A South Korean insight on Ryu

[eaglespark91]

Greetings, I am a new fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, along with the rest of my countrymen who have any interest in Major League Baseball. Ryu's recent signing with the Blue Jays has given me an exciting buzz, and as someone who has followed Ryu since his debut I wanted to share my experience.

 

1. Clubhouse influence : Ryu is a down to earth type of individual. Never creates any trouble, always says the right things at press conferences and interviews. Similar to Mike Trout in a way, he was a superstar in Korea but never acted as one. While he gets along well with his teammates, his English isn't very good and he at best leads by example. Thankfully the Toronto pitching staff seem to be quite experienced, and his calm personality will not be much of an issue.

 

2. Clutch Mentality : Ryu is the ultimate clutch pitcher. They say batting avg. in RISP doesn't matter and eventually catches up to your career numbers, but I disagree. I just can't ignore guys like David Ortiz or David Freese, and Ryu is the pitcher's version of them. In South Korea, he played in one of the worst teams in baseball history. We had a defence more incapable than having 4 left handed starting pitchers stationed randomly across the infield. As a result, Ryu became a guy who could NEVER be tilted. During the 10+ years of watching him, the most emotion I saw him display on the mound was shaking his head and smiling at a non called strike. He also thrives in pressure situations. In my opinion there is no reason to not trust him to pitch his way out of trouble, unless he is clearly fatigued.

 

3. Injuries : Until his second season in the majors, Ryu was heavily dependent on his Fastball/Changeup combination. His third and fourth pitches were thrown early in the count for cheap strikes, and often hit hard. However MLB hitters finally got his number, waited off his other pitches and started to focus on his changeup and attacking it. Ryu had to improve his other pitches, his curveball and slider, and this is what I believe caused his recent long term injury. He started throwing a hard slider, and while it proved effective, gave a burden to his shoulder that was too much. Ryu also had a huge workload in his career, pitching as an ace for both the national team and his club. I think the mileage just caught up to him. However he no longer throws this slider, and him having 2 years off will have helped him superbly. Personally I don't feel long-term injuries will become an issue. Oh and he also had TJS in high school but recoverd quickly and was the MVP and ROTY in his first year in pro ball.

 

4. Recent Success : If you look at his numbers before and after his injuries, you will notice that he seems to have much better efficiency. This is not a case of FA'roids. Instead, he was so determined to prove that he could come back from injury, and was diligent. Take a look at LAD pitching coach Honeycutt's interview on him, where he says that before he never gave effort in analysing the opposing team. He also wasn't a player keeping himself well conditioned. After the injury, he improved on both of these aspects, hiring a personal trainer and doing research on hitters and presenting them to Honeycutt. Basically he was a lazy genius type who had become fully motivated. The trainer mentioned will be following him to Toronto from what I read, and hopefully he continues to prepare well for his outings.

 

5. Aging : In my opinion this is the last thing to worry about with Ryu. While me being his biggest fan will remove some creditibility, I personally think he could be a Jamie Moyer and pitch efficiently even into his fourties. What makes him great are his control, repertoire, and natural feel of the ball. It took Ryu 1 spring training to be fully used to his circle changeup which he learned from one of our veterans, and I read the story of a LAD pitcher who was dumb founded that Ryu learned his cutter overnight. This guy is one of the world's biggest talents in terms of a pure feel as a pitcher. Heck he doesn't even throw bullpen sessions, and once was out for multiple weeks without any competitive pitching and then started in the post season only to outperform. He also has the ability to change his velocity at will. Not just throw softer, but deliberately alter it with more movement in order to offset the hitter's timing. He has brilliant pitching IQ and will be great for a long time. I wouldn't be surpried if this isn't his last contract in the big leagues.

 

6. Downside : Yes he will have his off nights, usually with his control. Unfortunately, guys who throw triple digit fastballs can leave stuff right in the middle and batters can still miss, but when he is off he can be hit pretty bad. He has gotten better with this though, because now all four of his pitches are pretty effective it isn't as bad it used to be. The period in August-September where he was continuosly hammered and lost his Cy Young was a fatigue issue. Having had 2 years off the workload had caught up to him, so this year it won't be so bad. Ryu also performs much better on 5 days rest. I don't know about this year's stats but believe me watching his whole career this is true. It's a problem with almost all Asian pitchers but I read that Toronto has a lot of depth which will help him stay in good shape. My biggest worry is him relying on DP's to get out of pressure moments. Your infield isn't very good but at least he's been through much worse.

