Taking the Mound (4)
Chief Coach Kim Young-seung, watching the bottom of the 7th inning, nodded with his arms crossed.
'As expected, bringing up Han Min-woo was the right answer.'
It was astonishing.
Despite two errors leading to runners on first and third with one out, Han Min-woo remained unshaken and finished the inning with his own hands.
From his playing days until now, he had experienced countless players.
Among them were pitchers who threw terrifying pitches like Myung Sang-woo and Kim Deok-min, and players with chillingly good control like Yoo Chang-jin of the Seoul Lunatics.
'It's a wonder how he produces these results.'
However, Han Min-woo belongs to neither category.
A pitcher with slow velocity, but fairly excellent stuff and fairly excellent control.
This exactly describes the current Han Min-woo.
And there are countless players even in the professional world who possess such descriptors.
But to the question of whether the majority of them produced results like Han Min-woo, Chief Coach Kim Young-seung could readily answer 'No'.
Because Han Min-woo is not the type to face batters with just velocity, control, or stuff.
'He's still young, so when did he create that many weapons?'
There are abilities commonly required of pitchers.
Deception, extension, pitch movement, location, and so on—the categories of these abilities are numerous and diverse.
In that sense, it could be said that Han Min-woo's abilities outside of velocity and stuff were exceedingly outstanding.
Han Min-woo's record up to now is:
—4 games pitched, 7 innings, 1 run allowed (unearned), 1 win, 0 losses, 1 hold, 0.00 ERA
Beyond expectations—no, he was putting up numbers so solid that he couldn't possibly do any better.
Pitch mix: Four-seam fastball 47%, Slider 24%, Changeup 17%, Curveball 12%.
Despite his slow velocity, the four-seamer takes up nearly half. Even so, the batting average against is only 0.140, and the whiff rate is a whopping 26%.
This was a truly astonishing record.
Furthermore, the average RPM of his four-seam fastball was a staggering 2,411. This pitch, which rotates an average of 16.1 times before reaching the catcher's mitt, has incredibly good vertical movement. Thanks to this, the batters' swing-and-miss rate was high.
Not only that, but Han Min-woo has a very aggressive pitching style. Most of his pitches are in the zone, and he boldly attacks the inside of the batters.
Nevertheless, the batters struggled, unable to properly square up his pitches.
'The more I watch him, the more he surprises me.'
Watching Han Min-woo head to the rehab room, Chief Coach Kim Young-seung let out a chuckle without realizing it.
He had known since before that his fundamentals were outstanding.
Yet, like peeling an onion, the more he peeled, the more advantages kept popping out.
Today, Han Min-woo displayed an extremely versatile look against the batters. Yet, his form and routine didn't change at all.
His pitching rhythm was also excellent. Han Min-woo had a very large time variance between exchanging signs with the catcher and throwing the pitch to the batter.
When the batter was focused, he took a lot of time by touching the rosin bag, adjusting his cap, scraping the mound dirt, and checking the runners.
Conversely, when the batter was unsettled, he delivered the pitch with razor-sharp timing.
The batter, who needed to fight the timing battle, was already losing to the pitcher in timing from the very start.
'From the batters' perspective, it must be incredibly frustrating.'
Moreover, he didn't give them a single good pitch to hit.
When the batter was sitting on a pitch, he stole their timing with a changeup; to deceive their eyes, he drove sliders outside the zone on both sides; and to make the high pitch effective, he threw a curveball—his location was exceptionally outstanding.
It might be better to say his ability to prevent batters from hitting the ball was exceptional.
'I can't understand why the Dolphins put such a pitcher on the trading block.'
If it were up to his heart, he felt like bowing in worship to the Dolphins' front office.
The most important thing to raise the team's performance is not letting winnable games slip away. In that sense, the currently established Han Min-woo - Myung Sang-woo - Kim Deok-min line could be said to have played the biggest role in helping the Wolves escape last place.
Of course, that doesn't mean Han Min-woo has no areas to improve.
Due to the low strike rate of his curveball and changeup, the proportion of his four-seamer and slider was very high.
In a way, he could be called a two-pitch pitcher.
This meant that as his appearances continued, he could fall behind in the count due to a monotonous pitch mix.
'If only he had a splitter, a forkball, or even a sinker.'
