TORONTO (Reuters) – The Toronto Blue Jays have signed South Korean free agent reliever Oh Seung-hwan to a one-year contract, the Major League Baseball team said on Monday.
The right-hander went 1-6 with 20 saves and a 4.10 earned run average in 62 games for the St. Louis Cardinals last season.
The 35-year-old Jeongeup native had previously appeared to reach an agreement with the Texas Rangers earlier in February. That deal was pending a physical, but it was never completed.
He made his MLB debut with the Cardinals in 2016 following an 11-year professional career spent between the KBO League in South Korea and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball.
With a strong strikeout ability given control of both his fastball and secondary pitches, Oh enjoyed an impressive first season in MLB, where he began as a setup reliever before becoming the team’s closer.
Oh began last season as the Cardinals’ closer, but was switched back to a setup man midway through the campaign.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue; Editing by Greg Stutchbury)
