Changeup Deception
"Ji-hoon hyung, how about going heavy on changeups today?"
"Hmm... Yeah, maybe? I caught a glimpse earlier, and they were dropping better than usual today."
"Got it. Then for this inning, let's do that."
"Okay, no reason not to. Let's give it a shot."
During the brief switch in the dugout before heading out, Tae-woong approached catcher Choi Ji-hoon and requested a change in the pitch mix. After getting a positive response, he quenched his thirst with a cold ion drink and grabbed his glove before stepping out.
'Perfect. Now all that's left is for me to execute exactly like Ji-hoon hyung wants.'
As he made his way to the mound, Tae-woong recalled Ace's words from the dugout and decided to shift his mindset a bit.
'Disrupt their timing.'
His curveball came from a delivery similar to his fastball, but as he'd learned the hard way against Kang Baek-ho, if the batter was sitting on nothing but curve, there wasn't much he could do.
Ace responded to Tae-woong's words with utter disbelief.
Whoosh! Thwump!
Yoo Ha-jun swung hard, but the ball tailed off outside for a whiffing strike three! Seo Tae-woong strikes out the first batter of the second with a swing-and-miss!
Struck out batter Yoo Ha-jun.
Max velocity +0.5 km/h.
Current max velocity: 128.5 km/h
Whoosh! Crack!
With just six pitches, Tae-woong had fanned leadoff hitter Yoo Ha-jun and former battery mate Yi Hye-chan, leaving one out to go. He'd passed the table-setters and heart of the order; now it was time for the bottom of the lineup starting at seven.
'Seven spot... Park Kyung-seo hyung, right? This could be tricky.'
Pitchers don't spend much time analyzing the bottom of the order. With the burden of breaking down the 1-2 table-setters and the 3-6 power core already heavy enough, there's little bandwidth left for 7-9. Outside rare cases like Bears catcher Yang Ui-jin—the best hitter at the bottom—those spots are usually filled by defense-first guys hitting .200-.250, like catchers, shortstops, or second basemen.
'But the Wiz are talking table-setters-upper-lower lineup. Gotta be extra careful.'
As Tae-woong circled the mound to gather his thoughts and steady his breath, Park Kyung-seo stepped in after finishing his prep.
'Righty hitting over .400 lately against curves and changeups... First pitch outside, then.'
He wasn't quite at teammate Song Kang-min's "first-pitch machine" level, but Park Kyung-seo liked seeing strikes early and had been hunting them for hits lately.
The sign Tae-woong got was a low-riding four-seam fastball, set up a hair outside the zone. No hesitation—he fired toward the mitt.
Whoosh! Thwack!
"Striiike!"
Park Kyung-seo started his swing, then saw the ball sailing farther out than expected and tried to check it. But with his bat already low, it swung through a bit.
'Nice, stole a strike.'
Nothing better for a pitcher than catching a batter leaning and off-balance. It tips the count your way and proves your stuff has them guessing.
Tae-woong shook off Ji-hoon's changeup sign and called for the four-seam. Ji-hoon nodded and reset the mitt near the first-pitch spot.
Whoosh! Thwack!
"Striiike!"
The second four-seam darted two balls' width inside the first. Park Kyung-seo leaned to swing, thinking lure, but held up seeing it hold low. Unlike pitch one, he checked clean—but unfortunately, it caught the zone for strike two.
Park Kyung-seo glanced skyward and muttered to himself.
"Damn, this is maddening."
Truth be told, when Kang Baek-ho had crushed Tae-woong's first-pitch homer over the right-field wall, the Wiz hitters watching from behind had eased up a bit. Subsequent batters had barely made solid contact, and Park Kyung-seo—riding hot lately and confident against curves/changeups—was no exception.
'But no curve?'
First and second pitches: both four-seams. The scoreboard clocked 126 km/h and 127 km/h—up just 2-3 from spring training, nothing revolutionary.
Park Kyung-seo drew his conclusion.
'Did Baek-ho's bomb spook him?'
As a high school shortstop specialist, he wasn't sure, but teammates had told him pitchers instinctively avoid the pitch type that got bombed—especially a well-executed one.
The curve was Tae-woong's putaway, his most-thrown breaker—lure, count-stealer, whiff-inducer.
'No-ball, two strikes. Good...'
Considering Tae-woong's aggressive style, no lure this time. 'He's attacking the zone. Just lay off the wide ones and smack it.'
Park Kyung-seo finished his mental prep. Tae-woong fired expressionless.
Whoosh!
Park instantly read the trajectory. 'Low! Same course as last.'
His bat whipped through the projected path. And...
Thwump!
The ball arrived late, sinking below.
"Yeah, dropping nice."
Tae-woong wore a satisfied grin.
Struck out batter Park Kyung-seo.
Max velocity +0.5 km/h.
Current max velocity: 129 km/h
Confirming the whiff, Tae-woong stepped off.
Both starters—Seo Tae-woong for the Eagles and Dustin Napert for the Wiz—were turning this into a pitchers' duel. Tae-woong leaned on command changeups; Napert on four-seam pop and a sharply dropping slider. Neither had issued a walk through four.
Bottom five, Tae-woong fanned leadoff Yi Hye-chan on three changeups away—but walked Park Kyung-seo on a questionable call, his first free pass.
It wasn't poor fastball command; the ump's zone was just weird.
"That's a ball?"
But the call stood; Park Kyung-seo trotted to first.
"Heh... Body feeling empty? Hearing some bullshit."
"Seo Tae... Woong-bing? What the hell, punk?"
Tae-woong scanned for Ace, but he'd vanished with the barking.
Bottom five, one out, runner on first: No. 8 left fielder Choi Jin-hyung stepped up. Not elite in power, glove, eye, or youth—but solid, doing his job. Left field prioritizes offense over D, and Choi Jin-hyung delivered: .343 OBP was meh, but slugging pushed his OPS to .877. Traded to Wiz from Eagles, he'd locked down LF, punching big in clutch spots.
Shouldn't bat eighth, but the Wiz lineup was so stacked, he got bumped down.
But Choi Jin-hyung didn't match up well with Seo Tae-woong.
A knee-high 128 km/h four-seam froze him: 0-1.
Held off a wide-breaking curve: 1-1.
Third pitch, a tighter curve hooked foul down the line: 1-2.
And...
Whoosh! Thwack!
He laid off a 129 km/h high fastball at the letters: 2-2.
Full-count chess now. Choi Jin-hyung exhaled long.
"Hoooh."