Chief Coach Kim Young-seung wrote a memo in his notebook: 'Look into pitches that can be added.'
If he could just add a pitch type like a splitter, he would be able to show incredibly dominant pitching.
If he does well, he could even be used as a starting pitcher—a highly valuable resource for the current Wolves.
Closing his notebook, Chief Coach Kim Young-seung let out a sigh.
The harvest from today's game ended here. Now it was time to calculate what needed to be fixed.
'What a headache.'
The areas needing improvement were clear. Park Joon-young and Moon Chul-woo, who started in today's game.
To put it a bit harshly, to Chief Coach Kim Young-seung, the two were trash.
'We need a new shortstop and center fielder.'
There's a saying that hitting is talent, defense is effort.
From that perspective, Park Joon-young and Moon Chul-woo were players with talent.
However, they do not put in the effort.
They don't manage their condition for the game, don't make hustle plays for victory, and don't sweat to make up for their shortcomings.
They just live immersed in alcohol, women, and games, spewing only complaints.
'If only they were even half like Han Min-woo...'
It left a bitter taste in his mouth. Because he had just been thinking about Han Min-woo, it hit him even harder.
Han Min-woo's strengths weren't his velocity or breaking balls.
His pitching form, pitch mix, and so on were all the fruits of effort.
They were merely the results he obtained after analyzing opposing batters under the moonlight, researching his pitching form, and endlessly making corrections.
One is a pitcher who fell below rock bottom, all the way to the basement, but gritted his teeth and climbed back up. On the other side are batters who continue to fall while riding the parachute called talent.
This was the reason Chief Coach Kim Young-seung viewed Han Min-woo favorably and kept giving him chances, while trying to remove Park Joon-young and Moon Chul-woo from the roster by any means.
'A pro is someone who does it even when they don't want to.'
Chief Coach Kim Young-seung clicked his tongue as he looked at the list sent by the Minor League manager.
The reason the two were still on the major league roster despite his reluctance to use them. It was simply because there were no resources to replace them.
It seemed the general manager had no intention of bringing in good resources. That's why they received a prospect like Yoon Jae-hyun instead of an immediate impact player.
Thanks to that, they were able to bring in Han Min-woo.
'There is no alternative. For now, we have no choice but to try and develop Yoon Jae-hyun somehow.'
Yoon Jae-hyun's shortstop defense was top-notch. Looking at his past records, he also hit quite well in high school. If they could just develop Yoon Jae-hyun and use him, a significant part of their overall team strength would improve.
'When the season ends, I'll have to work on Yoon Jae-hyun's batting form with the hitting coach.'
"Out! Game set!"
Hearing the umpire's booming call, Chief Coach Kim Young-seung stood up from his seat.
The game eventually ended 11 to 9 thanks to the performances of Myung Sang-woo and Kim Deok-min. With this, the Wolves were on a 3-game winning streak.
Unlike Park Joon-young or Moon Chul-woo, the other players were doing very well.
Not only that, but they were now only 1.5 games behind the 8th place Stingers. They were steadily stacking up wins and pulling up their ranking.
However, Chief Coach Kim Young-seung's thoughts were negative.
It seemed it wouldn't be easy to bounce back this year. If they were to aim for an opportunity, it would be next year.
If the roster Chief Coach Kim Young-seung envisioned were completed, they might be able to aim for fall baseball next year.
'Assuming my head is still attached by then, of course.'
"You all did well! You punks, I raised all of you. Don't forget this grace, got it? Show some gratitude once in a while."
The pitching coach bragged to the pitchers coming into the dugout.
He was as consistent as ever.
[Seoul Wolves 11 : 9 Suwon Wolverines]
[Winning Pitcher: Kwon Dong-min 2.1 IP 5 H 1 R, Hold: Song Jun-yeol 1.0 IP 3 H 1 R, Hold: Han Min-woo 1.0 IP 1 H 0 R, Hold: Myung Sang-woo 1.0 IP 1 H 0 R, Save: Kim Deok-min 1.0 IP 2 H 0 R]
[Losing Pitcher: Won Hong-il 3.0 IP 13 H (2 HR) 2 BB 2 K 9 R]
└Ah shit, I thought I was going to die of frustration watching this -- Instead of that bastard Park Joon-young, can't they use Yoon Jae-hyun or whatever his name is? How many errors is that now?
