“I think I still have strength for my age.”
Veteran pitcher Song Eun-beom (40) of the Samsung Lions was notified of his release by the LG Twins after the end of last season. Song, who joined the SK Wyverns (currently SSG Landers) as a first-round pick in 2003, played for the SK-KIA Tigers, Hanwha Eagles, and LG, and everyone thought he would retire with the record of 88 wins, 95 losses, 27 saves, 57 holds, and an ERA of 4.57 in 680 KBO games.
However, Song’s baseball career is not over yet. After receiving a call from Samsung in mid-May, he underwent systematic training. Afterwards, he passed the final test and signed a contract with Samsung for 80 million won. He focused on rehabilitation training at Gyeongsan Rehabilitation Team and improved his physical condition by receiving help from pitching coaches Jeong Min-tae and Park Hee-soo.
Since then, Song Eun-beom has made his first appearance in a Samsung uniform while playing against the KIA Futures team at Hampyeong Stadium on July 27. In the NC 2nd division held at Masan Stadium on July 30, he took care of the hold by pitching two innings of two hits, one strikeout and no runs, but after the game, his uniform number changed to 64 instead of 107 with the official player change.
After the match against the Lotte Giants in Busan on July 8, 2023, he could not play a real game for a while, but his performance in the Futures game was not bad. There were five scoreless games, not least because he had a lot of runs with a one-hold ERA of 7.59.3 runs and five runs (four earned runs).
He joined the first-team squad ahead of the match against the Gocheok Kiwoom Heroes on Aug. 27, and made the first-team roster on Aug. 29. “He is an experienced player. If he finds his sense, he can fully utilize it in the first team. If he recovers his ball power, he can use it as a must-winner,” Samsung coach Park Jin-man said at the time.
His first professional league game as a Samsung uniform was against the Daegu KIA Tigers on Aug. 31. Song took the mound with runners on the first and third bases with one out at the top of the ninth inning when his team was losing 13-15, but allowed Na to strike out swinging and Kim Ho-ryeong, the first runner, failed to steal bases, allowing 0.2 scoreless innings.
At the match against Lotte in Busan on Sept. 6, his team was the last pitcher in the bottom of the ninth inning with a 7-2 lead, but he started the game by receiving a hit to the left by Yoon Dong-hee, but he grounded out to third, and neatly stopped the first inning. Eight balls were enough.
He also played in a match against the Daegu NC Dinos on Sept. 7. It was his first consecutive game since a match between the Incheon SSG Landers on June 27 and 28, 2023, when he was a member of LG last season. This time, he was the last pitcher at the top of the ninth inning when his team was trailing 1-9, and Kim Joo-won, Matt Davidson, and Do Tae-hoon were all thrown to fly balls. He stopped the game with 10 balls. 토토사이트
He only played in three games. He also pitched at a time when the score gap widened significantly. He does not need to give much meaning to him, but he is exerting efforts by earning zero earned run average. As Park Jin-man said, since he is a player with sufficient experience, if he finds himself in his prime, he will be a great help to the rest of his baseball career and Samsung.
“I think I still have strength for my age. I hope the results come out well because I worked hard,” Song said. “I’m grateful from the perspective of the players for thinking positively about the team. I just think about contributing to the team. The team is in such a good mood that I’m thinking about not just damaging it.”
Song Eun-beom, who said, “I still have power for my age,” is not a pretense yet.