A Genius Pitcher Hides 170 KM - Chapter 221

#221. the monster came back

“Fuck, it’s still like that. “Once you get caught, there’s no end to this.”

“What? CI BAL?”

“Oh, no, no! it’s my… Oh shit, what does talking to yourself mean in English? Myself! Talking to myself! Is this right?”

As Korean gamers swept the gaming world around the world, and K-drama and food mukbang content spread to each country, the Korean curse word ‘fuck’ also became widely known to the world.

When the Seattle catcher’s expression darkened at the inadvertently muttered words to himself, Lee Chan-ho hurriedly made an excuse.

He has biceps the size of his own thighs and a fierce face, but what’s more important is that he’s not in a situation where he’s going to argue with the catcher.

Last season, in his first year in the big leagues, Lee Chan-ho recorded a batting average of 0.285, an on-base percentage of 0.356, a slugging percentage of 0.401, 14 home runs, and 35 stolen bases.

Considering that, with the exception of Han Soo-hyuk, he was considered Korea’s best hitter, it was a disappointing performance in many ways.

The cause was a defensive shift.

He made up for his natural lack of power with bat speed, and enjoyed pulling hits to increase his long hits.

As a result, starting from Korea, defensive shift was like an eternal homework for him.

Fortunately, in Korea, we were able to break through it with our own strength.

But that wasn’t possible in the big leagues.

Balls flew that were incomparable to KBO in terms of speed and pitch.

It was never easy to pull a ball like that and break through the shift.

Chan-ho Lee, who had a disappointing first season in many ways, decided to change his batting style.

I gave up trying to steal bases, increased my weight to put more force into my batted balls, and invested time in learning how to hit by pushing.

As a result of his efforts, he was able to produce quite a few hits in the last exhibition game.

However, other teams still see Lee Chan-ho as a hitter who cannot respond properly to shifts. I saw such a blatant shift being used from the first at-bat.

“paly!”

As game time increased due to defensive shifts, the Major League office placed restrictions on this.

A rule that requires two or more defenders to stand on either side of second base.

Before the new rule was established, the shortstop was sometimes placed between 1st and 2nd base.

This means that the third baseman covers the 3rd base alone, and three infielders stand between 1st and 2nd base.

Anyway, things are a little better than then, but I still sigh the same way.

Seattle’s shortstop is almost standing on second base.

There is only one third baseman guarding the empty 3-U space.

‘shit.’

What makes shift even more humiliating is that you suffer it even though you clearly know what the other person is aiming for.

Shuung

Paang

“strike!”

A hard sinker that enters the center of the zone, then rotates backwards and bends towards the body.

The ball that Chan-Ho Lee was almost helpless to hit last season, which helped establish Jonah Burrow, who started today in Seattle, as a big league starting pitcher, was ruled a strike.

If it had been in Korea, it would have been a ball that would have expressed dissatisfaction with the decision at least once.

But now Chan-Ho Lee is not a superstar in the KBO, but just an ordinary player in his second year in the Major League.

Well, regardless, there is no point in protesting to the referee since the ball judging system using AI has been introduced anyway.

Cameras installed throughout the stadium track the trajectory of the ball and determine whether it is a strike.

Even if you protest the results, all you get is a sarcasm calling you an idiot.

‘Phew… Let’s calm down. calm down.’

Anyway, I picked one ball well.

No matter how well you hit that ball just now, it is a ground ball.

Shuung

Paang

“cheek.”

Another hard sinker flew into the same course.

Another reason why Lee Chan-ho had difficulties after coming to the big league was that pitchers freely used modified fastballs.

Two-seamers, sinkers, cutters, and splitters that have little difference in velocity from four-seamers.

It was difficult to hit, and powerful balls that were sure to be ground balls flew into every corner of the zone, which was quite frustrating at first.

The good news was that Lee Chan-ho had dealt with monsters even worse than that.

