Hyun Jin Ryu made another positive step on his path to returning to the Major Leagues on Sunday.
The big lefty took the mound for the Low-A Dunedin Blue Jays and tossed four scoreless innings. He scattered three hits over the outing, didn’t walk a batter, and struck out one. All told, Ryu threw 37 pitches, 27 of them for strikes, and his velocity topped out at 88.4 miles per hour.
This was the second time that Ryu pitched since undergoing Tommy John surgery last June. He made his season debut back on Tuesday in the Florida Complex League and allowed one earned run over three innings of work while striking out five.
Ryu’s recovery has gone better than anybody reasonably could have hoped. Given his age and the nature of Tommy John surgery, there was reason to believe that he wouldn’t make it back to the big leagues, but his first two outings have generated optimism that he can help the Blue Jays down the stretch this season.
The Blue Jays inked Ryu to a four-year, $80 million contract following the 2019 season. He was the first major addition to support the team’s young core and he played a significant role in them making the playoffs in the shortened 2020 season. Ryu posted a 2.69 ERA that season and finished third in Cy Young voting.
In other news, Jordan Romano has been named to the American League All-Star team as a replacement for Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros.
This is the second All-Star appearance of Romano’s career. He was a replacement last year for New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole but didn’t pitch in the game.
The native of Markham, Ontario has 25 saves this season, which is tied for the most in the American League with Emmanuel Clase of the Cleveland Guardians. Camilio Duval of the San Francisco Giants and Alexis Diaz of the Cincinnati Reds lead baseball with 26 saves each.
The Blue Jays have four players representing them at the All-Star Game: Romano, Bo Bichette, Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Whit Merrifield. Kevin Gausman was named to the AL All-Star team but opted out because he’s on pace to shatter his single-season career-high in innings pitched this year and wanted to take the week to rest.
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