 

Anways this is all I have, feel free to ask more questions on him and I'll answer the best I can. This is the first time I've ever posted on a online forum. It's so exciting to see him move from the Dodgers where he wasn't really appreciated and on a team almost guaranteed to win the division. Toronto is a rebuilding team ready to redeem and there will be so much expectations on him. You guys will be on TV everyday and I'll be watching. Hopefully the Blue Jays can make a push for the wild card spots. Good luck!

 

+Oh and TV broadcasting won't increase revenue by much, but you'll definately see many Koreans at the home stadium as well as some sponsorships. Cheers

[EMK19]

Greetings, I am a new fan of the Toronto Blue Jays, along with the rest of my countrymen who have any interest in Major League Baseball. Ryu's recent signing with the Blue Jays has given me an exciting buzz, and as someone who has followed Ryu since his debut I wanted to share my experience.

 

1. Clubhouse influence : Ryu is a down to earth type of individual. Never creates any trouble, always says the right things at press conferences and interviews. Similar to Mike Trout in a way, he was a superstar in Korea but never acted as one. While he gets along well with his teammates, his English isn't very good and he at best leads by example. Thankfully the Toronto pitching staff seem to be quite experienced, and his calm personality will not be much of an issue.

 

2. Clutch Mentality : Ryu is the ultimate clutch pitcher. They say batting avg. in RISP doesn't matter and eventually catches up to your career numbers, but I disagree. I just can't ignore guys like David Ortiz or David Freese, and Ryu is the pitcher's version of them. In South Korea, he played in one of the worst teams in baseball history. We had a defence more incapable than having 4 left handed starting pitchers stationed randomly across the infield. As a result, Ryu became a guy who could NEVER be tilted. During the 10+ years of watching him, the most emotion I saw him display on the mound was shaking his head and smiling at a non called strike. He also thrives in pressure situations. In my opinion there is no reason to not trust him to pitch his way out of trouble, unless he is clearly fatigued.

 

3. Injuries : Until his second season in the majors, Ryu was heavily dependent on his Fastball/Changeup combination. His third and fourth pitches were thrown early in the count for cheap strikes, and often hit hard. However MLB hitters finally got his number, waited off his other pitches and started to focus on his changeup and attacking it. Ryu had to improve his other pitches, his curveball and slider, and this is what I believe caused his recent long term injury. He started throwing a hard slider, and while it proved effective, gave a burden to his shoulder that was too much. Ryu also had a huge workload in his career, pitching as an ace for both the national team and his club. I think the mileage just caught up to him. However he no longer throws this slider, and him having 2 years off will have helped him superbly. Personally I don't feel long-term injuries will become an issue. Oh and he also had TJS in high school but recoverd quickly and was the MVP and ROTY in his first year in pro ball.

 

4. Recent Success : If you look at his numbers before and after his injuries, you will notice that he seems to have much better efficiency. This is not a case of FA'roids. Instead, he was so determined to prove that he could come back from injury, and was diligent. Take a look at LAD pitching coach Honeycutt's interview on him, where he says that before he never gave effort in analysing the opposing team. He also wasn't a player keeping himself well conditioned. After the injury, he improved on both of these aspects, hiring a personal trainer and doing research on hitters and presenting them to Honeycutt. Basically he was a lazy genius type who had become fully motivated. The trainer mentioned will be following him to Toronto from what I read, and hopefully he continues to prepare well for his outings.

 

5. Aging : In my opinion this is the last thing to worry about with Ryu. While me being his biggest fan will remove some creditibility, I personally think he could be a Jamie Moyer and pitch efficiently even into his fourties. What makes him great are his control, repertoire, and natural feel of the ball. It took Ryu 1 spring training to be fully used to his circle changeup which he learned from one of our veterans, and I read the story of a LAD pitcher who was dumb founded that Ryu learned his cutter overnight. This guy is one of the world's biggest talents in terms of a pure feel as a pitcher. Heck he doesn't even throw bullpen sessions, and once was out for multiple weeks without any competitive pitching and then started in the post season only to outperform. He also has the ability to change his velocity at will. Not just throw softer, but deliberately alter it with more movement in order to offset the hitter's timing. He has brilliant pitching IQ and will be great for a long time. I wouldn't be surpried if this isn't his last contract in the big leagues.

