Hyun-jin Ryu

Hyun-jin Ryu 류현진
Ryu with the Los Angeles Dodgers in April 2013
Los Angeles Dodgers – No. 99
Starting pitcher
Born: (1987-03-25) March 25, 1987 Incheon, South Korea
Bats: Right	Throws: Left
Professional debut
KBO: April 12, 2006 for the Hanwha Eagles
MLB: April 2, 2013 for the Los Angeles Dodgers
KBO statistics (through 2012 season)
Win–loss record	98–52
Earned run average	2.80
Strikeouts	1,238
MLB statistics (through 2013 season)
Win–loss record	14–8
Earned run average	3.00
Strikeouts	154
Teams
Hanwha Eagles (2006–2012) Los Angeles Dodgers (2013–present)
Career highlights and awards
7× Korea Baseball Organization All-Star (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) 5× KBO strikeout title (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2012) 2× KBO ERA title (2006, 2010) 2× KBO Golden Glove (2006, 2010) KBO Win title (2006) KBO Pitching Triple Crown (2006) KBO Rookie of the Year (2006) KBO MVP. (2006)

Hyun-jin Ryu (Hangul: 류현진 ; Hanja: 柳賢振; born March 25, 1987) is a South Korean starting pitcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball. In 2013, after spending seven seasons with the Hanwha Eagles of KBO, Ryu became the first player from the KBO to join a MLB team via the posting system. Ryu was also the first South Korean to serve as the starting pitcher of a Major League Baseball postseason game.

Early life and education

Ryu was born in Incheon, South Korea on March 25, 1987, and attended Incheon's Dongsan High School. He is working towards a master's degree in community physical education in Daejeon University.

Career

Amateur

In 2004, Ryu underwent Tommy John surgery and didn't pitch in any official games as a result. In 2005, he led his team to the Blue Dragon Open National High School Championship, pitching 22 consecutive scoreless innings as the team's ace and batting .389 in the tournament. He was named Best Pitcher.

In 2005, Ryu was selected for the South Korea national junior team that was runner-up in the 6th Asian Junior Baseball Championship in Seoul, South Korea. Ryu started the semifinal match against Chinese Taipei, and helped his team reach the final, recording ten strikeouts and giving up one unearned run on four hits in six innings. During the competition, he pitched eight¹⁄₃ innings with 14 strikeouts, and gave up an unearned run on five hits in three games (one start).

Hanwha Eagles (2006–2012)

In July 2005, Ryu was selected by the Hanwha Eagles as the 1st pick in the second round of the 2006 KBO Draft, and made his professional debut on April 12, 2006. In his rookie year of 2006, Ryu finished with an 18–6 win-loss record, a 2.23 ERA and 205 strikeouts in 201.2 innings pitched. He earned the pitching Triple Crown, and was eventually named both Rookie of the year and Player of the Year. He became the only player in KBO history to win both the Rookie of the Year award and the MVP award in the same season.

In August 2008, Ryu competed for the South Korea national baseball team in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where they won the gold medal in the baseball tournament. In the team's third game of round-robin play, Ryu pitched a 1–0 complete game shutout victory over Canada, giving up five hits. In the gold medal game against Cuba, he pitched 8¹⁄₃ innings, allowing two earned runs in a 3–2 victory.

In March 2009, he represented the South Korea national baseball team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, where the team was the runner-up to the eventual champion, Japan. In 2010, Ryu played in the 2010 Asian Games, where the South Korea national baseball team won the gold medal in baseball. On May 11, 2010, Ryu became the first pitcher in history to strike out 17 batters in a nine-inning game, against the LG Twins at Cheongju Sports Complex - Baseball Stadium.^[1]

In 2012, Ryu finished with a 2.66 ERA and 210 strikeouts, but earned only a 9-9 win-loss record and ten no decisions. Ryu repeatedly expressed his desire to play in the United States for Major League Baseball and scouts from many MLB teams visited Korea to see Ryu's pitching. Finally, on October 29, 2012, the Eagles announced that Ryu would be posted as early as November 1, 2012 to allow MLB teams to bid for the rights to negotiate with him.

Los Angeles Dodgers (2013-present)

Ryu pitching at Dodger Stadium in April 2013.

