episode_0091

-“Meng Hao, congratulations on the home run.”

“Well, it’s natural. I’m also looking forward to the season. “I will destroy them all.”

-“confidence. Do you like it.”

“Hehe, if I were not confident, I would be a corpse.”

-“That’s right. Our fierce tiger. How can you come out tomorrow?”

“hmm… . That seems a little difficult? “Cheolyoung’s injury is not serious.”

-“okay? It’s a shame. “I’ll just shatter my leg.”

Soyoung said this? I was startled by the unexpected words.

-“That way the season won’t start late. Still, it’s a good thing, because none of our pitchers went to this WBC. “This season is really the right time.”

Cheon So-young… . scary woman. It was clear that Soyoung was crazy about AT Thunders.

-“It’s a joke, because we can win with our skills even without that kind of help. And Meng Hao. You know that, right? “We have to win against Japan at rock-paper-scissors.”

It was a joke after all. I was almost scared for a moment. No, it was more scary to truly think that the AT Thunders could win the championship due to their skills.

“Of course I know. ha. As long as I compete, Otani and everything else will be food.”

-“Hehe. Of course it is. “Someone chose this man.”

“Thank you for choosing us. So you don’t dream of ghosts these days?”

-“huh. Instead, I feel a little lonely… . “Because you are not there.”

“Just wait, I’ll fuck you like a dog when the competition is over.”

-“I’m looking forward to it… .”

When I thought about having sex with Soyoung, I felt my dick jump. Ugh, I want to have sex quickly.

-“Oh. It’s Meng Hao. Did you change your Byeolgram profile picture? “With the picture in the article?”

“huh. I think that came out well. Wait a minute, are you doing a stargram? But why didn’t you tell me? “What is your ID?”

-“Oh, my ID is thousands in numbers and S in English… . Oh, ah! Sorry for a moment, Meng Hao! Later, I’ll contact you later! Something urgent suddenly came up. under. under. under.”

Pop. Soyoung suddenly hung up the phone. what? Still, tell me your ID and leave. Now that we’re talking, should we go into Byeolgram?

There were a lot of assholes, so I didn’t post or check DMs and just followed pretty girls and kept an eye on them, but on days like today, I wanted to check DMs.

‘As expected, I received a lot of DMs.’

Well, it would be hard not to let him go after he performed like that. I filtered out all DMs that didn’t have profile pictures or were male profiles, and only checked and responded to DMs from pretty women. Most people said, ‘Thank you for your support.’

“Oh, he sent me a picture of his boobs? “Save it for now.”

While I was having a good time taking pictures every now and then, I heard a man’s dull voice.

“Brother Meng Hao. Long into the conference room. “Go ahead and analyze tomorrow’s game.”

It was Jang Woo-joo. During this time, we became closer and started talking informally. Tsk. The problem is that I’m so nice.

“okay. Why did you come all the way here?”

“Atta, didn’t you call me a bitch for being rude the last time I chatted with you? Well, I tried to talk to you, but I heard your voice coming from the hallway.”

One thing I noticed after talking to Jang Woo-joo was that the dialect was not very noticeable when speaking politely, but when speaking informally, the dialect was noticeable. Anyway, this isn’t important and I refuted Jang Woo-ju’s words to protect my honor.

“Hey, I gave you advice as a senior in life. Don’t do that to other seniors. It’s okay for me, but other seniors might not look good. And show me what the real fucking is?”

“Any advice? “Brother, do you know what you’re doing?”

“Show me what a real old man is? huh?”

“Wow, that’s scary. “Hang on and come quickly.”

I followed Jang Woo-joo to the conference room and found no one there.

“what? “Did you trick me?”

“Atta, the youngest has to come early.”

hmm… . That’s right. Anyway, I waited for the players while chatting with Jang Woo-joo about various things, and soon all the players gathered and the coach came in last.

“Hmm, hmm. First of all, congratulations on your victory over Australia.”

Wow! Clap clap clap!

Shouts and applause fill the conference room. After all, winning is the best.

“but.”

