Chapter 732 – Episode 719. A Left-Handed Fireballer Who Would Bring You From Hell. (1)
“Strike!”
‘… ‘What is this guy?’
The emotion I felt upon seeing Ditmus’ first pitch was embarrassment.
The speed recorded on the electronic display board was 98.1 miles (157.8 km/h). If you look at the velocity, it was just the velocity thrown by fast players, but he was a left-handed pitcher. It was almost my first time seeing a left-handed pitcher throw a ball this fast, and I couldn’t help but freeze as the unfamiliar trajectory hit the high outside area.
‘Skubal wasn’t like this either…’
Detroit’s ace Skubal, who I played against during spring training, was also a fast-moving lefty, but I feel like he wasn’t this good. It’s only about 1–2 miles faster, but I can’t believe I can feel this much of a difference…
What was even more absurd was that this guy was currently recording an ERA in the 5-point range. Of course, he had 16 wins at 3.23 last year and 13 wins at an ERA of 3.61 the year before, but I could never understand why a pitcher like this gave up runs.
‘It’s a fastball. Outside.’
‘… Yes.’
His next ball was also an outside fastball. This time, he threw the ball with a large windup, and I swung the bat as it felt like it was coming to a similar position as before,
“Strike!”
The guy’s ball hit a little far away and avoided my bat. It was so fast that I couldn’t judge the destination of the pitch. If a right-hander had thrown a ball like this, he would have just hit it based on experience, but it was a natural result because he was not and could not be used to this kind of fastball thrown by a left-hander.
Of course, in the first WBC, McClenaghan, a left-handed fastball pitcher with similar velocity, turned the ball into a home run, but at that time, he ignored me, a rookie, and just threw it to the middle of the zone, and now this guy is hitting the borderline as much as possible. Because he was throwing the ball while controlling, it was more difficult to deal with.
‘Fuck…’
The speed recorded on the electronic display this time was 99 miles (159.2 km/h). I burst out laughing.
‘Are Major League Baseball monsters? How can a kid like this get a 5?’
To throw a slider, curve, and changeup to this fastball… The guy was a fraudster.
‘Fastball. This time it’s the body.’
And the third ball thrown. I had no choice but to flinch and dodge the ball from the guy who almost hit my body,
“Strike! Out!”
The referee’s hand goes up.
‘And… Fuck. ‘This isn’t out of the question?’
It was definitely a trajectory that seemed to be going off… When I looked at the electronic display, it showed 98.6 miles (158.6 km/h), and I had no choice but to accept reality.
‘… ‘I got struck out on three pitches?’
One thing he had never experienced since his first year of debut was a three-ball strikeout, but the guy’s pitch made no sense. Such a powerful ball that you can see why senior Joo-tae said it was no joke on a scratched day… It was clear to me after my first at-bat against him how a team like the Angels could win 16 games.
“Fuck…”
So far, I have had a total of 6 strikeouts in the Major League. Except for this strikeout, most of the strikeouts were due to opposing pitches, so I’m getting annoyed by my first strikeout that I didn’t even know about.
‘… Let’s see how the jersey is played.’
But you can’t make progress if you’re just angry. I watched with wide eyes how Judge dealt with this guy.
“Ball.”
And the first pitch high fastball hits the mitt. This ball is about 95 mph. Judge tolerated the ball and took advantage of the ball count.
“Strike!”
However, his second changeup was stuck in the zone,
“Strike!”
Judge’s bat misses on a slider that hits the low course near the body.
“Jitterbug! Strike like! Out!”
And the last one is a fastball from a high course outside. Judge also struck out and came back. Still, what I felt while watching was that the perfection of the breaking ball didn’t seem to be that good… ?
Anyway, Judge also struck out and came back, but since I had a lot of experience dealing with him, I approached him to hear the solution.
“Jersey.”
“Huh? What’s going on? Ji.”
“How should I hit that? It doesn’t make sense…”
“Haha. How do you hit that? “I can’t hit that.”
“… ?”
But Judge smiled and shook his head.
“It makes even less sense when a batter hits a ball like that. There is no choice but to just wait. Even if one inning is good, the next inning he throws a strange ball.”
Honestly, that was true. Because it didn’t make sense to hit a lefty pitching in the high 90s. If a batsman could hit a ball like that, he wouldn’t have gone to hell to bring in a left-handed fireballer.
Honestly, if the pitcher was in good condition, the batter had no choice but to just acknowledge it.
“Well, if he throws a ball like that every time, that guy will be Cy Young.”
But the good news was that judging from Judge’s words, it didn’t seem like his burning mode would last that long. If he kept throwing balls like that, he would win the Cy Young Award and be called the second coming of Randy Johnson.
“Strike! Out!”
But unfortunately, his pitching was maintained throughout this inning. Even Soto struck out, striking out three batters in a row, foreshadowing that today’s game would not be easy.
‘Tsk. Mr. Rossby, from next inning onwards, I’ll just keep looking at that bastard’s fastball.’
‘I understand.’
Of course, I couldn’t just pray that my opponent wouldn’t throw, so starting from the next offensive inning, I decided to keep watching his pitches through mental training with Mr. Rossby, and I grabbed my gloves and headed to the ground to play defense.
