Talented FA Catcher - Chapter 296

Episode 296: You I Know – 4

#

When Kim Su-ho’s batted ball passed the green monster, Lee Ho-min’s thoughts were simple.

‘pup. ‘He swung with so much sincerity.’

For a pitcher, home runs are an inseparable thing.

It was already his second home run today, and Lee Ho-min was not a pitcher who would be shaken by hitting a home run.

He had already hit a home run against the Yankees’ monster hitter, and due to Lee Ho-min’s pitching characteristics, a home run was inevitable.

‘Oh, I said I was crazy and said I was going to throw a four-seam. I should have just thrown a slider.’

However, it was Lee Ho-min’s first home run hit by Kim Su-ho.

Lee Ho-min had a stronger desire to win in his heart than he thought, and that soon led to regret.

Anyway, the results have already come out.

Lee Ho-min could only watch Kim Su-ho circle the bases.

‘Run quickly and quickly.’

It wasn’t that Kim Su-ho was particularly relaxed, but I glared at him out of discomfort.

After what felt like a very long time, Kim Su-ho finally stepped on home plate.

‘Okay, okay. Home runs are inevitable. The game isn’t over yet, let’s finish it and go down.’

Lee Ho-min, who gathered his mental strength in an instant without anyone’s help, easily cooked the next three batters.

“lee. great job. “That’s it for today.”

7 innings, 2 runs, 3 hits, no walks, 2 home runs, 11k.

The double home run raised eyebrows, but regretting something that has already happened is foolish.

When Lee Ho-min came down from the mound, he had already let go of any regrets and sat comfortably in the dugout, looking toward the other side.

‘It looks good.’

I saw familiar faces there.

Brick Wellington, Kirk Long, and even Kim Su-ho.

As I was playing in the same uniform not long ago, looking at the three of them gave me a strange feeling that tickled my heart.

‘The Marines were fun.’

I like living in Boston, but every day was a happy day during my time with the Marines.

That day is still a long way off, but the day will come when I return to the Marines and throw a ball to Kim Su-ho.

‘그래도 홈런은 너무했지, 개새끼야.’

While Lee Ho-min’s emotions were fluctuating, the game ended with a 2-1 victory for the D-backs.

Lee Ho-min left the stadium after looking at Kim Su-ho celebrating with Larry Henney for a moment.

The inside of the house looks a little lonely, perhaps because of what I saw earlier.

After thinking for a moment, Lee Ho-min took out his smartphone and sent a message to Kim Su-ho.

-Seeing you at the baseball stadium after a long time reminded me of the old days. Let’s go back to Korea together later and accept my credit. We should retire together with the Marines.

After sending such a satisfying message, a reply came from Kim Su-ho.

-You’re not good at baseball. no.

“Ugh! 김수호 개새끼야!”

So the night in Boston deepened.

#

“That bastard, it looks like he’s been staring at you since a while ago?”

“don’t mind. “It’s because you lost to me yesterday.”

“Tsk. “I can’t believe the pitcher who is the team’s ace gets excited about something like that.”

I don’t know if it was any other pitcher, but it’s ridiculous to hear something like that coming out of Snitker’s mouth.

Have you already forgotten that Long was making a fuss a little while ago about not being able to win yesterday?

In any case, there are many advantages to Snitker’s appearance immediately after Long’s appearance.

First of all, if Long loses, he becomes motivated as soon as he loses, and if he wins, he becomes motivated as soon as he wins.

Thanks to this, there is no need to worry mentally.

In addition, the batters that Snitker will face are the batters who came after watching Long’s 80 mph knuckleball the previous day.

The next day, there were not many batters who could overcome the 20 mph difference in velocity and the afterimage of the remaining knuckleball trajectory and immediately adapt to Snitker’s pitch.

As expected, the Red Sox batting lineup showed an inability to adapt to Snitker’s velocity.

Tony Cope, who caught 8 batters in an instant and was the 9th batter at bat.

