Confidence on the Mound
Tae-woong pitched confidently, as if personally proving his own words.
The first pitch was a four-seam fastball inside. Whoosh!Crack! Perhaps due to Oh Seon-jun's poor feel for the bat today, the ball just grazed the end of his bat as it hesitated mid-swing and caromed off to the side. Foul ball declared—count now 0-1.
Tae-woong took a new ball from the umpire and, the moment Oh Seon-jun settled into his stance, immediately went into his motion. This time, a changeup sinking low and away. Whoosh!Swish! A swing that whiffed well above the ball. Count now 0-2.
"Hoo..."
Oh Seon-jun let out a deep sigh, staring at the ground in frustration. Catcher Choi Ji-hoon called for a high fastball, perhaps figuring even a slumping hitter deserved one lure pitch, but Tae-woong shook his head for the first time today. He flashed four fingers toward his right shoulder—the call was another changeup.
Given the pinpoint control Tae-woong had shown all game, a sinking changeup like that would be nearly impossible for Oh Seon-jun to square up properly, even if he managed to make contact.
Choi Ji-hoon nodded in agreement and set his mitt low and away.
"Hmmm."
His breath coming heavy from the quick tempo he'd maintained since the first inning, Tae-woong exhaled deeply and fired. Whoosh! The pitch floated a bit higher than intended toward Choi Ji-hoon's knee, but it didn't matter.
'It'll fool him anyway.'
Swish! Oh Seon-jun's bat sliced through empty air.
His line today: 0-for-3. And assuming this was the eighth, it looked like his last at-bat. He trudged back to the dugout, disappointment etched on his face.
Batter Oh Seon-jun struck out!
Max velocity increased by 0.5 km/h.
Current max velocity: 132 km/h.
***
AT Wiz had traded away Seo Tae-woong, expected to lead their rotation in the future, to the Eagles in exchange for infielder Oh Seon-jun, outfielder Choi Jin-hyung, and lefty reliever Park Jun-hong. This had narrowed the gap between starters and backups. As a result, they were steadily piling up wins and climbing back toward the middle of the pack.
The key to AT Wiz's resurgence was a unique strategy rarely seen in other teams.
First, they got opposing starters out early while deploying their bullpen aggressively to exhaust it in the opener of a three-game series. It didn't always work against a true ace, who only pitched once per series, but manager Kim Jin-woong calculated coldly: sacrifice winnable games and fight tooth and nail for the must-wins.
Excluding Hana Eagles with their absurdly elite bullpen, most teams could count on 3—maybe 4—reliable high-leverage arms, closer included. That was the reality.
So far, Kim Jin-woong's approach was paying off handsomely.
And Tae-woong knew the biggest reason it worked.
"It's all possible because of their table-setters: leadoff Kang Baek-ho and No. 2 Rohis."
Two lefty power threats capable of 30+ homers. Plus, Rohis—who had fully adjusted to KBO pitching by 2017—was a versatile player with speed and instincts.
Kang Baek-ho wasn't slow either; data showed him slightly above average.
Tae-woong cut off the fired-up Ace.
After sending Choi Jin-hyung and Oh Seon-jun back to the dugout, it was now two outs. With the win probability hanging by a thread on his one-run lead, Tae-woong's next foe was Wiz's lone RBI man today—their leadoff hitter, No. 1 Kang Baek-ho.
Twirling his bat smoothly since the start of the bottom of the eighth, perhaps eyeing a big one to tie it, Kang Baek-ho finally stepped in.
'Blocked him well the last two times, aside from that first-inning homer.'
After the first at-bat, not a single curve to Baek-ho—not even a chase lure outside the zone.
Second time around, a perfectly dropping changeup induced a grounder.
Third, slider and four-seam built a favorable count, then a high fastball whiff for the K.
'This'll probably be his last at-bat. No— it has to be.'
Bottom eighth, two outs. If Baek-ho came up again, it meant a tie or a Wiz lead.
With the score that close, Eagles closer Jeong A-ram was already warming in the pen for the ninth. Tae-woong needed to retire Baek-ho to ease his burden.
"Alright, here we go."
Whoosh!Thwack!
Tae-woong's first-pitch four-seam buried perfectly in front of Choi Ji-hoon's right knee. Textbook location—right on the black. Even solid contact would've been tough for the hitter.
The ump bellowed it.
"STRIKE!"
'Swing or check? Nah, but what if he comes again?'
Stuck in an 0-1 hole after watching the first pitch, Kang Baek-ho pondered more deeply than in his prior at-bats.
Sure, Rohis, Hwang Jae-gun, Yoon Sung-min followed in the ninth—but Eagles had Jeong A-ram closing.
'Still, facing a gassed Tae-woong after 100+ pitches has to be easier for Rohis than the closer.'
If he got on now, the tying run's odds ticked up.
Shff. Decision made, Baek-ho choked up slightly on the bat, prioritizing contact over power—just like that.
A raw 20-year-old rookie, yet without a peep from the bench, he knew exactly what his team needed in the crisis.
Ready, Tae-woong fired immediately to disrupt any timing. Whoosh!Thud!
"Ball."
Another inside four-seam, but it tailed low out of the zone.
'As expected... Even with Tae-woong's control, he can't keep hitting that corner forever. But velocity feels up.'
The board flashed: 132 km/h.
'132? Does he loosen up after a ton of pitches? Up 4-5 km/h from the first. No wonder the timing's been slipping each time...'
Ball three: slider tailing away. Crack! He read the path and swung, but early—foul down the third-base line. Count 1-2.
Baek-ho's mind raced.
'Curve now too?'
No curves since the homer-connected first at-bat—not even in counts two or three. He mixed them maybe 20% against others.
'Curve's his putaway, but even with fastball-changeup clicking, would he avoid it entirely?'
First inning was pure luck on his part. If Tae-woong dialed in another big-breaking inside curve like that? No confidence it'd connect again.
'So... changeup? Curve? Slider? Four-seam again?'