Hyungchan Um

Hyungchan Um (Korean: 엄형찬; born April 24, 2004) is a South Korean professional baseball catcher in the Kansas City Royals organization.

Hyungchan Um
Um with the Brisbane Bandits in 2024
Kansas City Royals
Catcher
Born: (2004-04-24) April 24, 2004 (age 21) Seoul, South Korea
Bats: Right Throws: Right

Hyungchan Um
Hangul	엄형찬
Hanja	嚴炯贊
RR	Eom Hyeongchan
MR	Ŏm Hyŏngch'an

Amateur career

Um grew up in Seoul, South Korea and attended Gyeonggi Commercial High School. As a senior, he batted .390 with three home runs and 30 RBIs in 21 official games. He also caught 101.2 innings while throwing out 70 percent of would-be base-stealers.^[1] For his performance on the year, he was presented the Lee Man-soo Award as the best catcher in South Korean high school baseball.^[2]

Professional career

Minor Leagues

Um signed with the Kansas City Royals as an international free agent in July 2022.^[3] He made is professional debut in 2023 with the Arizona Complex League Royals. In June 2024, he was promoted to the Columbia Fireflies of the Single A Carolina League for the final two months of the 2024 season after batting .310 and slugging .500 with four home runs in the Arizona Complex League.^[4] During that time, Um entered the organizational prospect rankings by MLB Pipeline, Baseball America, and FanGraphs.^[5][6][7]

Australian Baseball League

After the 2023 Minor League regular season, Um played in the Australian Baseball League with the Brisbane Bandits.^[8] He batted .248 with four home runs, and was named one of the finalists for the 2023-24 ABL Catcher-of-the-Year Award after handling the Bandits pitching staff for a full season. Um returned for a second stint with the Bandits for the 2024-25 season.^[9] He led the league in total bases (78), finished second in home runs (10), while ranking in the top five in RBI, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, base hits, and extra-base hits.^[10] The Bandits named him the organization's Offensive Player of the Year.^[11] Um and his teammate Brennon McNair became the first duo to hit double-digits in home runs since the 2018-19 season.^[12]