In 2013, Ryu Hyun-jin (36, Toronto) broke through to the major leagues and made a huge mark in Korean baseball history. The amount of money he was offered was far beyond anyone’s expectations at the time and surprised everyone. It was a huge contract that averaged over $10 million per year in combined posting and salary. It was a jackpot that no one expected.
There was a lot of debate about whether it was a success. The opinions ranged from “he’s good enough to be competitive” to the extreme “he won’t survive at the major league level.” In his first year, 2013, Ryu was a huge success, going 14-8 with a 3.00 ERA in 30 games and 192 innings pitched. The year 2013 has gone down in history as a reminder that the major leagues are not as far away as we thought they were.
Ryu is the most successful KBO player to make the jump to the major leagues. He’s now in his 10th season, and he’s overcome all sorts of trials and tribulations, including shoulder surgery and elbow surgery. In early 2015, he underwent shoulder surgery and faced a life-threatening injury, but he bounced back with an indomitable will, setting a rare precedent in the major leagues.
In 2019, he led the National League in ERA (2.32) and finished second in the Cy Young Award voting. As a result, he signed a four-year, $80 million contract with Toronto ahead of the 2020 season. He had another breakout year in 2020, finishing third in American League Cy Young voting.
After undergoing Tommy John surgery to repair ligaments in his elbow last June, Ryu bounced back with superhuman strength. Since his return this year, he’s gone 3-1 with a 2.48 ERA in six starts and 29 innings pitched. It’s even more impressive considering he still doesn’t have full arm strength.
As you can see, Hyun-jin Ryu is much more than we realize. If anything, he”s even more undervalued in South Korea. If you look at the ERA rankings for active Major League Baseball players, it’s easy to see that Hyun-jin Ryu has the longest history of quality pitching in the United States.
In his career, Hyun-jin Ryu has a 78-46 record with a 3.24 ERA in 1032⅓ innings pitched. It’s not easy to achieve a 3.24 ERA in a season in the major leagues. But Hyun-jin Ryu has done it in his 10-season career. That ranks sixth among active major league pitchers with more than 1,000 innings pitched.
The current leader is Ryu’s former teammate Clayton Kershaw (Los Angeles Dodgers), who was once comfortable with the title of best pitcher on the planet. Kershaw made his debut in 2008 and has a career ERA of 2.48 through this year. Jacob deGrom (Texas), who inherited the title of “best pitcher on the planet” from Kershaw, follows at 2.53. These are two of the best human athletes of the last decade. Only two active starters with more than 1,000 innings pitched have ERAs in the low 2s.
In third place is Major League Baseball’s all-time “strikeout” legend, Chris Sale (Boston), at 3.10. Sale has a whopping 2165 strikeouts in 1760⅔ innings pitched. Fourth is Max Scherzer (Texas), a future Hall of Famer with 213 career wins, at 3.13. In fifth place is Gerrit Cole (New York Yankees), who holds the title of the most expensive pitcher in Major League Baseball history. Cole, also known as the King of the No-Hitters, has a career ERA of 3.21.바카라사이트
He is followed by Ryu Hyun-jin. Prior to this season, Justin Verlander (Houston), the “Goldilocks” of the majors with 254 career wins, was in sixth place, but this year, Ryu’s return to the majors and his success in lowering his ERA has moved him up to sixth. Eighth on the list is Stephen Strasburg, who eventually retired due to injury, with a 3.24 ERA. Ryu, Verlander, and Strasburg are within a few decimal points of 3.24. Strasburg is now off the active list.
Looking at performance since 2018, Ryu is at the top of the list. Among pitchers with more than 500 innings pitched since 2018, Ryu’s ERA (3.10) ranks 12th in the league. DeGrom (2.08), Verlander (2.50), Kershaw (2.78), and Scherzer (2.80) round out the top four, with only Walker Buehrle (LA Dodgers, 2.95), Cole (2.99), and Julio Urias (LA Dodgers, 2.99) posting ERAs in the double digits.
Max Freed (Atlanta, 3.01), Brandon Woodruff (Milwaukee, 3.04), Trevor Bauer (Yokohama, 3.07), Blake Snell (San Diego, 3.10), and Hyun-jin Ryu are the next four. Ryu’s ERA is better than even those who once dominated the league or are currently in the midst of peak form (Zack Greinke, Shane Bieber, Zack Wheeler, Corbin Burns). The fact that he has the slowest velocity of them all is a bonus. It’s a testament to Ryu’s greatness.