"7.8 billion FA" Um Sang-baek's 2nd Army... Will a second-year prospect fill the vacancy
"7.8 billion FA" Um Sang-baek's 2nd Army... Will a second-year prospect fill the vacancy
Blog Article
The Hanwha Eagles finished at the bottom of the 10 teams with five wins and 10 losses through April 9, struggling from the beginning of the season. The Eagles did not perform well from the beginning of this season without even a brief upturn that they showed last year.먹튀검증
Starting with a game against the KT Wiz on April 26 and a game against the Kiwoom Heroes on May 11, the team has emerged as the lone lead by winning 12 consecutive games. It is the first time in 33 years that Hanwha has won 12 consecutive games since 1992.
Hanwha's next opponent, which won 12 consecutive games, was Doosan Bears, who fell to ninth place after losing back-to-back doubleheaders against the NC Dinos on the 11th. If Hanwha took all three consecutive games against Doosan at its home ground, it could set a new record for the most consecutive wins (15 consecutive wins). Considering the perfect harmony between the starter and the bullpen and the scary momentum of the upper and lower batters evenly exploding, winning three consecutive games against Doosan was not an unreasonable goal at all.
Unfortunately, Hanwha lost all three consecutive games against Doosan during the week, giving up the lead to the LG Twins with six consecutive wins. The team lost in the 11th inning of overtime on Wednesday, and suffered a complete defeat as its starting pitchers fell short of expectations in the games on Friday and Saturday. The bigger problem is that side-arm starter Um Sang-baek, who was recruited for a total of 7.8 billion won for four years ahead of this season, was excluded from the first-team entry on the 16th after a slump.
Selected as the 20th submarine who won 13 games ahead of the FA
Eom Sang-baek, who joined KT as a first draft pick in 2015 after graduating from Deoksu High School, received much attention as a promising submarine who throws fast balls exceeding 150 kilometers per hour. He started 22 games in 2015 during the rookie season, and turned into a professional bullpen pitcher in 2017. However, as his ERA increased every year, he rarely exploded his potential and joined the Sangmu baseball team after the 2019 season ended.
Um Sang-baek, who turned into a starting pitcher in Sangmu and achieved the Futures League triple crown in 2020, started nine out of 10 games after being discharged from the military in 2021, winning four games and earning a winning ring as he was included in the Korean Series entry. Despite KT's national submarine starter Ko Young-pyo, he won a starting position for KT in 2022 and opened the "success era" by winning the title with a good performance of 11 wins, 2 losses and an ERA of 2.95 in 33 games.
He continued to play as a key starting pitcher for KT in 2023, but ended the regular season early as he suffered a rib injury in late August. In the fall baseball league, he also failed to meet expectations by allowing four runs (average earned run of 6.75) in 5.1 innings in three games. Then, he pitched in 29 games last season ahead of the FA, and played 156.2 innings, the most since his debut as a professional player, to elevate his value by tying for third in the multiple wins category with 13 wins, 10 losses and 4.88.
Eom Sang-baek, who became a free agent after the 2024 season, has emerged as the biggest fish among starting pitchers along with Choi Won-tae (Samsung Lions), who had 78 wins in his career. In addition, Eom's value has increased further due to his young age of 28 (born in 1996) and the scarcity of starting pitchers for submarines in the KBO league. Hanwha, which ranked seventh in ERA (4.95) last year, has successfully acquired Eom by investing a total of 7.8 billion won (6.37 million U.S. dollars) for four years.
In fact, he has been a full-time starter for three consecutive years since 2022, but there was only one season in 2024 ahead of the FA. In addition, the fact that the ERA has steadily increased to 3.63 in 2023 and 4.88 in 2024 after recording an ERA of 2.95 in 2022 was also cited as a cause of anxiety. However, Hanwha, which is aiming for the first fall baseball in seven years since 2018, had no choice but to recruit a starting pitcher for the 20th submarine, which won 13 games last year.
8 games, 1 win, 4 losses, 6.68 poor, going to the second division for the first time of the season
With the addition of Um Sang-baek, Hanwha has formed a strong starting lineup that will lead to Cody Ponce, Ryan Weiss, Ryu Hyun-jin, Um Sang-baek and Moon Dong-ju this season. Moon Dong-ju, considered the 2023 Rookie of the Year and the "next right-hander ace" of the Korean Baseball League, became the fifth starter, while Hwang Jun-seo, a left-hander prospect who joined Hanwha last year as the No. 1 overall rookie draft, started the season in the Futures League. This means that the joining of Um Sang-baek has made Hanwha's starting team unrecognizable.
However, Um's performance did not meet the expectations of Hanwha fans. He lost three consecutive games since the season's opening, and after allowing four runs in five innings against NC Dinos on April 18, he garnered his first win of the season with the help of the batters. On April 25, he seemed to recover his ball power by recording his first quality start of the season (one run in six innings) against "Friendly" kt, but he fell into a slump again in May and disappointed fans.
He allowed two runs in five innings against the Kia Tigers on Sunday, and was substituted early after failing to last less than five innings in two appearances. He allowed four runs in 3.2 innings with four homers against Kiwoom on Sunday, and gave up five runs in two innings against Doosan on Sunday. He had a high .323 hit rate and one win, four losses, and 6.68 in eight games this season, and was excluded from the first-tier entry due to his poor performance, not his injury and other variables.
Coach Kim Kyung-moon called up veteran right-hander Lee Tae-yang by sending Um Sang-baek to the second division, but chances are high that Hwang Jun-seo, a left-hander in the second year, will fill the starting position without him. Hwang was a promising player who joined Hanwha as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 rookie draft, although he only had two wins, eight losses and one hold of 5.38 due to his physical fitness problems since the middle of last year. Hwang received training for selection in the Futures League this season, posting 4 wins, 1 loss and 4.35 overall.
Of course, it would be perfect if Um Sang-baek's replacement starter Hwang Jun-seo filled the vacancy well through good pitching, but ultimately, Hanwha desperately hopes that Um Sang-baek will recover his mental and ball power as soon as possible and return to the starting lineup. If Um Sang-baek escapes from the slump with Hwang Joon-seo playing his role as the sixth starter, Hanwha can gain momentum in running the starting rotation in the summer when pitchers begin to feel the physical burden.