Mop-Up Pitcher (3)
-Swing strike! Strikeout! Player Han Min-woo strikes out player Kim Tae-yoon, retiring three batters in a row!
-Ah, it was a crisis situation, but he handled it beautifully.
-Since the starting pitcher Jason Cross suddenly went down due to injury, it was a chaotic situation for the Wolves. But the relief pitcher Han Min-woo saved the Wolves!
-For the Gocheok Crocodiles, it must feel awful. They were building momentum by scoring 5 runs early on, but they just had cold water poured on them.
The top of the 3rd inning ended much faster than expected.
Gi Gi-jung, who started as the catcher for the Seoul Wolves, admired Han Min-woo as he walked down the mound.
‘Impressive.’
When it first started, there was a lot of worry. The battery coach who came up for the pitcher change earnestly exhorted him.
‘His velocity is slow, and he doesn't have a decent breaking ball, okay? Plus, his mentality is weak. So you have to grab him by the collar and drag him along no matter what.’
A player with many weaknesses in many ways. That was the image of Han Min-woo in his head.
And even when he gave up consecutive hits to the 5th and 6th batters, he thought Min-woo would shake.
There is a world of difference in pressure between having no runners on base and having runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.
But making such worries pointless, Han Min-woo struck out batters 7 through 9 in a row, finishing the inning in an instant.
‘Is his mentality really weak?’
The highlight of this inning was definitely when he faced the 9th batter, Kim Tae-yoon.
Even if the 7th and 8th batters took Han Min-woo lightly, the 9th batter, Kim Tae-yoon, clearly watched the two previous batters strike out.
It could be said that he was already on high alert.
Against such an opponent, Han Min-woo baited him with a four-seamer, then threw a slider outside the zone to dazzle his eyes, and finally finished him off with a curveball as his out-pitch.
‘My feeling was wrong.’
When he first shook his head, Gi Gi-jung wanted to go up to the mound and smack him in the back of the head.
But conclusively, Han Min-woo's choice was right, and the guy proved it with the result of three consecutive strikeouts.
Pros speak with results.
Gi Gi-jung, who took off his catcher's mask, approached Han Min-woo walking down the mound. Then he held out his fist toward the guy.
“Min-woo.”
“Good work, senior.”
Since they have to exchange signs and catch batters together, a catcher's communication with the pitchers is crucial. It wasn't for nothing that pitchers and catchers were grouped together and called a battery.
In that sense, as the main backstop responsible for the Seoul Wolves' home plate, Gi Gi-jung had built friendships through conversations with all the pitchers on the roster.
He checked the tendencies of each and every pitcher, and he knew exactly what locations they preferred.
Such a person spoke to Han Min-woo for the first time.
“It suits you well.”
“Pardon?”
“Coming down from the mound after finishing the inning, I mean.”
“Ah…….”
Han Min-woo carefully bumped his fist against Gi Gi-jung's extended fist.
Seeing that, Gi Gi-jung chuckled.
“Good work.”
Baseball is a sport where mentality is important.
The team's morale really affects the outcome. So much so that there are situations where a team down by 11 runs can explode with 12 consecutive hits and turn the game around.
Until the top of the 3rd inning, the Seoul Wolves were being unilaterally beaten up by the Gocheok Crocodiles.
“Couldn't we turn this around if we do well?”
“Please, just win once! Let's break the 5-game losing streak!”
In that sense, the sight of the pitcher who came up in the top of the 3rd retiring three batters with consecutive strikeouts was enough to create unspoken expectations among the fans.
Thwack!
-Ah, the ball flies high.
-Player Kwon Ji-hoon comes over and catches the ball.
-Player Park Jin-woo ties up the Wolves' batting lineup, bringing the momentum Han Min-woo took in the top of the 3rd back to the Crocodiles!
“Phew, as expected.”
But contrary to the fans' expectations, the Wolves' batting lineup in the bottom of the 3rd retreated listlessly with a 1-2-3 inning.
The top of the 4th inning began like that.
‘I'm finally facing him.’
Han Min-woo, covering his mouth with his glove, let out a sigh as he watched the batter coming up to the plate.
‘A batter I really didn't want to face.’
Park Seo-joon.
