Clap! The Magic of Tunneling
Clap!
Tired of explaining, Ace clapped his hands, and a holographic video appeared in front of them.
"Huh? Is that Major League?"
-Ace: You got it. I'll show you the best example.
The pitcher continuing his delivery was Trevor Bauer, the starting pitcher for the Major League Cleveland Indians.
Ace continued his explanation.
-Ace: Trevor Bauer—one of the pitchers in Major League Baseball who best utilizes the concept of tunneling. Check this out. The ball doesn't start moving right after leaving his hand—it's right in front of home plate, right?
"Oh, so it means the hitters have less time to react to the pitch?"
-Ace: Exactly, kid. And just so you know, Trevor Bauer's pitches start changing trajectory at 20 feet. Same as that skill you got for free. You're basically using a technique that active Major Leaguers have to grind to learn—for nothing.
"Alright, now here's your pitching video."
Clap!
With another clap, Tae-woong's pitching footage appeared in hologram form.
Whoosh!
The motion started, and the scene of the baseball leaving Tae-woong's left hand played in slow motion.
"Right here."
Ace pointed with his finger, highlighting the section where his own pitch began to break.
23ft (701cm).
-Ace: This is where your ball starts changing right now.
"701cm?"
-Ace: Yeah, excluding the curveball, of course. But what if the Tunneling skill effect kicks in here?
"That'd make it 594cm... so a little over 1 meter. 107cm."
-Ace: And knowing that Major League hitters judge pitch types around 20 feet—or about 609cm in front of them... KBO hitters are gonna have it even tougher.
Tae-woong had last stood in the batter's box about 20 years ago in game time, so he couldn't fully grasp that sensation. Plus, his high school hitting stats as a batter were barely over a .250 average—abysmal, to say the least.
"This is really something special."
Tae-woong nodded for now. He was exhausted from the endless, complex explanations that seemed to have no end in sight, even if he didn't fully get them all.
-Ace: What? "This is really something special"? That's your take on snagging a cheat skill? Hey, you punk. If I'd had just this skill, I'd have racked up 400 strikeouts easy.
"Alright, explanation over. I'll see the hitters' reactions with my own eyes tomorrow, and that'll answer everything."
-Ace: You bastard. After all my hard work explaining...
The conversation ended anticlimactically with Tae-woong's curt admiration. Until he actually pitched in a game, he couldn't fully gauge the Tunneling skill's effect.
But he still had one thing left to do before bed. It was time to use the last remaining reward.
"Okay, now let's use those ten B-grade enhancement tickets."
-Ace: Where you dumping 'em this time?
"Changeup, including the one we just got."
-Ace: Fine. Hope they all flop.
"Hey, old man, take your bullshit somewhere far away where I can't hear it. Let's do this."
Changeup enhanced.
Ace screamed at the first attempt's success message.
-Ace: Arrrgh! This is bullshit!
He'd acted like failure was par for the course when it happened, but success had him yelling like he was cursing the world.
By the time Tae-woong used all ten B-grade enhancement tickets, Ace had screamed three times. Meaning three successes.
His changeup, stuck at 35, shot up by 6 to 41 in an instant.
Changeup (41).
*40: 25-man roster mainstay, MLB 5th starter / KBO 1st starter.
"Better changeup on top of the new skill... Can't wait to see the hitters' reactions tomorrow. Man, I hope tomorrow comes soon."
-Ace: At this rate, are the odds even wrong? What kinda 9% enhancement tickets succeed every damn time?
"Think what you want. I'm off to bed."
-Ace: Hey, you cosmic-shitballer. Put on the next game before you crash. Washington game. Yeah, the one with Max Scherzer pitching.
As Ace requested, Tae-woong queued up the game footage and lay down to sleep. But with excitement bubbling over, sleep wouldn't come. He fired up his music app on random and lay back down.
But then...
Home run taste! So curious, honey!
Hit it and it gets funner—grand slam home run taste!
What I love most is home run taste!
Ta-dak!
"Ugh, who the hell made this crap? Bad luck for pitchers just hearing it..."
Tae-woong yanked out his earbuds and tried to sleep again.
"When facing an unfamiliar pitcher's stuff, target the four-seam fastball."
It was an old baseball adage every hitter had heard at least once.
Even pitchers throwing 150km/h—or occasionally 160km/h, rare even in Major League—didn't post zero ERAs. There was truth to it.
