episode_0048

[In the bottom of the 3rd inning, the leadoff batter for Gunsan High School, #9 batter Jung Hwi-cheol steps up to bat. In the top of the 1st inning, Jung Hwi-cheol, who made a fantastic defensive play known as the ‘Spiderman Catch’ on Ji Maeng-ho’s home run hit, is the player we are talking about. You know how they say in baseball folklore, great hits come after great catches?]

[Yes, such folklore exists. That’s why there’s anticipation for what kind of hit Jung Hwi-cheol will make.]

[What kind of player is Jung Hwi-cheol?]

[Despite being a 3rd-year student, it’s hard to evaluate Jung Hwi-cheol’s hitting performance so far since he has no hitting records. Upon checking the records, I found only fielding and base running records.]

[Oh, is that so? Then we should pay close attention to this at-bat, right? He makes contact with the first pitch. It curves left and goes foul.]

[His swing speed is quite fast. I heard he’s a player with significant talent for making contact.]

[Oh, but didn’t you say he had no records?]

[But who am I? Am I not Kim Hyung-gi, the prodigy of the baseball world? After the 1st inning, I asked the coach at Gunsan High School, and he said Jung Hwi-cheol is a left-handed outfielder with good contact ability, speed, and a wide range of good defense.]

[I see. The second pitch also curved left and went foul. The count is two strikes, no balls. He certainly has a good ability to make contact with the ball, right?]

[But in baseball, it’s not just about hitting the ball with the bat, right? You need to hit it precisely in the center for the ball to go into the field. So, Jung Hwi-cheol needs to hit the ball in the center. Right now, his timing is right, but he keeps hitting the ball towards the left because he’s hitting the end of the bat.]

[Third pitch! Foul! It brushes past the third base.]

[Oh! That was close. His timing was off this time.]

“It seems like he has the ability to make contact with the bat. Hmm, but I don’t feel much power behind his hits.”

“Even Manager Hong agrees, right?”

“What? Oh, yes. That’s correct.”

‘But he’s not that bad.’

For the first time in a while, So-young agreed with Manager Hong’s thoughts. She had judged just like Manager Hong.

“Contact is 45/55, good balance between left and right. Main strength is decent at 60/65. Even if he were to go pro immediately, his defense would be sufficient.”

Thud!

[He manages to foul the 8th pitch as well. Eight consecutive fouls. It was an extremely deceptive pitch.]

“You shouldn’t swing at such bad pitches. He has a lot of room to improve, so he needs to lengthen his batting stance.”

“No, actually, his batting stance is already too good.”

Jung Hwi-cheol’s batting stance is also at a level of 40/55, equivalent to an All-Star player.

“If I hadn’t seen his stats, I might have thought as the commentators did.”

However, So-young, having checked the stats, knew better. The reason the bat follows every ball isn’t due to a bad batting stance but rather because of his keen eyesight, allowing him to see the ball, resulting in the bat following through.

In essence, Jung Hwi-cheol was an extreme “bad ball hitter,” combined with good contact ability.

“He hits the ball by seeing it, so his timing is slightly delayed, causing all hits to head towards the third base. At this rate, it’s like a lottery ticket where success is almost guaranteed!”

However, the issue is…

Thud!

[Jung Hwi-cheol’s hit! A slow ground ball to the shortstop. The shortstop handles it comfortably. One out.]

“After a fierce battle that went up to 10 pitches, he finally gets the out. Park Young-chul, a 2nd-year player, can be considered the leading pitcher for Korea Sports High School in the Phoenix Bat, right? Truly stable pitching.”]

…Jeong Hwi-cheol’s power is ridiculously low. Jeong Hwi-cheol’s stats, confirmed with the eyes, were quite good. Contact, main strength, and defense. However, both the ability to create home runs, ‘power,’ and the ability to send to the outfield, ‘gap power,’ were at a high school level of 20-/25, even if the potential was fully developed, it was not even at the average level of the KBA.

‘Maybe I couldn’t play in the games so far because of that lack of power? But since defense is good, I must have been selected as a starter for important finals. Hmm… Should I consider myself lucky to be a player without power?’

Even if Jeong Hwi-cheol’s power was only at a high school level, he would have played in many games. But Jeong Hwi-cheol’s record is all about defense.

‘If we draft a player with such a record, we would have been criticized for picking a player and receiving money. Thanks to that, the possibility of a rookie player has opened up to us. Good. Let’s recruit him.’

“Manager Hong.”

“Yes?”

“If that player Jeong Hwi-cheol is not drafted, let’s bring him in as a rookie player.”

“Hmm… It shouldn’t matter since the defense is good, but what if he goes to college? There are many left-handed outfielders in the second team, so the player might hesitate.”

“Isn’t it your mission, Manager Hong, to make that possible? Send a few of our teammates now to contact them.”

“…Understood.”

‘…This brat. He thinks I’ll do it… How insolent… Ugh, maybe I should just move to a volcano.’

Today, Manager Hong’s thoughts on changing jobs deepened.