 

6. Downside : Yes he will have his off nights, usually with his control. Unfortunately, guys who throw triple digit fastballs can leave stuff right in the middle and batters can still miss, but when he is off he can be hit pretty bad. He has gotten better with this though, because now all four of his pitches are pretty effective it isn't as bad it used to be. The period in August-September where he was continuosly hammered and lost his Cy Young was a fatigue issue. Having had 2 years off the workload had caught up to him, so this year it won't be so bad. Ryu also performs much better on 5 days rest. I don't know about this year's stats but believe me watching his whole career this is true. It's a problem with almost all Asian pitchers but I read that Toronto has a lot of depth which will help him stay in good shape. My biggest worry is him relying on DP's to get out of pressure moments. Your infield isn't very good but at least he's been through much worse.

 

Anways this is all I have, feel free to ask more questions on him and I'll answer the best I can. This is the first time I've ever posted on a online forum. It's so exciting to see him move from the Dodgers where he wasn't really appreciated and on a team almost guaranteed to win the division. Toronto is a rebuilding team ready to redeem and there will be so much expectations on him. You guys will be on TV everyday and I'll be watching. Hopefully the Blue Jays can make a push for the wild card spots. Good luck!

 

+Oh and TV broadcasting won't increase revenue by much, but you'll definately see many Koreans at the home stadium as well as some sponsorships. Cheers

 

Welcome. Going by the username, you're a Hanhwa Eagles fan I assume? If so, do be prepared for similar infield defensive adventures that Ryu experienced back in his Hanhwa years (well, hopefully this year will see significant improvements).

 

As you may know our team is a work in progress, it'll be quite a difference from what you all would have been used to in LA and I'm hoping the new Korean fans will be understanding of that. At the same time we're also excited for the increased exposure of our team this will bring about in Korea and are very happy that Ryu took our offer and decided to come here. Most of us respect his abilities and have faith that as long as he stays healthy, he will help us win ball games and take the next step towards contention.

 

Thanks for posting, and see you around.

[eaglespark91]

Thanks for the welcome! I don't think any of us are sad to see him leave, except maybe the fans living in Los Angeles. Apparently the Dodgers' offer wasn't respectable. Toronto could well be the next Cubs or Astros(no offence) and be serious contenders in a few years with all the young talent. I still remember Bautista hitting that epic homer against Choo's Rangers in the Division series.. Exciting times ahead and glad Ryu might be a part of it.

[jaysguy44]

Right on man, welcome aboard. Thanks for the info!

 

You are becoming a Bluejay fan at the right time, although another down year is likely in 2020. We have a lot of up and coming talent for the future to go along with the #5 pick in this upcoming draft. Rebuilds can be exciting, but also frustrating at the same time.

[King]

Welcome.

 

Do you live in Korea?

[eaglespark91]

Right on man, welcome aboard. Thanks for the info!

 

You are becoming a Bluejay fan at the right time, although another down year is likely in 2020. We have a lot of up and coming talent for the future to go along with the #5 pick in this upcoming draft. Rebuilds can be exciting, but also frustrating at the same time.

 

I would know well, my local team has been rebuilding since 2007.

 

Yes I live in Korea!

[Deadpool]

Is it in super poor taste if I request a North Korean insight?

[EMK19]

Is it in super poor taste if I request a North Korean insight?

 

[Carlos Danger]

 

That is some super funny deep humor, LMAO.

 

I wonder how many people will actually get it. Great reply!

[G-Snarls]

That is some super funny deep humor, LMAO.

 

I wonder how many people will actually get it. Great reply!

 

https://fortune.com/2018/07/06/mike-pompeo-gifts-kim-jong-un-trump-signed-cd-rocket-man-south-korean-paper/amp/

[Maico450]

Ryu may be smart to emigrate to Canada. Dangerous times on the peninsula.

[eaglespark91]

Is it in super poor taste if I request a North Korean insight?

 

North Koreans would send him to Triple A, they are very serious about their farm system