Oh Ji-hwan (; born March 12, 1990, in

Gunsan Gunsan (; ), also romanized as Kunsan, is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, city in North Jeolla Province, South Korea. It is on the south bank of the Geum River just upstream from its exit into the Yellow Sea. It has emerged as a high-t ...

Jeollabuk-do North Jeolla Province, officially Jeonbuk State (), is a Administrative divisions of South Korea, Special Self-governing Province of South Korea in the Honam region in the southwest of the Korean Peninsula. Jeonbuk borders the provinces of Sout ...

) is a South Korean

shortstop Shortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball positions, baseball or softball fielding position between second base, second and third base, which is considered to be among the Defensive spectrum, most demanding defensive positions. Historically, the ...

who plays for the

LG Twins The LG Twins () are a South Korean professional baseball team based in Seoul, South Korea. They are a member of the KBO League. The Twins play their home games at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, which they share with their rivals, the Doosan Bears. ...

in the

KBO League The KBO League () is a professional baseball league in South Korea. The league comprises ten teams. The KBO League was founded with six franchises in 1982 and is the most popular sports league in South Korea. The Kia Tigers are the most success ...

. He bats

left-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dextrous or simply l ...

and throws

right-handed In human biology, handedness is an individual's preferential use of one hand, known as the dominant hand, due to and causing it to be stronger, faster or more Fine motor skill, dextrous. The other hand, comparatively often the weaker, less dext ...

Amateur career

While attending

Kyunggi High School Kyunggi High School () is the oldest modern high school in Korea, located in Gangnam District, Seoul. The school is an all-boys school, and its counterpart is , also located in Gangnam District, Seoul. Kyunggi High School has educated many leade ...

Seoul Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

, Oh was considered one of the top

prospects in the Korean high school baseball league along with An Chi-hong. Oh was also a

power pitcher Power pitcher is a term in baseball for a pitcher who relies on pitch velocity at the expense of accuracy. Power pitchers usually record a high number of strikeouts, and statistics such as strikeouts per 9 innings pitched are common measures o ...

who occupied the No. 1 spot in the starting rotation of his team. In 2008, he was selected for the South Korea national junior baseball team to compete at the

World Junior Baseball Championship The U-18 Baseball World Cup is the 18-and-under baseball world championship sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) and its successor, the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), and was first held in 1981 in the United ...

, where they claimed their fifth tournament title. Oh played in all eight games for the team as an

infielder An infielder is a baseball player stationed at one of four defensive "infield" positions on the baseball field, between first base and third base. Standard arrangement of positions In a game of baseball, two teams of nine players take turns pla ...

designated hitter The designated hitter (DH) is a baseball player who bats in place of another position player, most commonly the pitcher. Unlike other players in a team's lineup, they generally only play as an offensive player and usually do not play defense as ...

and

relief pitcher In baseball and softball, a relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher who pitches in the game after the starting pitcher or another relief pitcher has been removed from the game due to fatigue (medical), fatigue, injury, ineffectiveness, ejection ...

, and was named to the All-Star tournament team as a designated hitter.

Professional career

Oh was drafted by the

in the first round of the 2009 KBO Draft and made his pro debut on September 12, 2009. He had one at-bat as a

pinch hitter In baseball, a pinch hitter (PH) is a substitute batter. Batters can be substituted at any time while the ball is dead (not in active play); the manager may use any player who has not yet entered the game as a substitute. Unlike basketball, A ...

in that game, striking out swinging to

SK Wyverns SSG Landers () are a South Korean professional baseball, professional baseball team. The team was originally established as the SK Wyverns but was renamed as the SSG Landers in 2021 after Shinsegae acquired the team from SK Group. They are a membe ...

pitcher

Gary Glover John Gary Glover (born December 3, 1976) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He had a career major league ERA of 5.03 over eight seasons, including time spent with the Anaheim Angels, Chicago White Sox, Detroit Tigers, Milwauk ...

in the top of the seventh inning. He appeared in only five games with the Twins in 2009, getting one hit and striking out five times in nine at-bats. On March 27, 2010, Oh hit his first professional league home run off Yoon Sung-hwan in the 2010 KBO Opening Day game, going 2-for-4 and driving in three runs in a 7–5 win over the

Samsung Lions The Samsung Lions () are a South Korean professional baseball team founded in 1982. They are based in the southeastern city of Daegu and are members of the KBO League. Their home stadium is Daegu Samsung Lions Park. They have won the Korean Cha ...

. During the 2010 season, Oh was impressive enough to earn the starting shortstop job for the Twins over another candidates. He led the league in strikeouts with 137 but drove in 61 runs, the most in team history by a shortstop for a single season, and hit 13 home runs, the most among the starting shortstops in the league.

International career

After the 2010 season, Oh was selected for the

South Korea national baseball team The South Korean national baseball team (), also known as the Blue Wave (), is the national baseball team of South Korea. It has participated in every edition of the World Baseball Classic (WBC), reaching the finals in 2009, and won the WBSC Pre ...

to compete in the Intercontinental Cup held in

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: '), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality (Taiwan), special municipality in central Taiwan. Taichung is Taiwan's second-largest city, with more than 2.85 million residents, making it the largest city in Ce ...

. In 2018, he represented South Korea at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games (), and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, were a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 August to 2 September 201 ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oh, Ji-hwan 1990 births Living people Baseball players at the 2018 Asian Games Baseball players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Asian Games gold medalists for South Korea Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in baseball KBO League shortstops Kyunggi High School alumni LG Twins players Sportspeople from Gunsan Baseball players from North Jeolla Province South Korean baseball players Olympic baseball players for South Korea 2023 World Baseball Classic players World Baseball Classic players of South Korea