Seung-hwan Oh
From BR Bullpen
Seung-hwan Oh (오승환 )
- Bats Right, Throws Right
- Height 5' 10", Weight 203 lb.
- School Dankook University
- Born July 15, 1982 in Jeongeup, North Jeolla South Korea
[edit] Biographical Information
Seung-hwan Oh is the closer for the Samsung Lions and holds the Korea Baseball Organization record for saves in a year.
Oh was a superstar hurler in college. In 2004, he won a couple awards for his performance as an amateur. He appeared in the 2004 World University Championship.
Seung-hwan debuted professionally in 2005 with the Samsung Lions. He debuted on April 3 against the Lotte Giants, got his first save 24 days later and went on to a fine year, making the All-Star team. He went 10-1 with 16 saves and allowed a minuscule 46 hits in 99 IP. He walked 20, fanned 115 and had a 1.15 ERA. As he had 11 holds, he had what in South Korean baseball circles is called a "triple double" (holds, wins and saves). He led the KBO in winning percentage, was fifth in strikeouts and sixth in saves. In the 2005 Korean Series, Oh pitched 7 scoreless innings, striking out eleven. Oh won both the Korean Series Most Valuable Player Award and Korea Baseball Organization Rookie of the Year award. He almost won the Korea Baseball Organization Most Valuable Player Award too, finishing second in voting to Min-han Sohn.
Seung-hwan was on the South Korean team for the 2006 World Baseball Classic. He pitched three hitless, walkless innings in four games, marred only by a hit batsmen. He saved one game and struck out three and tied Francisco Rodríguez for the most innings without a hit or walk in the tourney.
In his sophomore season, Oh went on to even bigger things. He went 4-3 with 47 saves, breaking the Asian baseball record held by Hitoki Iwase (Nippon Pro Baseball with 46); the old KBO record had been 42. He made another All-Star appearance. His ERA was 1.59 and he walked only 12 (one intentional) in 79 1/3 innings while striking out 109 (9th in the KBO). He gave up just 43 hits and one home run. He finished third in MVP voting behind Hyun-jin Ryu and Dae-ho Lee.
Oh went 4-4 with 40 saves and a 1.40 ERA in 2007, allowing only 41 hits while fanning 69 in 64 1/3 IP. He led the league in saves again.
Oh had a win and a save in the 2008 Olympics despite only facing four batters in helping South Korea win Gold. He got a double play fly out from the only batter he faced in a win over China and retired all three hitters he faced in a save against Cuba.
During the 2008 KBO season, Oh almost exactly copied his '07 numbers, going 1-1 with 39 saves and a 1.40 ERA. Opponents only connected safely 34 times in 57 2/3 IP. For the third straight season, he led the league in saves.
In the 2009 World Baseball Classic, Oh allowed 3 hits and 2 runs in one inning of work. All the trouble came in one game against Japan (which beat South Korea for the title); Oh entered with a 2-2 tie in the 8th and gave up hits to Norichika Aoki and Atsunori Inaba. Kwang-hyun Kim relieved and let both inherited runners score, handing Oh the loss.
Oh fell on hard times while battling injury in 2009, going 2-2 with 19 saves (4th in the league) and a 4.83 ERA. He struck out 51 in 31 2/3 IP, one positive. His shoulder was still off in 2010 as he had a 4.50 ERA and four saves in limited time.
In 2011, he was back to his old form, going 1-0 with 47 saves, a 0.63 ERA, 27 hits (2 homers), only four runs, 11 walks and 76 whiffs in 57 innings. He tied his own Asian and KBO records for saves. He set a world record for fewest games to 200 saves, with 333, topping Jonathan Papelbon's mark of 359 in MLB. He saved the first two games of the 2011 Korean Series. In game 2, he entered in the 8th with a 2-1 lead, two on and none out in a more old-fashioned closer role than the traditional 9th. He got the first two outs. Dong-soo Choi singled to center but runner Jung Choi was thrown out at home. Oh then had a 1-2-3 9th for his fifth save ever in a Korean Series, a new record. He also saved game 5, winning Korean Series MVP again. He became the 4th two-time MVP, following Yong-soo Kim (1990 and 1994), Jong-beom Lee (1993 and 1997) and Min-tae Chung (1998 and 2003). He was also named as one of four finalists for the KBO MVP, along with teammate Hyung-woo Choi (the home run, RBI and slugging leader), fellow pitcher Seok-min Yoon (the pitching Triple Crown winner) and defending MVP Dae-ho Lee (the batting average and OBP leader). Oh originally said he wanted to be the first full-time closer to be named MVP (Dae-sung Koo won while splitting time between closer and starter 15 years prior), but then withdrew his name from candidacy, throwing his support behind teammate Hyung-woo Choi. Oh became the first player ever to withdraw from the list of KBO MVP finalists. Despite his withdrawal, he still finished second with 19 of 91 votes, well back of Yoon (62) but ahead of both Choi (8) and Lee (2).
Sources: Korean wikipedia player page, Samsung Lions Player page, 2005 Samsung corporation annual report, pg. 86, World Baseball Classic website, 2008 Olympics, KBO player page
