The Japanese media reexamined the footsteps of ‘Stone Buddha’ Oh Seung-hwan (41, Samsung Lions) when he was active in the Japanese Professional Baseball (NPB). 메이저사이트
On the 13th, ‘Baseball Channel’, a Japanese baseball media outlet, looked back on the history of the NPB Postseason Climax Series that started in 2007 and selected ‘5 players who led the team to the Japan Series with unmatched performance.’ Oh Seung-hwan was proudly named along with four others, including Kazuhiro Wada, Yoshito Ishii, Kosuke Tanaka, and Yosunobu Okugawa.
After joining the Samsung Lions in the 2005 season, Seung-Hwan Oh reigned as the best closing pitcher in the KBO League for nine years until the 2013 season. Starting with 47 saves in the 2006 season, he broke the record for the most saves in a single season in Asian professional baseball and won his first career relief title, followed by 2007 (40 saves), 2008 (39 saves), 2011 (47 saves), and 2012 (37 saves). ) won the title four more times.
After the 2013 season, he left the KBO, signed a two-year contract with the NPB Hanshin Tigers, and set out to conquer Japan. In the 2014 season, he earned the title of relief king after recording 64 games, 2 wins, 4 losses, 39 saves, 5 holds, and an ERA of 1.76. He also broke the record for the most saves in the debut season of a foreign pitcher in NPB history.
Seung-Hwan Oh also showed off his brilliance in the 2014 season Central League Climax Series. He firmly locked the team’s back door with 2 runs, 4 saves, and 1 hold in 8 1/3 innings in 6 games, leading Hanshin to the Japan Series stage. The Climax Series MVP also belonged to Oh Seung-hwan.
Although Hanshin had to be satisfied with second place in the 2014 Japan Series, losing 1 win and 4 losses to the Softbank Hawks led by Lee Dae-ho at the time, the prevailing public opinion was that it would have been difficult to advance to the Japan Series without Oh Seung-hwan.
The reason ‘Baseball Channel’ mentioned Oh Seung-hwan while looking back at the previous Climax Series over the past 16 years was because Oh Seung-hwan’s performance nine years ago was terrifying.
Oh Seung-hwan also played an active role as Hanshin’s closer in the 2015 season, with 2 wins, 3 losses, 41 saves, and an ERA of 2.73 in 63 games. He won the save king title for two consecutive years and left behind an achievement that stands out among all Korean pitchers who have played in NPB. After the contract with Hanshin ended, he ended his two-year NPB career by wearing the uniform of the St. Louis Cardinals of the American Major League.
Although Oh Seung-hwan’s playing period in Hanshin and NPB is short, only two years, the power of Oh Seung-hwan’s powerful sharp fastball remains in NPB history.
‘Baseball Channel’ introduced, “Oh Seung-hwan struck out one slugger after another with a fastball called a ‘fastball,’” and added, “As the closing pitcher for the 2014 season at Hanshin, he left an overwhelming record and won the save title.”
He continued, “Oh Seung-hwan played a big role in the 2014 season’s Climax Series and was named MVP. In the 2015 season, he recorded 41 saves at Hanshin, was named relief king for two consecutive years, and advanced to the major leagues the following year. This year (last June) “He achieved the feat of making 500 saves in Korea, the United States, and Japan, and is expected to play even more in his active career,” he explained.
As ‘Baseball Channel’ said, Oh Seung-hwan is still alive and well. He returned to the KBO League when he returned to his home team Samsung in the 2020 season, and earned 44 saves in the 2021 season, winning the 6th relief king in KBO history.
Although he fell into a slump at the beginning of this season, ‘Stone Buddha’ did not collapse. On the 14th, the day after ‘Baseball Channel’ highlighted Oh Seung-hwan, he earned his 30th save of the season with a 1⅓ inning scoreless pitch in the SSG Landers game, becoming the first player in KBO history to reach 400 saves in his career.
Meanwhile, the NPB Climax Series has been operating since 2007. The top team in the regular season of the Central League and Pacific League advances directly to the final stage (2 wins out of 3), and the 2nd and 3rd place teams face off in the first stage (4 wins out of 7 games), with the winner advancing to the Japan Series against the top team in the final stage. fight over it
In the first stage, the second-place team is given the advantage of playing all three series of the series at home against the third-place team. The first-place team starts the final stage with one win and all play at home.