‘Two games away from rehab,’ RYU confident of return later this month… Second start was a perfect four-hit shutout
‘Two down, two to go.’
Toronto Blue Jays’ Ryu Hyun-jin, 36, who is in the final stages of rehabilitation after undergoing Tommy John surgery to reconstruct ligaments in his elbow last June, is on track to make a comeback later this month.
Ryu continued to pitch well in his rehab assignment, allowing one run on three hits over four innings in a Single-A home game at TD Ballpark in Dunedin, Florida, on Tuesday.
Ryu took the mound for the Single-A Dunedin Blue Jays, Toronto’s affiliate, and faced 14 Tampa Bay Rays (New York Yankees) batters. He did not issue a single walk and struck out one.
Ryu gave up a double to Ben Rice in the top of the first inning, but the left fielder-second baseman-third baseman defence made a clean play to tag out Rice, who raced to third, to end the inning. He threw eight pitches in the first inning. In the second, he retired a trio of batters on five pitches, and in the third, he retired all three batters on infield grounders on seven pitches.
In the fourth, leadoff man Jarrett Serna reached on a throwing error by the third baseman, but Jesús Rodríguez grounded out to shortstop. He then gave up a single to Rice and a single to Omar Martinez to put runners on first and second before retiring Brennie Escarnio on a full count with an outside changeup to end the inning. Escarnio challenged the strike call, but it was not overturned.
Ryu had previously pitched in a rookie-level game on the fifth, allowing one run on four hits in three innings. In two rehab appearances, he has allowed one run on seven hits in seven innings. He hasn’t walked a batter and has struck out six. His ERA is 1.29.
According to Canadian outlet Sportsnet, Ryu’s velocity had been sitting in the 87-88 mph range for the past five days, reaching a high of 88.4 mph today.
“There’s no exact timetable for a pitcher’s return from the Tommy John surgery, but in Ryu’s case, he’s undoubtedly on the right track,” Sportsnet said.
Toronto general manager Ross Atkins told the media, “Ryu could be ready for the big leagues once he’s throwing 80 to 100 pitches at full strength,” adding, “I think he could realistically make another couple of starts in the minors to get into the big league rotation.”온라인카지노
In other words, if he’s successful in getting more innings in those two starts, we’ll call him up to the majors. Right now, it looks like he’ll get the call after a Double-A start on the 15th or 16th, followed by a Triple-A start on the 20th or 21st. His return is likely to be between the 25th and 31st.
It’s interesting to note that Toronto’s late-July schedule includes a three-game road trip against the Los Angeles Dodgers (25-27) and a three-game home series against the Los Angeles Angels (29-31). He could make his first career start against his hometown team, the Dodgers. Alternatively, the Angels’ bats, led by Shohei Ohtani, will be the returning opponent.
Toronto recently got Alec Manoa back from a month-long minor league assignment and he pitched well. Expectations are high that the Jays will have a solid rotation again when Hyun-jin Ryu joins them later this month.