427 saves and 2,209 hits to teach… Kim Tae-gyun and Oh Seung-hwan join APBC as instructors

The APBC national team held its first training session in Daejeon on the 2nd and named Han Dong-hee as captain and Choi Jun-yong as pitching group leader. Kim Tae-gyun and Oh Seung-hwan will coach hitting and pitching as instructors on the 3rd–4th.

Translated from Korean with AI assistance. Read the original. Sources and original publication dates are retained.

Three-line summary

On November 2, the KBO announced that Kim Tae-gyun and Oh Seung-hwan will join the APBC national team's domestic training as instructors.
Oh Seung-hwan's career KBO total of 427 saves is the most ever, 156 more than No. 2 Son Seung-rak (271).
The national team began its first training session in Daejeon on the 2nd, and the main tournament runs from the 12th to the 15th at Tokyo Dome.

The closer from the 2008 Beijing Olympics gold medal team and the first baseman from the 2009 WBC runner-up team have returned to the national team. Kim Tae-gyun (44) and Oh Seung-hwan (44) were both born in 1982, and this time they are here as instructors. The KBO's official announcement says the two will coach on November 3–4 over two days for the national team's domestic training. Oh Seung-hwan has a career KBO total of 427 saves, the all-time record.

APBC national team's first training: captain Han Dong-hee, pitching group leader Choi Jun-yong

On November 2, the national team began its first official training at Hanwha Life Ball Park in Daejeon. OSEN reported that manager Choi Won-ho picked Han Dong-hee as captain and Choi Jun-yong as pitching group leader that day. For the wild-card players, he said, "It also means we want you to take a little more responsibility." As of 19:00 on 2026.11.02, Kim Tae-gyun and Oh Seung-hwan had not yet begun their coaching.

Instructors are a different role from official coaches. The seven coaches the KBO announced on October 28 reportedly include Jo Sung-hwan (head coach and defense), pitching coach Park Jeong-jin, and hitting coach Jeong Gyeong-bae. The two will help with domestic training separately from this coaching staff. Neither accompanying the main tournament at Tokyo Dome on November 12–15 nor an official coaching appointment has been announced.

Kim Tae-gyun, age 44, salary 1.6 billion won, FA deal 8.4 billion won

Kim Tae-gyun was born on May 29, 1982. He joined the Hanwha Eagles in 2001, played for the Chiba Lotte Marines in Japan in 2010–2011, returned to Hanwha in 2012, and retired on October 21, 2020. He finished his KBO career with a .320 batting average, 311 home runs, and 1,358 RBIs, along with 2,209 hits, and he experienced third place at the 2006 WBC and runner-up at the 2009 WBC.

Kim Tae-gyun's salary peaked during the 2016–2019 seasons. After the 2015 season, he re-signed with Hanwha on a four-year deal worth 8.4 billion won as a free agent. His 2016 salary was 1.6 billion won. His final contract, announced in January 2020, was a one-year deal worth 1 billion won. All of these were contracts from his playing days, and pay for this instructor role has not been disclosed.

Oh Seung-hwan 427 saves, 156 ahead of No. 2 Son Seung-rak

Oh Seung-hwan was born on July 15, 1982. He debuted with the Samsung Lions in 2005. He played for the Hanshin Tigers in 2014–2015 and for the MLB St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, and Colorado Rockies in 2016–2019 before returning to Samsung in 2019. He retired after the 2025 season, and Samsung retired his No. 21 as the club's fourth permanently retired number.

Over 15 seasons in the KBO, he recorded 427 saves and a 2.32 ERA. In 2023, he became the first player in KBO history to reach 400 career saves. In a comparison table the KBO released as of June 14, 2025, No. 2 Son Seung-rak had 271 saves. Dividing 271 by 427 gives about 63%. The No. 2 total falls short of two-thirds of Oh Seung-hwan's.

Rank	Player	Career saves	Gap from No. 1
1	Oh Seung-hwan	427	-
2	Son Seung-rak	271	156
3	Im Chang-yong	258	169
4	Kim Yong-soo	227	200
5	Koo Dae-sung	214	213

Oh Seung-hwan played for the national team from the 2006 WBC through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and won gold at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. His most recent contract was a two-year deal worth 2.2 billion won with Samsung, signed in January 2024. The terms were a 1 billion won signing bonus with salaries of 400 million won and 800 million won, fully guaranteed with no options. In February this year, he announced plans to set up a baseball academy in Daegu.

Their role is as domestic training instructors, over two days. News of their joining was reported by Yonhap News among others, but most cited the same KBO announcement. What they will actually teach can only be known once training begins on the 3rd. In its announcement, the KBO said, "The two instructors, who have extensive international tournament experience, will pass on practical know-how to the 2026 APBC national team squad."

Related official sites

KBO official website — national team call-up notices and APBC schedule check
KBO Kim Tae-gyun official career records — full season-by-season batting records
KBO Oh Seung-hwan official career records — season-by-season 427-save records

Representative image · Archival photo · Not an on-site photo from the game in this article · Photo=Wikimedia Commons (Seohae1999), CC BY-SA 4.0