Pursuit Team (1)
The third game between the Wolves and the Crocodiles was a slugfest.
The Crocodiles, wielding the destructive power from the 1st to the 4th batters—Park Seo-jun, Hwang Sung-ho, and Kwon Ji-hoon—battered the pitcher.
And the Wolves, destroying the pitcher with their left-handed batter line-up featuring Jo Woo-chan, Ha Yoon-min, and Kwon Jun-seo.
Both teams scored runs every inning, putting on a fiery game.
Because of that, the pitchers must have felt like dying, but the fans watching the game were ecstatic.
└Ahhh lol I should've gone to watch on a day like todayㅠ
└As expected, baseball is all about the bats fr
└lol There are even a lot of empty seats today. No one comes to watch cuz the Wolves' recent record is trash lol How bad must it be that there are more Crocs fans even though it's the Wolves' home. Ugh lololol
└+11111 I agonized a lot over whether to go or notㅠ
└That bastard Park Jun-young, watching him play shortstop defense makes my blood boil, but I still endure and watch because of his batting -- Exactly how many errors is that?
└Who goes to a baseball stadium to watch baseball? You go for chimaek after work. The taste of chicken eaten at a baseball stadium can't be matched anywhereㅎ Chimaek is the best~
└Wake up, upstairs lolololol Of course you go to a baseball stadium to watch baseball lololol
└lololol The Wolves bastards have lost their minds
└But is the score real? 12 to 11 lolololol It's so absurd I can only laugh. Isn't this a score you'd only see in amateur baseball? Or handball lol
└The KBO level is exactly amateur baseball, so what fr
└How long has it been since the era of hitting gods and sick pitchers, and you're still going on about amateur baseball tsk tsk
└But even in the era of hitting gods and sick pitchers, what's up with the Wolves? Why are their bats like this today?
└It's because the Crocs pitcher is a lefty-idiot.
└Who was the starting pitcher today? Jeon Gwang-jin? He is a lefty-idiot fr
└Lefty-idiot? Idiot against left-handed pitchers?
└Can't you just take a hint and understand? I said the pitcher is a lefty-idiot, so just roughly understand it as an idiot against left-handed batters --
Koo Dong-woo, who started today's game, was pulled without even completing 3 innings.
The relief pitchers who came up afterwards were also getting bombed, unable to hold down even 1 inning.
"Who are we preparing right now?"
"Jun-yeol is warming up in the bullpen."
Head Coach Kim Young-seung frowned at the pitching coach's answer.
For two consecutive days, the starting pitchers got shattered from the early innings. Because of that, they had already consumed three additional pitchers.
'It's only the bottom of the 7th...'
Head Coach Kim Young-seung's worries could only deepen.
There were 13 pitchers registered in the 1st team. Excluding the 5 starting pitchers, 3 had already been used.
Furthermore, excluding two who threw a lot in yesterday's game, and if we exclude the closing pitcher, only two were left.
'If the starter collapses tomorrow as well, everyone will be dead.'
Head Coach Kim Young-seung checked the 1st team roster.
In this situation, they had no choice but to go with the mindset of giving up on a few players. Otherwise, the massive ship called the Wolves might sink.
However, no matter how much he checked the roster, there was no suitable pitcher to call up.
Head Coach Kim Young-seung turned his head and looked at a player sitting in the corner of the dugout.
Han Min-woo.
Normally, he would be the mop-up pitcher who should take the mound when the game was tilted.
But after watching yesterday's game, his thoughts changed.
Without any expectations, he came down after holding the opponent scoreless for 3 innings. And with his own skill, not luck.
'He got six strikeouts alone.'
Of course, that didn't mean Han Min-woo was an amazing pitcher.
Looking at his track record so far, he might have just had a flash in the pan.
He didn't have a reliable breaking ball to use as a winning shot, and furthermore, his slow velocity of 137 km/h remained Han Min-woo's biggest weakness.
If Han Min-woo hadn't shown a good performance in yesterday's game, they would have seriously considered sending him to the 2nd team.
Since he wouldn't be able to pitch for a few days anyway, it would be much more beneficial to call up another pitcher from the 2nd team in the meantime.
'If he continues to show yesterday's form, he'll definitely survive in the 1st team.'
Baseball is a battle of deceiving, stealing, and shaking things up.
Especially, the duel between the pitcher and the batter could be considered a battle of timing.
In that sense, Head Coach Kim Young-seung felt that Han Min-woo could unexpectedly become a card that could strike at the opponent's blind spot.
If Han Min-woo came up after the foreign pitchers with their fastballs, the batters would struggle to find their timing.
Head Coach Kim Young-seung wrote "Requires management." next to Han Min-woo's name at the bottom of the roster.
'I hope he shows a good performance in the next game as well.'
Han Min-woo showed potential. They gave him a chance, and he produced results worthy of that chance. Taking care of a player who had proven himself was only natural.
Crack-!
"Oh! Big!"
"Nice shot!"
With the loud hitting sound, the players stuck their heads out of the dugout in a swarm. The ball hit by Jo Woo-chan was flying far beyond the right-center field fence.
The runners on base stepped on home plate one by one and entered the dugout.
While the players were cheering, Head Coach Kim Young-seung instructed the pitching coach. By scoring additional runs, their options had increased.
"Get Myung Sang-woo and Kim Deok-min ready."
"Understood."
Current score 12 to 14.
Leading by 2 runs, Head Coach Kim Young-seung made a winning move.
The Wolves' setup man and closer started warming up in the bullpen.
