It’s August now and he quickly became a 10-win pitcher. He may be the only 10-win pitcher who will appear in the FA market this winter.
Eom Sang-baek (28), KT’s “preliminary FA” who has already been spotlighted as the biggest free agent, proved his value by throwing a clean sheet against the leading KIA batters. Eom took the mound as the starting pitcher in a 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO League match against KIA at Gwangju-Kia Champions Field on Sunday local time, and pitched well by allowing six hits, four outs and two strikeouts in six innings. KT won the game 13-2 and Eom secured his 10th win of the season. After winning 11 games in 2022, Eom garnered a double-digit win again in two years.
On the day, Um focused on throwing changeups and cutters, including fastballs with speeds of up to 148 kilometers, and blocked Kia’s batters with perfect performance. Notably, his showdown with Kim Do-young, who is about to join the 30-30 home run-30 Club, was the highlight.
In the bottom of the first inning, Um threw a 135km/h slider at Kim Do-young at the first base to secure a double play, but in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out and the bases loaded with one out, he threw a 135km/h slider at the bottom of the fourth inning to secure a critical out count, striking out with a 145km/h fastball. In fact, Um has been overwhelming this season by recording one hit (batting average of .083) from 12 times at bat against Kim Do-young.
After the game, Um Sang-baek said of the match against Kim Do-young, “When I play against (Kim) Do-young, I always try to pitch myself rather than thinking about where he is good at.” 스포츠토토
By winning 10 games, Um is now tying for second in the multiple wins category. In fact, it was hard to imagine when Um was struggling with one win, six losses and an earned run average of 6.23 through April. However, Um, who has been on a roll with nine wins, two losses and an earned run average of 4.32 since May, has shown improved pitching performance, especially with three wins and one loss and an earned run average of 4.02 in the second half of the year.
“I still have a lot of games left, but I’m happy to win 10 games at an early point,” Um Sang-baek said, thanking his teammates, saying, “The batters scored a lot, so I was able to watch the game comfortably even after coming down from the mound.”
That was also significant in that he overcame the “10 runs of shock.” Um Sang-baek suffered a shocking slump in the match against Hanwha in Suwon on the 1st with 11 hits, 2 outs, 3 strikeouts and 10 runs in 5 innings. Um Sang-baek said, “The weather was very influential. It’s really too hot. I lost a lot of physical strength and the result was not good in the match against Hanwha. That’s why it wasn’t easy.”
After overcoming a temporary slump, Um has fully adapted to the automatic pitch tracking system (ABS), which was introduced this season, as the key to his performance. “Not only I but also everyone must have been quite embarrassed,” said Um. “I was embarrassed at the beginning and had a lot of worries, but I tried to find a breakthrough anyway.”
Um, who has pitched in 22 games and 120 innings with 10-8 record with an ERA of 4.88 this season, can now break the record of most wins in a single season by adding two more wins. However, Um said, “I’m satisfied with the number of wins. I think it’s a bonus from now on,” vowing to continue his pitching without having to pay attention to wins. The value of “preliminary FA” is increasing day by day.
