As many of you know already, over these next few days I will be profiling some of the international free agents that figure to have an impact on the MLB in the next year or so. These guys are some of the best international players from all sorts of different places that are thinking about making the jump to Major League Baseball. Some of these guys you may have heard of, and others maybe not. There will be many different types of players that I will be looking at, but they all have one thing in common, they are the best of the rest throughout the world. Today is Seung-Hwan Oh, a reliever out of South Korea.
Seung-Hwan Oh is a very interesting pitching option out of South Korea. He is currently 31 years old and has been a reliever his entire career in the Korean Baseball Organization, which began in 2005. He is currently the single season saves record holder in the KBO, which he set at 47 in 2006 and again in 2011. Since requiring Tommy John surgery in his teenage years, he has not started a game, and that may be part of the reason for his success. Oh has good velocity on his fastball as he can get it up into the upper 90s. He is also very good about taking some velocity off of his fastball which helps him get some sinking action which leads to more ground balls. His second pitch is his slider with which he adds and subtracts as well. Oh seems to be a really smart pitcher with a great feel for his pitches, and a good combination of those two things usually makes for a successful reliever, along with good stuff of course. Oh's combination of two plus pitches with his ability to change speeds and control the ball well makes him an intriguing option for teams looking for bullpen help in the majors.
Oh's stats in the KBO also help to prove that he could find success in moving overseas. If we look at his past three years a little more closely, we should be able to see just how dominant Oh has been in the KBO. In the past three years he hasn't had a K/9 under 9.4, a BB/9 over 2.1, or a HR/9 over 0.7. His ERA also hasn't been over 2.00 which included an amazing 0.64 in 2011. With at least 50 innings pitched in each of those years, do I even need to go on? Oh has clearly been better than the hitters in South Korea and its not even close. His skills should have no problem translating overseas and he should be penciled in to the major league bullpen of whoever signs him. I think Oh could be a quality setup man in the majors and possibly one day become a closer. Oh currently has an agreement in place with his current club to where if he wants to come to the MLB they will post him, and if he wants to go to Japan they will loan him there, so the choice is ultimately up to him as to where he wants to play. I believe he could have success in the MLB, but he may want to stay closer to home. If he does come to the MLB, his deal would most likely be around 2-3 years at $5-$10 million. That's a lot of money to pass up, so we will have to just wait and see what he decides and go from there.
Oh's stats in the KBO also help to prove that he could find success in moving overseas. If we look at his past three years a little more closely, we should be able to see just how dominant Oh has been in the KBO. In the past three years he hasn't had a K/9 under 9.4, a BB/9 over 2.1, or a HR/9 over 0.7. His ERA also hasn't been over 2.00 which included an amazing 0.64 in 2011. With at least 50 innings pitched in each of those years, do I even need to go on? Oh has clearly been better than the hitters in South Korea and its not even close. His skills should have no problem translating overseas and he should be penciled in to the major league bullpen of whoever signs him. I think Oh could be a quality setup man in the majors and possibly one day become a closer. Oh currently has an agreement in place with his current club to where if he wants to come to the MLB they will post him, and if he wants to go to Japan they will loan him there, so the choice is ultimately up to him as to where he wants to play. I believe he could have success in the MLB, but he may want to stay closer to home. If he does come to the MLB, his deal would most likely be around 2-3 years at $5-$10 million. That's a lot of money to pass up, so we will have to just wait and see what he decides and go from there.