The first fang of the Crocodiles, famous for never letting go once he sinks his teeth into a pitcher.
His life was like a drama.
In 2022, he joined the Seoul Wolves as an undrafted signee. He was converted to a registered player in June of the same year, but was released after recording just one game, one at-bat, and one strikeout.
Afterward, he completed his military service as an infantryman in the Army's 31st Division, passed the Gocheok Crocodiles' test, and re-joined as an undrafted signee. In 2026, he wrote another success story for undrafted signees, winning both the Rookie of the Year and the KBO Golden Glove.
His life changed dramatically in the 2028 season.
He posted incredible stats with 204 hits, a .378 batting average, .444 on-base percentage, .552 slugging percentage, and a .996 OPS. Thanks to that, he became the second player in KBO history to record 200 hits in a single season, and even won the MVP.
Even in a hitter-friendly season, for a leadoff hitter to reach this level meant he was dominating the league.
-Top of the 4th. Park Seo-joon comes up as the leadoff batter.
-Ah, Han Min-woo. He handled the top of the 3rd beautifully, but he's running into a huge wall right from the start.
-Not just Han Min-woo, but he's a batter who would be burdensome for any pitcher to face. He can be called the self-and-public-acknowledged best leadoff in South Korea.
‘Very nice, this situation.’
On one side was the league's best MVP batter, who had set records for the most hits, most runs scored, and most triples in a single season.
And on the other side was a mop-up pitcher who came in to handle a completely lost game, with bottom-tier velocity in the league and the highest career ERA in the league.
Common sense says it's not even a match.
The commentators, the fans, and even the team manager and teammates wouldn't think Han Min-woo would come out on top.
‘No matter what I do, I'll end up getting beaten up anyway.’
Han Min-woo burst out laughing without realizing it.
Was it the influence of the Stone Stele Heart? He felt neither worry nor fear.
-Ah……. Han Min-woo is smiling here.
-It doesn't seem like it's intended to provoke Park Seo-joon. Did a funny memory suddenly come to mind? Whatever it is, smiling in this situation itself is amazing.
└What's with him? Did I see wrong? He's smiling right before facing Park Seo-joon?
└lolololol Smiling in a 7-0 deficit with a 12.96 ERA lolololol Is he a psycho? lolololol
└Ah, I knew he looked familiar f*ck, isn't he the guy from the Busan Dolphins? They said they were thankful whenever he came up against the Dolphins lololol It feels weird having him come up as our team's pitcher now haha
└If he gets pounded like a Mandu this inning and goes down, it'll be fun to watch haha2
└He doesn't even have the skills, and his personality is lacking too. Guys like that should be stuffed in the minors and spun around until they act like proper human beings.
└Sir, please delete your comment. Actually, today is his first 1st team appearance in 812 days haha.
Actually, the reason Han Min-woo smiled wasn't anything special.
Even if he fails, he breaks even. If he gives up a hit, it's because Park Seo-joon is good. Even giving up runs is fine. He's a mop-up pitcher anyway. Even if he gives up 1 or 2 runs here, it doesn't deal a huge blow to his image.
In other words, it meant there was absolutely no risk for Han Min-woo to bear in facing Park Seo-joon.
‘There is no better situation for a gambler who bets something on the line.’
If it were the old Han Min-woo, he would have trembled in fear at the fact that the opposing batter was Park Seo-joon.
But currently, with the A-grade special ability activated, he was focusing on reading the situation rather than the opponent.
From home plate, catcher Gi Gi-jung sent a sign.
‘How about a slider?’
Gi Gi-jung was also asking for a chase pitch battle.
Han Min-woo immediately shook his head. He judged that since he had nothing to lose, it was better to challenge him head-on.
‘Then drop a four-seam below the zone?’
Shake shake.
‘He'll be looking for a four-seam, so how about a curve?’
Shake shake.
‘Then a changeup?’
‘Okay.’
Finally, Gi Gi-jung requested the pitch he had been waiting for.
Han Min-woo nodded and went into his windup.
“Hup.”
And then he threw it with all his might toward the catcher's mitt.
The course was right down the middle of the strike zone.
For Park Seo-joon, it was a course where the bat had no choice but to come out. There was no ball count anyway, and the velocity and course were enough to make him take a swing.