[Seoul Wolves 15 : 13 Gochuk Crocodiles]
[Winning Pitcher: Yoo Jae-hyuk 1.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R / Hold: Myung Sang-woo 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R / Save: Kim Deok-min 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 HR, 1 R]
[Losing Pitcher: Jeon Gwang-jin 3.1 IP, 9 H, 5 BB/HBP, 2 K, 4 R]
The third game against the Crocodiles ended with the Wolves' victory by a score of 15 to 13.
"Yoon-min's defense was killer today, right? I thought the grounder Park Seo-jun sunbae hit in the 9th inning was going to be a hit."
"He didn't eat into his batting average for once. You gotta hit hard on days like this so you can smile during salary negotiations at the end of the year, right?"
"Finally, we can board the away bus without getting cursed at."
The locker room atmosphere was very good.
Normally, any team has a good atmosphere when they're on a winning streak.
Especially for the Wolves, who had only been losing recently. It was only natural for the players to excitedly change their clothes.
Of course, not all players were like that.
Looking at Han Min-woo stretching in a corner outside the locker room, Head Coach Kim Young-seung admired him.
'Truly amazing. He stretches even in this kind of atmosphere.'
The basics of a pitcher are stamina, strength, and flexibility.
However, while most players trained hard for stamina and strength, they tended to neglect flexibility. It took a long time, but the effects felt the most minimal.
No, even when they did it, they often went through the motions half-heartedly. It wasn't an area that could be measured like stamina or strength.
But Head Coach Kim Young-seung thought differently.
'The most important thing for a pitcher is flexibility.'
Compared to other sports, baseball has significantly fewer long-running players. Because they play 144 games in a season, there are many cases of injuries.
Pitchers, especially starting pitchers who have to throw up to nearly 100 pitches in a game, always suffer from durability issues.
In that sense, flexible shoulders and elbows were factors that greatly reduced the risk of injury for pitchers.
'That's not the end of it.'
Furthermore, flexibility greatly affects pitching. It's easy to think of a whip.
A whip is light and not hard. But when you swing a whip, the end moves faster than the speed of sound. The condensed power is strong enough to inflict serious injuries on a person.
A pitcher throwing a ball was also like a single whip starting from the soles of the feet and continuing through the knees, pelvis, waist, shoulders, and elbows.
The more elastic the body, the greater the power gathered at the fingertips would inevitably be.
'This guy...'
Head Coach Kim Young-seung looked at Han Min-woo with renewed eyes.
Truly diligent.
Squats, running, stretching—he did them all very meticulously. Not to show off to anyone, but literally for the sake of training.
He had felt it from the first day, but Han Min-woo never neglected basic training.
Moreover, his mentality was also good.
He was a guy who, despite getting trauma from being hit by a come-backer and collapsing once due to injury, clenched his teeth and made it back here.
Just seeing how he caught Park Seo-jun, Hwang Sung-ho, and Kwon Ji-hoon with a 137 km/h velocity and unremarkable breaking balls was enough to tell.
'The more I see him, the more I like him.'
Suddenly, such a thought occurred to him.
This guy will succeed.
Velocity? Breaking balls? Those weren't essential virtues of a pitcher. Aren't there cases of pitchers who succeeded even with a velocity like Han Min-woo's?
When Head Coach Kim Young-seung thought about it, the truly important virtue for a pitcher was self-management.
Managing one's mentality to be able to control pitches in any situation, resting and sleeping well to handle a busy schedule. So that they can keep standing on the mound and throwing balls for 1 year, 10 years.
In that sense, he felt like Han Min-woo would continue to be seen on the 1st team mound for a long time to come.
'If he hadn't been hit by that come-backer, an incredible monster might have been born in Korean professional baseball.'
Head Coach Kim Young-seung approached with a bitter smile.
"We should get going soon, so wrap up your preparations."
"Yes, Acting Manager."
Han Min-woo got up without hesitation and packed his things.
The three-game series against the Crocodiles at home was over.
The next schedule was a three-game away series against the Gwangju Stings. They had to take a bus and head to the away hotel.
"Ugh. My back's going to break today too."
"How many years have we been doing this?"
Han Min-woo, who had loaded his travel bag into the luggage compartment and boarded the bus, rolled his eyes.
Seats on the bus were also assigned.
The more veteran and starting player you were, the more comfortable seat you sat in; the more of a rookie or bench player you were, the more uncomfortable seat you sat in. However, the starting pitcher who threw today was the only exception.
"Why are you standing like that?"
At Jo Woo-chan's question, Han Min-woo answered carefully.
"The seats..."
"Ah, right. Jae-hyun and Min-woo, sit at the very back."
The place Jo Woo-chan pointed to was the very back seat of the bus. You couldn't recline the chair, and due to the structure of the bus, it was a place where you couldn't see outside well.
Han Min-woo and Yoon Jae-hyun quickly headed to the back seat.
"Is everyone here?"
"Yees. Everyone's here, sir."
"There might be tired people, so let's go quietly without making noise. If you want to watch videos, make sure to wear earphones."
"Yees, sir."
The bus engine started, all the lights illuminating the interior disappeared, and it went pitch black.
[<8+ hours of sleep> 20 P -Incomplete]
[However, if you sleep soundly on the bus, only 50% of the time is recognized.]
Han Min-woo slumped against the backrest and let out a long sigh.
'My condition today is going to be amazing.'
BnB was strict even with sleeping hours.
And 3 minutes later.
Zzz-
"What? Is he already asleep?"
"I, it seems so."
Sleeping soundly was no problem at all.