The Samsung Lions in professional baseball, who have a ticket to the playoffs (PO) for the first time in three years, are struggling to finish.
Samsung canceled Oh Seung-hwan from the first-team entry prior to the 2024 Shinhan Sol Bank KBO League KIA Tigers game at Kia Champions Field in Gwangju on the 23rd.
Oh has recorded 27 saves this season. He ranks second overall in this category, but his ball power has faltered significantly in the second half of this season. Oh was sluggish with an ERA of 4.91, and he committed eight blon saves.
In particular, he was very sluggish, recording double-digit ERA in 16 games in July and August.
Oh Seung-hwan, who had a time to reorganize, seemed to find stability again in September, but after being shaken by three runs in ⅔ innings against SSG Landers on the 15th, he gave up six runs (accredited) against Kiwoom Heroes on the 22nd.
Samsung made the decision to send Oh Seung-hwan to the second division despite confirming his advance to the playoffs.
Before the game against KIA on the day, Samsung manager Park Jin-man explained, “I made a change because I thought (Oh Seung-hwan’s) ball power had fallen a lot.”
“From a cold perspective, it is not easy for Oh to enter the playoff entry with his pitching capability. There is time and time left, so there may be changes depending on the preparation, but it is not easy right now,” Park said. “With ball capability, even one inning is too much.”
Samsung is more likely to play its first fall baseball in three years without veteran closer Oh Seung-hwan.
This season, Samsung showed even performance in both pitching and hitting, confirming second place in the regular league.
In particular, he has hit 180 team home runs in 140 games this year, overwhelming the NC Dinos (166), who are second in this category.
Samsung batters, including Koo Ja-wook (33 home runs), who showed the best performance throughout the season with a batting average of 0.344, Kim Young-woong (26 home runs), Park Byung-ho (22 home runs), and Lee Sung-kyu (21 home runs), as well as exceeding 30 home runs in 10 years since their debut.
If Kang Min-ho, who currently has 19 home runs, adds one more home run, he will even set a milestone of producing five 20 home run hitters in 21 years.
Pitchers also performed well.
This season, Samsung ranked second (4.63) in ERA after KIA (4.41), which ranked first in the regular season.
With Won Tae-in, who recorded 15 wins in the season, currently leading the pack with multiple wins, three players, including Connor Seabold (11 wins) and Denny Reyes (10 wins), achieved double-digit wins. 메이저놀이터
What’s left is the post season. Given the possibility of Oh being excluded from the entry, Samsung should play the fall baseball without a clear finish.
Samsung, which has confirmed its advance to the playoffs, is likely to face the LG Twins, who are almost certain to be third in the regular season, in a best-of-five series.
Oh Seung-hwan is a veteran closing pitcher who has pitched in 29 postseason games so far.
Oh Seung-hwan gave Samsung many wins as much as he had a lot of experience.
Oh Seung-hwan led Samsung to victory by playing in the Korean Series for three consecutive years until 2011 (3 saves), 2012 (2 saves), and 2013 (3 saves).
However, in the playoffs of the last 2021 season, he was sluggish with two runs, failing to catch a single out in one game and getting four hits. At that time, Samsung lost two wins to Doosan and failed to advance to the Korean Series.
Lim Chang-min, Kim Jae-yoon, and Kim Tae-hoon are expected to fill Oh’s vacancy. However, Samsung, which is facing the first fall baseball season in three years, is regrettable due to sluggishness and absence of its flagship closer.
