ZooKeepers’ Korean star has made an impression this summer

ASHEBORO — The hours were long and hard for Seojun Oh, who grew up in South Korea with only one goal in mind. 

“Baseball, everything was baseball,” said Oh, who is from Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi, Korea.

Practices would last up to 10 hours. Day in and day out. No time off. Work, work, work. Now, all that work seems to be paying off as everything is coming together for the 5-foot-9, 190-pound catcher.

Oh, who was named to the Coastal Plain League’s All-Star Team, is a huge reason the Asheboro ZooKeepers are fighting for a playoff spot. He has registered 11 multi-hit games as Asheboro heads toward the stretch run.

“He’s such a respectable kid, a breath of fresh air,” ZooKeepers head coach and general manager Kory Dunbar said. “He’s so coachable and willing to learn and he wants to grow and get better. 

“You know a guy who has that kind of upbringing is going to have success not only in baseball but in anything he puts his mind to.”

O’s early days were dominated by baseball. 

“It was kind of everything in my life,” Oh said of playing baseball while growing up in South Korea. 

After the required three years of high school in Korea, which is different from the four required in the United States, Oh sought help with an advisor. There is an advisor in Korea who attempts to place players who are not drafted. Oh said the advisor sent some emails to colleges in Texas and New Mexico and the New Mexico Military Institute was one of the schools which responded. 

“It was a military school so you would be in uniform 24-7,” Oh said. “You wake up at six in the morning, that’s tough. But that’s how I used to do it in Korea. On the baseball side, we’d practice for two or three hours in New Mexico.”

All the work he had done in Korea and then New Mexico paid off as he had an incredible freshman campaign at the Junior College school. In 53 games and 178 official plate appearances, he hit .360 with 60 runs scored, 11 doubles, two triples and six home runs. He knocked in 47.

For his two years at the military institution, he played 99 games, hit .368, scored 89 runs, recorded 18 doubles, five triples and 13 home runs with 79 RBIs. He had a .471 OBP and a .584 slugging percentage.

That earned him a spot in a Junior College all-star game where college and professional scouts attended. He received a number of offers from colleges, but chose High Point, where he will attend after the ZooKeepers’ season concludes.

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First came the CPL campaign and he’s taken full advantage. There were some eye-opening aspects of the game that Oh adjusted to.

“This is my first time and I didn’t expect that the roster changes throughout the season,” Oh said of the many players who begin but don’t finish the season due to many reasons. “I think we have only 10 or so still with us from the first day. That’s kind of tough. But the good thing is I can make a lot of friends.”

In preparing for a step up into Division I baseball, Oh said this summer was going to be another key step in his development.

“It’s a way step up,” Oh said of the competition. “Not only in pitching, but in hitting. Everything in baseball.  Plus, you’re hitting with wood.”

Oh has experienced the wood bat as high schoolers in Korea use a wood bat. 

Oh has done quite nicely in the CPL. Through 39 games, he’s hitting .320 with 48 hits in 150 at-bats. He has scored 33 runs, registered five doubles and four home runs and knocked in 38. Just as impressive, he has an OBP of .436. His 38 RBIs were tied for second-most in the CPL through Sunday night, two off the CPL lead.

“I want to challenge myself at this high level before going to a D1 school,” said Oh, who travels back to South Korea as often as possible to visit his mother, father and grandmother. “See where I am.”

Oh has figured out exactly who he is on the field. “I’m not like a lot of hitters who will hit home runs,” Oh said. “More gap to gap with a lot of walks. I grew up watching Shin-Soo Choo. Don’t overswing and get walks. Coach Dunbar told me to just think about how to win (against) this pitcher. Simplify. That makes me have confidence in the box.”

Oh, a big New York Yankees fan who loves to watch Giancarlo Stanton, said he used to sit on one particular pitch during an at-bat. Now he sits on one location.

“He has an extremely polished approach at the plate,” Dunbar said. “His ability to spoil pitches in certain counts is unmatched. He is growing behind the plate and he is getting better and better. I’ve been working with him on just managing the pace of the game and you have an entire pitching staff you have to try and figure out what gets them going.”

Oh has already expressed great interest in returning to Asheboro next summer. The ZooKeepers will be waiting with open arms.

“He wants to come back next year and I’m extremely excited to see not only how he’s going to do at school, but how he’s going to look next summer,” Dunbar said.

He sure looks very good this summer.