“strike!”

“Something just happened, right?”

With that said, this is Tony Cope, who caught a 102 mph four-seamer without difficulty yesterday.

That means you can hit that ball.

Actually, I thought Tony Cope wouldn’t show up today.

He looked uncomfortable after sliding yesterday, and Tony Cope hasn’t played much in back-to-back games this season.

In any case, the fact that he came out as a starter today means that he is either confident or aiming.

As expected, the bat came out on the second pitch.

-Wow!

“Foul!”

Left-handed hitter Tony Cope tried to hit the outside ball, but the timing was too late.

First, there are 2 strikes.

It wasn’t us who were nervous.

Since they had an advantage in the ball count, it was okay to slowly tighten from the outside, but Snitker shook his head.

Instead, the ball Snitker wanted was a four-seamer on the inside.

It’s not bad.

Tony Cope just showed a lack of response to the four-seamer, and Snitker’s pitch to the left-handed hitter today was sharp enough.

But what if they showed that kind of behavior for the sake of this?

Oh no way.

Suddenly, I shook off the thoughts in my head and prepared to catch the ball.

The most important thing in ball formulation is the basis.

The best method is selected by combining factors such as what pitch this batter is weak to, what pitch the pitcher is strong at, what it was like when they met in the past, and what the condition of the two players is today.

Therefore, I try to avoid baseless thoughts like the one I just had as much as possible.

But sometimes this prediction is correct.

-Wow!

As the four-seamer flew towards the body, the bat came out as if it had been waiting.

The good news is that no matter how much we predicted, it would have been difficult to make a true hit with Tony Cope’s bat speed.

Thanks to that, it ended in a single, but if it had been another left-handed hitter, it could have gone over Peskey Paul like Ryan’s first home run yesterday.

Of course, this is also a consequential thing.

I decided to think about this later and focus on the current situation for now.

Although Tony Cope is out, he is not a very threatening runner.

Even though there are 2 outs, Tony Cope’s main ability is enough to catch a batted ball that can reach home in one go.

Of course, such thoughts are meaningless.

“Strike out!”

The inning ended when Snitker struck out the next batter.

It ended a little blandly, but if you think about it carefully, Tony Cope hit a ball that other batters couldn’t even touch.

As expected, he is not a person to be taken lightly.

#

We scored the first run in the top of the second inning thanks to our strength in the bottom of the batting order, but it is too early to let down our guard as it is still early in the game.

The goal is to create a situation where a sure-win team does not have to appear.

My second at-bat was as the leadoff hitter in the top of the fourth inning.

“Are you aiming for it?”

“what?”

“A little while ago. “You knew about the body, right?”

“well?”

He was very good at telling me things I hadn’t even asked before, but when I actually asked him, he avoided answering.

Since it came out like that, I decided to just think my way.

In fact, I was almost half sure.

“More than that, what did you say yesterday that made Lee do that? “I heard you went on a rampage for a long time?”

“I’m just telling the truth, right?”

All I could say was, “You’re not good at it.”

However, for Lee Ho-min to refute that, we have to meet again, but I don’t know when that will happen.

If we don’t meet in the World Series, we won’t be able to meet again next year if the rotation goes wrong.

In other words, if you’re lucky, you can watch yesterday’s game for several years.

It’s actually better, right?

Anyway, back to the game.

Today’s Red Sox starting pitcher is a left-handed pitcher named Kevin Braff.

Although his four-seam velocity is only 90 mph (145 km/h), which is less than the major league average, he is a pitcher who has been playing in the major league for eight years due to his exceptionally good pitch control.

There are a variety of pitches, including four-seam, two-seam, cutter, slider, change-up, etc. There is no pitch that he cannot throw.

I already experienced in my first at-bat what happens when a pitcher like that meets Tony Cope’s lead.

He persistently aimed for the low, outer course and showed incredible control by stealing a ball and putting it back.

