Hyun-jin Ryu

Ryu Hyun-jin 류현진
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 May 28, 2013)
Win–loss record	6–2
Earned run average	2.89
Strikeouts	67
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

Medal record
Men's baseball
Olympics
	2008 Beijing	Team
World Baseball Classic
	2009 Los Angeles	Team
Asian Games
	2006 Doha	Team
	2010 Guangzhou	Team

Ryu Hyun-jin (Hangul: 류현진, Hanja: 柳賢振) (born March 25, 1987) is a South Korean left-handed 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 KBO to join a MLB team via the posting system.

Amateur career

Ryu attended Dongsan High School in Incheon, South Korea. In 2004, he underwent Tommy John surgery so he did not pitch in any official games. In 2005, he led his team to the Blue Dragon Open National High School Championship, pitching 22 scoreless innings as the team's ace and batting .389 in the tournament, and was named Best Pitcher. In 2005, he 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).

Professional career

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 burst onto the scene, going 18–6 with 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.

Ryu repeatedly expressed his desire to play in the United States for Major League Baseball. 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

Ryu pitching at Dodger Stadium

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).

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. Ryu picked up his first Major League win on April 7 over the Pittsburgh Pirates. On April 13th 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. This game was also his 100th career win, in Korea and the U.S. combined.

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.

On May 28, 2013, Ryu pitched a complete game shutout against the Los Angeles Angels, 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 on June, 2, 2006.

Pitching style

Ryu is a 6 ft 2 in, 255 lb left-handed pitcher. 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.

Career statistics

Korea Baseball Organization

Year	Team	W	L	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	HB	BB	IBB	SO	AVG	WHIP
2006	Hanwha	18	6	2.23	30	28	6	1	1	201.2	159	57	50	11	2	52	3	204	.221	1.05
2007		17	7	2.94	30	30	6	1	0	211.0	195	74	69	15	3	68	4	178	.251	1.25
2008		14	7	3.31	26	26	2	1	0	165.2	144	66	61	12	1	67	2	143	.240	1.27
2009		13	12	3.57	28	27	4	2	0	189.1	180	80	75	19	2	67	3	188	.254	1.30
2010		16	4	1.82	25	25	5	3	0	192.2	149	42	39	11	9	45	2	187	.220	1.01
2011		11	7	3.36	24	18	3	0	0	126.0	101	54	47	12	1	38	0	128	.217	1.10
2012		9	9	2.66	27	27	1	0	0	182.2	153	58	54	12	5	46	6	210	.232	1.09
TOTAL		98	52	2.80	190	181	27	8	1	1269	1081	431	395	92	23	383	20	1238	.234	1.15

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)

External links

• Career statistics and player information from MLB, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors)