Can Eom Sang-baek shed his image of being weak?

Can Eom Sang-baek (28-KT Wiz), dubbed the ‘biggest free agent’ in baseball, shed his image of being weak in big games and increase his value in the final five games of the semifinals?

KT Wiz manager Lee Kang-cheol announced Uhm Sang-baek as the starting pitcher for Game 5 of the semifinals (best-of-three best-of-five) against the LG Twins in the 2024 Shinhan SOL Bank KBO Postseason at Jamsil Stadium in Seoul on Wednesday.

The 2024 semifinals will pit the regular season’s third-place LG against fifth-place KT. KT won the KBO League’s first-ever fifth-place game and then swept a two-game series against Doosan in the wild-card decider to complete the first-ever upset of a fifth-place team in the KBO League’s wild-card decider. LG, last year’s overall winner, set its sights on a second consecutive championship as it bounced back from third place through the semifinals and playoffs.

As a rematch of last year’s Korean Series, the series came down to the final five games.

KT carried the momentum from its wild-card upset into the first round of the semifinals, but LG bounced back to take Game 1 and swept Games 2 and 3 to earn a 100 percent chance of qualifying for the playoffs. KT didn’t back down, extending the series in Game 4 and then clinching the best-of-five series with a dramatic finish by Shim Woo-joon in the bottom of the 11th inning.

KT’s first-round pick in the 2015 rookie draft, entered this year’s preliminary free agency season with a 13-10 record and 4.88 ERA in 29 games. 메이저사이트 While he finished tied for third in wins and sixth in strikeouts (159), he fell short in ERA (19th), innings pitched (156⅔, 14th), and quality starts (9, tied for 27th), which are considered fundamental qualities of a starting pitcher.

Uhm was also weak in big games where he could have made a difference.

On the first day of October, he was selected to start the KBO’s first-ever fifth-place game against SSG Landers, but he failed to make it out of the fifth inning after giving up two runs on four hits, one walk, three strikeouts and 73 pitches in 4⅔ innings, and was pulled early in Game 2 of the semifinals after giving up four runs on six hits, two walks, two strikeouts and 81 pitches in four innings. His two-game ERA is 6.23.

It was thought that Uhm’s free agent showcase would end there, but KT worked some fall magic in Game 4 to force a Game 5, and Uhm, who started Game 2, was given the opportunity to start again after four days of rest. It will be interesting to see if Uhm Sang-baek can showcase his big game pitching in the dramatic Game 5.

Meanwhile, LG pulled out its homegrown ace, Im Chan-kyu. With a season record of 10-10, 6-6, 1H, and a 3.83 ERA in 25 games, Lim, like Uhm, led the team’s comeback in Game 2 on June 6, pitching 5 1/3 innings of seven-hit ball with four strikeouts and two runs (one earned). In the regular season, he was just as strong, going 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA in four games against KT.

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