└lolololol What a f***ing dilemma. Shortstop who can only hit vs Shortstop who can only field lololololololol
└Yeah yeah~ Don't hate on Park Joon-young and Moon Chul-woo just for today. They still got 2 hits haha
└And they almost threw the game away at a crucial moment, right? If Han Min-woo had a glass mentality, he would have walked batters left and right with 1st and 3rd and one out lololol
└(Dolphins) No, but why is our Min-woo on the Wolves? He was originally on our team.
└Dolphins, use Yoo Sung-jong well~ No returns allowed~ We're using Han Min-woo well too lololol
└lololololololol This is f***ing hilarious too. Until last week it was Yoon Jae-hyun ↔ Yoo Sung-jong and Han Min-woo had no presence, but that Han Min-woo is performing the best lololololol
└(Dolphins) Give us back our Minu TTTTTTTT
└Yeah, no. We won't trade him back. Go away.
"Let's pack up quickly. We need to go rest right away."
"We came all the way to Suwon, should we go out to Ingye-dong for the first time in a while? Want to go eat shellfish?"
"Hyung, if you wander around Suwon at this time, you'll get terrorized by the Wolverines fans. Let's just quietly go to the hotel and gnaw on some chicken legs."
The Wolves players busily packed their bags in the locker room.
Then they headed out the back door where the team bus was parked to go to their away accommodation.
"Woo-chan hyung! Please give me an autograph!"
"Kyaa, it's Ha Yoon-min! He's so cute. Look at him smile."
Outside, despite it being a weekday, countless fans were waiting. The fans stomped their feet, calling out the names of the players they supported.
Among them were fans cheering for Han Min-woo as well.
"Han Min-woo! Please take a picture with me just once!"
Han Min-woo smiled at the voices of the fans calling his name.
Unfortunately, fan service wasn't on the daily quest list today. Nevertheless, he approached each and every one of them and gave fan service with all his heart.
To Han Min-woo, fans were something he yearned for.
Because he had been at the very bottom for a really long time. Not having a single person who recognized him made him feel a profound sense of deprivation.
He made a resolution then. If he ever got fans, he would never ignore them.
Perhaps thanks to that thought, a warm atmosphere flowed between Han Min-woo and the fans.
"Hello, where would you like me to sign?"
"Here on the back! You were so cool today, hyung!"
"Thank you for cheering for me. I'll work hard to show you an even cooler side."
Some asked him to sign the back of the uniform they were wearing, some asked for just one hug, and so on; each fan wanted a different kind of fan service.
However, Han Min-woo accommodated their wishes without losing his smile. Of course, a few coaches were watching Han Min-woo with tense expressions.
It was then.
"Joon-young hyung! I'm a fan! Please give me an autograph!"
A fan shouted from the barricade right next to where Han Min-woo was signing.
However, Park Joon-young's reaction was quite a spectacle.
"Tsk."
Park Joon-young, glaring at the person asking for an autograph, ignored the request and just boarded the bus.
It seemed his mood was sour because he had been separately scolded by Jo Woo-chan or Pee Ki-jung for his defensive errors.
"...?"
Because of that, both the fan who requested the autograph and the people watching were left feeling awkward.
'He shouldn't do that.'
Professional players exist because there are fans.
Han Min-woo quickly approached the fan whose face was filled with bitterness, and pulled a baseball out of his bag.
"Hello, I'm Han Min-woo! If it's okay with you, would you like me to give you an autograph instead?"
"Uh... what?"
"This is the ball I got a strikeout with in today's game. I'll sign it here for you."
"Ah, th-thank you..."
"I will always do my best. Please show me a lot of love too!"
Han Min-woo, handing the baseball to the fan, walked away as if fleeing.
Ring!
[Surprise Quest]
[A fan who received a deep emotional wound from a star's behavior has appeared. Please give heartfelt fan service to the wounded fan!]
[Reward: 500 P]
[You have successfully completed the quest.]
The conflicting emotions of embarrassment and pride coexisted.
'Did I look too desperate for fans? Well, I completed the quest, so whatever.'
But the feeling of pride was greater. Because embarrassment is temporary, but points are forever.
Han Min-woo quickly boarded the bus.
"..."
Numerous Wolves fans stared intently at his back.