Business as usual for Ryu in his Jays debut
When Hyun-jin Ryu strolled to the mound at a frigid TD Ballpark here on Thursday afternoon, his demeanour was similar to what it’s most often been at any stadium, anywhere during his professional career.
The Us$80-million man and Toronto Blue Jays ace may paint all corners of the strike zone with his wide array of pitches, but the calm precision in which he does his work is also a big part of his reputation.
So other than debuting in his Blue Jays uniform with No. 99 on the back and facing American League hitters for the first time, the specifics of his inaugural outing were of minimal concern. Let the record show, then, that Ryu logged two innings, threw 41 pitches and allowed three hits (including one home run) against a modest version of the Minnesota Twins.
But for the man closest to Ryu during his five years in North America, the game face he brought to Thursday’s start was no different than on some of his biggest nights with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“He has this reputation of being very calm and collected,” said Ryu’s personal interpreter, Bryan Lee, prior to the Jays’ 3-3 tie against the Twins. “It’s not only how he is on the field but in the clubhouse and off the field. It’s just another day in business for him.”
ON WITH THE SHOW
After allowing singles to the first two Twins batters he faced — Jake Cave and Trevor Larnach — Ryu settled down and got out of the first unscathed.
Ryu struck out Brent Rocker as he pitched his way out of the jam in a 24-pitch first. In the second inning, however, he gave up a solo home run to Zander Weil to open the scoring.
Overall, the Jays’ offence was mostly winter dormant in the loss until the ninth when Kevin Smith hit a two-rbi single to tie it 3-3. Toronto’s other run came on a solo home run from catcher Reese Mcguire. And just like they did on Sunday in Fort Myers, both Jays manager Charlie Montoyo and Twins counterpart Rocco Baldelli opted to let the draw stand.
COMMUNICATION A-OK
Ryu is fluent in two languages — Korean and baseball.
And in his time in one of the bigger media markets in North America, he learned enough English to bridge the two.
“It’s been easy and he’s been great,” pitching coach Pete Walker said. “Bryan’s tremendous and going through all the steps of planning his spring and routine, everything has gone very smooth.
“It’s just been getting familiar with him and understanding what he’s looking for and the kind of information he wants us to provide. That part of it has gone extremely well.”
If anything, the Jays have noticed that Ryu’s English is better than the one the public generally sees.
“He’s very capable of communicating,” Lee said.