Hyun Jin Ryu

BIOGRAPHY

Hyun Jin Ryu was born on March 25, 1987, in Incheon, South Korea. He is a pitcher in the MLB.

In 2013, after spending seven seasons with the Eagles, he became the first player from the KBO to join an MLB team via the posting system. Ryu is the first Korean pitcher to start in a World Series game. In 2019, Ryu earned a selection to his first career Major League Baseball All-Star Game. During that season, he led the Majors in earned run average (ERA) and achieved an ERA of 1.26 through his first 14 starts, the lowest by a Dodgers pitcher since the statistic became official in 1912.

Ryu was named the Dodgers opening day starter for the 2019 season after injuries to Clayton Kershaw and Rich Hill. On May 7, 2019, Ryu pitched his second career complete game shutout against the Atlanta Braves. He struck out six, walked none, and gave up four hits in the 9–0 victory. In his next start against the Washington Nationals on May 12, 2019, he had a no-hit bid before giving a double to Gerardo Parra in the eighth inning with one out. He finished the game with 8 innings pitched, struck out nine, walked one, and gave up that one hit in a 6–0 win against the Washington Nationals. His two pitching performances earned him NL Player of the Week. He followed this performance with 7 shutout innings against the Cincinnati Reds on May 19, 2019, extending his streak of consecutive scoreless innings pitched to 31. This streak is tied for the tenth longest in Dodgers' history and is 28 fewer than the team record of 59 set by Orel Hershiser in 1988. Ryu won MLB Pitcher of the Month in May, going 5–0 with a 0.59 ERA, striking out 36 batters, walking 3 batters, while allowing three earned runs. He was selected to be the National League's starting pitcher for his first all-star appearance at the 2019 MLB All-Star Game. On September 22, Ryu hit his first career home run off of Antonio Senzatela of the Colorado Rockies. He finished the regular season with a record of 14–5, an MLB season-leading ERA of 2.32 and the lowest walks per nine innings ratio of 1.183. Ryu came in second in voting for the National League Cy Young Award.

On December 27, 2019, Ryu signed a four-year, $80 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. On September 24, 2020, in his final regular season start, Ryu became the first Blue Jays' starting pitcher in that season to pitch into the 7th inning & the second starter to throw 100 pitches, while also yielding 0 runs, 5 hits, & 2 walks, while compiling 4 strikeouts and the winning decision in a 4–1 victory over the New York Yankees to help clinch the Blue Jays' first postseason berth since 2016. He finished third in voting for the 2020 American League Cy Young award, and won the Warren Spahn Award, presented each season by the Oklahoma Sports Museum to the best left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB).