Will “Korean Monster” Ryu Hyun-jin (Hanwha Eagles) be able to fire a signal of his lackluster escape.
Ryu Hyun-jin will take the mound as Hanwha’s starting pitcher in a home game against the LG Twins in the 2024 professional baseball KBO League regular season at Hanwha Life Eagles Park in Daejeon on the 13th.
In name and reality, Ryu is a left-hander who represents Korean baseball. From 2006 to 2012, he wrote 98 wins, 52 losses, one save and a 2.80 ERA in the KBO League, and from 2013 to 2023, he entered the Major League Baseball (MLB) and posted 78 wins, 48 losses and a 3.27 ERA. Since then, he has returned to the Hanwha Eagles ahead of this season.
Although he had some difficulties adapting to the Korean stage in the early days of the season, Ryu began to slowly get back on track. He lost one game in March and had two wins and two losses and an ERA of 5.72 in April, but rebounded to win one game and lose one loss and an ERA of 3.27 in May. In June, Ryu garnered two wins and no losses, and posted an ERA of 1.80, becoming an “absolute ace.”
The problem is that he has been slowing down again recently. He had one win and two losses and an ERA of 4.50 in July, which was a bit disappointing. At the match against the Samsung Lions in Daegu on August 7, his first game in August, he had 12 hits, one homer, two strikeouts and seven runs in five innings. Notably, his 12 hits was the most hit tie he had in a single game, which was renewed at the match against the KT Wiz in Suwon (five innings, 12 hits, one homer, one strikeout, three strikeouts, six runs and five earned runs).
As such, Ryu has recorded six wins, seven losses and an earned run average of 4.28 in 21 games (120 innings) this year. The figure is somewhat incompatible with the reputation of the “Korean Monster” who once dominated the KBO League. As he is scheduled to start once more this week, it is important for Ryu to provide an opportunity for his team to rebound in the game against LG.
Until this year, Ryu had displayed strength against the LG Twins by posting 22 wins, 8 losses and 2.36 ERA. He had three shutouts and nine complete games. He also had his first win against the LG Twins. 토토사이트
However, Ryu did not do well this season. He started the game at Jamsil Stadium on March 23, the opening day of the regular season, and became the losing pitcher with six hits, three outs and five runs and two earned runs in 3.2 innings. However, he could hardly afford to solely blame Ryu for his loss due to overlapping defense lines including errors. Ryu did not appear at the game against LG afterwards, and reunited with Ryu for the first time in about five months.
As for Ryu, he should be wary of Park Dong-won (1 hit in 2 at-bats) and Kim Hyun-soo (1 hit in 2 at-bats) who showed off good batting performance against him in the opening game. Other notable players are Hong Chang-ki (1 hit in 3 at-bats), Park Hae-min (1 hit in 3 at-bats), and Shin Min-jae (1 hit in 2 at-bats).
Hanwha also desperately needs Ryu’s revival. Currently, the team ranks ninth with 48 wins, two draws and 57 losses, but is four games behind the fifth-ranked SSG Landers (54 wins, one draw and 55 losses), which is the last line to advance to the postseason. Despite the strong pursuit of the lowest-ranked Kiwoom Heroes (48 wins and 60 losses), it is certainly not the time to give up the fall baseball.
Under these circumstances, if Ryu is revived and takes center stage in the starting lineup, Hanwha will gain significant strength. Will Ryu be able to rebound against LG.
Meanwhile, LG will deploy left-hander Detrick N.S. as its starting pitcher. Having joined hands with LG ahead of this season, he has played 23 games (127.2 innings) with nine wins, five losses and an earned run average of 4.16. In this year’s game against Hanwha, he has one win and an earned run average of 4.35 (6 runs and five earned runs in 10.1 innings).
