Pursuit Team (4)
‘Very good.’
Han Min-woo, covering his mouth with his glove, smiled with pleasure.
He really liked the newly acquired special ability. It was an ability perfectly suited for him coming in as a middle reliever.
[
[Up to 20 pitches, velocity is +2km/h, control slightly increases, and Four-Seam Fastball(D) is upgraded by one level.]
[Remaining pitches: 17]
Although it was only a slight increase in control, that alone made it possible to pitch around the edges of the strike zone.
Furthermore, thanks to
Even before he was hit by the line drive, the inside was a course he couldn't easily pitch to.
The possibility that the flying ball could hit the opponent. The possibility that the ball, if it went slightly wrong, could take a person's life.
From a pitcher's perspective, that was a pressure close to terror. If someone found throwing inside completely normal, you'd have to suspect them of being a psychopath.
‘So this is what it feels like to have control.’
The sensation at his fingertips was different. The feeling of gripping the ball was incredibly smooth and clean.
At this level, it seemed like wild pitches wouldn't occur often.
‘Of course, it's still limited to 20 pitches.’
Suppressing his excitement, Han Min-woo raised his head.
Near home plate, Lee Kang-won, who had just struck out, was having a brief conversation with the next batter.
"You struck out on a pitch like that? Hah."
"I was trying to watch some pitches for you, hyung. Anyway, Kang-min hyung, be careful. The ball is slow, but it's sharper than you think."
"Hey, punk. Just watch me do it."
Looking at the number 1 batter standing in the batter's box, Han Min-woo let out a long breath.
‘I've run into a difficult opponent.’
Yoon Kang-min.
A right-handed pitcher and right-handed batter who joined the Stings in 2022 in the 7th round, 63rd overall.
Judging only by his draft ranking, it seemed like he didn't show much promise in high school, but he was actually a batter who performed so outstandingly that he was called a genius since his high school days.
Nevertheless, the reason he was selected late in the rookie draft was none other than his physique.
‘He's really small.’
Yoon Kang-min's height was 162cm. The shortest in KBO history.
So small that even his strike zone formed significantly lower than other batters.
However, unlike his frail physique, his talent was real.
‘A little monster.’
A typical contact hitter with top-tier contact skills in the league, adept at hitting to the opposite field and primarily using a downswing.
With excellent bat control, he was a spray hitter who could send the ball anywhere—left, center, or right. His ability to make contact with the ball was so outstanding that he recorded the league's highest contact rate for three consecutive years from the 2023 season to the 2025 season.
Furthermore, his career batting average was a whopping .313. First among shortstops in history.
He also had a great eye, always drawing more walks than strikeouts, and was one of the batters with the lowest strikeout rate in the league.
Hence the nickname, Little Monster.
‘He's a bad matchup for me.’
For a pitcher who throws slow balls like Han Min-woo, a batter with a great eye is inevitably difficult to face. The slower the velocity, the more an outstanding eye shines.
‘He probably won't even react to pitches that slightly miss the zone.’
In the past, it would have been agonizing to face him. If a good pitch didn't come, he would have just kept fouling them off to torment him.
But now it was different.
He felt sorry for Yoon Kang-min, but the pitcher on the mound right now was not the Han Min-woo of the past.
After exchanging signs with Pi Ki-jung, Han Min-woo threw the ball.
The first pitch was a four-seam fastball. Yoon Kang-min only watched the ball graze the low outside corner of the zone.
"Strike!"
Han Min-woo immediately threw the second pitch.
Another four-seam fastball. Similarly, a low outside ball. A course that slightly missed the zone compared to the first pitch. Yoon Kang-min only watched it again.
"Ball!"
‘As expected, eye deception doesn't work.’
The ball count was 1-1.
Han Min-woo threw a four-seam fastball again for the third pitch. This time, inside corner. The ball flew as if it would hit the batter's body.
Startled, Yoon Kang-min jumped back and glared at the mound.
‘This bastard...’
If it had been a little more inside, it could have hit his elbow.
He had seen him persistently throw inside to the leadoff hitter Lee Kang-won, but seeing him throw it directly at him made him feel quite unpleasant.