On November 9, 2012, the Eagles accepted the reported bid of $25,737,737.33 from the Los Angeles Dodgers, giving them a 30-day period to try to negotiate a contract with Ryu. On December 9, he was signed to a 6 year, $36 million deal, that included the option to opt out after the 5th year if certain performance benchmarks were reached (750 innings pitched by year 5, an average of 150 innings/year).^[2]

Ryu made his Major League Baseball debut in a start against the San Francisco Giants on April 2, 2013. He allowed 10 hits in 6.1 innings but only one earned run.^[3] Ryu picked up his first Major League win on April 7 over the Pittsburgh Pirates.^[4] On April 13 against the Arizona Diamondbacks, he recorded his first major league hit with a double in the third inning. He wound up 3 for 3 at the plate in the game, the first Dodgers pitcher to get three hits in a game since Randy Wolf in 2009.^[5] This game was also his 100th career win, in South Korea and the U.S. combined.^[6]

On May 1, 2013, Ryu pitched six innings against the Colorado Rockies and struck out 12 batters, his highest strikeout count in an MLB game so far.^[7]

On May 28, 2013, Ryu pitched a complete game shutout against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, striking out seven batters, walking none, and conceding only two hits. It was the first shutout in Ryu's MLB career and the first shutout for a Korean-born pitcher since Chan-Ho Park and Sun-Woo Kim.^[8] In 30 starts with the Dodgers in 2013, Ryu was 14–8 with a 3.00 ERA. He was selected by Baseball America to their annual "All-Rookie team".^[9]

On October 6, 2013, Ryu became the first South Korean to serve as the starting pitcher of a Major League Baseball postseason game.^[10]

Popularity

A banner supporting Ryu hangs in Koreatown in Los Angeles in July 2013.

While there have been South Korean players in the MLB, such as Chan Ho Park and Shin-Soo Choo, Ryu enjoys an almost unprecedented popularity amongst South Korean baseball players, drawing South Korean fans as well as fans of Korean ancestry in nearly every stadium he pitches in. This may be attributed to South Korea's rise as a global baseball power, leading to a rise in popularity of the sport in South Korea beginning in the 2000s and 2010s.

On July 22, 2013, after a 14-5 win against the Toronto Blue Jays played at Rogers Centre, several hundred fans of Korean ancestry stayed after the game to give Ryu a standing ovation, a common practice during the game, but a noted rarity for such an ovation to occur after the game has been completed.^[11]

Pitching style

Ryu is a 6 ft 2 in, 255 lb left-handed pitcher.^[12] He throws a fastball around 90 mph (tops out at 95 mph), a decent curveball, a slider, and a deceptive changeup. Scouts say that the changeup is his best pitch and is a legitimate out-pitch at the big league level.^[13][14]

In popular culture

• Ryu has appeared on Running Man, with Shin-Soo Choo on ep 119; and with Bae Suzy on ep 171 and 172.

Career statistics

Korea Baseball Organization

Notable international competitions

Year	Venue	Competition	Team	Individual Note
2005	South Korea	Asian Junior Baseball Championship		0–0; 0.00 ERA (3 G, 8.1 IP, 0 ER, 14 K)
2006	Qatar	Asian Games		0–0; 9.95 ERA (2 G, 6.1 IP, 7 ER, 6 K)
2007	Chinese Taipei	Asian Baseball Championship		1–0; 0.00 ERA (1 G, 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 5 K)
2008	Chinese Taipei	Final Olympic Qualification Tournament		0–1; 3.00 ERA (2 G, 6.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 K)
2008	China	Olympic Games		2–0; 1.04 ERA (2 G, 17.1 IP, 2 ER, 13 K)
2009	United States	World Baseball Classic		1–0; 2.57 ERA (5 G, 7.0 IP, 2 ER, 7 K)
2010	China	Asian Games		1–0; 3.60 ERA (2 G, 10.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 K)

References

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
• Hyun-Jin Ryu on Twitter

v t e 2008 Olympic Champions Baseball – South Korea 3 Ko Young-Min 7 Park Jin-Man 8 Jeong Keun-Woo 10 Lee Dae-Ho 11 Oh Seung-hwan 13 Jang Won-sam 14 Kim Min-Jae 15 Lee Yong-kyu 17 Kim Kwang-Hyun 18 Kim Dong-Joo 20 Jin Kab-yong 21 Chong Tae-Hyon 22 Han Ki-Joo 25 Lee Seung-Yeop 28 Yoon Suk-min 29 Lee Taek-Keun 35 Lee Jin-Young 37 Kang Min-ho 39 Lee Jong-wook 47 Kwon Hyuk 50 Kim Hyun-Soo 51 Bong Jung-Keun 91 Song Seung-Jun 99 Ryu Hyun-jin Manager 74 Kim Kyung-Moon