Trying to return from elbow surgery to join his team in the second half of the season, Toronto Blue Jays pitcher Ryu Hyun-jin is back throwing on the mound.
The South Korean left-hander tossed a bullpen session at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Tuesday (local time), with his Blue Jays teammates hammering the home team Tampa Bay Rays 20-1.
Ryu underwent elbow reconstruction procedure, commonly known as Tommy John surgery, in June last year, and had been throwing off a mound at the Blue Jays' spring training complex in Dunedin, Florida. After the bullpen session at the Trop, Ryu reiterated his goal of rejoining the starting rotation after the All-Star break in mid-July.
"So that I can be part of the team through the second half of the season. That's my goal right now," Ryu told reporters through an interpreter. "Just throwing on the mound is something I missed most."
As for pitching in front of his teammates and coaching staff, Ryu said, "I think that was the most fun I've had. It felt really good to see them. It helped rejuvenate where I am right now."
This is the final season of Ryu's four-year, US$80 million contract with the Blue Jays. In the 2020 season, reduced to 60 games due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ryu went 5-2 with a 2.69 ERA in 12 starts and finished third in the American League (AL) Cy Young Award voting. His ERA ballooned to 4.37 in 2021, when he was 14-10 in 31 starts and pitched to a 5.50 ERA in the second half.
Then last year, Ryu made only six starts before shutting things down to undergo elbow surgery after going four innings against the Chicago White Sox on June 1. He finished with a 2-0 record and a 5.67 ERA in six starts.
Pitchers typically miss about a year of action following Tommy John surgery. Ryu, now 36, had his first Tommy John operation in high school in South Korea.
Ryu is now in the final year of his deal at age 36 with a recent injury history and he is trying to do what he can to prolong his major league career, which began with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013 following a wildly successful seven-year career in the Korea Baseball Organization with the Hanwha Eagles.
For one, Ryu has slimmed down considerably, thanks to a regimen of running and weightlifting.
"I wanted to really do something with my physical appearance," Ryu said.
The Blue Jays employ a five-man rotation of Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassit, Jose Berrios, Alek Manoah and Yusei Kikuchi. The first four have made 10 starts each, and Kikuchi has made nine starts, with none having missed a turn in the rotation.
The Jays have gotten the most work out of their starters in the AL with 282 innings, and their rotation has the eighth-best ERA in the league with 3.86. Their starters have struck out 273 batters to rank fourth in the AL.
Source: Yonhap News Agency