Chapter 10
10. The Seal on His Right Hand
The semifinals of the Golden Lion Tournament.
Their opponent was Chungcheong High School.
Joo Dong-min was the starting pitcher for this game.
Choi Dong-il looked unhappy.
Damn it. Seriously, how can someone have so little school pride? This is the national tournament semifinal!”
His complaint was not aimed at Joo Dong-min.
It was aimed at the arrogant freshman stretching inside the dugout.
The final is going to be an all-out battle anyway. You should pitch in the semifinal and the final. Kids these days have no respect.”
Closing is enough. I’m actually showing a lot of school pride by agreeing to close the semifinal. Normally, I wouldn’t even come out.”
Seo Ji-tae answered calmly.
Choi Dong-il grumbled.
It’s an important moment in a tournament…”
The game began.
Joo Dong-min was not bad.
His fastball reached the low to mid 140s.
His two-seam fastball stayed low.
His curve occasionally disturbed the hitters’ eyes.
He was not perfect.
But for a third-year high school pitcher, his stuff was more than good enough.
He quickly finished the top of the first.
Groundout.
Fly ball to center field.
Foul fly.
No runs allowed.
Joo Dong-min gave a small roar toward the dugout.
That’s who I am!”
The Cheongryong dugout applauded.
Even the freshmen hurriedly clapped.
The semifinal continued.
Joo Dong-min pitched well through three scoreless innings.
He returned to the dugout with his shoulders held high.
Hoo. My shoulder feels incredibly light today. This is what a real starter looks like.”
While Joo Dong-min settled down to rest, he noticed a group talking nearby.
What are you freshmen doing? Take your senior’s equipment.”
Yes!”
Several freshmen rushed over.
While resting, Joo Dong-min heard Seo Ji-tae talking with the first-year players.
Ji-tae, aren’t you basically a two-pitch pitcher? But nobody can hit you. Why?”
Seo Ji-tae looked uninterested.
The faster the fastball, the lower the batting average against it. At my velocity, I can even throw down the middle.”
But if you keep throwing it, won’t hitters eventually figure it out?”
They will. High school baseball just isn’t good enough to do it.”
!”
Even Joo Dong-min was shocked by Seo Ji-tae’s words.
High school baseball was not good enough.
That statement was unbelievably arrogant.
But Seo Ji-tae had enough presence that no one dared criticize him.
Basically, you need at least two pitches before you can even call yourself a pitcher. For a starter, you should have three or more.
Monsters like Randy Johnson are exceptions.”
So higher velocity makes it harder for hitters to predict how far the ball will drop. What else?”
You need a splitter that looks like a fastball before dropping, so you can destroy their timing.
They’re already struggling to adjust to the fastball, then suddenly a splitter around 10 km/h slower drops in front of them.
Their swing timing falls apart.”
Seo Ji-tae was not someone who enjoyed long explanations.
But today he kept talking.
Maybe he liked the question.
Or maybe he was simply bored sitting in the dugout.
Let’s look at pitch design. My left hand basically works north and south.”
North and south?”
Up and down.”
Seo Ji-tae pointed toward the mound.
If you throw a rising fastball properly, it drops less than the hitter expects.”
He pointed upward with his finger.
That makes the bat pass underneath it.”
Then he moved his finger downward.
The splitter looks like a fastball, then drops.”
So?”
This time, the bat passes above it.”
It was simple logic.
As another pitcher, Joo Dong-min found the discussion about pitch design interesting.
If hitters can’t hit above or below, then they just can’t hit, right?”
Exactly.”
Seo Ji-tae answered immediately.
That’s the whole point. But two pitches still aren’t enough for a starter.”
Except someone like Randy Johnson?”
At his teammate’s comment, Lee Jin-woo laughed.
Seo Ji-tae also smiled.
That’s why you need at least three pitches. I have a fast rising fastball and a splitter that fools the bat. So if I add another pitch, what matters? It shouldn’t overlap with the others. That’s one of the basic rules of building pitch design.”
Seo Ji-tae’s approach was completely different from the rough, traditional style common in Korean baseball.
There needed to be a reason behind every pitch.
Each pitch needed a different role.
The next pitch I need to practice has already been decided.”
The curveball you were talking about with Jin-woo?”
Correct.”
Seo Ji-tae smiled.
A pitch that slows the hitter’s clock.”
Clock?”
The time when they start their swing.”
Seo Ji-tae rolled the ball in his hand.
If hitters only see a fastball and splitter, eventually they choose between those two.”
High or low?”
Exactly. But once they see a curveball, they start their swing later.”
Seo Ji-tae looked toward Chungcheong High School’s dugout.
And when the hitter starts later, the fastball becomes even faster.”
The freshmen thought over his words.
The idea itself was not difficult.
Actually doing it was the difficult part.
My minimum three-pitch arsenal is complete. But something is still missing from the pitch design I’ve explained so far. What do you think it is?”
The freshmen around him fell silent.
Then Joo Dong-min answered.
A pitch with horizontal movement, right, Seo Ji-tae?”
Exactly, Senior.”
Seo Ji-tae gave him a thumbs-up.
If everything only moves up and down, eventually hitters can adjust.”
Seo Ji-tae moved the hand holding the ball sideways.
You need to open up the horizontal direction too.”
So your fourth pitch will be a slider?”
Something similar. But a little different.”
Seo Ji-tae thought for a moment and corrected himself.
A pitch with more horizontal break than a normal slider.”
Can you just call it a big slider?”
For now, probably.”
Learning a curve properly will already be hard. A slider too? Plenty of players can’t even throw one correctly.”
If they’re ordinary players. Anyway, my first goal is to complete four pitches. After that, who knows?”
Heh. I guess because you’re talented, your thinking is similar to mine.”
Similar to you, Senior?”
Joo Dong-min proudly lifted his shoulders.
Then I’ll explain mine too.”
The freshmen blinked.
Suddenly, another lesson had begun.
Joo Dong-min held a baseball.
My pitches are a four-seam fastball, two-seam fastball, and curveball.”
He raised three fingers.
I raise the hitter’s eyes with the four-seam, jam the bat with the two-seam, then destroy the timing with the curve.”
His explanation was not wrong.
It was a standard pitch combination for a high school pitcher.
Joo Dong-min was not a bad pitcher.
By normal high school standards, he was actually very good.
The problem was the person who had been explaining pitch design immediately before him.
Seo Ji-tae looked at Joo Dong-min for a moment.
Then he nodded.
That’s correct. Senior, you also pitch based on a clear theory.”
Joo Dong-min’s expression relaxed slightly at the praise.
Then Seo Ji-tae added something.
As long as your pitches can actually do what you want.”
It was the kind of comment that could easily annoy someone.
But Joo Dong-min was in such a good mood that he proudly laughed it off.
I’ll show you the pitching theory of a third-year senior!”
Confidently, Joo Dong-min returned to the mound for the fourth inning.
He allowed two hits, but still managed to survive without major trouble.
Fifth inning.
Now that the Chungcheong hitters had seen him once, they became more aggressive.
The first hitter.
Joo Dong-min tried to raise the hitter’s eyes with a four-seam fastball.
But the bat followed it.
The ball flew far outside the first-base foul line.
A short cheer came from the stands.
Joo Dong-min received the ball again and reset himself.
The second pitch was a two-seam fastball.
He wanted to jam the hitter.
But the pitch leaked over the middle.
The bat came out again.
This time, the ball shot past the third baseman.
A single to left field.
Chungcheong High School’s dugout came alive.
Joo Dong-min’s expression hardened.
The next hitter showed bunt.
Joo Dong-min planned to disrupt his timing with a curveball.
The ball looked slow from the moment it left his hand.
The hitter pulled the bat back.
Ball!”
Joo Dong-min was beginning to lose control.
Starting from the second time through the lineup, he was visibly shaking.
Even though he had followed his pitch theory.
Seo Ji-tae quietly watched before speaking.
