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Chapter 16
Chasing Crew (6)
“Time!”
Yoon Kangmin hurriedly stepped out of the batter’s box, flustered.
What the hell? Wasn’t his top velocity supposed to be in the high 130s?
His head was a mess.
After going down meekly in yesterday’s game, Yoon Kangmin had been sharpening his knife on the inside. He’d thoroughly memorized the scouting report on Han Minwoo that the advance scouts had passed him.
But from the very first pitch, he realized that information was wrong.
Damn it.
From that moment on, everything he knew about Han Minwoo was as good as useless. If he went up there half-informed and overconfident, he’d just end up taking another unexpected shot to the jaw.
What do I do?
All the plans he’d drawn up in his head were now worthless.
But he wasn’t the only one caught off guard.
– First pitch is a strike. And… the velocity on the board is 144 km/h.
– Oh…
– Now, 144 km/h isn’t some unbelievable number in itself, but we can’t help being surprised. Han Minwoo has been setting a new personal best nearly every game, and now he’s up to 144.
– That’s really something.
– But is it really possible for someone’s velocity to jump this dramatically in such a short time?
– It’s not impossible. Technology and training equipment are far better than they used to be.
– Could you explain that a bit more in detail?
– If you identify the mechanical issues that are capping your velocity and either reinforce or remove those elements, you can see significant gains. In fact, there are a few such cases in the Majors. Austin Lockhart of the Kansas City Royals, Josh Raymond of the Boston Red Sox—those are good examples.
– So basically, they refined their training and strengthened the right muscle groups. Actually, before today’s game we did a short interview with Cho Woochan. When we asked about Han Minwoo, he had nothing but praise. Said he’s the hardest worker on the team.
– Originally, Han Minwoo was a power pitcher who could throw up to 158 km/h. So there’s still plenty of room for his velocity to keep improving.
While the commentators were chatting, Yoon Kangmin let out a long breath as he stepped back into the box.
He needed to calm down. The pitcher in front of him was no pushover.
Fine. Let’s just pretend he’s Yoo Changjin from the Lunatics.
In a way, that helped. He’d never expected this to be an easy matchup anyway, and seeing 144 up on the board forced him to snap out of it.
It was like he knew exactly what pitch I was sitting on.
When he waited on a four-seam fastball, he got a breaking ball.
When he looked in for something inside, the pitch came outside.
When he tried to adjust and go after a ball down in the zone, it came in high.
And that wasn’t all. On his last swing yesterday, his bat had been pushed back and he’d ended up with a weak flyout. In other words, the fastball’s life was nothing to scoff at.
He’s got a lot more weapons than I thought.
Listing out the pitcher’s strengths one by one only made it clearer: the guy he was facing now was a very tricky customer.
But Yoon Kangmin didn’t back down.
I’m one of the best hitters in this league too.
Among the pitchers he’d faced were guys who’d once pitched in the Majors, and even ones throwing 160 km/h.
He’d survived the pro world by facing pitchers like that.
He admitted that Han Minwoo was a tough opponent—but that didn’t mean he was unhittable.
As the second pitch came in, Yoon Kangmin pulled the trigger.
Crack—!
“Tch…”
His hands tingled. The ball that caught the bat shot back over the stands behind him.
The velocity on that pitch was also 144 km/h. But the life on it was on a completely different level compared to yesterday.
How does this make sense?
He just couldn’t wrap his head around it.
“Life” on a pitch.
It’s the term for the true power contained in a ball—a combination of factors. When people say a pitch “jumps on you” at the end, they’re saying it’s got good life.
Life on a pitch comes from a lot of different elements: velocity, movement, spin rate, and so on. Just throwing harder doesn’t automatically give the ball more life.
Velocity can go up or down. There are pitchers who intentionally vary their effort level to create a spread in their readings—taking a little off sometimes, going full-tilt at others.
But “life” is a different beast. To really put spin on the ball with your fingertips, you need not only grip strength but also a very refined feel.
