“One last time, I really want to show you a season where Samsung can be number one, and I’m old enough to talk about it”
Samsung Lions’ Oh Seung-hwan (41) was honored with the Record of the Year award at the 2023 Professional Baseball Sports Seoul Year of the Year Award ceremony held at the Elena Hotel in Nonhyeon-dong, Seoul on Oct. 30.
Oh pitched 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief against SSG on Oct. 14, earning his 400th career save in the KBO. In an interview after receiving the award, Oh Seung-hwan said, “I apologize to the fans for not performing well this year. I’m grateful to my teammates for helping me achieve such a good record. I had a rough start to the year, but I’m confident in my physical condition. I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
After a shaky start to the season that saw him briefly relinquish the closer’s job, Oh finished the year with a record of 4-5, 2-5, 30 saves and a 3.45 ERA in 58 games (62⅔ innings). In his final outing, 먹튀검증 he finally reached the milestone of 400 career saves. After the season, Oh became a Class C free agent and hit the market.
“I’m still going out to the ballpark and working out,” he said, “and I’m talking to the general manager. But he was very busy. I came early today and had a good talk with him,” indicating that he will stay at Samsung.
Samsung signed closer Kim Jae-yoon,
Who entered the free agency market on Nov. 22, for a four-year contract totaling 5.8 billion won. Kim Jae-yoon is a specialty closer who has achieved 30 saves for three consecutive years. With the arrival of Kim Jae-yoon, attention is also focused on whether Oh Seung-hwan will be able to take over as the closer.
“It will definitely help the team because we have a good closer in Kim Jae-yoon. With a player like him, the team can be stronger and the bullpen can be stronger. The bullpen has always been our biggest problem. I want to play any role I can to help the team win one more game, and I’ve told the manager that. It’s up to the manager to decide, but wherever I go, no matter how many innings I pitch, my goal is to help the team win a lot.”
“I feel like I’m making false promises to Samsung fans every time,” said Oh Seung-hwan, who lowered his head, “and I’ve been doing that for years now. The team needs to win more games to fulfill the promise to the fans. I think it’s a stupid idea to insist on the closer position,” he said, emphasizing team victories.
Looking at the LG players who won the Korean Series this year,
Oh Seung-hwan said, “Originally, I didn’t think much of it when I saw other teams win, but honestly, I was very happy to see LG win this year. Now that our team is also winning a lot and performing well, I hope Samsung will have more good players. LG is talking about a dynasty, and it won’t be easy,” he said, adding that he hopes to do well next season.
Oh Seung-hwan said, “Free agency and age don’t really go together. If there was no Samsung Lions team, 토토사이트 there would be no Seung-hwan Oh. So it’s natural for me to paint a good picture until the end, but I still have greed in the back of my mind. So I want to do well again, and at the end of the day, I really want to show that Samsung can be number one, and I want to show that I can be good enough to talk about my age,” he concluded, vowing to perform well next season.