Tae-woong's pitches, barely topping 130km/h after thousands of video viewings, were slow. But for the Wyverns hitters seeing them live for the first time, they targeted the four-seam fastball per the old wisdom.
Top of the 1st, the Eagles batters were shut down by Kim Kang-hyun, not one reaching first base. Three up, three down.
Bottom of the 1st, Tae-woong's first pitch to leadoff hitter No Su-gang left his left hand and flew toward him.
Whoosh!
A lefty hitter with a .321 average, .382 OBP, and .302 against lefties. A pitch coming middle-low looked plenty to clear the infield against a fastball hunter.
'First-pitch four-seam? Now's my chance!'
No Su-gang was sure he'd connect. He finished his swing, dropped the bat, and twisted right toward first base.
But he'd ignored Tae-woong's pitch.
Whoosh!
The bat swung empty and hard; the ball dropped into Choi Ji-hoon's mitt.
Whiff. No Su-gang's eyes flashed panic.
'Changeup. Fooled. No dropping trajectory, though...'
He wasn't league-top caliber by his own measure. But with great plate vision in the Wyverns—key to his high OBP—plus power, he was the lock leadoff.
To him, this changeup he'd fallen for looked leagues better than any he'd seen.
'Stay sharp. Watch properly. Still got chances.'
Whiff on a 60km/h slow curve or 160km/h heater? Just a strike either way.
'Though whiffing on 60km/h feels worse...'
No Su-gang steadied his breath, waiting for the second pitch.
Whoosh!
Crack!
Thwack!
Go All the Way
For this game, max velocity increases by 0.5km/h per strikeout.
Batter No Su-gang struck out.
Max velocity +0.5km/h.
Current max velocity: 128.5km/h.
Seo Tae-woong's third pitch is a low straight one! No Su-gang swings!
The ball just grazes the top of the bat but pops into the catcher's mitt—foul tip strikeout!
Seo Tae-woong strikes out the leadoff hitter on three pitches in the first!
First-pitch changeup whiff, four-seam fastball clips the zone, and the last four-seam just nicked it.
With changeup in their heads, even 127km/h four-seamers are untouchable.
Last night, Tae-woong poured all ten B-grade enhancement tickets from his first complete game into his changeup.
During warm-ups, he'd felt it was noticeably better, but without a hitter facing him, he'd brushed it off.
Bottom of the first, he took the mound as usual, threw one of each pitch for warm-ups.
Then, with his post-regression form and grip, he fired a changeup to the leadoff hitter.
But the reaction felt different from before. The bat seemed quicker than his changeup.
"Tunneling messing with their trajectory read? Or the improved changeup?"
-Ace: Both, obviously. And with changeup on their minds, fastballs are tougher too.
No. 2 hitter was Han Dong-man, with 22 homers already.
"But lefty-killer."
-Ace: Lefty-killer? New term? Never heard it.
Ace asked about the cryptic slang.
"Idiot against lefties."
With that, Tae-woong exchanged signs with catcher Choi Ji-hoon and fired the first pitch.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
A curve to the lefty at shoulder height, dropping low in the zone. Pure bait course, but the bat whiffed hard—a full swing.
-Ace: Nailed it. Lefty-killer.
Of course, Han Dong-man's lefty splits weren't zero.
'But early .200s... and .100 against curves.'
Not weak against all lefties. Three-quarter lefties feel like pitches from behind the head or back, narrowing vision.
'Plus, with my height and long arms, release point's farther left and higher. Gotta suck.'
Tae-woong shook his head, steadying his breath as Han Dong-man did the same, then gifted another inside curve.
Not a dirt-dropping bait this time—a curve dropping in front of his face into the strike zone.
Whoosh!
Thwack!
"Striiike!"
He'd guessed bait again, pulled back from the face-level drop, but it'd already crossed the plate into the mitt.
0-2 count.
As Tae-woong took the ball, Ace said,
-Ace: You know—high fastball and curve have the most similar trajectories?
Tae-woong nodded silently, gripping four-seam.
No more words needed. Whiff on curve, take a strike, 0-2 hole—no pitch more tempting than a high fastball.
Choi Ji-hoon called for low-away slider, but Tae-woong shook it off for inside high fastball.
Accepted quick. One nod, and he fired.
'Less time for them to think about the next pitch—the better!'
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Max velocity +0.5km/h.
Current max velocity: 129km/h.