Pop!
“Swing, strike.”
Park Seo-joon, who swung and missed on the first pitch, adjusted his helmet and stared at Han Min-woo. It felt like he was saying, ‘Look at this guy? How dare he challenge me head-on?’
Calmly enduring that gaze, Han Min-woo threw the 2nd pitch.
The pitch was a four-seam fastball. The course was low and away.
It was exactly the hot zone among Park Seo-joon's favorite hot zones. His batting average there was a whopping .580.
But what Park Seo-joon missed was that the pitch he just threw slightly missed the zone.
Thwack!
“Foul!”
In an instant, the count went to 0-2.
The crowd murmured at the sight of the league's best batter, a batter hailed as one of the greatest leadoff hitters in history, being pushed back by a pitcher with a maximum velocity of 137 km/h.
“What? Don't tell me it's another strikeout? This is Park Seo-joon! He's hitting over .370 this year too!”
“Why on earth can't he hit a pitch like that?”
“Seo-joon! You need to get over 200 hits this year too! You can't get caught by a nobody like that!”
Of course, Park Seo-joon, standing in the batter's box, was just as frustrated with the current situation.
‘The data provided by the analytics team was wrong.’
Unlike seeing him from afar, Han Min-woo was a much trickier pitcher than expected.
First of all, his deception was very good.
His low arm slot and release action, which felt like creating a wall and winding up from behind it, made the ball appear to arc far and suddenly pop up.
Moreover, his location was outstanding.
He threw a changeup right down the middle on the first pitch to catch him off guard, and on the second pitch, he threw to a course slightly outside the hot zone to prevent solid contact.
This was a location that couldn't help but make any batter feel like they'd been had.
On top of that, he had top-tier command that allowed him to paint that blueprint exactly as designed.
Park Seo-joon had only seen two pitches so far, but he could intuit it. If he made a slight mistake, he could become the victim of four consecutive strikeouts.
‘First, I need to foul off all the bad pitches.’
Thwack!
“Foul!”
Park Seo-joon started fouling off every pitch that came in after that.
Seeing that, Han Min-woo made his decisive move. After laying the groundwork with two four-seam fastballs, he threw a curveball as his out-pitch.
A favorable ball count. Plus, the scenario was well-constructed. But an MVP batter was an MVP batter.
Crack!
“Nice hit!”
“Alright, alright! Pound this pitcher who just came in too!”
In the end, he got a hit off that decisive out-pitch, the 8th pitch of the at-bat.
Park Seo-joon, arriving at first base, let out a sigh of relief.
‘This feeling, it's really been a long time.’
He had faced many pitchers up until now. Among them, there were pitchers who threw fastballs exceeding 160 km/h, and pitchers who threw breaking balls that couldn't be hit even if you knew they were coming.
Because he had managed to get hits against such pitchers, Park Seo-joon was even more dumbfounded.
‘He's tricky to face.’
His location and the pitching design utilizing that location were extremely outstanding.
Moreover, the truly scary part was that the opposing pitcher was only throwing 137 km/h pitches. And yet, while throwing such pitches, he didn't waver at all.
Should I say he has a truly incredible mentality.
‘Somehow, I feel like I'll be seeing a lot of him in the future.’
Park Seo-joon looked at the opposing pitcher's back and gradually took his lead toward second base.
Meanwhile, looking at Park Seo-joon arriving at first base, Han Min-woo shook his head.
‘This is the league's best batter.’
He did everything he could.
And yet, he got hit.
‘It must mean I still lack the weapons to face batters like him.’
That was the end of his impressions.
Han Min-woo glanced at Park Seo-joon, who was widening his stride to steal second base.
‘Let's face each other again next time.’
Han Min-woo's expression looking at Park Seo-joon wasn't bad.
No, something like a yearning was dwelling in it.
It was a competitive spirit that he would definitely catch him someday.
‘I got hit today, but next time will be different.’
Crack!
“Out!”
The 2nd batter popped out to the right fielder on Han Min-woo's slider.
[You have recorded one out count. You have acquired 50 points.]
[Currently held points: 840 P]
If he fills up one more special ability and faces him again, the result will be different then.