[Bottom of the 9th inning, two outs, bases loaded. Today, Ji Maeng-ho, who has no hits in 5 at-bats, steps up to the plate. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the 9th with two outs! The batter who could be the last hope for Korea Sports High School, an infielder at the high school level! Ji Maeng-ho!]

[He’s already coming up to bat for the sixth time. The effect of being sent out as the leadoff hitter is clearly showing. Coach Lee Ki-cheol’s strategy of hiring mercenaries seems to have paid off. Of course, today’s performance in the game is a bit disappointing.]

[With the leadoff hitter coming up to bat six times, many batters have gone out, but Gunsan High School is holding off every inning without allowing any runs with their unique cohesive teamwork and crisis management skills. What will happen this inning, will Ji Maeng-ho overcome this big hurdle? One inning that determines the championship. All spectators’ attention is focused.]

[In this situation, Ji Maeng-ho may need to struggle a bit, right? Because in baseball, you never know what will happen until the end, pitcher Choi Jun-cheol needs to focus.]

[Korea Sports High School creating a bases-loaded situation in the 9th inning! Ji Maeng-ho is expected to make his mark in this attack. Ah! There’s an interesting stat. It’s said that Ji Maeng-ho hasn’t failed to get on base in a game since participating in the first half weekend league.]

[Oh, impressive. We look forward to seeing if he continues his streak of getting on base in the high school baseball major tournament today. In fact, you could say that today’s game is like the end of the high school baseball tournament, couldn’t you?]

[That’s right. The major tournament ends with this Bonghwangdaegi, right?]

[As such, Ji Maeng-ho also needs to show an even better performance.]

The 9th inning attack of Korea Sports High School, which could possibly be the last. Leadoff hitter Ji Maeng-ho steps up to the plate.

Who is Ji Maeng-ho? Undoubtedly the best high school baseball player. A player who led the team to victory in the Golden Lion Cup and the Blue Dragon Cup by breaking the high school baseball home run record. The spectators at Mokdong Baseball Stadium buzzed with excitement to see Ji Maeng-ho at bat.

“Ji Maeng-ho! Ji Maeng-ho!”

“Hit a home run!”

A crucial moment that could determine the championship. All cameras from reporters and broadcasting stations are focused on Ji Maeng-ho.

And Ji Maeng-ho knew that fact. The fact that all eyes were on him.

Today, Ji Maeng-ho’s record is 0 hits in 5 at-bats. Not a suitable performance for high school-level batter Ji Maeng-ho. However, those who watched the game without focusing on the numbers all knew that he was just unlucky.

“Damn, luck is really not on my side.”

At his first at-bat, a home run over the fence caught by the center fielder foreshadowed a tough game ahead.

His second at-bat, a well-hit line drive headed straight towards left field. Up until then, things were fine because of the quality of the hit.

Third at-bat, a pulled ground ball that slipped into the shortstop’s glove. What’s this? Unsettling, but he moved on.

Fourth at-bat, after hearing Rossby’s advice to pull it outside on a full count situation, he waited for the pitch but struck out looking due to the pitcher’s erratic control. Yeah, it happens occasionally during games. Maeng-ho returned to the dugout with a wry smile.

Fifth at-bat, a high fly ball caught by the center fielder right in front of the fence once again. A hit that would usually have gone over. Strangely, as the ball flew, a gust of wind blew, causing the ball to lose speed and drop abruptly.

“What’s going on? Is there a hidden camera?”

“Heh, it’s your skill.”

“No, can one be this unlucky consecutively?”

“Don’t you know what that’s usually called?”

“What is it?”

“The beginning of a slump.”

Damn, talking about bad luck.

Maeng-ho casually ignored Rossby’s words and erased them from his memory, but Rossby wasn’t wrong. Unless it’s a physical issue, slumps for most batters start like this.

When unhittable balls get caught, what seemed like a home run turns foul, and well-hit balls go straight ahead. In such situations, batters endlessly doubt themselves. Even though they know it’s just bad luck, very few batters can coolly brush it off. Batters are as sensitive as pitchers.

– “Is my form off? Was my bat speed slow? Did I miss the hitting point?”

Even though it was just bad luck, batters blame themselves and try to change their previously successful hitting approach. If the attempt succeeds, it’s fortunate, but most attempts end in failure. And that marks the beginning of a slump.

If they were ordinary batters, they would have surely done the same. If they were ordinary batters… if they faced such misfortune, they would have likely started a slump by reviewing their previous at-bats and finding where the problem lay. Especially in a game with so much at stake like a playoff.

But Maeng-ho wasn’t the type of batter to review his at-bats and find the problem.

“Ugh, when will this end? It’s early autumn, yet it’s damn hot. Should’ve just been a designated hitter today. The coach put me in the leadoff spot for no reason, making me take too many at-bats. What a damn jerk. Hey, see that over there? That woman, how about Rossby, isn’t she pretty?”

“Heh heh heh, having the leisure to look at women in this situation. By now, you should consider whether the positions of your genitals and brain have switched.”

“If Rossby is good, what about her? When I go pro, I can even pick up fans like her, right?”

“The easiest are the fans. Heh heh heh. Back in my day…”

Having the audacity to recognize a beauty in the stands even after going 0-for-5. Behind that audacity lies a belief in oneself.