Damn it. I just called time, they’re not going to grant me another one so soon…
Yoon Kangmin was rattled.
Seeing that, Han Minwoo covered his mouth with his glove and smiled.
Just as I expected.
Yesterday, he’d gotten Yoon Kangmin out with a B-grade four-seam fastball. Even with that, he’d won the strength battle and induced a fly ball.
But today’s pitch was A-grade.
His original D-grade four-seam had gone up one tier thanks to <Full-Power Pitching>, and then another tier thanks to <Fastball – Away (Road)>, landing at A.
It was only natural that Yoon Kangmin, bringing his experience from yesterday into the box, would be thrown for a loop by the life on today’s fastball.
At this point it’s probably on par with Daegu Gladiators’ closer Shin Seungmin’s heater.
Having thrown everything from D to A grade, Minwoo now had a feel for what each tier of pitch actually meant on the mound.
He’d even made his own mental scale for pitch value based on grade.
D-grade was below league average.
C-grade was about league average.
B-grade was the quality of a typical team ace’s four-seamer, and A-grade was the kind of stuff only the league’s top arms possessed.
So it was no wonder that a hitter of Yoon Kangmin’s caliber would be flustered if his expectations were suddenly shattered.
But I can’t let my guard down.
Taking the ball back from Pigi-jung, Minwoo reset his grip inside the glove.
The man in the box was the league’s premier contact hitter. You don’t put up a .300 average by accident.
And sure enough, from there on, Yoon Kangmin fouled off the 3rd and 4th pitches, clinging on with everything he had. Both pitches were four-seam fastballs.
In other words, even an A-grade pitch couldn’t just mow hitters down for free.
That’s what makes baseball fun.
Whoosh—!
“Swing and a miss! Batter out!”
What finally struck Yoon Kangmin out, ironically, wasn’t the A-grade heater.
It was a changeup, bumped up one tier to D-grade by <Doctor K>.
In the end, the key isn’t just raw velocity or a huge-breaking pitch. It’s how you deceive the hitter.
In that sense, Han Minwoo was pretty good at fooling batters. He’d focused all of Yoon Kangmin’s attention on the A-grade fastball, then used that focus against him to get the strikeout.
[Daily Quest List]
[<Bullpen Pitching (40 pitches)> 30 P – Completed]
[<Stretching> 20 P – Completed]
[<Record 3 Strikeouts in One Game> 100 P – Incomplete (Currently 2 Ks)]
[<Perfect Game> 100,000 P – Failed]
[<Fan Service> 10 P per person – Incomplete]
Nice.
Watching Yoon Kangmin trudging back to the dugout, Minwoo clenched his fist.
At this rate, I might actually hit three strikeouts today.
└ Wow, what was that? I’ve never seen Yoon Kangmin strike out that easily ㄷㄷ All five pitches were in the zone and he couldn’t square a single one;;
└ (Crying cicada when in danger) Meeeem…?
└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ That was insane
└ Watching Minwoo pitch is kinda mesmerizing. I can’t look away. I was eating ramyeon while watching and it’s all soggy now ㅠ
└ Honestly, maybe our front office is actually god-tier at their jobs…? If he keeps this up, trading for Minwoo in exchange for Yoo Seongjong was a massive win, no?
└ ㅇㅇ One of our foreign pitchers just left and our starters were getting blown up early every game, the bullpen was getting cooked. Minwoo basically came in and cooled everything down.
└ Plus Kwon Junseo just came back from injury, so Yoo Seongjong’s role was getting awkward anyway. Better to trade him than leave him rotting on the bench. It’s not like we’re short on utility outfielders.
└ And strong teams always have a solid pitching staffㅋㅋ Look at the Dolphins. Their lineup is stacked but they haven’t won a title in 38 years~
└ (Dolphins fan) jumps
└ Youuuuu ㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why you gotta drag the Dolphins into this out of nowhere, you demonㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Their problem isn’t just pitching, the defense is a mess too, isn’t it? They’ve got a catcher who lets routine fastballs go to the backstop and infielders who can only cover like one step to either sideㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ
└ Han Minwoo is so cool!
