Professional baseball player Oh Seung-hwan (43) of the Samsung Lions has initiated his return to the first team as a starting pitcher in the Futures League.

Oh Seung-hwan pitched as a starter in the game against the Lotte Giants at the 2025 Mediheal KBO Futures League held at Gyeongsan Ballpark on the 5th, recording 1 inning, 5 hits allowed, no walks, 1 strikeout, and 4 earned runs.

This is only the second time in his career that Oh has pitched as a starting pitcher. He previously did so just once in a first team game, which was on May 3, 2023, against the Daegu Kiwoom, where he pitched 5 innings, threw 73 pitches, allowed 5 hits (1 home run), recorded no walks, achieved 6 strikeouts, and suffered a loss with 3 earned runs. At that time, Oh pitched long as a starter for adjustment purposes before returning to a closing role.

After 2 years, he has now appeared as a starter in the Futures League.

He started by striking out Lotte's first batter, Hwang Seong-bin, but faced a crisis with a single to left by Ko Seung-min and a single to right by Park Seung-wook, putting runners on first and third with one out. After allowing a timely hit to right by Kim Dong-hyun, which gave up the first run, Oh continued to face a crisis when an error was made by right fielder Kang Min-seong.

After allowing a timely hit to left by Choi Hang, which led to an additional run, Oh induced a ground ball to second from Lee In-han, but after a full count against Kim Dong-hyuk going to 8 pitches, he allowed a 2-run timely hit to left, resulting in 4 earned runs.

In the continued situation with 2 outs and a runner on second, Oh ended the inning by catching Park Gun-woo for a foul fly out to the third baseman, but handed the mound over to Yang Chang-seob at the beginning of the second inning. He threw a total of 35 pitches.

It had been 3 weeks since Oh's last appearance. This was his first time back on the mound in a real game since the exhibition game against KIA in Gwangju on the 15th of last month. During this time, he experienced the loss of his mother and needed time to gather himself, which caused him to miss the opening game. Previously, at the end of the spring camp in Okinawa, Japan, Oh returned early due to his mother's worsening health.

After saying goodbye to his mother, he joined the Futures team on the 27th of last month. After going through the process of getting back in shape, he threw bullpen pitches on the 1st and made his first real appearance that day. Given the 3-week gap, it is still difficult to consider him at full condition. He needs a little more time to elevate his condition. Samsung is also doing well with a 7-4 record, giving Oh ample time.

Oh Seung-hwan, who holds the record for the most saves in KBO League history with 427, recorded 3 wins, 9 losses, 27 saves, 2 holds, and an earned run average of 4.91 in 58 games (55 innings) last year. He started the season as a closer but had to give up his role starting in July due to a sharp decline in performance. Although he went to the second team twice at the end of the season, he could not regain his form and was excluded from the postseason roster.

Born in 1982, Oh Seung-hwan became the oldest player in the KBO League after Choo Shin-soo and Kim Kang-min retired at the end of last season. His 2-year, 2.2 billion won free agent contract will end after this season. This could be his last season, and Samsung plans to utilize him as a middle reliever in the 6th to 7th innings.

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