Mop-up Pitcher (4)
Gocheok Crocodiles.
This team, with a crocodile as its mascot, is famous for its terrifying batting lineup.
Starting right from the lead-off hitter, they have Park Seo-joon, the regular season MVP.
Han Min-woo brought out every weapon he had, but Park Seo-joon still managed to hit a single.
However, the Crocodiles had a few more batters just as terrifying as Park Seo-joon.
Han Min-woo sighed as he watched the Crocodiles' 3rd batter walk up to the plate.
"Ah, Han Min-woo. He faces another obstacle. Walking up to the plate is the Crocodiles' 3rd batter, Hwang Sung-ho."
"He's the player who is almost certain to win the MVP this season, barring any upsets."
Hwang Sung-ho.
As the Crocodiles' 3rd batter, he is truly a terrifying hitter. His current stats are 87 games, a .362 batting average, 117 hits, 31 home runs, and 89 RBIs.
Diving into the advanced metrics, it's jaw-dropping. An OBP of .471, SLG of .751, and an OPS of a whopping 1.222. On top of that, his wRC+ is currently at 187.
What's more, Hwang Sung-ho is putting up these records as a shortstop.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say he's having an even greater season than the monster season of the batter once called the Son of the Wind.
'Truly monster-like stats.'
When Han Min-woo thought about it, Hwang Sung-ho was just as burdensome an opponent as Park Seo-joon, or even more so in some respects.
"Currently 3rd in batting average, 12th in hits, 2nd in home runs, 2nd in OBP, 1st in SLG, 1st in OPS, and 1st in wRC+... It's a terrifying record no matter how many times you look at it. Han Min-woo must be feeling quite frustrated."
"I was personally very curious about this matchup. Han Min-woo got favorable ball counts against Park Seo-joon more than expected, right? In that sense, I think there's a good possibility against Hwang Sung-ho as well."
"Are you saying, commentator, that Han Min-woo might be able to catch Hwang Sung-ho?"
"Of course. There is no batter with a 1.000 batting average, and no pitcher with a 0.00 ERA. A batter bombing the league can strike out against a rookie pitcher, and a pitcher dominating the league can give up a home run to a slap hitter. That's the beauty of baseball."
'No need to overcomplicate it.'
The basic strategy is the same as against Park Seo-joon. No, it applies to any player.
Don't give them easy pitches. Even if they hit it, make sure it can only be a single. In other words, pitch on the edges of the strike zone.
'If he doesn't swing, just walk him.'
The most important thing is to throw away greed. If he's going to hit it no matter what, focusing on minimizing the damage is the wise approach.
"Han Min-woo pitches the first ball."
Crack!
A chilling sound rang out. The ball Hwang Sung-ho popped up just barely missed the foul line.
The left fielder chasing the ball let out a sigh of relief, while the Crocodiles players leaning against the third-base dugout fence let out sighs of disappointment.
"Ah, the ball just barely went foul. Hwang Sung-ho, who was running toward first base, returns to the batter's box with regret. He's currently competing for the home run title, so every home run is precious."
"That pitch was just slightly outside the zone, but to lift it over the outfield fence... Hwang Sung-ho's power is truly incredible."
"On the other hand, it must have been dizzying for Han Min-woo. He started off great in the top of the 3rd with three consecutive strikeouts, but the Crocodiles' core batting lineup is truly no joke."
Contrary to the commentators' expectations, Han Min-woo was unfazed by the massive foul home run.
Rather, he was calmly analyzing his opponent.
'His timing was early.'
The speed of the first pitch just now, displayed on the scoreboard, was 134 km/h. It's a slow velocity rarely seen on the professional stage. Hwang Sung-ho couldn't adjust his swing timing to that slow ball, which he hadn't seen in a long time.
You don't have to throw fast pitches to do well. A good pitcher is one who throws pitches that are hard for batters to hit. In a word, slowness too could be a weapon.
Han Min-woo threw the second pitch toward the glaring batter.
"Han Min-woo, the second pitch. Strike."
"Haha! That's really amazing. To throw this kind of pitch here. Hwang Sung-ho couldn't even move."