‘Let's see who wins.’
Yoon Kang-min gripped his bat tightly and stepped right up to the home plate.
And the fourth pitch flew in. Yoon Kang-min clenched his teeth and stayed still. It was the same course as the previous third pitch.
"Ball!"
With this, the ball count was 3 balls and 1 strike. A situation absolutely favorable to the batter.
Yoon Kang-min sneered at the pitcher on the mound.
‘Stupid bastard.’
There are pitchers who throw inside to engage in a psychological battle. Yoon Kang-min thought Han Min-woo was one of them.
Because for a pitcher with slow velocity and bland breaking balls to survive, pitching inside was essential.
Yoon Kang-min casually lifted his bat toward the pitcher. To others, it might look like a pre-batting routine, but the pitcher would know. That this was a clear provocation.
However, despite Yoon Kang-min's provocation, Han Min-woo showed no reaction.
No, he actually smiled inwardly at the sight of him looking down on him completely.
‘He gets hits even against pitchers like Choi Myung-hoon, so a pitcher like me probably isn't even in his eyes.’
He wanted him to look down on him even more. That way, he'd be able to deceive the batter.
Han Min-woo threw the fifth pitch. Like the fourth pitch, it was a course heading toward Yoon Kang-min's inside. This time, it was a pitch that slightly caught the inside of the zone.
Yoon Kang-min, who hadn't moved a muscle until then, swung the bat like a ghost.
Whoosh!
But nothing was caught on Yoon Kang-min's bat.
Unlike the four-seam fastballs he had thrown so far, the ball Han Min-woo threw this time was a changeup.
The ball, flying like a four-seam fastball, slightly grazed under the bat and entered the catcher's glove.
"Swing, strike!"
With this, it was a 3-2 full count. Neither the batter nor the pitcher had anywhere to retreat.
Ding!
['Han Min-woo' has met a specific condition.]
[Since there are 2 strikes,
‘I've been waiting for this moment.’
Receiving the ball from Pi Ki-jung, Han Min-woo immediately prepared for the sixth pitch.
This pitch was also a four-seam fastball.
The course was....
‘Dead center.’
The seams caught on his fingertips felt unusually vivid. The baseball leaving Han Min-woo's hand flew toward the catcher's mitt at a high speed.
Crack-!
The ball hit Yoon Kang-min's bat and flew into the outfield. It was well-hit.
But Han Min-woo didn't watch the batted ball. He could know without looking. That ball wouldn't clear the fence.
In fact, the ball failed to carry all the way and fell into the right fielder's glove. It became a fly ball, suppressed by the pitch's dominance.
‘So this is a B-rank four-seam fastball.’
Types like Yoon Kang-min are really easy to deal with using pitch quality. No matter how well they make contact with the bat, it's useless if they pop up due to being overpowered by the pitch.
There was a time when Han Min-woo also overwhelmed batters with his pitch quality.
That was why he knew even better. How to hunt a batter like Yoon Kang-min.
‘It's been a while, this feeling.’
-At the end of a full count battle, Yoon Kang-min retires with a fly ball to right field.
-Han Min-woo. The more I see him, the more amazing he is, to handle Yoon Kang-min with a fly ball. I felt it last time too, but he has a lot of strengths.
-In what way do you see that?
-On the fifth pitch, Yoon Kang-min, who is famous for his great eye, swung and missed at a changeup, right? He failed to make contact itself. Just looking at the form, you can't tell what pitch he's throwing.
-I see.
-He has a three-quarter arm slot close to sidearm, and after the windup and stride (the motion of extending the leg), his arm swing is quite late. When that happens, it's hard to time it, and from the batters' perspective, they won't see the ball until just before it's thrown. They inevitably have difficulty recognizing the pitch type.
-There are quite a lot of mechanisms packed into that short pitching form.
-Baseball is a sport decided in a fleeting moment.
-Very interesting. Then, from your perspective as a commentator, what would be this player's shortcomings?
