Chapter 59

Ting Ting Tang Tang -3-

#

Phew, Coach Breadman sometimes makes bets with the players during training.

"Tell the captain that I need to eat a cheeseburger, French fries, and an ice cream sundae."

He sometimes intentionally loses to the lower-paid, less experienced players to buy them bats or spikes, but he is merciless with the high-salaried veterans.

National Sung is practicing his pitches, and the coach is standing at the umpire's position, making a bet on whether the pitches are balls or strikes.

National Sung is a pitcher who persistently targets ambiguous courses, and he does the same during practice.

The method was to judge 10 pitches as strikes or balls and compare the results with the machine. The coach allowed only one error, and Yang Daegun, the senior player, got three wrong, so he had to buy snacks for the team.

"Wow, Min Sung's pitches are really ambiguous. Standing in the batter's box must be confusing."

In fact, when National Sung pitches, fans often complain about the ball calls, regardless of whether they are our fans or the opposing team's fans.

The same goes for the opposing team's batters. Well, if an ambiguous pitch is called in their favor, they wouldn't say anything.

The team captain pays, and the errand is decided by a bet on the distance of a hit.

In a single chance, No Kyungwoo's hit was a weak one, and with a negative 10 meters, he was chosen as the errand boy.

No Kyungwoo waited, thinking there might be a hit that went further, but his hope was dashed when senior Lee Siwook bunted.

"Wow, Senior Siwook. A player who hit a grand slam on Children's Day can be so cheap..."

"The world of competition is ruthless. Junior. I want three large sets of bulgogi burgers."

"Hey, Lee Siwook. Can you eat three sets and still run?"

"Ah, Senior. A man has to eat that much, right?"

"If you grab your side while running, you'll vomit everything."

"If it's caught on camera, wouldn't that be embarrassing?"

The two have now established themselves as the team's official comedy duo. However, when Park Eunhyun joins in, Senior Yang Daegun often runs away.

No Kyungwoo finally showed up after a while. Senior Yang Daegun licked his lips as he received the card.

"Ah, because of that pig Lee Siwook, I'm bleeding money."

"If I'm a pig, what are you, Senior?"

"I'm all muscle."

Senior Lee Siwook laughed and then had his hair pulled. However, the coach's confused voice came from receiving his food.

"What the fuck is this?"

Inside the coach's envelope were a cheeseburger, French fries, ice cream, and sundae.

"Why did you buy sundae?"

"Is No Kyungwoo making fun of the coach?"

No Kyungwoo defended himself.

"Ah, Seniors. I clearly heard you say to buy sundae. I'm studying English to enter the major leagues these days."

"Is this the first time you've seen sundae? What did you hear?"

"Really. It's true. I'm really wronged."

It turned out that he thought ice cream sundae meant ice cream and sundae.

The coach sometimes tries to communicate in Korean, but his pronunciation is a bit off, leading to this misunderstanding.

"Doesn't the coach's English sound bad?"

And he says such nonsense.

He always leaves something out no matter what he does.

#

Some fans wonder when the luck of this mediocre pitcher will run out, but Jung Yoo-ri firmly believed that National Sung could become a great pitcher beyond people's expectations.

Of course, pitch speed is a very important factor in a pitcher's ability. But it's not everything. A pitcher can survive even with a slow pitch if they have other weapons.

It could be the power of a specific pitch, exceptional control, or something else.

National Sung is clearly a pitcher with strong control. If he adds one special weapon, he could become a solid card.

Moreover, according to Kang Geon-woo, he has a strong heart and a poker face, which can be seen to some extent just by looking at the broadcast.

Jung Yoo-ri, as a sports science expert, had high expectations. When National Sung suddenly approached and bowed, asking for a two-seam fastball lesson, she was quite surprised but also curious to see how he would apply the materials she provided.

Kang Geon-woo is almost the one who turns theory into reality. Yoo-ri is gradually increasing the sample of professional players.

"Ah, that mediocre pitcher. Are there no talents in Oceans?"

Just before the game started, Yoo-ri pulled her brother's ear while he was complaining about potato chips.

"You call yourself a baseball fan, you idiot."

"Ah! Ear! Ah!"

Yoo-ri continued to torment her brother until Kang Geon-woo appeared on the screen.

"Why does our Geon-woo look so thin? Is the food in Seoul not to his liking?"

Jung Hyunsu added.

"He looks plump. What do you mean thin?"

"Hey!"

"What!"

She didn't chase after her fleeing brother because Geon-woo was still on the screen.

- "He's really an amazing player. His skills and mental strength are beyond that of a rookie. Did you see him hit a home run and give his bat to a fan yesterday? Even experienced veterans would find it hard to control their emotions after such a close call. The fan probably didn't expect such a reaction."

- "He's also known for his excellent fan service. Yes, he's the player the Thunderbirds need to be most cautious about."

