Seung-hwan Oh: Explaining the Effectiveness of the Ageless Rookie Sensation

By: Jack McMullen

I would like the modest baseball fan to meet Seung-hwan Oh, the 34-year-old South
Korean rookie that has given up just 8 earned runs in 45.1 innings this year.
In a St. Louis Cardinals bullpen filled to the brim with cream-of-the-crop arms
(Rosenthal, Siegrist, Maness, to name a few), Oh has managed to solidify his place among the
giants in just half a season. His 1.75 ERA leads all rookies, and is one of the tops in baseball
when an IP minimum is thrown away. Oh also leads the Cardinals bullpen in ERA+ (261), Ks
(59), H/9 (5.2), and K/BB (4.54), to name a few.
https://twitter.com/vivaelbirdos/status/750475171266519048
The stocky right hander (510 205 lbs) does not have blow-by speed, with his fastball
only registering at about 92mph, on average. However, he does own a high swing-and-miss
percentage on that pitch, along with his sweeping slider and a plus changeup. He does have a
12-6 curveball that he can work with at times, but he has only thrown it eight times this season,
according to Brooks Baseball.

What makes Seung-Hwan Oh so effective comes as a bit of a mystery to most, including

myself. Although opponents have ended at bats on pitches right down the middle the most often
(nearly twice as many as the next most zone, middle-in to a righty), they are hitting just .107 off

pitches there, going 3-28. How can this be? How on earth can a guy that tops at 94mph get
away with leaving most of his pitches right over the center of the plate?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSUZO7InxwQ
The video above, of Ohs second ML appearance, does a tremendous job illustrating the
effectiveness of Ohs pitching, and its the kind of illustration that cannot be graphed or sorted.
His off-tempo delivery and his ability to disguise the ball surely yield the result of a greater
perceived velocity than actual velocity, and the natural cut on both his fastball and slider cause
righties to preemptively reach their hands on almost every pitch. He did struggle with the
changeup early on in the season, but that has become an effective pitch that he can pepper the
bottom of the zone with, if-need-be.

Oh holds hitters to a .219 clip with runners on base, but that number could be even lower
if he corrects his misses. He still leaves most of his pitches over the middle third of the plate
with minimal damage, except for middle in, where he has given up four hits on seven at-bats.
The medieval notion of keeping pitches away to right-handers could very well help Oh propel his
video game numbers into the stratosphere, and with his mature age and big-game experience in
Korea, the mental approach needed to change should not be a problem for him.
Happy belated birthday to Seung-hwan Oh, as the rookie bullpen anchor turned 34 years
young on July 15th. He is under a one-year, $2.5 million contract at the moment, but his
performance has garnered big money (in the short-term, considering his age) in the golden age

of baseball and its financial fluidity. St. Louis hopes that they can out-bid the field, as he looks to
be the answer for their true closer role, with Rosenthal and Maness not on their game and Kevin
Siegrist fighting the injury bug this season. As for now, Oh and the Cards look to secure a Wild
Card spot out of the NL Central and get back to the Cardinals playoff magic they are so well
accustomed to.