The mood of the players, who had been applauding and liking coach Lee Geum-hyeon’s firm tone, suddenly began to become serious. The players all focused on Coach Lee Geum-hyeon’s words.

“I don’t think anyone relaxed just because Australia won. Because our real opponent is Japan, who we will face tomorrow. And because it’s Otani. Then the batter stays, and the pitcher goes to the next room.”

“yes!”

“All right.”

After Manager Lee Geum-hyun finished his remarks and the batters and pitchers were separated, a video of Ohtani’s pitch began to appear on the projector.

Ohtani’s fastball on the screen hit the catcher’s mitt heavily.

“Fuck. What.”

Someone’s curse that comes out spontaneously. I was familiar with it, but after doing power analysis, I felt that it was even more amazing.

‘How are you, Mr. Rossby?’

‘… The level of the guys these days is definitely high.’

It’s a pitch that makes even Rossby a little embarrassed. Is this really Otani? But Ohtani is not the best pitcher in the major leagues. How many monsters are there in Major?

“The average speed of a fastball is 97.4 miles per hour. So, about 156km/h. As far as velocity is concerned, there are pitchers like that in Korea. Because Jang Woo-joo has already thrown 160. But you can feel that the structure is on a different level just from the video, right? “Actually, I don’t know what it means to analyze Otani.”

The hitters in the conference room groaned at the words of Kang In-hwan, the national team’s hitting coach. Most baseball players watch Ohtani’s videos. Ohtani throws a ball in the mid to late 150s and his top speed exceeds 160 km/h. Everyone knew that he threw a splitter close to 90 mph and that he also threw a cutter, slider, and curveball.

And there wasn’t much of Otani’s story that could be found only through video. Well, there used to be a Kuse that would make a strange expression for each pitch, but it’s gone now.

Ohtani’s power analysis was just a time to appreciate the pitch.

“Wow, how do you hit that if you mix it with a splitter? There’s a cutter and a slider. “Even the change-up he throws occasionally.”

“Hanbeom hyung. “What was it like dealing with you?”

“When I hit the ball hard, I got pushed back.”

“Ju-tae. do you have anything? Because we’re on the same team. “Don’t you know?”

“well. I don’t know either. “We’ve never played against each other since we’re on the same team.”

“What was it like when you met Sangju?”

“I’m from Muantan?”

The national team players began asking various questions to major league players who had played against Ohtani.

“I also played against him in the last national team, but the ball was shit.”

Fucking balls. That was right. Because Ohtani’s helmet was shit.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter to me since I’m not the starter tomorrow either.’

Soyoung had urged me to win, but I wouldn’t be able to participate in the game anyway. I wondered if it had any meaning.

“First of all, if we talk about Ohtani’s weakness, what about the fact that he drives a lot of balls and doesn’t have good ball control? Of course, even if you hit the ball in the middle, it is unclear whether you will get a good hit. Anyway, the limit is 65 pitches, so why not try to increase the number of pitches as much as possible?”

“hmm… . I respond. Ohtani is not a runaway pitcher, and he will probably try to drive it into the zone when facing Korean batters. “If you go to bat with the mindset of waiting, you won’t even be able to hit the ball.”

The batting coach also nodded at the words of Choi Joo-tae, Ohtani’s teammate.

“Then is there any other alternative?”

“I think the only way is to look at the fastball and swing it. No matter how well Ohtani pitches, he hits about one home run every nine innings. “It can be said that it is virtually impossible to score with a single hit.”

“But aren’t you going to increase the number of pitches?”

“Actually, even if Otani goes down and another Japanese player comes in, wouldn’t it be just as difficult?”

That’s right. Other batters also agreed with Choi Joo-tae’s words. Because Otani wasn’t the only one in Japan. Aside from Ohtani, there were other major league players such as Kikuchi, Darvish, and Sawamura, as well as Kenta, who was unable to play much last year due to an injury but was successfully rehabilitated.

In addition, even excluding Otani, there were many monsters, including Sasaki, who became a hot topic with a perfect game in last year’s NPB, and Tanaka, who returned to Japan in the major.