A monster named Han Soo-hyuk, who throws a 170 km/h four-seam and a 165 km/h modified fastball.

Without that experience, Lee Chan-ho’s adjustment to the big league might have been a little more difficult.

Shuung

Taaak

“Foul!”

The reason modern baseball is said to be cruel is because each player is dissected using various analysis equipment and statistical data, and based on the results, they focus on targeting the weakest part.

The battle on the body continues so persistently.

Maybe his control was a little wrong, but he hit a four-seamer that came close to the center of the zone, but unfortunately missed, resulting in a one-ball-to-strike.

At that moment, Lee Chan-ho’s intuition was activated.

Intuition derived from experience accumulated while playing baseball for a short period of time.

This time, I had a strong feeling that the ball would come from outside rather than inside.

Shuung

The prediction was correct.

The slider flew fiercely toward the outside, furthest away from the batter.

Until last season, this is a ball that would have been difficult to hit properly and would have been a weak grounder if you had to force it.

But he was not the Lee Chan-ho of the past.

A new swing that I practiced through bone-chilling pain all winter.

The new swing installed to deal with the outside ball powerfully extended towards the ball.

Taaaaah!

‘done!’

It was a hit so good that it gave me goosebumps the moment it hit.

As expected, I was right.

The sweat shed last winter was never in vain.

Chan-ho Lee was delighted as he watched the batted ball fly over the empty third base.

but,

terrestrial

“Huh?”

The moment Lee Chan-ho, who was running toward first base, checked the direction of the batted ball once again, a black glove appeared from nowhere and snatched the batted ball.

I had an ominous feeling.

Various moments of humiliation that I suffered because of Han Soo-hyuk in Korea flashed through my mind.

‘Damn, damn, damn it!’

Chan-ho Lee gritted his teeth and increased his running speed even further.

I can’t believe you caught that.

When did the guy who was obviously playing shortstop come to third base?

But that wasn’t what mattered now.

A ball that was sure to be at least a double was caught in his glove.

Now the problem is surviving on first base, not second base.

“profit!”

The moment Lee Chan-ho, who had regained all his strength, almost reached first base,

Shuuuung

A white ball flew in from third base at the speed of a bullet.

and,

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu

“out!”

An out declaration fell from the referee’s mouth with a loud catch sound.

Chan-ho Lee, who was out at first base after hitting a double, looked around with a dumbfounded expression.

“Fuck… … !”

First baseman Ty Johnson, who received Han Soo-hyuk’s throw, took off his glove and looked like he was dying in pain.

A huge cheer erupted from the audience.

“Wow!”

“103 miles? crazy? “Is that really true?”

“good! This is it! Fuck! okay! “I bought a damn season ticket just to see this!”

“Fucking Mariners! Fucking Han Su-hyuk!”

The audience was looking somewhere and yelling like crazy.

Lee Chan-ho’s head turned to follow that direction.

Throw speed observed by the AI ​​system.

The number 103 miles was clearly engraved on it. It was a figure that easily exceeded the existing major league infield throwing speed record of 100 mph.

“This is crazy… … .”

It was so absurd that I couldn’t even get angry.

Now it feels real again.

The fact that I got to play in the same league with that monster again.

* * *

It takes about 0.4 seconds for a pitcher to throw a ball at 150 km/h into the catcher’s mitt behind home plate.

Let’s consider the case where the batter catches the ball and hits it.

Last season, the average hitting speed of big league hitters reached 150 km/h, and the highest was a whopping 200 km/h.

Without the need for complicated calculations, this means that the time between the ball leaving the pitcher’s fingertips and the hit ball flying to the defender is at most one second.

Last season, Josh Oliver, who took over as the team’s starting shortstop with defense alone, almost managed Seattle’s shaky infield defense, thought.

‘What on earth is that guy? ‘Do you have some sort of superpower?’

As a left-handed hitter, he made a strong defensive shift between first and second base to deal with Lee Chan-ho, an extreme full hitter.