The speed on the scoreboard was 109 km/h. The pitch was a curveball, famous for having the largest drop and slowest speed among all breaking balls.
At this moment, Hwang Sung-ho, called one of the best batters in the league, couldn't react at all to that absurd pitch.
Seeing that, Han Min-woo clenched his fist.
'Hwang Sung-ho's timing is completely shaken!'
Batting is a very delicate mechanism.
The distance from the pitcher's mound, which is 25.4 cm high, to home plate is 18.44 m. The time it takes for the ball to leave the pitcher's hand and enter the catcher's mitt is roughly 0.4 seconds.
In short, to send a baseball that reaches home plate in the blink of an eye over the fence, you must hit the exact swing spot at the perfect timing.
Han Min-woo, having seen through Hwang Sung-ho's state, immediately threw the third pitch.
The pitch type was a four-seam fastball. The location was low and inside. It was a course where Hwang Sung-ho had a harder time hitting, and even if he did, extra bases were unlikely.
Crack!
The batted ball rolled weakly toward the shortstop. Han Min-woo clenched his fist tightly.
'I won!'
But that was when the unexpected happened.
"Ah, he got under it. Because of the curveball that came in on the second pitch, Hwang Sung-ho couldn't find his timing at all."
"Yoon Jae-hyun, charging in to handle the ground ball. This will end the top of the 4th... Uh oh! The bouncing ball deflects off his glove!"
"He can't find where the ball is! Meanwhile, the runners! They're all safe! One out, runners on first and second!"
"He must be very disappointed, Han Min-woo. The chance to end the inning flies away like this."
A shortstop ground ball in a one-out, runner-on-first situation. If it had gone normally, it would have been a 6-4-3 double play, ending the inning.
However, during the process of handling the ground ball, Yoon Jae-hyun, who was playing shortstop, missed the ball, resulting in a one-out, runners-on-first-and-second situation instead.
Yoon Jae-hyun, who belatedly tried to throw to first base, gave up on the throw and bit his lip.
'Damn it, damn it!'
It was a normal ground ball without any irregular bounce. Since Yoon Jae-hyun was usually confident in his defense, if not his batting, the shock was even greater.
His heart pounded. Shallow breaths escaped his lips.
'If the ball comes this way again, will I be able to catch it?'
Yoon Jae-hyun's face turned pale. His position on the first team was already precarious due to his lack of hitting.
In that state, the approaching routine ground ball was enough to make his body freeze up.
'I should have caught it somehow.'
Yoon Jae-hyun bit his lip hard.
The pitcher currently on the mound was Han Min-woo. He was in as desperate a situation as he was.
Furthermore, during high school, he was the one who had saved him from the hell of ruthless violence and harsh discipline.
'Please... Please let him get through this safely.'
For some reason, feeling like he had dragged down that grateful and desperate person by the ankle made Yoon Jae-hyun so sorry.
"Ah, what the hell are you doing!"
"A pro bastard can't even catch a ball like that. Is this a joke?"
"If his bat went missing, he should at least play good defense!"
The crowd spat out curses in angry voices.
Sighs and curses poured onto the field. The shouts of tens of thousands of people, full of hostility, were enough to make even the players who didn't commit the error feel a chill down their spines.
The commentators couldn't hide their disappointment either.
"From a pitcher's perspective, this kind of situation really drains you. He pitched brilliantly against the league's best batter, but ended up with one out, runners on first and second without adding a single out."
"It's a shame. Of all people, the next batter had to be the cleanup hitter, Kwon Ji-hoon. For Han Min-woo, this is truly a desperate situation."
Han Min-woo, standing on the mound, adjusted his cap and assessed the current situation.
'Not good.'
It's the worst. Facing the cleanup hitter with first and second base occupied. That was the worst scenario Han Min-woo had envisioned.
And that scenario was unfolding right before his eyes. The cleanup hitter with a massive build stepped up to the plate.
'So we finally meet like this.'
The Crocodiles' cleanup hitter, Kwon Ji-hoon.
He was a batter who could be described in just two sentences.
First in home runs and RBIs for four consecutive years from 2026 to 2029, and a two-time regular season MVP. And the first in Korean professional baseball to surpass 60 home runs in a single season.