“… Out!”
Fortunately, Buehler, the starter today, seemed to be in good condition. Although leadoff hitter Trout hit a double, Buehler finished the inning by allowing the remaining three batters to hit, and our offense came in the bottom of the second inning.
And as soon as the attack started in the bottom of the second inning, I closed my eyes and started training with Mr. Rossby.
However, I couldn’t watch his ball for long.
“Ji. Meditation is good, but now is the time for defense.”
“… Already?”
A quick look at the scorecard showed that Vientos struck out, Ohapee’s shortstop hit a fly, and Stanton struck out, and our offense ended at the speed of light.
“… Out!”
“… Out!”
“… Out!”
But Buehler looks to be in good condition today as well. As if yesterday’s batting battle was a lie, both teams continued their pitching battle, and the score remained 0:0 until my second at-bat in the bottom of the fourth inning.
‘But now I know the general feeling…’
Maybe it was because he kept looking at the ball every time we attacked, but I was now familiar with the trajectory of his fastball, so I was somewhat confident.
‘It’s a slider. Outside.’
‘… Fuck.’
But his first pitch was a slider that I had never seen before.
“Ball.”
If you wait with the mindset to get used to the trajectory, you will get lucky.
‘Well, I don’t think there’s really anything special about the curveball… It would be better if they continued to compete with breaking balls like this.’
‘Change-up. Outside.’
‘Okay.’
The next ball he chose was a change-up. If I had the speed of a changeup, I could hit it over the fence as soon as it came into the zone, so I got ready to hit it and waited for the guy’s ball.
“Ball.”
However, his changeup deviated significantly to the outside, and I was immediately able to gain an advantage over the ball count.
‘Slider. Outside.’
‘… Again? It looks like the ball formulation has been changed? ‘Fuck.’
“Ball.”
And once again, the guy’s ball misses out of the zone. At this point, I became convinced that he thought of me as being difficult just as I thought of him as being difficult.
‘Fastball. Outside.’
“Strike.”
Now, the guy’s ball, which had a certain trajectory, was stuck in the zone, but there was no need to hit an ambiguous ball in a three-ball, so I waited,
“Base on balls.”
The fifth pitch he threw, a fastball, went outside the zone, so I was eventually able to get on base with a walk.
‘Yes, if a lefty throws near 100 mph, his control must be like garbage. Otherwise, it’s too fraudulent.’
Now the situation is 1st base with no outs.
‘It’s a change-up.’
“Safe!”
‘Curve.’
“Safe!”
Taking advantage of changing the ball mix to focus on breaking balls, he was able to steal third base in just two balls. To be honest, I almost got caught stealing third base, and I didn’t want to do it because it was too risky, but when I saw him throw the ball so far, I knew I needed to steal third base to get at least a sacrifice hit, so I took a gamble, and the gamble paid off brilliantly.
‘I wish my mentality would be a little shaken if possible…’
“Strike! Out!”
However, the guy struck out Judge once again and increased the out count. Soto is now at bat.
‘Please, only send him to the outfield. I’ll give you 1 point.’
I was praying earnestly and watching Soto’s at bat,
“Strike!”
“Strike!”
Soto was quickly driven to two strikes. And the third ball was thrown.
Perfect!
Soto pulls the outside ball hard, and the ball floats high between the infield and outfield. It was vague, but considering my legs, I thought I could hit a ball if I just slid well…
‘Get ready.’
After listening to Mr. Rossby, I prepared for retouching,
‘… Run!’
… Soto’s batted ball fell in a place where neither infielders nor outfielders could catch it. Lucky Texas hit!
“Uh…, Uh?! Run, Ji!”
I was already running after hearing Mr. Rossby’s words before the third base coach even spoke. The right fielder caught the catch late and threw home, but I was able to stand and enter home.
‘Yes, there should be one Sotonde behind me.’
“Great! Ji! It was a good base running play.”
“Ji! Let’s go to King Doru too!”
After sharing a happy high five with the players in the dugout, we quenched our thirst with a drink.
Vientos’ batted ball was seen rolling toward third base with a thud sound. … So fucking slow.
“Uh?! Good! Let’s go!”
A lucky infield hit following the Texas hit. In this case, any pitcher’s mentality would be shaken,
Perfect!
Ohapi’s batted ball hits the right field and Soto comes home. And Stanton at bat.
Perfect!
Stanton’s check swing-like hit passes over the second baseman’s head and Vientos comes home. The score is 3:0.
‘Wow, that’s so pitiful.’
To be honest, even to me, the opposing team, I felt a little sorry for the pitcher because he was hitting a series of ridiculous hits…,
Tick.
Once again, Kelnick’s batted ball rolled into the infield, and second baseman Joo-tae ran forward, caught the ball with his bare hands, and threw it to first base, but a triple was called, increasing the score to 4 points.
‘… Is that why I give it 5 points? Actually, left-handed pitchers are lucky enough to throw in the upper 90s, but you have to be unlucky to get some balance.’
Although the opposing pitcher was throwing pretty hard balls, I felt like we wouldn’t lose today’s game either.
