'Stone Buddha' Oh Seung-hwan sticks with Samsung Lions on two-year, 2.2 billion won deal

Baseball

Published: 16 Jan. 2024, 17:00 Updated: 17 Jan. 2024, 17:07

'Stone Buddha' Oh Seung-hwan sticks with Samsung Lions on two-year, 2.2 billion won deal

Samsung Lions closer Oh Seung-hwan pitches during the ninth inning of a game against the SSG Landers at Samsung Lions Park in Daegu on Oct. 14, 2023. [NEWS1]

The Samsung Lions have re-signed veteran pitcher Oh Seung-hwan on a two-year deal worth 2.2 billion won ($1.65 million), keeping the “Stone Buddha” in Daegu for a fifth straight year.

The right-hander has a career 2.06 ERA in the KBO and has appeared in 668 games across 13 total years in Lions blue, according to statistics tracker MyKBO.net.

Oh, 41, made his KBO debut with the Samsung Lions in 2005, notching a memorable first season with a Korean Series win and the coveted title of Rookie of the Year.

He stayed with the Daegu team for eight more seasons, seeing the team through four more Korean Series victories before signing a huge $8.9 million deal to move to Japan’s NPB in November 2013.

He spent two seasons in Japan playing for the Hanshin Tigers, leading the club to the Japan Series in his first year as its top closer and picking up a slew of records, including the highest number of saves by a foreign pitcher, along the way.

Oh then made his MLB debut with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2016, earning his spot in the exclusive club of Korean players who’ve spent time in the Major leagues.

He recorded a career 3.31 ERA over three years in the MLB, moving from the Cardinals to, very briefly, the Toronto Blue Jays and then the Colorado Rockies.

The Denver club released him in 2019 after Oh, then 36, had a horrendous run with a 9.33 ERA over 21 games and needed surgery that took him out of commission.

Oh then publicly expressed a desire to return to Korea after five years overseas and re-joined his former Lions mid-way through the 2020 season -- his delayed start due to an unfinished six-month suspension from the KBO over illegal gambling charges.

Oh Seung-hwan apologizes for 2015 gambling conviction

He’s since stuck with the team, reaching additional career milestones as one of the league’s oldest players. In June 2023, Oh recorded his 500th career save as the KBO’s long-standing all-star save leader.

His steadiness on the mound is what earned him the “Stone Buddha” nickname — which in turn earned him a model of a stone Buddha bearing his face at Samsung Lions Park in 2021 before he was set to notch his 300th career save.

'Stone Buddha' Oh Seung-hwan gets actual stone buddha

Oh became the second free agent from the Lions to re-sign with the team ahead of the 2024 season following fellow pitcher Kim Dae-woo.

The Lions face the KT Wiz for their first KBO game of the year on March 23 in Suwon.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the number of years Oh Seung-hwan played in the KBO. He has spent 13 total seasons with the Samsung Lions. The story has been updated to reflect the change.

BY MARY YANG [mary.yang@joongang.co.kr]