'ML vice president also watched' 159km Kwak Bin, 6 innings of KKKKKKKKKK dominance... strikeout-strikeout even with bases loaded and no outs, 'crazy' [Jamsil]

*This content was translated by AI.

Doosan Bears ace Kwak Bin (27) failed to secure a win despite delivering a quality start (six or more innings with three or fewer earned runs).

On the 28th, Kwak Bin started against KT Wiz in a home game at Seoul Jamsil Baseball Stadium in the 2026 Shinhan SOL KBO League regular season, pitching six innings, allowing four hits and two walks, recording nine strikeouts, and surrendering one earned run to achieve a quality start.

On this day, scouts from four Major League Baseball (ML) teams — the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, Toronto Blue Jays, and Texas Rangers — visited Jamsil Baseball Stadium to watch Kwak Bin. Not only scouts, but also vice presidents and vice general managers of the teams came together to observe Kwak Bin's pitching.

In front of them, Kwak Bin delivered a dominant performance. He threw a total of 106 pitches: 56 fastballs, 21 cutters, 13 sliders, 11 changeups, and five curveballs. With a fastball topping out at 159 km/h and averaging 155 km/h, he overwhelmed the KT lineup. Even with bases loaded and no outs, caused by some unlucky hits and a sudden loss of command, he escaped the situation with two strikeouts, minimizing runs and proving his ace-level institutional investor capability.

Doosan's lineup for the day was: Jung Soobin (center fielder), Park Chan-ho (shortstop), Park Ji-hoon (third baseman), Daz Cameron (right fielder), Yang Eui-ji (designated hitter), Kim Min-seok (left fielder), Kang Seung-ho (first baseman), Yoon Jun-ho (catcher), and Lee Yu-chan (second baseman). The starting pitcher was Kwak Bin.

KT's lineup in response was: Choi Won-jun (right fielder), Kim Hyun-soo (designated hitter), Kim Sang-su (second baseman), Sam Hilliard (center fielder), Heo Kyung-min (third baseman), Kim Min-hyuk (left fielder), Ryu Hyun-in (first baseman), Han Seung-taek (catcher), and Kwon Dong-jin (shortstop). The starting pitcher was Ko Young-pyo.

Kwak Bin showed impressive stuff through the third inning. In the first inning, he threw 13 consecutive fastballs reaching up to 157 km/h against three batters, retiring all three. Against Kim Sang-su, who kept hitting his fastball, Kwak Bin threw his first changeup, a slider, and recorded the first strikeout.

In the second inning, he mixed fastballs, cutters, changeups, and curveballs evenly against the heart of the order to record another three-up, three-down inning. In the third, he struck out Ryu Hyun-in and Kwon Dong-jin with just 12 pitches to end the frame. KT batters were helpless against cutters and changeups that dropped sharply at the bottom of the strike zone.

Kwak Bin faced his first crisis in the fourth inning. It was somewhat unlucky. The leadoff batter Choi Won-jun's hit fell in a perfect spot between center field and shortstop. Kim Hyun-soo's hit also barely cleared the first baseman's glove for a hit. He walked Kim Sang-su, bringing on a bases-loaded, no-out situation.

However, against Hilliard, he gained a favorable 0 balls, 2 strikes count with a 155 km/h fastball, then dropped a low outside changeup to record a strikeout. He also received defensive help. Right fielder Daz Cameron made a diving, straight-line catch on Heo Kyung-min's sharp hit. Meanwhile, the runner from third base scored. Kwak Bin then recorded a first-pitch strike and struck out the batter with a high fastball, ending the inning with just one run allowed.

He remained unfazed even by an error. In the bottom of the fifth, Kwak Bin found himself in a one-out, first-and-second situation after Ryu Hyun-in reached on a fielding error by second baseman Lee Yu-chan and Kwon Dong-jin was walked. However, he got Choi Won-jun on a foul fly to first and struck out Kim Hyun-soo with a low changeup that induced a swing and miss, meeting the requirements for a win.

Kwak Bin took the mound again in the sixth and achieved a quality start. He got the first batter, Kim Sang-su, on a fly ball to right field after a 10-pitch at-bat. He allowed a ground ball single to Hilliard and a hit to Kim Min-hyuk, but struck out Heo Kyung-min on three pitches and got Ryu Hyun-in on a swing-and-miss strikeout, leaving the mound without allowing any runs. Afterward, MLB officials left the stadium like a receding tide, reaffirming who the day's main attraction was.

But he did not earn the win. After Kwak Bin left the game with a 2-1 lead, the bullpen allowed six runs in the eighth inning and a total of 10 runs, leading to a 3-11 comeback loss for Doosan.

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*This content was translated by AI.