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Oh Seng-hwan focuses on work-out to overwhelm ML hulks

Posted January. 16, 2017 07:01,   

Updated January. 16, 2017 07:11

한국어
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Oh Seung-hwan said last year that one of his new year’s aims is to overwhelm Major League giants. Reasons behind his ambitions lied in the fact that he is one of the small players in the Major League. “When playing in Korea, I never realized I was small, but as I started to play in the U.S., there were so many tall players,” Oh said. “I might be the third smallest in our team.”

According to his official profile, Oh is 178 centimeters in height and weighs 93 kilograms, and is often called as “a great-build” by his peers. Still, this may not be greatest compliment to him. In recent days, Oh’s management company Sports Intelligence Group posted on his social network service several pictures of him receiving personal training sessions. Leaving early for his season to Miami, the U.S., he is already with his trainer, Kwon Bo-seong, and is showing off his muscly forearms as bodybuilders do. Some of the pictures even portray Oh like a wrestler, holding up large tires. Below those photos added explanations such as “I’m becoming a hulk day by day” by his management company.

Indeed, stamina will matter for him this year. After ups and downs, he made it to the rooster of the Korean national team for the World Baseball Classics, and will start playing for the national team early March. The regular Major League season starts in April.

In his second year in the U.S., Oh is rated high by local fans. According to the famous U.S. statistics website Fangraph, Oh was forecasted to become the best relief pitcher in his team for 2017. In addition, Oh is expected to appear in 68 games, and throw 64 and 2/3 innings this year, according to the calculations made by Dan Szymborski's ZiPS projections.



Heon-Jae Lee uni@donga.com