Our group’s opponents are Australia, Panama, and China. Since there was no particularly dangerous opponent, it was clear that Japan would do its best against us.

“It’s a mountain beyond a mountain.”

“Sasaki, he says he’s not kidding either. under… .”

At Choi Joo-tae’s words, the batters’ expressions darkened once again. Is Japan still difficult?

“so. “We have no choice but to form a lineup with hitters who can take a hit and expect the pitchers to prevent the pitchers from giving up any runs.”

As expected, the insight of a major leaguer. The hitting coach also continued to nod his head at Choi Joo-tae’s words.

“I guess I should tell the director, right?”

“yes. “I think we have no choice but to form a lineup that focuses on power as much as possible, aim for fastballs, and hope for a home run.”

“okay. Let’s do that for now. “Aren’t the other players dissatisfied?”

“yes! “I also think what Senior Joo-tae said is correct.”

“What do you think, Cheolyoung?”

“Actually, I don’t have any confidence that I will hit Ohtani’s ball. It is true that Meng Hao is stronger than me, so if I want to aim for a surprise attack, I think Meng Hao is the right one.”

“brother… .”

How can you say something like giving up your seat in the glorious position of representing the country? What a great person this is… ! I couldn’t help but be moved by Park Cheol-young’s words. Moreover, in order to perfectly prepare for the game against Japan, he was substituted in the game against Australia… .

It seemed cool that he willingly gave up his position for the sake of the team.

‘You damn shoes. It’s stat management.’

‘Do you think everyone in the world is like Mr. Rossby? Cheolyoung says those things out of concern for the country.’

“Let’s discuss it with the director first. So, that’s enough of Otani’s analysis, this coach! “Show me the next pitcher.”

“All right.”

With the possibility of starting tomorrow, I began to look at the projector with more concentration than ever.

*

[Now, let me introduce the lineup of the Korean national team. 1st hitter shortstop Choi Joo-tae, 2nd hitter center fielder Joo Seung-cheol, 3rd hitter left fielder Ki Ki-joo, 4th hitter designated hitter Kang Han-beom, 5th hitter right fielder Jin-hong Lee, 6th hitter 1st baseman Jin-mo Koo, 7th hitter 3rd baseman Su-ho Kim, 8 The number one hitter is catcher Lee Yong-gi, and the number nine hitter is second baseman Ji Maeng-ho. Has the lineup changed since yesterday?]

[I feel like coach Lee Geum-hyun has formed a team of hitters who have one hitter. Choi Joo-tae is currently playing as a substitute hitter in the Major League, but he was a shortstop who hit over 30 home runs in the season just before the Major League. Joo Seung-cheol also hit 30 home runs, and Ki Ki-joo hit 20 home runs in five seasons. Lee Jin-hong, who did not appear yesterday, is also a player who can win the home run title at any time as long as he is not injured.]

[Oh I see. According to the information we have received, the total home run titles of the players in the lineup are 8.]

[Haha, looking at these records, it’s a shame that Choi Jin-cheol is not there.]

[hmm. But what does Ji Maeng-ho at second base mean as a starter?]

[Although Ji Maeng-ho is a rookie player, he performed sensationally last year by breaking the high school home run record. However, I am concerned that it may be putting too much pressure on the young rookie player. In fact, we need players like Park Cheol-young who prepare meals.]

[But didn’t Ji Maeng-ho show a good performance by scoring a goal and hitting a home run with fighting spirit?]

[Even so, facing an Australian pitcher and facing a Japanese pitcher. There are many differences. Personally, I have my eyes on Sunsoon, so I hope he doesn’t get frustrated even if he doesn’t play well, and I hope he shows me that I was wrong by performing well today.]

[Yes, the moment I said that, the game started. Japan’s starting pitcher is Sohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels. Last year’s major league record was 15 wins, 9 losses, and an ERA of 2.33. Korea’s number one hitter is Ohtani’s teammate Choi Joo-tae.]

[Because these two players know each other well, they need to be careful with each other.]