The player who had snuffed out the most enemies among the Crocodiles' fangs, and the batter with the nickname "Pitcher 2nd-Team Maker."
'This lineup is seriously dogshit. Get past Park Seo-joon, and Hwang Sung-ho comes out. Get past Hwang Sung-ho, and Kwon Ji-hoon steps up.'
Han Min-woo let out a faint smile.
The Crocodiles' core lineup he experienced firsthand exerted an overwhelming pressure beyond imagination. He didn't even want to imagine what it would have been like if he had faced them without his special ability.
'Even if I had to face him, I wanted to do it with no runners on base.'
Taking a long, deep breath, Han Min-woo steadied his mind. Regardless of the situation, nothing had changed. He would just give it his all again.
'Still, it's not like I have no chance at all.'
From a pitcher's perspective, Kwon Ji-hoon was a very threatening batter. Not only did he produce the most RBIs in the league, but he was also a player with enough influence to add weight to the entire lineup.
However, that didn't mean he was a flawless type like Park Seo-joon or Hwang Sung-ho.
The problem was that if he got ahold of one, the probability of the ball going over the fence was very high.
'I did image training for a really long time.'
When he was in the 2nd team, when he was serving as a public service worker, he had imagined a lot about 'what to do if I face Kwon Ji-hoon.'
The batter representing the league. Because of that symbolism, he was the batter Han Min-woo faced the most in his imagination.
"Han Min-woo, the first pitch."
"Yes. It comes in a little low. Ball one."
"Second pitch. Another ball. This one was a bit high. The count is two-nothing."
"You can definitely feel that Han Min-woo is finding it a bit tricky. An unfavorable count from the start."
"Back to the set position. The third pitch is also a ball."
"That's a shame. Han Min-woo is shaking in his first-team appearance in a long time. This will probably be it for him."
The three pitches Han Min-woo threw against Kwon Ji-hoon were all four-seam fastballs outside the zone.
'His weakness is surprisingly simple.'
Home run hitters chronically suffer from a certain dilemma. That is, pitchers avoid facing them.
Because of that, they end up with a lot of walks, and in that process, the batter inevitably feels frustrated.
It was the same for Kwon Ji-hoon. He was growing tired of the continuous walks lately.
'Either way, whether he hits it or walks, it's the same.'
Han Min-woo threw the fourth pitch toward the catcher's mitt.
The location was right down the middle.
At that moment, Kwon Ji-hoon's eyes, who thought he might have to walk again this time, flashed.
'Mistake pitch!'
Occasionally, there were pitchers who threw a strike right down the middle after three balls. They threw it intending to just put it in the middle because they couldn't control it, and it actually ended up right down the middle.
Already filled with dissatisfaction at pitchers not giving him pitches to hit, Kwon Ji-hoon's bat moved quickly.
"……!"
At the same time, the pitch thrown by the pitcher began to drop right before home plate. The pitch he thought was a mistake turned out to be a changeup.
'Ugh. He knew I'd fall for it...!'
Kwon Ji-hoon kept his elbow close to his side and gritted his teeth to reduce his bat speed.
Crack!
"Kwon Ji-hoon hits it!"
"Ah, it's rolling toward third base again. Han Min-woo is truly amazing. He induces another ground ball against the league's best home run hitter."
Han Min-woo's plan worked. The ball Kwon Ji-hoon hit rolled weakly into the infield.
Most people would have expected a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning.
But another unexpected event occurred.
"Ah! Ah! Ah!"
"Victor misses the ball! That makes it one out, bases loaded!"
This time, Victor, the foreign hitter playing third base, missed the ball and committed another error.
Han Min-woo smiled in disbelief.
'Another situation like this here... huh?'
That was when it happened.
Ding!
[Surprise Quest Generated!]
[Consecutive Error Crisis! You have been put in a crisis situation due to your teammates' mistakes. End this inning without allowing any runs.]
[Reward : 500 P]
Unconsciously, Han Min-woo's lips twitched.
'With 500 points, I can pull a special ability right away...'
Han Min-woo smiled and waved his glove at Yoon Jae-hyun and the third baseman who had committed the errors.
They were the grateful people who had triggered the surprise quest.
"……?"
"……?"