I went into this at-bat with the intention of quickly winning the game before I got caught up in it.

“strike!”

However, I did not expect the 68 mph curve at the first pitch.

“Can I use it already?”

“It’s worth it against you.”

I knew that this kind of curve was often used to catch the count, but since I didn’t throw it once in this game, I forgot about it for a while.

It hit me so exquisitely that I couldn’t deal with it.

In any case, I didn’t come to bat just to admire.

I have fully experienced how good the two people work together.

It’s my job to break it.

The most effective thing after a slow curve at 68 mph is the four-seamer.

“cheek!”

As expected, a four-seamer came in on the outside.

As shown in the previous at-bat, it was a close four-seam with a gap of just one ball.

It was definitely a powerful ball, but it wasn’t difficult to distinguish it because I had already seen it many times in previous at-bats.

So it was questionable.

I’m sure Tony Cope would know that I was conscious of that ball and that I was somewhat familiar with it, so why did I throw it?

You may be overdoing it on your own.

However, it makes no sense that catcher Tony Cofran asked for this ball without intention.

Anyway, the ball count is 1-1.

“Let’s throw a body part, right?”

“Kim, give me your body? No way.”

That’s what I said, but we can’t just stick to the outside forever.

He clearly throws his body in this at-bat.

What matters is when that happens.

“cheek!”

The third pitch is a changeup that goes to the outside and falls.

If I had intended to hit it, I had no choice but to be deceived, but I planned to watch the third ball.

“If there is no reaction to this ball, what is the pitcher supposed to throw?”

“It’s the body side.”

“Even if you say that, you can’t throw it? Damn, Braff was so scared. “Be gentle.”

Contrary to the urgent words, the voice exudes composure.

Now I feel like they can target everything, even my voice.

I thought for a moment that it could really be true, but then the pitcher threw the ball.

“cheek!”

Outside again this time.

It is difficult to see that the ball suddenly becomes out of control.

Even now, I only missed one ball.

Anyway, we now have a favorable count of 3-1.

Now it’s really easy.

Either towards the body or aim for the outside border line.

And that’s when the third baseman caught my eye.

It is closer to the line than when I first looked at the defensive position.

I don’t know exactly how much, but at least one step more.

All the circumstances are pointing towards the body.

By showing the outside four times in a row, aim for the body and move the defensive position accordingly.

This may be a play on Tony Cope, but it doesn’t matter.

Anyway, there is room in the count.

It’s okay to turn it around once.

…uh?

Did Tony Cope really not think of foul?

But you use the count like that just to get one strike?

Kevin Braff is not a pitcher with bad ball control, but even so, this is such a waste.

If that’s the case, then there’s another target.

There wasn’t much time to think.

The pitcher has already entered the windup and it is my turn to make the decision.

“Hwaap!”

When the ball came out of Kevin Braff’s hand, I was already sure it was in the body.

All that remains is the pitch.

He will definitely want to get an out with this ball.

Then it is not a four-seamer.

Now it’s too dangerous to throw it at your body.

The slider is also excluded because it is a full count even if it is a missed swing.

I also excluded the changeup because I kept throwing it outside, so the trajectory was stuck in my head.

Then there is only one thing left.

-Taaaaagh!

cutter.

The ball that was sticking to my body ended up slightly deflecting towards my body.

If he had been aiming for a four-seamer, the ball would have ended up in the third baseman’s arms, but it flew toward the fence as a line drive.

If it were any other stadium, it would have been a home run, but this is Fernway Park.

This place is guarded by an 11.3 meter tall green monster.

I was sure I would be blocked by the fence, so I ran quickly.

The batting speed was so fast and the left field defense was clean that the game was won at second base.

“Safe!”

But I was a little fast.

I celebrated towards the dugout and looked at Tony Cope, who was looking at me with a blank expression.

Ugh, thanks to you, I thought my head was going to explode.

Still, it’s fun because you win.