And the outside slider flew toward the batter who was cornered by one ball, two strikes.

Considering Lee Chan-ho’s batting pattern until last season, it was a ball that was highly likely to result in a strikeout by just watching, or a forced pull to produce a ground ball to second base.

But the expectations were wrong.

I don’t know what kind of trick he used, but Lee Chan-ho pushed the outside ball properly, and the fast ball loaded with power flew toward the empty third base.

It was a completely unexpected development.

However, it was not Lee Chan-ho that surprised Josh Oliver and other Seattle infielders.

It was the movement of someone who had predicted it in advance.

Han Soo-hyuk, who was filling in for the shortstop at second base, immediately started towards third base as soon as the pitching started.

Then, he picked up a ground ball that flew like a bullet over the third base.

The batted ball, which almost became a double, was sucked into Han Soo-hyuk’s glove.

That alone was surprising enough, but what really surprised Josh was the next play.

As soon as he caught the batted ball, Han Soo-hyuk regained his body balance and threw a bullet-like throw toward first base.

Yes, it was such an apology that there is no way to explain it other than that it was like a bullet.

The throw flew at an incredible speed and entered the first baseman’s glove, and the umpire declared an out.

Josh looked back at the electronic display board without realizing it.

103 miles, 167 km/h.

A cheer that seemed to leave the stadium erupted from the crowd, and the batter, who had hit a double and was out at first base, looked into space with a look on his face as if he had lived the rest of the world.

“hey.”

“hmm? why.”

Josh, who returned to his normal defensive position, asked Han Soo-hyuk.

“How did you know? The batter pushes the ball… No, the batted ball is going to go that way?”

“hmm.”

Han Soo-hyuk seemed to think about something for a moment in response to Josh’s question, then smiled and answered.

“It’s difficult to explain in words, but if you play baseball for about 16 years, you will naturally understand it.”

“what?”

“That’s okay, the next batter might try a surprise bunt, so it would be better to prepare.”

Josh’s expression changed strangely at Han Su-hyuk’s inadvertently thrown words.

Surprise bunt?

By any chance, did that Angels guy ever attempt a surprise bunt last season?

The moment when Josh was confused and couldn’t make a decision,

Tuk

“Oops!”

The batter actually hit a surprise bunt on the first pitch.

A well-placed bunt headed between the third baseman and the shortstop.

At that time, Josh, who had missed the start timing, was running forward in an awkward posture.

“Move!”

Han Soo-hyuk suddenly appeared, picked up the ball with his bare hands, and threw it toward first base.

Paang

“out!”

“Wow!”

“Damn, crazy! i love it! Damn it! Han Soo-hyuk! “You are the best!”

“If there was a guy like that, you should have brought him in a long time ago!”

“This team finally has a proper third baseman!”

Josh knew very well why the crowd went crazy like that.

The guy who played third base for Seattle last season, but has now been sold to the New York Mets, recorded a whopping 41 errors in one season.

Considering invisible mistakes, the harm done to the team would have been much higher than that number.

Nevertheless, the reason why Seattle had no choice but to continue using such a third baseman was because he was the only hitter on the team with a .300 hitter.

“good! Quickly take more pictures of that guy’s uniform! Take pictures like crazy! “I’ll buy it all for you!”

“brother!”

Josh was quite calm when he first debuted in the big leagues, but after a few years of darkness, the cheers of the crowd became wild, and the voice of an Asian female fan whose exact meaning was unknown but had a deep resonance resonated throughout the baseball stadium. lost.

Suddenly, I felt an inexplicable sense of relief.

Josh Oliver, who had to direct the team’s infield as a shortstop last season and put all his effort into covering for the poor third baseman, looked at someone with eyes full of affection.

There, Han Soo-hyuk, with an expressionless expression on his face, was glaring at the batter with his head down, showing no emotion even after cleanly discarding two hit balls.