Jung Woo-ram, 38, who reached the milestone of becoming the first Asian baseball player to play 1,000 games in a single league, will play and coach for the Hanwha Eagles starting next season. Hanwha honored the veteran, who has had a remarkable career but has been on a downward spiral.

The spotlight now turns to Oh Seung-hwan (41) of the Samsung Lions. Oh is eligible for free agency after this season.

The difference is that he's still hitting the ball well. Samsung wants to accompany him to his retirement.

Seung-hwan Oh made his debut with Samsung in 2005 and has won five saves. His career record is 668 games, 739⅔ innings, 41 wins, 24 losses, 400 saves, 17 relief appearances, and a 2.06 ERA. This season, he is 4-5, 30 saves, 2 relief appearances, and a 3.45 ERA. The record is a first for a pitcher, and the gap between him and the next closest active player, Jung Woo-ram (197), makes it a record that may not be broken for a while.

After a stellar career in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) and Major League Baseball (MLB), Oh returned to Samsung in 2020. In 2021, he finished with 44 saves, good enough for fifth place.

He struggled a bit last year and midway through this season, but eventually finished the season with 30 saves as the team's closer.

Oh's influence and presence at Samsung is still huge. After the season, Samsung replaced Hong Jun-hak as manager with former SBS Sports commentator Lee Jong-yeol, partly because the team hadn't been able to build a solid bullpen lineup.

Of the bullpen pitchers with more than 50 innings, Oh Seung-hwan had the best ERA. He and right-hander Lee Seung-hyun were the only ones with ERAs in the 3-run range. Looking beyond ERA, it's hard to find a player who stands out more than Oh Seung-hwan.

Even at the age of over 40, Oh is still very valuable. After signing a 600 million won per year contract upon his return to Korea in August 2019, Oh was paid 1.2 billion won per year, 1.1 billion won in 2021, 1.6 billion won last year, and 1.4 billion won this year. 카지노사이트가이드 

It's hard to say how many years he will continue to perform well. However, it is clear that he is still throwing good pitches due to his excellent self-management and is an indispensable key card in the bullpen.

Manager Lee Jong-yeol also agreed with the need for Oh Seung-hwan. "With Oh Seung-hwan, we will go for the picture of finishing well," Lee told Star News.

This is a clear indication that he wants to create a picture of Seung-hwan retiring from Samsung, which means he wants to hold onto him when he hits the free agent market. In the past, Lee Seung-yeop (now head coach of the Doosan Bears) is a good example. Samsung signed the then-40-year-old Lee Seung-yeop to a two-year, 3.6 billion won contract in 2016, and after two stellar years, the manager ended his career with a grand retirement ceremony after the 2017 season. It's hard to imagine him wearing anything other than blue, not only for himself, but for Samsung fans and baseball fans alike. It makes one wonder what kind of contract Samsung will offer to another legend, Seung-hwan Oh.