If there is one thing I love as much as K-Pop, it is the St. Louis Cardinals. Imagine how happy I was to see my two favorite things combined! Confused? The Cardinals picked up 33-year-old Korean reliever/closer Seung Hwan Oh. Before I go any further I want to work on the pronunciation of his name. In Hangeul (the Korean alphabet) it looks like this: 오승환. The first syllable is his last name as Korea, like many foreign countries, puts the family name first. I've heard sportscasters call him a variety of names such as "Sang Hwan" and "Sung Han." I can understand being confused by the "eu" combination, but it is not as confusing as it looks. Simply pretend there are no vowels. "Sng" is pretty close to the actual pronunciation. "Hwan" is pronounced with an "ah" sound. If you say Seung Hwan quickly, the H sound can get left out.
But, Seung Hwan Oh relates to K-Pop in other ways than simply being a Korean. He was dating Yuri from the most popular girl group in South Korea, Girls' Generation. Their relationship lasted from about April of 2015 until October 2015. While their relationship did not last long, I'm still hoping one day Oh will have to bat and Girls' Generation's song "Oh" will be his walk-up song. I know it's a long shot but closer Trevor Rosenthal batted this year and Oh now has that job...
Oh is now a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was offered a better deal back in Asia but joined the Cardinals because he was looking for a challenge. He shows almost no emotion when in stressful pitching situations. He has the nicknames "The Final Boss" and "Stone Buddha" for a reason! Recently, the aforementioned Trevor Rosenthal was booted from the official closer position and Oh has been promoted to one of three pitchers deemed closer.
Oh has a translator named Eugene Koo to help him communicate with the other player and teach him English. Eugene is always with Oh. It's really funny to see Eugene standing next to Manager Mike Matheny in the Cardinals dugout while Oh pitches. My biggest question comes when Oh and catcher Yadier Molina have one of those quick chats. Do they speak English? Is Molina learning Korean? Is Oh learning Spanish?
Oh has pitched in both Korea and Japan. While playing for Korea's Samsung Lions (2005-2013), Oh had an ERA of 1.69 for 444 games. When he moved to Japan's Hanshin Tigers (2014-2015) he had an ERA of 2.25 with 80 saves. Currently, Oh has a 1.58 ERA and is proving himself to be a great addition to the St. Louis Cardinals.