“What was that?”
On-deck hitter Jin Sangheon called out to Yoon Kangmin as he headed back to the dugout.
Kangmin shook his head.
“Changeup. Watch out, hyung. The fastball’s insane. He’s nothing like yesterday. I got so caught up worrying about it that I got fooled by the changeup.”
“How insane are we talking?”
“It felt like I was facing Shin Seungmin.”
“That level?”
Kangmin nodded once and disappeared into the dugout. But that only deepened Jin Sangheon’s confusion.
What the hell?
There’s a phrase, “within the bounds of common sense.”
Having faced Minwoo once already, Jin Sangheon simply couldn’t accept that someone could change that much in a single day.
But once he stepped into the box, he had no choice but to admit that his “common sense” had just been shattered.
Bang—!
“Strike!”
It sounded like someone had fired a cannon. Just from the sound alone, you could tell the life on the pitch was something else.
He’s right. That’s Shin Seungmin’s four-seamer.
After whiffing at the first pitch, Jin Sangheon swallowed hard.
Pitch movement is broken down into two main axes: V-movement and H-movement.
V-movement is vertical. H-movement is horizontal.
For a simple example, a slider has a large horizontal break, so you’d say it has a high H-movement.
What determines this movement is spin—the more spin, the more the ball breaks.
In that sense, the four-seam of Shin Seungmin, the league’s top closer, has very high V-movement. It creates the illusion of rising as it approaches the plate.
This one looked like it was climbing, too.
So did Minwoo’s four-seamer. That first pitch had finished about a fist’s width higher than where Sangheon’s bat had gone through.
Given the situation, his best option was the same as Yoon Kangmin’s.
“Time!”
Stepping away from the plate, Jin Sangheon exhaled slowly.
The battle between pitcher and hitter is often compared to rock-paper-scissors. On the surface it looks like a simple matchup of luck and tendencies, but in reality it’s more like a war of scenarios based on past data.
Do you attack the pitcher’s strength, or exploit his weakness?
If you go after his weakness, how do you bait him into it?
If you go after his strength, how do you break through it?
Once the script you brought to the plate gets torn up, it’s only natural for a hitter to feel shaken. But you can’t just leave it up to luck and swing blindly.
I’ve got to find a way to shake this pitcher.
But this was Jin Sangheon we’re talking about. Even after eating an unexpected punch, he stayed calm to the end.
The pitcher had shredded the scenario he’d prepared. In that case, the best choice he could make now was to shred the pitcher’s script in return.
In other words: pull him into a mud fight.
“Phew…”
Jin Sangheon stepped right up close to the plate.
At the same time, Minwoo delivered the second pitch. Four-seam fastball again, this time riding the inside corner—borderline.
I knew you’d come inside.
Sangheon’s eyes flashed. In the next instant, he twisted his body.
Then he went sprawling, as if he’d almost been hit.
Whoomph—!
“Strike!”
– Whoa!
– Jin Sangheon goes down as the inside pitch comes in close. That was a dangerous moment.
It was a perfect performance. Anyone watching would think, Man, that was close.
“You son of a bitch!”
He tossed his helmet. Flung his bat aside and started marching toward the mound.
Let’s roll in the mud a little.
The method Jin Sangheon chose to rattle Minwoo—
That was bench-clearing.
Dragging the battle into the realm of emotion. The less experienced or mentally weaker pitchers often lost their composure when something like that happened.
But after only a few steps, he froze.
Huh…?
Something was off.
“Hey! Hey, that bastard!”
“Stop him! Now!”
He’d barely taken three or four steps toward the mound, but the Wolves’ infielders were already sprinting at full speed—toward him.
And from behind, someone shoved him hard.
It was the Wolves’ catcher, Pigi-jung.
Wait a sec…
Right then, he realized something was very wrong.
“You little punk, you think you can lay a finger on our Minwoo?”
Pigi-jung, nicknamed “Blood Fist,” grabbed him by the collar and shook him hard.