-His velocity is slow, and he doesn't have a breaking ball worthy of being called a put-away pitch. This problem will continue to hold Han Min-woo back. Comparing it to a game, it means he has fewer usable skills than other players. Right from facing the Stings' number 2 batter, Jin Sang-heon, it won't be easy.
The number 2 batter stepped into the batter's box.
Jin Sang-heon.
A player whose name is always mentioned when picking the best contact hitter in the country. A completely different type from the Crocodiles' Park Seo-jun.
If Park Seo-jun was the player who hit the ball best in the league, Jin Sang-heon was the player who knew how to torment pitchers best in the league.
‘He's the player I least wanted to face among the batters I did image training against.’
Han Min-woo took off his cap and wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Yoon Kang-min is a monster, but Jin Sang-heon is even better.
His eye is better, and his contact rate is higher. So much so that he never struck out more than 50 times in a single season throughout his career.
Furthermore, he would foul off almost any pitch by cutting it, and that was where Jin Sang-heon's terrifying nature lay.
He actually made the Crocodiles' Park Jin-woo throw 26 pitches. Naturally, it was the record for the most consecutive pitches thrown to a single batter in KBO history.
A pitcher without outstanding pitch quality was no different from a toy to him. Hence the nickname, Pitcher Breaker.
In the past, he would have been the undisputed number 1 batter, but with the recent trend of preferring a strong number 2 batter, he was taking the 2nd spot in the Stings' batting order.
Looking at Jin Sang-heon, Han Min-woo burned with determination.
‘I will win even if I have to use everything I have.’
The him now was different from the him during image training. His velocity was still slow and he still lacked a put-away pitch, but that didn't mean he would be helplessly beaten.
Han Min-woo threw the ball.
From then on, a grueling scene unfolded.
Crack!
"Foul!"
Crack!
"Foul!"
Crack!”
"Foul!"
Crack!
In a full count, Jin Sang-heon fouled off the 10th pitch. The commentators watched the scene and expressed their pity.
-His bat control is art. The one he just threw was a changeup. It seemed like Han Min-woo's decisive move, but he fouled it off. If he does this, Han Min-woo has no pitches to throw.
-This is already the 8th pitch. He got the previous two batters out with 10 pitches, but he's throwing almost as many pitches to just Jin Sang-heon alone. He might even end up throwing more than that.
-It's flowing exactly as I said earlier. Because his velocity is slow and he lacks a put-away pitch, he's getting caught like that and being tormented. The memory of today will probably remain a truly terrible memory for Han Min-woo. Every time he faces the Stings afterwards, a player named Jin Sang-heon might linger as a sense of pressure.
The Wolves' bullpen became busy, and the spectators watching the game shook their heads. Everyone sensed Han Min-woo's defeat.
Ding!
[Remaining pitches: 0]
[All 20 pitches have been used.
[The upgraded Four-Seam Fastball(C) returns to its original state.]
With all 20 pitches exhausted, Full Power Pitch was also deactivated.
However, Han Min-woo's eyes were still burning fiercely.
‘I've been waiting for this moment.’
Han Min-woo exhaled and exchanged signs with Pi Ki-jung.
Shaking his head a few times, he then went into his windup.
Seeing that, Jin Sang-heon snorted and took his unique batting stance.
‘Throw whatever you want.’
And the ball flew in.
"……?"
The ball leaving Han Min-woo's hand flew in, drawing a large parabola.
A ridiculously slow ball.
Even slower by 2km/h as Full Power Pitch ended, that ball made Jin Sang-heon, called the league's best contact hitter, unable to react at all.
‘For this moment, I didn't throw it even once in today's game.’
"Strike, out!"
-S-strikeout! Jin Sang-heon strikes out!
-Hahahaha, it makes me laugh. The velocity on the scoreboard is 108 km/h. I never expected such a pitch to come from there. He was completely caught off guard.
"Aaaaaaagh!"
Han Min-woo roared as he headed to the dugout.
He safely finished the bottom of the 7th inning. Han Min-woo had won the match that everyone thought would be impossible.
‘I am not weak.’
He was getting stronger through the BnB system, but an even slower ball was still a weapon for him.
An incredibly precise and sharp one.