthy of a superstar who is currently heating up America! So, how did it feel to meet star players who you normally see as enemies as colleagues?”

“I didn’t think much of it? Are you just running together? Well, that much?”

“… Ah, I see. So, lastly, for the All-Star Game MVP, which car would you choose between S Boresa’s sports car, the Corvette, and the pickup truck, the Silverado, due to an injury?”

“And! Do you give me tea too? I think it would break the bank if I gave the prize money plus a car… To be honest, I never thought I would get a car…”

“… “A prize money?”

“Yes. Yesterday the jersey was worth $1 million, so don’t I get that much too? Is it a little less?”

“… “There is no prize money?”

“… It’s really a joke. … Are you really not there? Just a car? Is that over a million dollars? No, I’ve never even heard of such a car…”

Haha! It looks like Ji really likes the sponsor’s car and wants to own both! Of course, that has to be the case. Both cars are the best cars that will touch every man’s heart! But there is only one car to choose from. Please choose one!”

“… “I’ll just go with the expensive one.”

*

-Ji Maeng-ho, what are your absurd thoughts on receiving the award? Sbore, I’ve never heard of it!

… Meanwhile, Ji Maeng-ho caused a huge controversy by saying in the All-Star Game MVP award interview that he had never even heard of a vehicle from S Chevrolet, the official sponsor of the All-Star Game… After the game, Ji Maeng-ho posted an apology on his SNS, saying that his words came out in vain due to his lack of familiarity with English, but…

┗ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Look at the way he dissed the sponsor right away. Is this guy crazy?ㅋㅋㅋ

┗ㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ

┗The fact is that Ji Maeng-ho is more famous than S Chevrolet

┗┗This is a bit haha

┗This guy is still giving interviews without thinking lol ㅇㅅㅁㅎㅅ

┗No one can tell that your English is at the level of a native speaker, but you are making excuses haha

┗Wow, but why are you apologizing? I don’t think you’ll apologize for your fierce personality, right?

┗┗When I saw it, it looked like SNS had been hacked or posted by an agent. Ji Maeng-ho, when he posts, he uses ancient spelling, but this time, there wasn’t a single typo.

┗As expected, noise marketing is fierce bb

┗LOL The way his expression got distorted when he heard there was no prize money is so funny. That guy didn’t look like that even when he lost in the Korean Series. LOL