It was easy to fight. Now, there are 7 left until the standby record.
Oh Seung-hwan (41, Samsung Lions) is a living history of KBO closers.
On the mound, he threw a heavy fastball without emotional ups and downs and overpowered batters, earning him the nickname ‘end plate captain’.
He won the KBO League Save King title six times 스포츠토토 (2006-2008, 2011-2012, 2021), and made 40 or more saves four times (2006, 2007, 2011, 2021).
He has achieved success by advancing to the overseas stage, which is unusual for a reliever. Oh Seung-hwan’s history of cracking down on the back door continued in Japan and the United States as well.
He collected 80 saves in Japanese professional baseball and recorded 42 saves in the major leagues.
On June 6, Oh Seung-hwan drew a stroke in the history of ‘finishing pitcher’. He climbed to the mound in the top of the 9th inning against Daegu NC by 3 points and scored 1 scoreless inning, making his 500th save in Korea, the US and Japan.
Even in Korea, the U.S. and Japan, only Oh Seung-hwan, Mariano Rivera (652 saves), and Trevor Hoffman (601 saves) have reached 500 saves.
At the time of reaching his 500th save, Seunghwan Oh expressed his desire to reach 400th in the KBO League.
Seung-hwan Oh, who recorded 370 saves until last year, has been talking about his goal of making 400 saves before the season.
He is said to have made 31 saves last season, but it was difficult to be optimistic about his record achievement as he was older than he was.
In fact, in the first half, Oh Seung-hwan was somewhat different from the strong finisher he showed before. He had a 4.50 earned run average with 1 win, 1 loss, 4 saves and 2 holds in 10 games during the month of April.
He even made his first start on May 3 to change his mood as he continued to falter. His starting debut came about in the hope that he would improve his senses while playing long innings.
In June and July, Seung-hwan Oh continued to be insecure with his monthly ERA recording around 5 points. To make matters worse, as the team lost more days than won, Oh’s chance to pitch had to decrease.
Seung-hwan Oh’s save pace in August was steep. It coincided with Samsung’s three wins. Samsung recorded 12 wins and 9 losses in 21 matches.
As the team’s bullpen situation was not good, there were many close games, and naturally, Oh Seung-hwan’s opportunity to start came often.
Oh Seung-hwan met 10 save opportunities in 13 games and responded with 10 saves. His earned run average of 3.55 was a bit high for a closer, but he did his job with a 100% save rate.
On the 26th and 27th, against Daegu Kiwoom, they kept a lead of 1 point and 2 points, respectively. Despite the continuous fight, Oh Seung-hwan’s ball was still heavily pierced into the strike zone. Even the foreign hitter, who had a good sense of hitting, seemed to be pushed back in a power struggle.
By posting the 22nd and 23rd saves of the season, Oh Seung-hwan and Kim Won-joong (Lotte) ranked third in saves. To his 400 saves, he had only 7 left before he knew it.
Samsung played 110 games until the 28th. There are 34 games left, and Oh Seung-hwan can expect more than 10 saves. If he manages to save 7 of these, it could be a season in which Seung-Hwan Oh can show off his strength this season and perfectly keep his goals.