- "I think even Yoon Tae-ho, who has been the home run king for the past two seasons, is quite aware of him."

- "I met Yoon Tae-ho briefly before the game."

- "What did you talk about?"

- "We talked about Kang Geon-woo's swing. Yoon Tae-ho said that after yesterday's game, he tried to mimic Kang Geon-woo's swing at home and realized something."

- "What did he realize?"

- "Wow, he wondered how a rookie could think of such a swing."

- "Is it an overly bold swing for a rookie?"

- "It's not just bold. His entire stance is focused on hitting home runs."

- "I heard that Kang Geon-woo's famous girlfriend helped him develop that stance..."

- "I thought it was a joke, but Kang Geon-woo said it was true. It makes me wonder if professional baseball teams should quickly hire her as a coach."

Jung Yoo-ri smiled awkwardly at the commentator's words. Her brother, who had run away, shouted from afar.

"Ah! Don't laugh like that, it's embarrassing!"

"You lost today!"

"I'll record a video of you losing and send it to Senior Geon-woo!"

"Geon-woo said it's fine no matter what I do! Try it!"

"Ah!"

#

The Thunderbirds generally have aggressive hitters.

Aggressive hitting and reckless hitting are slightly different. If we must distinguish, players like Wolfpack and Senior Lee Siwook are on the reckless side.

Thud!

"Out!"

Undoubtedly a low outside four-seam fastball.

Based on the pattern so far, National Sung is weakest in the first inning.

Regardless of whether he allows runs, he needs to check the home plate umpire's strike zone, which is inevitable.

How much to move to call it a ball. How low a pitch to call a strike.

For pitchers who enjoy borderline pitches, the first inning is a challenge.

I can't know what National Sung is thinking.

He might be happy to get outs relatively easily because the batters are aggressive, or he might be disappointed that he couldn't check the zone.

His expression doesn't show much.

Thud!

"Out!"

Only four pitches to get two outs.

Of course, not all pitches outside the strike zone result in outs. In a game, it might, but this isn't a game, and I let many pitches that would be balls be hit.

Thwack!

The Thunderbirds' third batter, Cheon Je-hyun, hit a ball that grazed No Kyungwoo's glove and flew to the outfield.

His swing is quite clean, and his bat speed is good. The bat moves in a straight line quickly. It would be great if No Kyungwoo could hit like that.

"Did you see the swing?"

"Yeah. Are you going to criticize him for missing it?"

"No, I just thought it was a good swing."

National Sung nodded and prepared for the next pitch. The catcher's sign suggested a two-seam fastball.

He insists on challenging the low outside corner, but sometimes he is overly bold. He once threw a two-seam fastball right down the middle.

This time, against the home run king from last season.

Thwack!

In sports, the result is what matters. He might have lost his timing on the two-seam fastball, which was supposed to be a low outside four-seam, but the hit didn't go far compared to the big swing.

If he weren't an aggressive hitter, he might have just watched.

Actually, for a home run hitter, that pitch is too good to let go.

"Out!"

It was the second out, and center fielder Kim Sung-hoon, who had moved back in anticipation of a long hit, ran forward to catch the short hit.

He's fast, not a bad defender, and very diligent, but he's just not a good hitter.

Well, if he had hit it there, fans wouldn't be demanding the return of Seo Chang-yul.

"Hmm."

Even after getting an out with a gutsy pitch against a tough batter, National Sung looked unsatisfied.

"Doesn't it feel right?"

On the way to the dugout, he answered.

"My control isn't very good today."

"But it looks good to me."

"No pitches went to your side."

"True."

"Four batters. I threw pitches to induce ground balls to the shortstop."

It seems National Sung is talking more than usual.

Or maybe it's just my impression.

When Yoo-ri mentioned that the percentage of ground balls to the shortstop was 30% higher when National Sung pitched, I didn't think much of it, but was it intentional?

"Can you guide the batters to hit ground balls?"

National Sung answered expressionlessly.

"I try to suppress fly balls and induce ground balls when there's an in-play hit."

"That's a good direction."

"But the highest probability of getting an out on a ground ball is on your side."

"..."

"So I study the batters' swings to increase the chances of the ball going to your side."

I don't know how to describe this.

National Sung is definitely a good pitcher.

And he has the potential to become a great one.

Looking at the pitching coach, he was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, looking indifferent.

It's clear.

This kid is the problem. How can you just leave a pitcher like this in the minors because his pitches are slow?

"Keep throwing like that. I'll catch them all."

National Sung slightly, very slightly, smiled and nodded.

Did he just smile?

Did he really smile?

#

"Ah! Look before you swing, you idiots!"

While the pitch speed can vary slightly from stadium to stadium, Thunderbirds fans couldn't help but express their frustration with the team's inability to effectively hit 134 km/h fastballs.

Lee Hoon, whom they faced yesterday, is known for his feather-like pitches but still throws in the mid-140s. They were able to hit those pitches (