Colorado Rockies: Oh returns to St. Louis and where it all started

This week, new Colorado Rockies reliever Seunghwan Oh returned to St. Louis, where his journey in Major League Baseball began.

Seunghwan Oh played 11 seasons in Korea and Japan before reaching his goal of playing baseball in the Majors. Our own Jake Shapiro caught up the newest member of the Colorado Rockies bullpen on Monday before the Rockies and Cardinals opened a four-game series. All quotes below are from his interview inside the Colorado clubhouse.

“Every player has different goals and dreams but everyone in Korea wants to come over here and play in the big leagues,” Oh said.

St. Louis is where it all started. He played for the Cardinals from 2016-17, posting a 2.55 during his time there. It was in St. Louis where he learned everything about the MLB and how to be a major league pitcher.

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The first year with the Cardinals he posted a 1.92 ERA, 103 strikeouts and 19 saves which led him to finish sixth in Rookie of the Year voting.

It was his second year in St. Louis that he declined slightly, which led the Cardinals to not sign him in the offseason. In 2017, he threw a 4.10 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 20 saves.

In 2018, he signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and played 48 games before being traded to the Colorado Rockies.

“It was my first time ever being traded in my career so a lot of things are new,” Oh said through his translator, Eugene Koo. “I’m just trying to soak it in and get used to it.”

The Rockies are in St. Louis for a four-game set against the Cardinals, making it the first time Oh has been in St. Louis since he played there in 2017.

Oh said it is weird being back in St. Louis. He has never been to Busch Stadium as a visitor so he had a little trouble finding the visitor clubhouse.

“I didn’t know how to get to the visitors clubhouse so  we had to ask players how to get there,” Oh said.

Despite being a visitor, the crowd at Busch Stadium treated him like he was home. Last night, Oh pitched an inning and a third. When he came into the game, the fans cheered for their old reliever. Oh finished his outing giving up one hit and recording a strikeout.

As a pitcher for Colorado thus far, Oh has pitched two and a third innings while giving up two hits, a walk and recording one strikeout. He has yet to give up a run. Oh has been a great addition for the Rockies and has helped solidify the bullpen.

“I’m not trying to think about the whole situation. I would rather go about each game, each inning and each pitch,” Oh said.