Rumors are rampant as the biggest fish in the pitcher’s FA. At a time when multiple clubs that need to reinforce their starters are being mentioned as destinations for next year, the head of the original team declared a crackdown on the rabbit.
The KBO (Korea Baseball Organization) announced the list of free agent (FA) qualification players in 2025 on the 2nd.
A total of 30 players are eligible for FA in 2025. By FA grade, there are three A-level players, 15 B-level players, and 12 C-level players. Thirteen of them are eligible for FA for the first time, nine are re-qualified players, and eight have already obtained FA status but have maintained FA status without applying for FA approval.
Among the 30 players, the most outstanding player is Eom Sang-baek of the KT Wiz, who is known as the biggest fish among pitchers. He became an FA for the first time since joining the pro league in 2015, and was granted a B grade. When recruiting a B grade player, he must send one compensation player (excluding 25 protected players) and 100 percent of the previous year’s salary or 200 percent of the previous year’s salary to the original team. Eom’s annual salary this year is 250 million won.
Eom graduated from Deoksu High School and became a professional player after receiving the first nomination from KT in the 2015 rookie draft. Expectations for Eom quickly turned into love-hate. Even though he had good talent and ball power, he failed to establish himself due to difficulties in controlling the ball.
Um Sang-baek joined the Armed Forces Sports Unit (Sangmu) after the 2019 season and bombed the Futures League for two years, making joining the military a career turning point. In the first year, he won two gold medals (multiple wins, 1.68 ERA) with 10 wins, 4 losses, and a 1.46 ERA in the southern league, and then pitched well in 11 games with 6 wins, 1 hold, and a 1.46 ERA following his 2021 momentum. He got the nickname “Sangmu Untouchables” thanks to his overwhelming pitching of 75 while his strikeouts were only .218.
Eom Sang-baek, who returned from the military in 2021, learned the atmosphere of the first division with 4 wins and 1 loss with a 4.10 ERA in 10 games, and then grew into an indispensable key pitcher for KT for the full-time season the following year. He filled the gap of ace William Cuevas, who was injured early in the season, and settled down as a starter and became a 10-win pitcher, building a powerful native trio with Ko Young-pyo and Cho Hyung-joon.
Um Sang-baek, who played as an all-weather pitcher between starting and bullpen that year, settled down as a starter, beating Jeon Je-seong and posted a career high of 11 wins, 2 losses and 2.95 ERA in 33 games. He achieved his first 10 wins in his debut against the NC Dinos on September 25 and his first 10 wins in his first start against the KIA Tigers on October 8, and posted a .846 win rate to beat KBO league ace Kim Kwang-hyun (SSG Landers) to win the title.
Last year, he suffered a microfracture in his ribs at the end of the season and only played 111 ⅔ innings in 20 games. The record is seven wins and six losses with a 3.63 ERA. Nevertheless, he steadily gained opportunities since his debut in 2015 and took the mound, marking the beginning of this year’s pre-FA season.
In the 2024 season, Um posted 13 wins and 10 losses and a 4.88 ERA in 29 games. He struggled with seven wins and seven losses and a 5.18 ERA in 17 games in the first half, but rebounded with six wins and three losses and a 4.50 ERA in 12 games in the second half. He tied for third in multiple wins and sixth in strikeouts (159) but left a disappointment in the basic qualities of starting pitchers such as ERA (19th), innings (156 ⅔ innings, 14th), and quality start (9th inning, joint 27th). He also had 26 homers, the second highest in the league. 토토사이트
Um also failed to dominate the big game, which was considered another FA showcase. He started the game for the fifth place in the game on the first day of October, and failed to fill the fifth inning with two runs and 73 pitches in four ⅔ innings, and was substituted early in the second game of the semi-playoff on Wednesday. He failed to recover his fame by allowing three runs (two earned runs) in two innings in the last five games. Um’s earned run average in three games reached 6.75 (nine earned runs in 10 ⅔ innings).
Nevertheless, Eom Sang-baek is highly regarded in the market. Eom is a 28-year-old young starting pitcher who has completed his mandatory military service, and has been a full-time starter for three consecutive seasons since the 2022 season. He also has excellent ability to strike out by adding four-seam fastballs, change-ups and cutters that exceed 150 kilometers per hour to the right place. Although there are question marks over his ability to digest innings and hit home runs, Eom is said to be well worth the investment given that he is a third or fourth starter. Eom is constantly being recommended to several teams that need to strengthen their starting positions.
If Eom Sang-baek remains as an internal FA, KT will be able to build a strong five starting pitchers, consisting of Ko Young-pyo, Eom Sang-baek and So Hyung-joon, as well as two foreign pitchers in the next season. Against this backdrop, some analysts say that Eom might have been preparing for the situation where he leaves the team by giving up Kim Min and trading Oh Won-seok, a left-handed starter, on March 31. If Eom remains, there will be six starting pitchers for KT.
KT’s general manager Na Do-hyun told OSEN, “The recruitment of Oh Won-seok is separate from the FA Eom Sang-baek. We are preparing to keep Eom Sang-baek alive,” adding, “The more resources we have, the better. As the coach will decide, isn’t it okay to run the sixth starter? In the case of Cho Hyung-joon, there will be a restriction on innings in the next season (due to the aftermath of elbow surgery).”
Meanwhile, players eligible for FA in 2025 must apply for approval to exercise their FA rights to the KBO by Nov. 4, two days after the announcement, and the KBO will announce the players who exercised their FA rights as FA-approved players on Nov. 5, the day after the deadline. FA-approved players can negotiate with all clubs (including overseas clubs) for player contracts from Nov. 6, the day after the announcement.
