It seems like just yesterday that they crossed the Pacific Ocean after receiving a huge amount of posting money that no one expected, but it has already been more than 10 years. Ryu Hyun-jin (36, Toronto) is one of the most successful pitchers in Korean baseball history and has accumulated more than 10 years of major league career.
Ryu Hyun-jin, who signed a contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2013, completed 10 years of entering the major leagues last year. Excluding 2015, when he didn’t play at all due to his shoulder surgery, this year he will reach his 10th season. He appeared in a total of 175 games over nine seasons, and all but one of those 174 games were starts. During his 10 years, he symbolized that he played as a built-in starter recognized by everyone.
In the Major League, where the world’s best players gather, if you stumble a little, you will immediately face the word “exit.” The fact that he played as a key player for 10 years on such a stage speaks of the greatness of Ryu Hyun-jin’s career itself. He didn’t just hold out for long. He also left a thick footprint. He had an excellent record of 75 wins in his career and an earned run average of 3.25. Becoming the second Korean major league pitcher to win 100 games after Park Chan-ho is not a dream at all.
Then, what was the most memorable thing of the past 10 years? I thought I would talk about the ‘great run’ in 2019. Ryu Hyun-jin, who fully recovered from his shoulder injury, achieved a record that will remain in Korean baseball history in 2019 when he was a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He went 14-5 with a 2.32 earned run average in 29 games pitched 182⅔ innings. He failed to win the Cy Young Award because he was pushed by Jacob de Grom (currently Texas), who threw so well, but was certified as the league’s top pitcher by coming in second. This later led to a large free agent contract with Toronto for 4 years and 80 million dollars.
However, Ryu Hyun-jin gave an unexpected answer to this question. Ryu Hyun-jin picked the two surgeries as the most memorable. Ryu Hyun-jin underwent left shoulder surgery in 2015 and left elbow surgery in 2022. It took only two surgeries that would take at least a year for his rehabilitation. He remembers the splendid things on the outside, but the player remembers the darkest things.
In particular, shoulder surgery in 2015 was an important moment that would determine Ryu Hyun-jin’s career as a player. Compared to his elbow, his shoulder, which has a much more complex structure, is extremely unlikely to recover. It is not for nothing that the saying “shoulder surgery is a death sentence for a pitcher” came out. It took Ryu Hyun-jin two years to come back here. Others only see the results of a dramatic comeback, but this time remained the most intense memory for Ryu Hyun-jin, who secretly struggled to death. 메이저놀이터
Such experiences lead to a solid mentality. Ryu Hyun-jin, who underwent elbow ligament reconstruction surgery (Tommy John surgery) in June of last year, maintained a positive outlook as much as possible, saying, “I don’t think there is anything to worry about this time. It is also a surgery that Ryu Hyun-jin experienced once in high school, and there are many cases of successful recovery after receiving elbow surgery even in his mid-30s.
Whenever it is difficult, Ryu Hyun-jin thinks of those days when his shoulder hurt and everyday life was impossible. ‘Even though it’s hard now, it’s better than then’ is his mantra. Ryu Hyun-jin said, “I wonder if the shoulder surgery was the time when I had the most worries and concerns,” and promised to overcome the current ordeal. Even though he can’t throw a ball from the mound right now, he hasn’t been on the operating table to the mental and heart of a monster.